Official Ottawa Senators Thread

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1064890618218835968

Duchene's having a heck of a start to the season (27 points in 21 games, 6th in the league in scoring) but we're talking about a guy who turns 28 years old in January who's scored at a 55-point pace for the past 4 seasons. That contract would be insane.

 

[Zee]

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1064890618218835968

Duchene's having a heck of a start to the season (27 points in 21 games, 6th in the league in scoring) but we're talking about a guy who turns 28 years old in January who's scored at a 55-point pace for the past 4 seasons. That contract would be insane.

True, but this is the Senators we're talking about, they'll never be in danger of going over the cap, so they can afford to have albatross contracts on the books.

 

[Kin]

Duchene's having a heck of a start to the season (27 points in 21 games, 6th in the league in scoring) but we're talking about a guy who turns 28 years old in January who's scored at a 55-point pace for the past 4 seasons. That contract would be insane.

I see what you're saying but I'm not sure I agree. Let's say, for the sake of argument that Duchene cools off a bit and finishes the year with, oh, 65 points or so with 25 goals or thereabouts. Then, let's say that there's sort of a general consensus that his 16-17 year was kind of a freak outlier that doesn't really reflect who he is. So then who is he? Ignoring 16-17 and figuring the numbers for this year we just did would give him a four year average of around 61 points per 82 games, 26 of those points being goals.

So what would a 28 year old UFA C with those numbers fetch on the open market? I think a few UFA's from this year tell us that between 8-9 million is, if not a great use of money, at least somewhat in line with what we could expect.

For one, Paul Stastny. His four year average would be around 54 points per 82 with only 17 goals and he's 32. He got 6.5 million.

Then, JVR. JVR's four year average pre-contract is 58 points per game with 30 goals. He's 29. He got 7 million.

Then you have your friend and mine, John Tavares. His 4 year average pre-UFA is 79 points per 82 with 35 goals. He signed for 11 million but was offered supposedly as high as 13.

So, again, a 60+ point 25 goal centre who's 28? I don't think it's at all insane to suggest that what Ottawa would be paying here is more or less what it would cost to sign him in the off-season. UFA dollars aren't always the best spent but that is realistically what Ottawa has to negotiate against with the knowledge that there's a huge recency bias here so if Duchene doesn't slow down and ends up with 70 or even 80 points then it's pretty likely to crowd out his less good years even more.

I think this is Ottawa deciding that they can't afford another summer of losing their top player and just paying a little on the high side of what the market would probably kick out anyway.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Duchene's having a heck of a start to the season (27 points in 21 games, 6th in the league in scoring) but we're talking about a guy who turns 28 years old in January who's scored at a 55-point pace for the past 4 seasons. That contract would be insane.

I see what you're saying but I'm not sure I agree. Let's say, for the sake of argument that Duchene cools off a bit and finishes the year with, oh, 65 points or so with 25 goals or thereabouts. Then, let's say that there's sort of a general consensus that his 16-17 year was kind of a freak outlier that doesn't really reflect who he is. So then who is he? Ignoring 16-17 and figuring the numbers for this year we just did would give him a four year average of around 61 points per 82 games, 26 of those points being goals.

So what would a 28 year old UFA C with those numbers fetch on the open market? I think a few UFA's from this year tell us that between 8-9 million is, if not a great use of money, at least somewhat in line with what we could expect.

For one, Paul Stastny. His four year average would be around 54 points per 82 with only 17 goals and he's 32. He got 6.5 million.

Then, JVR. JVR's four year average pre-contract is 58 points per game with 30 goals. He's 29. He got 7 million.

Then you have your friend and mine, John Tavares. His 4 year average pre-UFA is 79 points per 82 with 35 goals. He signed for 11 million but was offered supposedly as high as 13.

So, again, a 60+ point 25 goal centre who's 28? I don't think it's at all insane to suggest that what Ottawa would be paying here is more or less what it would cost to sign him in the off-season. UFA dollars aren't always the best spent but that is realistically what Ottawa has to negotiate against with the knowledge that there's a huge recency bias here so if Duchene doesn't slow down and ends up with 70 or even 80 points then it's pretty likely to crowd out his less good years even more.

I think this is Ottawa deciding that they can't afford another summer of losing their top player and just paying a little on the high side of what the market would probably kick out anyway.

When was the last time you checked Orr Hockey Group or CAA's website for job openings as a player agent?

 

[Kin]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/eugene-melnyk-suing-john-ruddy-and-trinity-over-failed-joint-venture-at-lebreton-flats

Melnyk is now suing the guy he was supposed to be working on an arena plan with for 700 million. This is a day after a report in the Citizen said the plan was falling apart because Melnyk had "wildly unrealistic" ideas about who was actually going to be paying for the arena.

