If Ottawa had any sort of a reasonable power play, they could very well have beaten Winnipeg and Boston.

Food for thought.

If Ottawa plans to make a bigger splash between now and the draft, might it make sense to not trade Tarasenko and try to re-sign him at $4-6 million for 2 or 3 years?

Now, what might that bigger splash be? Maybe trading higher end forwards like Norris, and then trading Chychrun or Chabot. These moves would free up space, and I don't necessarily think we would be money out = money in. Maybe we are able to save a few million with these moves. Bring in some veterans, etc. at $4-6 million each.

This leave a few bucks to maybe contemplate keeping Tarasenko, especially if he likes it here in Ottawa and (as reported) is popular in the room. ........ Maybe ..... thoughts?


And quite frankly , any notions of making any major trades with Detroit, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Tampa, Florida, or Boston ....... forget it. These are teams will will eventually be scuffling over for a playoff spot. Giving any of them a Chychrun, or Norris, etc. would be patently stupid. Why give our direct competition a leg up ?

Daigle made a documentary with Amazon prime

Daigle largely fell out of love with the game after scoring those 50 goals the season before making his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League debut.

"Burnout-type mode," he said. "Out of the blue ... I'd start crying after the game."

Food for thought.

If Ottawa plans to make a bigger splash between now and the draft, might it make sense to not trade Tarasenko and try to re-sign him at $4-6 million for 2 or 3 years?

Now, what might that bigger splash be? Maybe trading higher end forwards like Norris, and then trading Chychrun or Chabot. These moves would free up space, and I don't necessarily think we would be money out = money in. Maybe we are able to save a few million with these moves. Bring in some veterans, etc. at $4-6 million each.

This leave a few bucks to maybe contemplate keeping Tarasenko, especially if he likes it here in Ottawa and (as reported) is popular in the room. ........ Maybe ..... thoughts?


And quite frankly , any notions of making any major trades with Detroit, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Tampa, Florida, or Boston ....... forget it. These are teams will will eventually be scuffling over for a playoff spot. Giving any of them a Chychrun, or Norris, etc. would be patently stupid. Why give our direct competition a leg up ?
- OttawaB

You either trade Tarasenko or resign him. The mythical ‘trade and resign’ never happens. If Tarasenko wants to stay, I like resigning him.

As far as trading Norris, it’s selling low. Unless that stay at home RD is coming back, I like having great depth at C.

Chychryn/Chabot is the only major move I’d contemplate. There’s abundance of riches at LD and not enough RD. If you can fill that hole do it.

Otherwise, make the small trades and run it back with a well coached team. Add a vet in the bottom six and things look pretty good.

You either trade Tarasenko or resign him. The mythical ‘trade and resign’ never happens. If Tarasenko wants to stay, I like resigning him.

As far as trading Norris, it’s selling low. Unless that stay at home RD is coming back, I like having great depth at C.

Chychryn/Chabot is the only major move I’d contemplate. There’s abundance of riches at LD and not enough RD. If you can fill that hole do it.

Otherwise, make the small trades and run it back with a well coached team. Add a vet in the bottom six and things look pretty good.
- CooCooKaChoo

I go back and forth on the Tarasenko decision. On one hand he could fetch back some decent assets. On the other, the question of who replaces him has to be asked. Some alright prospects at Belleville, but they will need more time, even if they make the jump next season.

Even more so when we remember Giroux is 36 and contract is up after next year.

You either trade Tarasenko or resign him. The mythical ‘trade and resign’ never happens. If Tarasenko wants to stay, I like resigning him.

As far as trading Norris, it’s selling low. Unless that stay at home RD is coming back, I like having great depth at C.

Chychryn/Chabot is the only major move I’d contemplate. There’s abundance of riches at LD and not enough RD. If you can fill that hole do it.

Otherwise, make the small trades and run it back with a well coached team. Add a vet in the bottom six and things look pretty good.
- CooCooKaChoo

I think you are putting forward a pretty solid formula for the Sens going forward.

Most of us seem to really like the core of this team. And, although some would like for us to try and hit a home run deal, most are more concerned about our making a huge trade mistake.

Funny. We are all frustrated with the Sens not playing well enough to make the playoffs. On the other hand, we look at the players and think they are close to being able to make a run for the Stanley Cup someday soon.

