DANIELPALFREDSSON'S OTTAWA SENATORS GM LOG: SEASON 4 PREVIEW MAJOR DOUBLE SIZED ISSUE!!!!!
CHAPTERS
1-
Rules and Settings
2-
Roster Edits and Changes
3-
Season 1 Off Season and Preview
4-
Season 1 Trade Deadline and End Of Season Summary
5-
2015 NHL Entry Draft
6-
Season 2 Off Season and Preview
7-
Season 2 Trade Deadline Update
8-
2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1
9-
2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2
10-
2016 NHL Entry Draft+Off Season Part 1
11-
The Senators Make A Blockbuster Trade!
12-
Season 3 Preview
13-
Season 3 Update 1 (A Trade Is Made)
14-
Trade Deadline+End Of Season Update+DO THE SENATORS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS?
15-
Blackhawks VS Senators Cup Final: Revenge Of The Zibanejad
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GM Danielpalfredsson has agreed to a 4 year extension with the Ottawa Senators. Winning the cup in his final year as GM made GM Danielpafredsson a hot property around the league. Multiple teams came calling, but it seems as if Danielpalfredsson sees himself as a Senator at heart.
Earlier in the year, Eugene Melnyk (known for his penny pinching ways) was initially offering boxes of old Dany Heatley shirjseys and his least favourite racing horse as a signing bonus if GM Danielpalfredsson agreed to stay on with the Senators.
After seeing his Senators win the cup, Mr.Melnyk's wallet grew three times in size, and he gladly offered GM Danielpalfredsson an extension where he'd be paid in real currency and not former player merchandise.
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NHL ENTRY DRAFT: Jared Cowen Crowned King
TRADE WITH LA
Jared Cowen 84oa 4.5R 26yo top 4 D (RFA Rights)
For
The 12th overall selection Bjorn Graps (19yo 3.5G)
Ottawa's internal budget has afforded the LA Kings an easy solution to fixing their top 4 D. Jared Cowen, an RFA asking between 4 and 5 million on a long term deal was dealt to the Kings who are now expected to sign him to an extension.
The King's gave up the 11th overall pick, which the Senators used to select German born defender Bjorn Graps. Graps is a big strong stay at home defender who is seen as a safe pick and a surefire future bottom pairing defender who has a small shot at becoming a top pairing LD to play alongside Karlsson. He is seen as a safe but unspectacular pick.
Cowen should solidify the King's second pairing, and help them get over the hump and back into the Stanley Cup playoffs. For the Kings, Cowen presents a great quick fix to their D problems.
It has been speculated that Ottawa has traded Cowen as a result of their willingness to extend Duncan Keith. The Senators cannot afford to keep both players.
Shortly after the trade took place, it was revealed that LA had extended Cowen to a 3 year 4.8M contract.
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SIGNIFICANT EXTENSIONS
-Kyle Turris 88oa 1st line C PLY
7 year 5.3M Full NTC
-Pageau 81oa 4th Line C
3 year 1.2M
-Prince 83oa 3rd Line LW SNP
2 year 1.9
-Duncan Keith 88oa top 2 LTWD
1 year 6.6 Full NTC
-Lehner 84oa backup goalie
4 years 1.8M
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HERE AND THERE
-Karlsson wins the Norris trophy for the third season in a row.
-Andrew Hammond and Duncan Keith will test the market next year. Cizikas is open to an extension.
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KYLE TURRIS TO RETIRE A SENATOR?
The Senators have inked their franchise forward and first line center Kyle Turris to a massive 7 year extension. This extension will see Turris who is 28 years old remain with the Senators until the age of 35. Turris is seen as a consistent 20 goal 60 point number 1 center who exhibits great two way play.
With players often regressing in their early to mid 30's, this extension could prove risky for the Senators. As a first liner, Turris gets a full no trade clause, so if his level of play plummets, the Senators will have no way to get out of his 5.3M cap hit.
The team could have signed Turris to a shorter deal, but it would have cost them significantly more money per year, and with an internal budget set 10 percent below the cap and a desire to repeat as Stanley Cup champion, the Senators felt the best course of action was to take a risk that might not hurt them until 5 years down the road.
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TRADING PRIVATE RYAN?
There has been some chatter coming out of Ottawa that Bobby Ryan might be traded next season.
Word is that the team would like to take one last shot at winning the cup with their current core, but they are aware that they will have to go through a short re-tooling period as a result of both budget concerns, and older players regressing.
