Management UPDATE: Steve Staios GM and POHO, Dave Poulin Senior VP of Hockey Operations

[Relapsing]

Pacioretty reportedly also wants to go to Florida.

Do they give up more or less of him? Will help evaluate the Senko trade.

 

[HSF]

Hopefully not.

It's time to get players that fit and build a team that works. We already have Batherson and Giroux at RW in the top 6. No need for Tarasenko.

We need a physical, defensively responsible 3rd line winger.

Bring back Stefan Noesen.

ya we need to be better at building around Brady and his play sttyle

 

[Tuna99]

Sens Twitter is unhinged.

They watch a team that sucks, and, during games, shitpost everyone. But when it comes to trade talk, they think all of the players on said team that sucks are good and highly valued around the league.

I don’t follow. How are we supposed to be doing this fandom thing?

If we are supposed to be reasonable nobody would be watching this team

 

[Cosmix]

Hopefully not.

It's time to get players that fit and build a team that works. We already have Batherson and Giroux at RW in the top 6. No need for Tarasenko.

We need a physical, defensively responsible 3rd line winger.

Bring back Stefan Noesen.

No to Noesen! I'd rather have Tarasenko than Noesen on the 3rd line.

 

[Philadelphia Collins]

I don’t follow. How are we supposed to be doing this fandom thing?

If we are supposed to be reasonable nobody would be watching this team

This very bad team still sells out games in Kanata on a weekday, the fanbase are all absolute sickos

 

[Tuna99]

This very bad team still sells out games in Kanata on a weekday, the fanbase are all absolute sickos

Exactly. these are like our kids - only we can scream at them and only we can also think they are the shit. Why else would you be a fan? To be reasonable? No one would buy a ticket to watch this team if reason was what we are supposed to be doing

 

[Senscore]

If Staios beefs a Chychrun trade by all means let's rip into him.


No restrictions but his contract length and salary

 

[Ouroboros]

If Staios beefs a Chychrun trade by all means let's rip into him.


No restrictions but his contract length and salary

Chychrun has a 10-team NTC that could potentially come into play.

 

[Xspyrit]

Florida board saying that was the only place he wanted to go. One poster even said that part of Tank signing here in the first place was that if we weren't making the playoffs he was to be traded to his desired spot. Not pick 1 of 3 teams...his choice of team.

Guess we were stuck in a corner, a bit like in the DeBrincat trade where he only wanted to go to Detroit. This is pretty much a Dorion type situation that Staios had to execute

Of course when there's zero competition to land the services of a player, it reduces the price tremendously. But what's with acquiring players who want to play somewhere else?

Are we really going to be able to sign UFAs who will want to be here? Is it even worse than I thought? Asset management is extremely crucial for us and Dorion royally screwed it up

Not firing DJ Smith immediately when he had the chance was far a far more egregious act than this trade.

When did we really have a chance though? Pretty much every player was against it... Going into the offseason with Dorion was the disaster but new ownership only happened in September... That is the problem.

Some of you guys are reacting like Staois signed Tank to a contract with a NTC, we're still paying for Dorion's mistakes.

If Tank signs here in the summer though, this doesn't look as bad.

Exactly. And people need to be aware that we might for a long time still. We still have a 1st to lose for the Dadonov debacle. Some were in denial for a while but as I have been saying for years, Dorion was an extremely self-sabotaging for his own team. Most of the good things he has done was drafting good players with Top-5 picks and trading a triple Norris winner. These kinda prevented most people to really see what Dorion's work was all about.

Tarasenko was in control of his destiny.. Even if he doesn't re-sign... not bad because we got Tarasenko as a free wallet. At least Dorion didn't give up Jarventie and a 2nd to get him

 

[Senscore]

Chychrun has a 10-team NTC that could potentially come into play.

Not good but not crippling.

I guess we'll see

 

[Xspyrit]

Dorion would have taken on a trash contract instead

Dorion traded Mike Hoffman for Mikkel Boedker and gave up the better pick (5th vs 6th)

That's irrelevant. Keep Tarasenko for the year or wait until crunch time for the Panthers to offer more. The fact that he retained 50% is the cherry on top of this stupid ****** move.

People make too big of a thing with the retention... It expires after the regular season. We're talking about 625,000$... the cap doesn't matter, we have plenty of it.

Convincing him? He clearly only wanted to play where his family is. You're not going to convince him otherwise.