The questions to ask are :

1) Can Tarasenko be part of the future 2-5 years in Ottawa .... as a veteran and reasonable goal/points accumulator? Is he defensively sound enough? If yes to both, then re-sign him (assuming he wants to stay and likes it here). If they do not see him as being part of this team when they are seriously ready to compete, then trade the asset. But Tarasenko has full control on where he would go .... remember that little piece of info.
2) Can Chychrun and Chabot co-exist together. Maybe it will take a defensive oriented coach to teach them both to play a fluid Left-Right combo together. Trying to get that top 4 right d-man will be hard and potentially very expensive unless the Sens draft and develop him. But every once in a while you see changes occur in the game .... puck moving d-men, "rovers". Why not a new system where you have 3 balanced pairs of d-men, each receiving around 20 minutes of ice time per game. Or why not a pairing where both d-men can rotate the side they play on depending upon the situation.

I do agree, most of the players on Belleville need more time to develop .... Ostapchuk, Klevin, Crookshank, Jarventie. Guenette is an interesting one I might want to see get some NHL time.

Kubalik, Brannstrom are the 2 that need to go to make room for others but neither will fetch much in a trade.

The major trades needed are very simple. In my mind, trading Norris or Chychrun will get you a goalie and a right d-man. Period. That simple, but that hard.

Best trade available I think is that you throw in Norris and Sogaard to get Saros or Askarov from Nashville. Obviously some more bits and pieces involved, but that is the bones of the trade. The Sens would worry about trading Korpisalo later (keep Korpisalo for a few years if we get Askarov, and trade Korpisalo if we get Saros). Forsberg can be on LTIR for his last season or Ottawa just buys him out. Getting a decent back up goalie for Saros would not be as difficult. If Askarov, then we have Korpisalo and Askarov for 2-3 years so no worries.

I am more inclined to keep our top 4 d-men and let the next coach work through the issues. If nothing can be done to fix it, then trade one of them.

One other question I have.

Why is it that folks here in Ottawa are soooooooo obsessed with this Left/Right need of defensive pairings. Start to look around the league and realize it is not a common feature. Toronto ... Winnipeg .... Vegas .... Vancouver ........ none have a left / right based system through all 3 pairings. Those that come close ... well, that RD is not a top 4 defenceman candidate. For poops and giggles, just start to look at the NHL teams. Often a d-man is listed as LD/RD ... but check out what side they shoot from and you will quickly discover that most are lefthanded.

So I ask again ..... why are we so obsessed with getting this extra RD? If the RD we go out and get is inferior in quality to Chabot or Chychrun, then why make that trade or signing just so we can go LD/RD on each of our 3 pairings?

Can Korpisalo make a (frank)in save. This guy is an absolute mess right now. Enough is enough.

Can Korpisalo make a (frank)in save. This guy is an absolute mess right now. Enough is enough.
- OttawaB

like i said, OTT can pick and average joe off the street and they would be better than OTTs G have been this year

OTT should forfeit this game...truly embarrassing

The questions to ask are :

1) Can Tarasenko be part of the future 2-5 years in Ottawa .... as a veteran and reasonable goal/points accumulator? Is he defensively sound enough? If yes to both, then re-sign him (assuming he wants to stay and likes it here). If they do not see him as being part of this team when they are seriously ready to compete, then trade the asset. But Tarasenko has full control on where he would go .... remember that little piece of info.
2) Can Chychrun and Chabot co-exist together. Maybe it will take a defensive oriented coach to teach them both to play a fluid Left-Right combo together. Trying to get that top 4 right d-man will be hard and potentially very expensive unless the Sens draft and develop him. But every once in a while you see changes occur in the game .... puck moving d-men, "rovers". Why not a new system where you have 3 balanced pairs of d-men, each receiving around 20 minutes of ice time per game. Or why not a pairing where both d-men can rotate the side they play on depending upon the situation.

I do agree, most of the players on Belleville need more time to develop .... Ostapchuk, Klevin, Crookshank, Jarventie. Guenette is an interesting one I might want to see get some NHL time.

Kubalik, Brannstrom are the 2 that need to go to make room for others but neither will fetch much in a trade.