Next year, Travis Konecny comes off of his ELC deal and will likely be in a position to command somewhere between 5-7 million dollars on a long term extension. The Senators know that they cannot keep Duncan Keith after this season and stay within their budget, hence why he was signed to only a one year extension.
Bobby Ryan will be 31 next season and will still have 4 years left on a 7.2M per contract. If the Senators wish to trade Ryan, as per his modified NTC, Ryan can provide a list of 10 teams that he wishes to be traded to.
**If I trade Ryan, because he has a real life NTC, I'll use a randomizer to get the 10 teams he'd like to go to and try and trade him to one of those teams.
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OFF SEASON TRADES
PRINCE SENT TO DALLAS-OTTAWA ACQUIRES COVETED THIRD LINE POWER FORWARD
The Senators swapped Shane Prince and a third round pick with the Dallas Stars for Brett Ritchie. Ritchie is a big physical power forward. Ritchie is great offensively, but his lack of speed has prevented him from becoming a top 6 mainstay in the NHL. Ottawa will likely expect him to play on the Cizikas line and provide a physical edge for the team. Prince is a forward with top 6 potential, but his time is running out, and he wasn't likely to leapfrog over Hoffman and Puempel in Ottawa.
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EDMONDS WINS BINGHAMTON STARTER SPOT-DREIDGER SENT TO ST.LOUIS
With Ty Edmonds performing well at training camp and set to take over as Binghamton's starter, the Senators made an AHL trade. Former third round draft pick G Chris Dreidger was sent to the St.Louis Blues for former 2017 81st overall pick Braden Purtill 71oa 3.5* 21yo and a St.Louis 4th rounder.
Purtill is seen as a long shot of ever making the NHL. There was very little market for Dreidger as most teams have goalies of similar talent in the pipeline.
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EDMONTON OILERS FINALLY GET A STARTING GOALIE
After refusing an extension, Andrew Hammond 85oa starting goalie was traded to the Oilers for a 2nd and a 4th round pick in the upcoming draft. With plenty of cap space, and no starting goalie, the Oilers have a great chance of retaining Hammond as a long term solution to their long standing goalie issues.
Despite winning a cup with Hammond, the view within the team was that aside from the first round, Hammond had an awful inconsistent post season, and had they not pulled him in the Toronto series, they would have lost the cup. The feeling is that they won the cup in spite of Hammond, and not because of him, and that if Lehner preforms poorly during the season, they can address their need for a goalie come the deadline.
Shortly after trading Hammond, it was announce that the Senators had signed veteran backup Jonas Gustavvson 82oa to a one year 1.3M contract. Gustavsson was demoted to the AHL last year, but had a great AHL season putting up a .926 save percentage over 26 games and a .935 save percentage over 7 playoff games.
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BUDGET TROUBLES AHEAD? WILL OTTAWA HAVE TO ABANDON THIS LINE UP AND RE-TOOL?
11 members of Ottawa's 23 player NHL roster are on the final year of their contract. Of those 11, almost half are coming off of cheap bridge or ELC contracts. Konecny, Karlsson, Gravel, Ritchie, Cizikas, and Lazar are all likely to command raises.
Other than Nick Paul (22yo C) and Andreas Englund (21yo LD) the Senators prospect pool features very few players who could conceivably make the jump to the NHL next year.
With an internal budget set at 10 percent below the NHL max salary cap, will the Senators chances at winning with this core be over as soon as next year? Will they have to sell off expensive talent for picks and prospects with the hope that they can re-tool and be ready to compete a few seasons down the road?
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TOP AHL/CHL PROSPECTS
Nick Paul C 22yo 81oa 3.5*
Ty Edmonds G 21yo 80oa 4*
Andreas Englund LD 21yo 79oa 4*
Jarett Meyer LD 20yo 68oa 4*
Julian Gauther RW 19yo 66oa 4*
Nikita Korostelev RW 72oa 20yo 4*
Bjorn Graps LD 19yo 66oa 3.5G*
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FORWARD PREVIEW
Very little has changed for Ottawa's forward lineup.
The line up is exactly the same, minus one trade. With the Dallas Stars seeking a sniper to play alongside Spezza, Prince was swapped for the bigger right handed power forward Brett Ritchie. Ritchie is touted as one of the most offensively intelligent power forward in the NHL, but his lack of speed has prevented him from cracking Dallas' top 6. He's often criticized for his poor defensive play. He is a very strong and physical player, which is what Ottawa felt was missing from their bottom 6.
