Senators Off Season Needs: Defense

I can't say it's surprising that almost a full two weeks into free agency and in the buzz and big-signings of the new NHL, the Sens have accounted for precisely.... 0% of total action. To break it down, that's 0 signings, 0 trades, and 0 dollars of change. Unless of course you count losing Mike Comrie to the depleted Islanders. But Comrie's probably not worth 3.375 for a mere 45 points (unless he can play a full season and keep pacing up closer to 60). And of course there's Tom Preissing returning home to sunny Cali to play with the Kings, and the price for Preissing was likely also too high, but that's the way it goes in the new NHL.

While no new deals have come for the sens beyond signing a few of their prospects, there's plenty that the fans have been clamoring for Murray to do to liven up the shortened off-season. Maybe no big moves will happen, or maybe it's just taking time to find the right mix, taking into account the fact that we've had 2 months less time to really prepare for free agency compared to the Leafs, Flyers, Avalanche and 11 other teams in the league, and that Murray certainly had no time or thought to what he wanted to do as he coached our Sens further than anyone has in recent history, and only just recently being appointed GM. Right now we'll see how the blue line is looking, and in a while we'll move on to check out our forwards and our men in the crease.

The only change thus far on our defense has been, as mentioned, the loss of Tom Preissing. There has been some concern over the loss of his numbers, but the Sens should be fine. While Preissing led our defense in points with 38, Mezaros, 35, Redden, 36, and Corvo, 37, have the ability to pick up the slack. Of our top 6 defensemen last season, only Volchenkov didn't score 7 or 8 goals. While he did have one of our top +/-, we will likely either obtain a free agent defenseman to slot into the lineup, although no names stand out to me at this time as being candidates for Murray to pursue, and he would likely invest the extra cap in replacing Comrie or saving for the trade deadline, or perhaps bring up Brian Lee or Matt Carkner, as both have matured and developped well.

Most people's concern, however, is that we are very close to the cap. Just over 9 million away seems like a lot, until you realize that we need to sign two more forwards, another defenseman, and a second goalie. That averages out to just over two million apiece. With Schubert, Kelly, and Emery headed to arbitration, and Emery unlikely to be as affordable as that 2 million average, it's a hard crunch to put our team together, let alone to give us some room to breathe and potentially make some mid-season moves, like how we brought in Comrie during our injury days last season to help.

So the common thought is that we need to shift some payrolls, and on the blue line there's only one name that comes up: Redden. As our assistant captain, Wade's put up some powerful numbers. He had seasons as one of the best tape-to-tape passers and powerplay quarterbacks, but he has slid of late. Corvo and Preissing took up the first powerplay unit, while Phillips and Volchenkov were our number 1 defensive pairing. He's grown sluggish and seems to have lost his passion for the game, despite the love most Sens fans still give him. His 6.5 million next year is the biggest of any Sen, and it might be time for him to go. But all does not bode well.

Redden's no-trade clause makes it unlikely that he would want to move from his longtime home in Ottawa, where he also has a chance next year to capture the Cup, especially not to a less hockey-passionate franchise, as befits most teams that have the cap space for him. The lone chance we really stood of finding a team in need of defensive bolstering, with the same hockey passion as us, and for whom he would waive his no-trade clause is now gone. Edmonton, much closer to Lloydminster, SK, than Ottawa, Redden's hometown, has been looking for good blue-liners ever since they traded Pronger. They also had the cap space. Now they've traded for Joni Pitkanen and signed Sheldon Souray, and Redden no longer seems to be wanted or needed, and we look to be stuck with him, for better or for worse.

There are still a few teams that might want Redden though. Tampa has only signed four defensemen, and has been looking to improve on the 3.16 GAA they posted last season, but they only have 10 million left to play with. Chicago would look to be a bit more needy with the same four on defense, but only two earning over 1 million (at 1.4 apiece), and with the team having almost 12 million to play with. While they have six D men signed and are working on Paul Martin, with 13 million left and their annual tradition of hemorrhaging their top blue liners still intact, New Jersey might have some faint interest, but most of that cap will likely be used to keep Zach Parise put. Washington and Atlanta, with roughly 10 and 20 million left to spend respectively, and not-so-impressive defensive units, represent another route which we could follow. Lastly, the rebuilding Islanders have the highest chance of being an avenue, as they have a full front lineup, 16 million to spare, and need themselves a bona fide lead defenseman. However, despite all these teams that might shop for Redden, in the end that no-trade clause will likely be the nail in the coffin on any plans to move him.