The major trades needed are very simple. In my mind, trading Norris or Chychrun will get you a goalie and a right d-man. Period. That simple, but that hard.

Best trade available I think is that you throw in Norris and Sogaard to get Saros or Askarov from Nashville. Obviously some more bits and pieces involved, but that is the bones of the trade. The Sens would worry about trading Korpisalo later (keep Korpisalo for a few years if we get Askarov, and trade Korpisalo if we get Saros). Forsberg can be on LTIR for his last season or Ottawa just buys him out. Getting a decent back up goalie for Saros would not be as difficult. If Askarov, then we have Korpisalo and Askarov for 2-3 years so no worries.

I am more inclined to keep our top 4 d-men and let the next coach work through the issues. If nothing can be done to fix it, then trade one of them.
- OttawaB

I think Tarasenko had been as expected offensively, and actually better than I thought defensively. If he wants to be here for three more years, sign him. He’ll replace Giroux (in production) as he phases out.

I’d rather keep Norris, as center depth wins championships.

The only big move I see happening is Chabot/Chychryn. I have to put faith in Staois because I don’t know what you do. It doesn’t seem like either of them are comfortable at RD. But they’re both great I. Their own way. I worry about moving Chabot before July 1 and Chychryn having a blank slate, but that might be PTSD from Dorion.

Stuetzle took a clean hit. He needs to be more alert coming through the neutral zone. Brady took it personally and dropped the gloves. It woke the Rangers up. They had been playing okay but without much puck luck up. The tone of the game changed and Korpisalo decided to take an early evening map.

Right up until the final buzzer the Rangers were emotionally intent on punishing the Sens. Brady needs to learn from this experience.

Sorry if it hurts anyone's feelings but this franchise failed with drafting USA born players outside the top 5-7 picks. That is pointless and will not win you a cup imo (unless it's a gem like Joe Pavelski - but how many cup rings does he have?). I'm talking about a core piece - top 2 center, #1 D-man. Again Brady was drafted 4th so I think he's safe AF. I would study the crap out of the past 15 cup winners and build a team off that, it really is that simple - Top Centers of cup winners:

2008
Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg

2009, 2016, 2017
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal/other (Bonino*)

2010, 2013, 2015
Jonathan Toews, Dave Bolland, Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette

2011
Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Chris Kelly

2018
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Lars Eller

2019
Ryan O'Rielly, Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas

2020, 2021
Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli

2022
Nathan Mackinnon, Nazam Kadri, Andrew Cogliano, Alex Newhook, Tyson Jost

Conclusion: Just look at how many US centers, especially in the top 2. I'm not saying I don't want Norris because he's born in the U.S. He's a damn good center, but I'll take a Canadian center with the same skill set all day because the proof is there. Sens should trade Norris NOW. Pinto can be the 1 American center. Have Ridly Grieg your third line center! Stutzle, (Lindholm, Hertl, or another Canadian center) with Ridly Grieg behind is the way to go

Stuetzle took a clean hit. He needs to be more alert coming through the neutral zone. Brady took it personally and dropped the gloves. It woke the Rangers up. They had been playing okay but without much puck luck up. The tone of the game changed and Korpisalo decided to take an early evening map.

Right up until the final buzzer the Rangers were emotionally intent on punishing the Sens. Brady needs to learn from this experience.
- spatso

Agree. There's a time to drop the gloves and a time to not. Brady shouldn't have to do that. It could've been a guy like Kastelic of McEwen

Can Korpisalo make a (frank)in save. This guy is an absolute mess right now. Enough is enough.
- OttawaB

His problem is seems to let one bad/weak goal a game in. Can be deflating for a young team.

His problem is seems to let one bad/weak goal a game in. Can be deflating for a young team.
- GrimmdaGoalie

One bad goal doesn't explain 7 unanswered goals against on home ice. This team's inability to handle momentum swings is verging on catastrophic. Just look how they welcomed Sogaard... Chabot and Chychrun butcher a 2-on-2 rush and completely hang him out to dry. The goaltending could be better, but where is the pushback? This team needs to start learning how to support each other more effectively on each shift, because they're still nowhere close to being the sum of their parts

His problem is seems to let one bad/weak goal a game in. Can be deflating for a young team.
- GrimmdaGoalie

it is often more than just one bad goal a game he lets in...

