There hasn't been a whole heck of a lot of change for the Ottawa Senators this summer. They've traded a guy (Alex Auld, to the Stars). They've signed a guy (Alex Kovalev, to a two-year, $10 million contract). They've drafted some guys (including giant Jared Cowen in the first round). But for the most part, the roster remains exactly the same as the one that missed the playoffs last year. Raise your hands if you're excited about that, Sens fans.
I didn't think so.
All this stagnation comes despite the promise of some pretty drastic change for the team this summer which came in the form of a trade request from a certain player -- we'll just call him Dany Doucheley. A lack of interest in this player (I don't know why; possibly because of his assfacedness, but that's just a guess) has put the Sens' organization and the team's fans in a holding pattern all month.
With the lack of movement from the real Sens, I'm passing my time with the fake Sens: I am the team's General Manager in the big NHL Re-Draft going on at Cycle Like the Sedins.
In case you don't know, the concept of the NHL Re-Draft is this: we are, as the name suggests, re-drafting the league one player at a time, with the ultimate goal of building a new roster for our teams that works within the NHL's current salary cap. The new teams will then face off in an NHL 10 simulation. The idea came out of a post by James of Cycle Like the Sedins, who asked: if you could build your team around one player, who would you pick? From there, the re-draft developed into a full on 30-team fantasy draft, with each team represented by one fan/blogger GM. I was reading some of the blog posts about this and I noticed that no one had stepped up to claim the Sens, so I volunteered.
And now here I am. CLTS held a draft lottery to determine the order of picks, and the Sens ended up with pick #24 (the order will snake in round two, putting me at #7). On Monday, I used my first pick to take Rick Nash. I see him as exactly the type of player I'd like to build my team around and his cap hit is a very reasonable $5.4 million (his new deal kicks in for the 2010-2011 season), which I hope will give me plenty of room to build around him.
I think my next priority will be to get a solid goaltender, if I can. As a Sens fan, I am far too familiar with the stress, pain, and losing that comes with having a weak spot between the pipes. I'm also hoping to build a more balanced offence than the real Sens have, and ideally a more mobile defence too. The problem, of course, is how I'm going to brainwash the 29 other GMs into giving me the players I want. :)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Summer With the Sens
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Oh Dany Boy
I could probably get shot for this in Buffalo right now, but the non-Sabre I most enjoy watching is Dany Heatley. The man totally owns us. If the rest of his team played us as well as he does, the Sens would've been playing in the Conference Finals last season. He just amazes me. He comes seemingly out of nowhere and he puts the puck in exactly the right spot to beat the goaltender. Even during last week's brawl I was a little relieved when Henrik Tallinder managed to find Heatley so they could finish out the fight with their arms wrapped harmlessly around each other. (Double bonus since Hank is one of two or three Sabres that I absolutely, positively do NOT want hurt for the playoffs.) I know there are some mixed opinions about his role in Dan Snyder's death and the legal consequences - or lack thereof - he had to deal with so I won't go into that except to say that I'm glad he seems to have found a place to re-settle in Ottawa. It was hard to watch the chemistry between the Dan(n)ys Heatley and Briere during the All-Star game and not salivate over the idea of them on the same regular line. (For us, Senators fans, not for you.)
This season I've also loved watching Vincent Lecavalier. In the past I've always focused more on Martin St. Louis because I'm tickled by how small he is, but this year Vinny has had an awesome fire in his eyes when he's played against us. There have been a few games the Lightning have come close to winning on his will alone, I think. He just seems like a guy willing to put his team on his back if necessary and that kind of player is so much fun to watch.
Over in the Western Conference I enjoy what I manage to see of Scott Niedermayer and Jarome Iginla. I'd love to both of them more often.