So, yeah, Ottawa. Good times.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

At what point does the league have to step in and say "Hey Eugene, maybe owning a NHL team just isn't for you" and why wasn't that 12 months ago?

 

[Bill_Berg]

I used to hate the Senators. Now I love them.

 

[bustaheims]

At what point does the league have to step in and say "Hey Eugene, maybe owning a NHL team just isn't for you" and why wasn't that 12 months ago?

Or basically any other point in the last decade? They've had so many opportunities, between his SEC violations and his public blowups...

 

[dappleganger]

At what point does the league have to step in and say "Hey Eugene, maybe owning a NHL team just isn't for you" and why wasn't that 12 months ago?

Or basically any other point in the last decade? They've had so many opportunities, between his SEC violations and his public blowups...

Because it's hard to find takers for a business that loses millions of dollars a year that also require hundreds of millions of dollars for a new arena.

 

[ZBBM]

I still don't understand why the sens can't simply be absorbed by the Markham Waxers and everybody just moves on.

 

[L K]

At what point does the league have to step in and say "Hey Eugene, maybe owning a NHL team just isn't for you" and why wasn't that 12 months ago?

Or basically any other point in the last decade? They've had so many opportunities, between his SEC violations and his public blowups...

Because it's hard to find takers for a business that loses millions of dollars a year that also require hundreds of millions of dollars for a new arena.

At this point I feel like Ottawa would pay for the arena if melnyk leaving was part of the deal.

 

[bustaheims]

At what point does the league have to step in and say "Hey Eugene, maybe owning a NHL team just isn't for you" and why wasn't that 12 months ago?

Or basically any other point in the last decade? They've had so many opportunities, between his SEC violations and his public blowups...

Because it's hard to find takers for a business that loses millions of dollars a year that also require hundreds of millions of dollars for a new arena.

And yet, the league manages to sell teams that aren't involved in legal disputes with relative ease - and has groups willing to fork over $500M - far more than a franchise is actually worth - just for the right to have a team in a city that doesn't already have one.

If Melnyk wanted to sell or the league forced him out, they'd find buyers.

 

[Deebo]

And yet, the league manages to sell teams that aren't involved in legal disputes with relative ease - and has groups willing to fork over $500M - far more than a franchise is actually worth - just for the right to have a team in a city that doesn't already have one.

If Melnyk wanted to sell or the league forced him out, they'd find buyers.

Is there actually a way he can be forced out?

Can he actually be forced to sell?

 

[bustaheims]

Is there actually a way he can be forced out?

Can he actually be forced to sell?

I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if the BoG has some sort of measures they can use to force someone out. My guess it's basically the nuclear option that they'd only consider in absolute worst case scenarios (which, really, as bad as this is for the team, is not that).

What they can do is a less procedural measure, and more of a 'freeze-out'/strongly suggest to him that he should sell in the kind of way that people are strongly encouraged to resign.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/leahflame/status/1070535213275467776

 

[herman]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/eugene-melnyk-suing-john-ruddy-and-trinity-over-failed-joint-venture-at-lebreton-flats

Melnyk is now suing the guy he was supposed to be working on an arena plan with for 700 million. This is a day after a report in the Citizen said the plan was falling apart because Melnyk had "wildly unrealistic" ideas about who was actually going to be paying for the arena.

So, yeah, Ottawa. Good times.

https://twitter.com/ctvottawa/status/1075065062627467264

According to the countersuit, "CSMI's and Melnyk's true aim is to have the City of Ottawa or Trinity fund and build the $500 million event centre for the Ottawa Senators hockey team, with the Senators getting 30 years' free rent. CSMI also wants the valuable naming rights and an unreasonable degree of control over the Lebreton project."

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Merry Christmas sens fans!

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/sammich_blt/status/1075082865979940866

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Remembe Randy Lee? Ottawa's assistant GM who was accused of sexual harassment and the team steadfastly stood by him for awhile until they fired him? Well he plead guilty to that offence today:

https://ottawasun.com/pmn/sports-pmn/hockey-sports-pmn/ex-senators-executive-pleads-guilty-to-harassing-driver/wcm/7707f4d3-555a-4a49-815e-8d1dab5e7b38

Anyway there's a little tidbit at the end of the article that seems like something the league might want to look into:

Without going into detail, Desmond alleged the Senators are liable because they continued to employ Lee despite being aware of him doing similar things in the past.

 

[Kin]

This didn't get mentioned but i thought it was pretty funny nonetheless:

https://twitter.com/JSportsnet/status/1093327702877188096

"You guys, just wait, our rebuild is only going to take a year or two and then I'll totally spend to the cap"