Building off my earlier points ----

Curtis Lazar (I wanted Anthony Mantha), Colin White (I wanted Travis Konency), Logan Brown (I was excited but Charlie McAvoy was right there! Same with Chychrun)

Even Tyler Boucher. This stupid regime drafted way too many American born players looking to get a certain style of player (that really didn't pan out!)

His problem is seems to let one bad/weak goal a game in. Can be deflating for a young team.
- GrimmdaGoalie

100%

Korps is a good back up but for his price and the way he lets in those weak goals at key times (well said by everyone here) then they need to look at other options.

Key question is - would you trust he can win you a playoff series or get you to a cup finals? I have my doubts. He's still a bit young/inexperienced in goalie years, but it's about time for him to show up and demonstrate to everyone that he's a legit #1 goalie. This isn't an injury issue like some goalies

where the F*** was Pierre Dorion selecting Roby Jarventie over John Peterka in the second round in 2020. Tim Stutzle's countryman. I could scout better than these idiots.

Building off my earlier points ----

Curtis Lazar (I wanted Anthony Mantha), Colin White (I wanted Travis Konency), Logan Brown (I was excited but Charlie McAvoy was right there! Same with Chychrun)

Even Tyler Boucher. This stupid regime drafted way too many American born players looking to get a certain style of player (that really didn't pan out!)
- AlfieisKing

There are many great examples of US born players. You're sounding like Don Cherry vs Swedes only you sub in Americans. Tons of quality American born players around the league.

If you were so correct in your picks, why aren't you managing some hockey team somewhere? Hindsight is 20/20. Most draft picks never really pan out.

And as for "this stupid regime" ...... they are all gone now. There is no more "this". It is a new regime.

As for Jarventie vs Peterka, it was a coin flip. Peterka playing in an inferior German league putting up big points while on a line with Stutzle. Jarventia playing in more advanced Finnish/Swedish leagues with better competition and putting up better numbers while playing on a line with ???? no one in particular.

Also, Peterka gets a chance to play in Buffalo's top 6 (Cozens and Benson). While there is no hope for Jarventie to play on Ottawa's top 6 .... who is he replacing .... Tkachuk, Stutzle, Giroux, Batherson, Norris, Tarasenko, Pinto, Greig, Joseph ..... I would argue that Peterka doesn't crack the top 9 in Ottawa, so he'd be still in the AHL if he were in Ottawa. Jarventie has only seen 7 games, so has he really seen any significant tryout? Meanwhile he "marinates" in Belleville putting up good numbers and dominating down there.

Shall we go through Ottawa's stellar first round selections of Canadian players .... let's start with Daigle, Chouinard, Peumple, Cowan, Ceci, .... LOL. You just happened to have picked the low hanging fruit in your US choices. Ottawa's bad first round picks look like every other NHL team and they go back to our inception, through every regime in Ottawa.. If it wasn't for the luck of grabbing Alfreddson in the 4rth round, etc. etc. ..... our drafting in the first round is kind of hit and miss.


Alexei Yashin, Alexandre Daigle, Radek Bonk, Bryan Berard (swapped with NYI for Redden), Chris Phillips, Marian Hossa, Mathieu Chouinard, Martin Havlat, Anton Volchenkov, Jason Spezza, Tim Gleason, Jakub Klepis, Patrick Eaves, Andrej Meszaros, Brian Lee, Nick Foligno, Jim O'Brien, Erik Karlsson, Jared Cowen, Mika Zibanejad, Stefan Noesen, Matt Puempel, Cody Ceci, Curtis Lazar, Thomas Chabot, Colin White, Logan Brown, Shane Bowers, Brady Tkachuk, Jacob Bernard-Docker, ) Lassi Thomson, Tim Stuetzle, Jake Sanderson, Ridly Greig, Tyler Boucher.

As I said, most players who are drafted will never make it to the NHL. At the time of being drafted, you never know who those players who make it are going to be.

^^^ OttawaB

Do you want to see this team a stanley cup or stay mediocre in the playoffs?

