Trade rumours spark concern in Sensland. Antoine Vermette for Kevin Bieksa or Sami Salo? No.. Neither are worth it..
.
I’m not an anxious person. In most aspects, I’m just a regular Canadian girl who enjoys the summer but always anticipates skating season. One of my most favourite hobbies includes hanging with friends and family, drinking beer whether it be from the Maritimes, Western Canada, or imported from accross the sea, smoking some ganja and most importantly, while I am doing all of this, I am WATCHING HOCKEY. I especially enjoy watching the Ottawa Senators because they have been my team since I can remember and they have a number of great players I truly admire.
.
There have been many exciting times in Ottawa in recent years and there are still many more amazing events approaching swiftly. From making a Stanley Cup Final debute to hosting the draft and now to hosting the World Juniors, hockey is almost as much of “the talk of the town” as it is in Chicago.
.
I am most excited to witness the first three regular season games of the Ottawa Senators’ schedule which are the two games against the 2008 Eastern Confrence Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the 2008 Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings. Since Redden became a Ranger, I am now extremely pumped to watch how the Ranger-Senator rivalry will build this year. I am very excited to see the Capitals play the Senators because the Sens have not beat the Caps since last year’s pre-season. One would have to go back to the 2006-07 season to find a regular season win against Washington. And obviously, the Montréal-Ottawa battles will just continue to nurish the competitiveness among the north east division. Even though there are fewer games against Montréal, Toronto, Buffalo and Boston, I am uber happy about the Sens and their divisional rivals meeting the CANUCKS FLAMES AND OILERS twice this season. Although it is not very fair to the teams in the States, I just can’t help my excitement grow larger as each day gets me closer to seeing Iginla and Luongo come back to Scotiabank Place, and the Bell Centre.
.
HOWEVER! All that being said, I am becoming anxious instead of excited. Why? Because I read trade rumours spurring facts about Ottawa Senator center Antoine Vermette being the best trade bait for a puck-moving defenseman. I urge Brian Murrey to hold off from the temptation of getting other goodies in exchange for Vermette. I am sure Murrey is aware of how valuable Vermette is to this team! We have more centres than we can handle. And we have Kelly signed long term. And Spezza and Fisher are both locked up for over half a decade, both taking a nice chunk from the cap hit each season. So it would look like there is no room left for Vermette. But I look at this team and I can’t help but see a significant difference in the way it is built if we lose Vermette. Yes, we have more than enough great penalty killers. And yes, Fisher and Spezza can win face-offs. Kelly can play with anyone. Vermette’s role in previous years has been winning face-offs, killing penalties and establishing a chemistry with Kelly. And it might not hurt the team as much as I forsee it to hurt the team. Vermette is somewhat replacable. But OMFG! Trading Vermette for Bieska IS NOT FREAKIN’ WORTH IT! Vermette is potentially worth 3.5 to 4 million dollars a year. I would pay him that! I think he is vital! KEY KEY KEY! I would have liked to keep Cory Stillman if we trade Vermette. But that can’t happen!
.
Just tell me how the Sens are going to improve their depth and secondary scoring if we get Bieska or Sami Salo and ship off Antoine? That’s 20-25 goals that we want Mike Fisher, Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Chris Kelly to score? Umm.. As much as Ottawa’s top line scores, I just don’t see Alfie being a 50-goal-man, Heatley being a 60-goal-man, and Spezza being a 40-goal man. And if they ARE, then maybe we won’t have to worry about having one top line and three fourth lines. But Vermette is a player that allows a third line to be a second line. He is a reliable face-off man when you’re short-handed. I just see much more positives in Vermette remaining a Senator then slightly improving our back-end scoring. Lee and Nycholat have barely showed their potential on a power play. Redden’s job can be done. And soon before we know it, Eric Karlsson will be there and losing Vermette for a guy who will eventually be replaced by Karlsson screams WASTED MONEY AND TIME to me.
.
I see the Sens still being a Championship team if they keep Vermette. If we lose him, I have no idea where the scoring is going to come from beyond Heatley, Alfredsson, Spezza and Fisher.
.