Bryan Murray was revered because he sometimes would do what's best for the player instead of maximizing the return. It's a shame that lesson seems to be lost on many here.

Yeah, and as a result Murray was able to sign some of the best UFAs we ever had... Gonchar, MacArthur, Kovalev, Ruutu, etc and didn't have anybody re-signing UFAs to be like Anderson and Methot for example. There's only Alfie who signed in Detroit (which is more on Melnyk) and Spezza who couldn't take the scapegoating anymore.

Hopefully not.

It's time to get players that fit and build a team that works. We already have Batherson and Giroux at RW in the top 6. No need for Tarasenko.

We need a physical, defensively responsible 3rd line winger.

Bring back Stefan Noesen.

Good target. He's a guy that worked a long time to overcome his injury problems and is now a very useful player.

Joseph - Greig - Noesen would be an awesome 3rd line

 

[JackieDaytona]

So Max Pac wants to go to FLA, and also has a NMC.

This will be the litmus test for Staios IMO - if Patches gets more than Tarasenko did, it means that Staios was unable to get the best return, and that FLA saved its better chips for a (IMO) lesser player because there wasn't enough pressure from Staios.

 

[jbeck5]

So what's the plan here?

Obviously we're sellers right now, but what's the timeline?

Are we trying to get worse before we get better? Do we have to tear things down before we rebuild?

Are we going for the playoffs next year or are we just trying to improve?

What's the timeline? Where does staios see us at this point next year. What about in 2 years?

I'd love to see a structured plan with a timeline of when we plan to be successful and how.

It would be nice to hear something like "we want a big physical fast paced team who is lethal in transition" and "we plan to look to add players that fit this mold over the next 2 years. Next year we plan to compete using this style. In 2 years it's playoffs or bust"

Just some kind of plan ..and then see moves geared towards that plan.

As bad as they were before (Melnyk and dorion), it was nice to hear something about racking up draft picks and once those draft picks are all competing, we'll spend to the cap and make the playoffs"

As shitty as their plan was, there was something to follow.

Now I have no idea what the goal is nor when the timelines are.

It feels like a team in total limbo. Not getting better, not getting any worse....no plan...like what's going on with the direction of this team? What are the expectations of the owner and GM now that they've seen the organization inside and out. Are they confident at the 2025 playoffs? Does more work need to be done that will take longer than a year? What's the plan?

 

[Relapsing]

So Max Pac wants to go to FLA, and also has a NMC.

This will be the litmus test for Staios IMO - if Patches gets more than Tarasenko did, it means that Staios was unable to get the best return, and that FLA saved its better chips for a (IMO) lesser player because there wasn't enough pressure from Staios.

Yup. Gonna be watching that trade closely

 

[flyingfingers]

So what's the plan here?

Obviously we're sellers right now, but what's the timeline?

Are we trying to get worse before we get better? Do we have to tear things down before we rebuild?

Are we going for the playoffs next year or are we just trying to improve?

What the timeline? Where does staios see us at this point next year. What about in 2 years?

I'd love to see a structured plan with a timeline of when we plan to be successful and how.

It would be nice to hear something like "we want a big physical fast paced team who is lethal in transition" and "we plan to look to add players that fit this mold over the next 2 years. Next year we plan to compete using this style. In 2 years it's playoffs or bust"

Just some kind of plan ..and then see moves geared towards that plan.

As bad as they were before (Melnyk and dorion), it was nice to hear something about racking up draft picks and once those draft picks are all competing, we'll spend to the cap and make the playoffs"

As shitty as their plan was, there was something to follow.

Now I have no idea what the goal is nor when the timelines are.

It feels like a team in total limbo. Not getting better, not getting any worse....no plan...like what's going on with the direction of this team? What are the expectations of the owner and GM now that they've seen the organization inside and out. Are they confident at the 2025 playoffs? Does more work need to be done that will take longer than a year? What's the plan?

I think there've been enough "leaks" or rumors about what the plan is:

• The "core" has been identified as Tkachuk, Stützle, Sanderson, Pinto and Greig. These players will not be traded.
• The rest of the roster needs better balance. That means size and stability on the back end (especially on the right side) and forward. To accomplish that, along with an attitude adjustment, the team will listen on any of Chychrun, Chabot, Batherson and Norris. I'd guess that 1, if not 2, of these players will be traded in the next 6 months.
• Figure out goaltending
• Restock the prospect cupboards because it's bleak right now. For sustainable success, they need good young players coming up on ELCs.

