General Manager Bryan Murray spoke with the media on Thursday morning. As anticipated, he dove into a number of the issues pressing Ottawa these days.
ON JASON SPEZZA
Obviously, the biggest story running right now is what the future holds for Jason Spezza and the Ottawa Senators. The team seems prepared to move him to the first team that really makes a satisfying offer -- according to Murray this morning, two teams (one could reasonably guess St. Louis and Anaheim here) have made 'serious' offers.
One of the interesting comments from this morning was Bryan Murray's refusal to allow teams to negotiate a potential Jason Spezza extension prior to getting a trade done. To me, this makes sense. There was an awful lot of talk about such a move working to Murray's benefit in the past, but I never understood why. Allowing a potential trading partner to negotiate the terms of an extension with a player prior to a trade being completed seems more risky than beneficial. If Spezza's contractual demands out-pace what the other team's willing to pay him on the next deal, the team may decide to nix the trade altogether.
Also, if you're to believe Bryan Murray here (and I'm sort of skeptical on this particular point), the GM noted that the 'relationship' between Jason Spezza and Paul MacLean was not contributory to the status quo. This is one of the times where I'm hesitant to take someone's word at face value, if only because it flies in the face of a fair share of evidence this season.
ON MILAN MICHALEK
Remember Milo! Apparently, he may be coming back. This strikes me as sort of unexpected, but Bryan Murray seemed fairly convinced that the two sides were close on a new contract. Ottawa has made the most recent contract offer, and they're waiting to hear back from Michalek's side on a counter.
The problem here is that Milan Michalek's career projection is, obviously, on a downward trending slope. It's been that way for quite some time. And if this team thinks that Michalek's going to sit in the top-six and produce (without Kyle Turris as his center) -- well, I'd be quite curious about the data they have suggesting that's going to be the case. He's not a possession-driver, his point-production has fallen off of a cliff, and his injury history is alarming at best.
To me, it sounds like Ottawa might be of the position that Michalek's ready to take a fairly big discount to hang around, which is obviously in the cost per point wheelhouse. Other than that, I don't know if this is the best allocation of limited resources. And, considering the options this team does have in younger players pushing up through the ranks, you wonder why Michalek's become a priority.
ON MIKA ZIBANEJAD
So, to me, the most intriguing comment made by anyone today was about Mika Zibanejad. We are coming up on one year away from one of the dumbest moves the team made last season, demoting Mika Zibanejad to AHL Binghamton to start the year. I've written about Mika extensively over the past eighteen months -- he's an excellent young player, he deserves way more ice-time and better linemates, and I'd consider him close to untouchable at this point. The coaching staff has been really hesitant at times to give him a bigger role, and I've never been entirely sure why.
If you believe Bryan Murray this summer, that's changing -- and quickly. The team is prepared to move on with Mika Zibanejad as their projected first-line center of the future, with Kyle Turris acting as the team's second-line guy. That transition may not happen overnight, but it sounds like the team's banking on it as a likely outcome.
Now, far be it from me to complain about a Zibanejad/Turris top-six, but it is bizarre to me that this team went from 'can't make the team' to 'first-line center coming up!' in, what, nine months? Truthfully, I think Mika projects out best as a second-line guy. As much as I have no idea how the team saw something in his game to keep him in the minors for a stretch last year, I have no idea how this team now sees him as a first-line center, now or tomorrow.
The weird thing is that the Mika comments seem to take a bit of a swipe at Turris, even if that wasn't Bryan Murray's intention. Turris was the team's first-line center for most of the season, and I thought he played rather well in his role. It's OK if the team thinks he's a bit above his ceiling in that role, but paving the way for a 21-year-old to just assume command is kind of strange. Especially so considering there's no one walking this planet that thinks Zibanejad, today, is a better player than Turris, today.
At any rate, it seems like the front office's future outlook of Zibanejad has wildly changed. Considering I'm in the camp that argues he needs more ice-time, I'm OK with the development -- even if it went about a quarter mile past where I'd put things.
ON CURTIS LAZAR
Speaking of future outlook, here's Randy Lee on highly-touted prospect Curtis Lazar:
Randy Lee says they see Curtis Lazar's best fit as a winger. #Sens
— AJ Jakubec (@AJonSports) June 19, 2014Adjust your lineup projections accordingly.
ON MIKE HOFFMAN
I argued a couple of months ago that Mike Hoffman's extension was something of a no-brainer. He looked excellent in his limited time, and there's really little reason to go out and get a guy in free agency to fill a top-nine role when it seems possible there's an internal candidate that can accomplish just that.
The team announced their extension of Hoffman today -- one year, two-way deal. Though, don't think that the team can rest on the two-way aspect of his deal for one more season; Bryan Murray sounded rather sure that Hoffman -- in the event the team placed him on waivers -- would be lost to another club.