I know it is foolish to give all the money to the top fowards. Defense is just as, if not more important. Ottawa is barely spending any money on defense. But I mean, I’m prolly just crazy, but since we have three elite defensive defensemen, why not try risking one on the power play now and then? I mean, I might have just been hallucinating when I watched about 77 out of 82 Sens games this season, but didn’t good things happen when Phillips and Volchenkov played with Spezza, Heatley and Alfredsson??? And I like the way Phillips and Volchenkov kill penalties with Vermette, Fisher and Alfredsson. I think Phillips can be trusted on the power play now and then. He does not have a great shot from the blue line though. Alfie has referred to Volchenkov as “our sniper,” which is perhaps accurate now that Corvo is no longer a Senator. I think Phillips and Volchenkov average about 21 – 23 minutes of ice time. I’m glad they aren’t over-worked to 25-30 minutes. But playing 30 seconds or one minute on the power play can always be an interesting experiment. The main reason they don’t play on the power play is becuse they are needed when a penalty comes. To kill it. But now that we have Jason Smith, we could perhaps try to put one or both Philly and Volchie on the power play lines. I don’t really know what I’m talking about; I’m just expressing random ideas about how to cope with the lack of offense on the blue line. Heh, once Fisher improves on his accuracy, I really hope he can use that 105.5 MPH shot of his on a power play. In the meantime, we make due with what we have: Schubert, Meszaors, Lee, Nycholat, Bell. Alfie is point man on the power play too.
.
But no matter who we get in return for Vermette, I feel the player just won’t be good enough to help this team get back to being the elite team it was a year ago. I have a feeling that our power play, even if Hartsburg tries extremely hard to coach a great power play, the Sens will still be mid-pack with the man advantage. The key to having a successful power play is to have two effective lines. Ottawa relies so heavily on the top line that they have much less of a chance to score because there is only one line that can actually create offensive opportunities with the extra man. That is why Vermette should stay. With Vermette, Fisher and Neil/Kelly as a second line power play, chances didn’t really come. Cory Stillman came around in Febuary and all of a sudden, our power play got red hot. Without Vermette, I think one of the three Pizza boys will have to help the second line out.
.
I am going to introduce my insane proposition. I’m willing to give up a star player in exchange for secondary scoring and back-end scoring. It only fits too well. Stooli on the Sens Underground brought up the problematic topic of Ottawa’s long term cap hit. There is a problem. Most of the money is going to the stars Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Mike Fisher. Heatley is a 7.5 cap hit, Spezza is a 7 cap hit and Fisher hits 4.2 each year. Alfredsson is currently making around 3.8, I believe. But he will be able to opt out of that contract next year. Alfredsson is the most important player on this team. If the Ottawa Senators ever win the Stanley Cup in this dynasty, Alfredsson will most likely win the Conn Smyth Trophy. If Brian Murrey wants to keep this team similar, (Alfie’s team) and Alfie chooses to opt out of his current contract which basically makes him the best bargain in the league besides Henrik Zetterberg, Brian Murrey will have to dish some more riches to the captain. Will we have enough cap hit for Alfie next year?? If we sign Vermette and Meszaros, we probably won’t. But I have a solution. I have a crazy solution: Trade Jason Spezza.
.
I’m sorry, I just don’t want 7 million going to that guy each year if he can’t be a go-to guy without Alfredsson and Heatley. Spezza must go before the end of Febuary ‘09 or else he WILL be an Ottawa Senator for the following 6 years, taking 7 million each year. How then, will we be able to afford Alfredsson? And what about the eventual contracts we will have to sign in Cody Bass and maybe finally a decent goalie? What about keeping Anton Volchenkov in two years? Chris Phillips in 3? Spezza’s no-trade kicks in a year from now. Heatley and Alfredsson are a fine top line and they are players who make everyone around them better. As Stooli said on the Sens Underground, even though Spezza and Heatley are sooooo good together, they turn each other into one dimensional players. If Spezz developes his defensive game, I will not have a problem keeping him. Because then he can really replace Vermette in all aspects of the game, whether he kills penalties or not. Break up the Pizza boys and have at least two good effective lines. If not, Spezza can go, and we can get both a good second line/third line forward who can score and a decent puck-moving defenseman. And Alfie and Heatley will be just fine with Fisher centering them. Sure – they won’t be the top point-producing line in the league, but really, as long as we win games, there is no need to be the absolute best.
.
Over all, I feel more uneasy about losing Vermette than losing Spezza or Meszaros. I just have this feeling that our face-off percentage will be no where near what it has been the last two years if we lose Vermette. I think trading Vermette will save us money in the short term. Trading Spezza will save us much more money in the long term. But whatever. It is not up to me. Brian Murrey is the one who is in charge. I really hope he keeps Vermette.