The major story of Ottawa's offensive core is that Konency is in the final year of his ELC deal and will be looking to improve on his 57 points he put up last year. The Senators will have to decide between offering Konecny a bridge deal in an attempt to keep their budget in check, or exploring the possibility of signing Konecny to a long term deal. Konecny still pencils in as the number 2 center behind Kyle Turris.
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DEFENSE PREVIEW
Despite budget issues, the Senators were able to put together a defensive core that is on par with the one that won them the cup last year. With raises to many key players, the team was unable to keep Jared Cowen and remain within their budget. Cowen's RFA rights were traded to the LA Kings at the draft in exchange for the 12th overall pick.
The Senators hardly feel that the loss of Cowen will hurt their D core this year. Despite his age, Methot is still going strong. Kevin Gravel also made immense strides during the summer and came to camp looking like he was ready to step up and play top 4 minutes.
Gravel will likely be stuck on Ottawa's bottom shutdown pairing this season, but with LD Duncan Keith potentially in his final year as a Senator, and :LD Marc Methot hitting 33 years of age next off season, don't be surprised to see Gravel extended long term and leap frog on to Ottawa's top pairing beside Karlsson.
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GOALIE PREVIEW
Hammond being moved was shocking, the Senators just won a cup with him as their starter. The reality is, had Lehner not been injured against Toronto, he would have been given the chance to start for game 7 of that series and beyond. Hammond was benched after allowing 10 goals in the first two games of the Toronto series. After Lehner was injured, Hammond came up strong in game 7 against Toronto which bought him some goodwill, but most of that goodwill was evaporated as Ottawa was forced to win the cup in spite of Hammonds inconsistent play throughout the ECF and SCF.
Lehner isn't seen as a huge upgrade, but with Hammond refusing an extension, the Senators feel they have nothing to lose by riding Lehner into at least the trade deadline. If needed, the team is open to acquiring a rental in net, but the feeling is if they won with Hammond last year, they can win with Lehner this year.
The Senators are very enthused by Ty Edmonds (80oa 4*) progression. Edmonds accomplished a .917 save percentage over 19 games as the Binghamton Senators backup last year. At the age of 21, Edmonds looks to take over as Binghamton's starter.
Don't expect to see Ottawa look for a long term solution in net via trade as the Senators see Edmonds as their goalie of the future, and think he could win an NHL job in training camp as soon as next season.
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PROJECTED LINES
Hoffman SNP 85-Turris PLY 88-Ryan SNP 89
Puempel SNP 85-Konecny PLY 87-Stone PLY 86
MacArthur TWF 85-Cizikas TWF 84-Ritchie PWF 83
Lindberg SNP 80-Pageau TWF 81-Lazar TWF 81
Dzingel 80
Keith TWD 88-Karlsson OFD 92
Methot DFD 86-Ceci TWD 85
Gravel DFD 84-Borwiecki DFD 80
Wideman OFD 79
Lehner HYB 84
Gustavvson HYB 82
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BONUS: AROUND THE LEAGUE
Now that we're 4 seasons in, let's look around the league and see who the top players are in each position.
Top 10 Forwards In The NHL As Of Season 4
Stamkos 98oa TB
Crosby 97oa PIT
Toews 94oa CHI
Ovechkin 94oa WSH
MacKinnon 94oa COL
Getzlaf 92oa ANA
Malkin 92oa PIT
McDavid 92oa ARZ
Tavares 92oa NYI
Benn 91oa DAL
Top 10 Defenders In The NHL As Of Season 4
Weber 94oa NSH
Suter 93oa MIN
Doughty 92oa LA
Karlsson 92oa OTT
Pietrangelo 91oa STL
Subban 90oa MTL
Reilly 90oa TOR
Murray 90oa CBJ
Hamilton 90oa BOS
Gormley 89oa ARZ
Top 10 Goalies In The NHL As Of Season 4
Quick 93oa LA
Price 93oa MTL
Rask 92oa BOS
Marchand 92oa NJ (Only 21 years old, 5 star potential this is the play Gary Bettman bribed NJ into taking over McDavid....maybe things worked out for them afterall).
Gibson 91oa ANA
Rinne 91oa NSH
Bobrovsky 90oa CBJ
Schneider 88oa NJ
Campbell 88oa DAL
Varlamov 88oa COL
UP NEXT: First Update Of Season Four!