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Nick Paul extension soon?! Sports news memory as a youth?! |
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First off, for the latest Sens updates, please follow me on Twitter at
Give me a twitter follow, I will give you a follow too!
Everyone here has talked about RFA’s Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson at length, what the term and AAV could be with regards to their extensions, but as we move forward into the 2021-22 season there are a few key pieces that will be up for contract extensions. Josh Norris, Alex Formenton, Victor Mete and Erik Brannstrom will all be due to raises as RFA’s but the one player on the Sens roster that will be a UFA come the end of the season is alternate captain Nick Paul.
It’s amazing how few fans talk about Paul and his impending UFA status. But if you rewind to two years ago, many fans would say, Nick who?! Head coach DJ Smith embraced Nick Paul, unlike previous HC Guy Boucher who would stick Paul on the 4th line when he was called up.
Paul has become a key piece in the Ottawa Senators rebuild. Can you imagine any fan saying that Nick would be wearing an “A” on his sweater this past season?! Well, it goes to show you how a fringe player has become a veteran on this team, playing a defensive 200 ft. game, while killing penalties with Connor Brown.
If I was GM Pierre Dorion, I would be trying to get Paul signed to a long term extension. It’s not like Nick would be looking for huge AAV numbers coming off his 2 year deal at 1.35 AAV.. Why not offer him a 5 year extension for 12.5 million?! Get him signed now before it costs you more in the future as he is a key piece that any team needs when building a Stanley Cup contender. Give him a deal similar to the NY Islanders Casey Cizikas who recently signed for 6 years, 15 million. These are the type of the players that are the glue of their team, players that sacrifice themselves for the better of the team, while being the quiet leader.
Nick Paul has to be the next player Ottawa signs to a contract extension once they take care of their RFA’s. Sens fans, what would you be willing to give Paul on an extension?
If you have 15 minutes, take a listen to Corey Pronman from The Athletic, who talks about the teams with the best prospects under the age of 23! Ottawa ranks #2 in the NHL.
https://www.tsn.ca/radio/ottawa-1200/pronman-examining-the-ottawa-senators-prospect-pool-1.1688916
For those of you who didn’t see the ESPN piece on NHL players with regards to unvaccinated players. This is a must read!
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/32136607/nhl-new-covid-19-protocols-ramp-restrictions-penalties-unvaccinated-players
Now for non-NHL topics, I got a few quick hits here for everyone to discuss. Going into Labour Day weekend, I thought it would be different to throw this out here on the blog. Yesterday, I was at practice for my kids' sports and a few of us parents were talking about sports news stories that we remembered when we were kids. So it got me thinking, as many of us love our sports regardless of our favourite sport. What major sports news moment was your first sports story that you remember when you were a youth to this day?! For some of us, there was no social media when this would’ve happened, like myself. Yes, I am aging myself a bit lol! Naturally, it’s easy for many of us to say the Wayne Gretzky trade was something none of us saw coming. For me, I have 2 sports news stories that have stuck with me until this day when I was a teenager.
The first one, was in 1988 when Ben Johnson tested positive for steroids in the 100m at the Seoul Olympics. Many Canadians will tell you they remember where they were, when Ben beat Carl Lewis to win the gold medal in the 100m sprint, I can tell you exactly where I was when it was announced on the radio that Ben had tested positive for steroids and was stripped of his gold medal and how devastated I was. It’s amazing how these moments stay with you for a lifetime. The other sports news moment that has stuck with me until this day was when Magic Johnnson tested positive for the HIV Virus. I was a huge Lakers fan growing up and I was working a High School retail job and back in the day, this store had music on in the store but the local news would break in at the top of each hour. It was 3pm on a weekday and when I heard the news over the speakers in the store that Magic had the HIV virus, I was absolutely stunned!
Sports has a grip on all of us as we cheer for our favourite sports team, so I thought going into the long weekend it would be neat to hear everyone’s first major sports news stories from their childhood. I hope all of you post them in the comments on the blog.
To finish off today’s blog, I am a huge football fan and if anyone is going to the Redblacks home game tonight, send me an IM at HB or on Twitter. I always try my best to meet up with the readers from HB, either at the game or at a local sports bar if the Redblacks are on the road. It will be a perfect night for football here in Ottawa!
For all my American friends, well and I know many Canadians follow it too, I can’t wait for U.S. College football this weekend. I always tweet out my picks that I like, so give me a follow on twitter and don’t be afraid to drop me a message about any game. I will be dialed in all weekend long!
I will be back with another blog on the long weekend. Hope to see many of you join in the discussion in the comment section of the blog.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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