Yes - I don't like American born players playing in my Top 6 (especially in my top 2 centers) and I don't like players drafted outside the top 5-7. How many U.S. Born players outside those picks have won a stanley cup playing in the top 6 or being a core piece? Goalies I have no problem.

It's not to discriminate - it's quite simple. You want to win a cup - study the F out of the past 20 years and see the patterns. Matthews and Mackinnon likely have the same raw talent but Mackinnon grew up a Pens fan and openly acknowledged his team wasn't as good as Crosby, Malkin, Letang.

If U.S. Born players were leading teams to the cup then I'm drafting them (ONLY 5 captains in the NHL are American, and I'm not crazy about Lee, Okposo). Otherwise the proof is in the drafting! We need to stop pretending like we didn't p*ss away these draft selections in Lazar, White, L.Brown, and now Boucher. If Dorion didn't get Stutzle and Sanderson this team would be in a deeper hole then it is now.

How many in the top 15 players of this franchise were U.S. Born? It's obvious now. Norris is NOT going to work out as a 2nd line center and I can put $ on it. He's soft and injury prone, despite him being a good player + team mate

^^^ OttawaB

Do you want to see this team a stanley cup or stay mediocre in the playoffs?

Yes - I don't like American born players playing in my Top 6 (especially in my top 2 centers) and I don't like players drafted outside the top 5-7. How many U.S. Born players outside those picks have won a stanley cup playing in the top 6 or being a core piece? Goalies I have no problem.

It's not to discriminate - it's quite simple. You want to win a cup - study the F out of the past 20 years and see the patterns. Matthews and Mackinnon likely have the same raw talent but Mackinnon grew up a Pens fan and openly acknowledged his team wasn't as good as Crosby, Malkin, Letang.

If U.S. Born players were leading teams to the cup then I'm drafting them (ONLY 5 captains in the NHL are American, and I'm not crazy about Lee, Okposo). Otherwise the proof is in the drafting! We need to stop pretending like we didn't p*ss away these draft selections in Lazar, White, L.Brown, and now Boucher. If Dorion didn't get Stutzle and Sanderson this team would be in a deeper hole then it is now.

How many in the top 15 players of this franchise were U.S. Born? It's obvious now. Norris is NOT going to work out as a 2nd line center and I can put $ on it. He's soft and injury prone, despite him being a good player + team mate
- AlfieisKing

Times are changing. The number of Americans in the NHL is now at 29% and rising. The Canadian content has fallen to 41%. Eventually we will see your numbers change as more Americans enter into the NHL. Analysts and fans used to say the same stuff about the Swedes ... they are soft etc. ....... it took time but eventually a Swedish captain (Lidstrom) raised the Cup. I am a Canadian and even I recognize the inevitability of increased American content. Adapt or die.

Times are changing. The number of Americans in the NHL is now at 29% and rising. The Canadian content has fallen to 41%. Eventually we will see your numbers change as more Americans enter into the NHL. Analysts and fans used to say the same stuff about the Swedes ... they are soft etc. ....... it took time but eventually a Swedish captain (Lidstrom) raised the Cup. I am a Canadian and even I recognize the inevitability of increased American content. Adapt or die.
- OttawaB

2023: Vegas - USA born players not drafted in top 5 (Eichel, Kessel there) - NO players in the top 13 in scoring are US born. Even playoff scoring, all top 13 are Canadian outside Eichel (again top 5 pick). Only other 2 - Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson.

2022: All top 9 scorers are NOT American born in regular season: JT Compher is #10 in regular season. Same with playoffs, 0 top scorers were American born.

2021: Only team with some solid USA born pieces (again only depth and not core pieces or top 2 line players). Top 6 scorers in regular season all Canadian or other countries. Blake Coleman and Tyler Johnson are #7 and #9. Next 3 are all Canadian. In the playoffs, top 7 scorers for Lighting were Non-American. Blake Coleman was only US player with more than 8 points in the 21 games played.

So man, the facts are there. Yes we have to adapt, adapt to what a cup contending team should do. If you want to win a cup, let's stop pretending Curtis Lazar was better than Andre Burakovsky and Shea Theodore (both won cups), or that Tyler Boucher will be a better player than Wyatt Johnston. I'm not against taking American players but don't build your core around them is my point (unless you get them in the top 5 or possibly top 7)[/img]