Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Rumours Still Swirling for Sens

Despite the much dryer and shallower NHL UFA pool at this stage of the game, rumours are still swirling about the final destinations of the many vets still without a home in the NHL.

The biggest one I've seen so far is that Peter Forsberg has been talking to Murray. While a home in Detroit, Colorado, and Philadelphia is much more expected, Murray certainly has been trying hard to land vets to take his team to the top. So far, they've mostly been of the cheaper variety. Forsberg, who's 06-07 totals of 13-42--55 in 57 games marks the 34-year old's first sub point-per-game season. With four impact players in the lineup, Paddock would open up far more interesting line combinations, able to ice two scoring threat lines, with the third forward on each of those lines more than likely to raise his totals as well.

Also, the Sun reported that Jason York still has a chance to end his career a Sen. While our defense is looking quite full at the moment, there is still a chance that Schubert could see many games on the left wing, and if York was signed, he, Nycholat and Richardson could split their time between Binghamton and Ottawa this season.

Not much work is left to finalize our roster for this season, but the last few moves could be the most exciting ones yet.

UPDATE - 8:33AM, August 15, 2007: It seems as though it might have all been for show in the end anyways, the Ottawa Citizen reports, and reports quite well.

2 comments:

Ricig said...

The problem with Forsberg is that although you're getting a player playing at a 90 point pace, you're not getting a 90 point player. At some point you WILL have to have a fill-in for him, and for how long? Sure at the top of his game he's still world-class but (and this is besides the games he'll miss due to injury) when he's not at the top of his game at this point in his career he becomes a bad player. Laziness and that trademark chippiness turns to dirty play. Think back to the 2006 Flyers/Sabres series in which he had 2 very solid games (Flyers wins, games 3 and 4) and he was a flat-out liability the rest of the series.

The name Peter Forsberg is intriguing but if I were to make the call for Ottawa, I wouldn't do it. Fine tuning is all you need (if anything), not a distraction.

BnWnG said...

I would hope Forsberg's injuries could be like Hasek's retirement and Olympics bungles - issues of the past that could be outshone. I think some of his willy nilly in Philly could just be a lack of passion for the place, which can be a detriment to players.

Ottawa needs less work than most teams, but with only 11 forwards, and one defender who gets slotted up front, that's not enough. Maybe we could pull up from the minors, but with another Cup run likely, a vet is how Murray would love to be able to go. Plus this season we'll probably see great years from many players who's contracts will be up, wanting to make a good impression for good offers next summer.