Senators Off Season Needs, Part 2

A whole month now passed, and barely a trickle of excitement has come for us loyal Sens fans, the most die-hard of us who unlike our sport don't take a vacation from our passion. A whole month, and apart from the relief we feel at the re-signing of Christoph Schubert, Ray Emery and Chris Kelly, and a few other signings, the only significant move was the trading of Peter Schaefer to the Boston Bruins for Shean Donovan.

This leaves us wanting more, and with the team needing more. This off-season, we've lost Mike Comrie to the New York Islanders, Tom Preissing to the Los Angeles Kings, and Oleg Saprykin has signed with CSKA Moscow. That leaves three holes in the roster. If one trusts the Sens web roster, it would seem that Donovan will likely replace Schaefer's spot on the bench, and perhaps Lawrence Nycholat will play more regularly with the loss of Preissing. However, as the roster still lists Oleg Saprykin, we can't be sure how trustworthy it is, keeping in mind how often the Sens website is slow to update, although they were quick to put Kelly back on after their announcement this morning.

That still leaves two holes at forward, and with only 4.97 million in cap space, finding more replacements is the daunting task facing Brian Murray. To guard against potential long-term injuries, Murray would like to keep some cap space free, so that he could make a move similar to the one that brought Comrie to us when our ranks were depleted with injuries last winter. As well, while he did not pursue any playoff rentals this past season, keeping additional cap space open to pursue that option this upcoming season might tighten Murray's pursestrings even more.

With Paddock and Murray's similarities, we might expect that Schubert will again see a majority of his games played on the wing, filling one of the two holes up front, and leaving Nycholat to take permanent hold of the last spot on the third defensive pairing. As for the front end, it will take Murray some creativity to pull out an additional forward or two. His current roster and cap troubles mean that Brian McGrattan might see a significant increase in ice time over last season. This would also fit with Murray's trade for Donovan, with both he and Grats able to toughen up the Sens, who seemed completely battered throughout their series with Anaheim.

At the moment the Sens have six right wings, four centres, and one left wing. If Schubert were to move up to left wing again, Paddock would just be able to ice the needed twelve forwards and six defensemen. With only 6 million, this would be an ideal time to look to the Binghamton Senators for a few extra players. While few blinding stars appear on their roster, previously called up players like Danny Bois and Joshua Hennessy, Bingo Sens with NHL experience such as Michal Barinka and Nicholas Dimitrakos, or other prospects on the roster might be called up and given a chance to prove themselves.

As the Ducks proved to us in the finals, it helps to have many youngsters who provide a big punch while only taking a nibble at the salary cap, like Ryan Getzlaf (25-33--58), Dustin Penner (29-16--45) and Corey Perry (17-27--44), each less than a 0.75 million dollar cap hit. Only time will tell if we can find the same kind of diamonds in our Binghamton Senators rough proving ground.

Senators Re-Sign Ray Emery and Christoph Schubert

The Senators have avoided two arbitration hearings in re-signing restricted free agents Ray Emery and Christoph Schubert to three year deals.

Ray Emery's new cap number will be 3.167 million over the three years, after going 33-16-6 (12th) in the regular season, with five shutouts (tied for 6th), a .918 save percentage (tied for 7th), and a 2.47 Goals Against Average (tied for 13th). In the playoffs, Emery went 13-7 (tied for 1st) with three shutouts (tied for 1st), .907 save percentage (13th), and a 2.26 Goals Against Average (10th) to help the Senators fall three wins short of the Stanley Cup.

His price of 3.167 million is both expected and reasonable. It's not that he is as great a goaltender as Ryan Miller, or that he led his team to a Stanley Cup as rookie Cam Ward did, but their deals for 2.667 million are out of date compared to the high bidding of today. While the Sens got much further than the New York Rangers in the playoffs this year, Henrik Lundqvist is a better goalie, and so Emery should not have received the 4.25 million that he did. Emery isn't able to play 70+ games a season, and standing behind one of the best pure defensive pairings in the NHL and some fantastic defensive forwards surely helped Emery this season.

Christoph Schubert's new three year cap number will be 0.883 million, and this is indeed a steal for the Sens, at a time when their cap space is precious. While his 25 points won't impress many, his versatility should. He played in 80 games this season, over 50 of them as a left wing, and the rest in his natural position on the blue line. He also managed a plus/minus rating of +30. Not the best, but usually when it's that high, it's because you are or are a linemate of a top-scoring forward, or part of a top defensive pairing behind a top line. When you're playing on the third and fourth line, out of position, and often in front of the second and third defensive pairings, it's a true accomplishment.

I look forward to the next three seasons, to see Emery mature and earn his keep, and to see Schubert continue to surpass all expectations as one of our best value players.