So I imagine it's a reset. I bet the expectations are:

2024/25 - be in the playoff mix (92-96pts in the regular season)
2025/26 - make the playoffs
2026/27 - compete in the playoffs

 

[Senator Stanley]

So Max Pac wants to go to FLA, and also has a NMC.

This will be the litmus test for Staios IMO - if Patches gets more than Tarasenko did, it means that Staios was unable to get the best return, and that FLA saved its better chips for a (IMO) lesser player because there wasn't enough pressure from Staios.

You could argue that Florida has less urgency to trade for Pacioretty because they already have Tarasenko, which could depress the return.

 

[slamigo]

I just keep telling myself that we got Tarasenko for nothing and he was apparently pretty open with Dorion about not signing for more than a year and asked for full control over any trade at the deadline (which Dorion agreed to).
So Staios got a couple of picks from a terrible situation. It sucks but he had zero leverage. This is all on Dorion.

 

[Larionov]

What a terrible trade - just a complete whiff on his first transaction. Yeah, yeah - he has a NMC, player held all the cards, just get what you can, blah blah blah.

No. Just no.

Staios just told the whole league that he is an easy mark. Want to push Ottawa around and get us to take your trash offer? No problem - we are good to go. To hell with that - what we should have done is set our price for Tarasenko and if he wouldn't waive to go there, or teams wouldn't meet our price, just keep him. Screw the third round pick - what is more important is establishing the principle that we won't ever panic or be pushed around in trade talks. Keeping Tarasenko would have been short term pain for long term gain - GMs around the league would have admired the fact that he was willing to stick to his guns, and just eat an asset if he had to. In this case it would have been easy - a 2025 3rd is a humiliating offer, a pick that is overwhelmingly unlikely to ever play a game in the NHL. As such, we should have told Florida to stick it up their @$$.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

At least we haven't seen Stutzle + a 2nd for Scott Laughton or some other Derick Brassard esque deal.

 

[redbrick98]

Bad first trade.

Sets a bad precedent for setting prices.

Hoping Staois has some more Yzerman in him next time. Set prices for acquisition and trading and stick to them.

 

[flyingfingers]

Staios just told the whole league that he is an easy mark. Want to push Ottawa around and get us to take your trash offer? No problem - we are good to go. To hell with that - what we should have done is set our price for Tarasenko and if he wouldn't waive to go there, or teams wouldn't meet our price, just keep him. Screw the third round pick - what is more important is establishing the principle that we won't ever panic or be pushed around in trade talks. Keeping Tarasenko would have been short term pain for long term gain - GMs around the league would have admired the fact that he was willing to stick to his guns, and just eat an asset if he had to. In this case it would have been easy - a 2025 3rd is a humiliating offer, a pick that is overwhelmingly unlikely to ever play a game in the NHL. As such, we should have told Florida to stick it up their @$$.

This is a bit of an overreaction. Was the return a little light? Sure. But as you said, the market was limited due to his NMC, so it is what it is.

Staios' first order of business cannot be to posture for other GMs. Look at the situation he's inherited:

• This is a 28th-place team that's going to miss the playoffs for the 7th straight season
• Despite a long track record of losing, the prospect pool is absolutely barren. The former GM traded away our last two 1st round picks, blew another one on Tyler Boucher, and lost an upcoming one because he got busted for lying on a trade call.

The only priority now is to accumulate assets.

This trade gets us a couple of magic beans, probably helps us lose some games down the stretch so we can secure a top-6 or 7 pick in the upcoming draft, and gives up the cap flexibility to get Crookshank and Kleven some games toward the end of the season.

We don't need to establish principles in trade talks; we need to rebuild this disaster of a roster.

Let's also consider who we're talking about. It's Tarasenko. He's a 32-year-old, fairly one-dimensional winger, who's had a good but not great season. We didn't trade Sanderson for a third and fourth here.

Last year Gustav Nyquist went for a 5th. Marcus Johansson for a 3rd. Tarasenko, while a bigger name, isn't in a different league from those guys.

 

[Senator Stanley]

Our general manager defending a trade on the radio, just like old times.

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[PlayOn]

Our general manager defending a trade on the radio, just like old times.

x.com

x.com

Well what’s he supposed to say? “Yes I could’ve gotten more but I decided to take less.”

 

[Larionov]

Our general manager defending a trade on the radio, just like old times.

x.com

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[AchtzehnBaby]