CFN – Ottawa needed a miracle. They got Jason Spezza and combined with a great team effort including Craig Anderson stopping 49 of 50 shots, Chris Neil scoring 10 hits, and captain Daniel Alfredsson scoring a short handed goal with less than one minute in play led to the double overtime victory!
Those PESKY Ottawa Senators find themselves down 2 games to 1 and back in their series with the Pittsburgh Penguins!
The Sens now have two days to heal and more importantly two days to get Jason Spezza more up to speed. His presence was felt from winning face offs to helping Kyle Turris get more opportunities on the match ups.
If the Senators can win the next game in Ottawa and head back to Pittsburgh with an even series anything can happen.
Tomas Vokoun was no slouch for the Penguins losing his shutout bid in the last minute of play. Sydney Crosby has to find a way to get on the scoreboard for the Pittsburgh.
Boston defeated the Columbus Rangers – wouldn’t it be funny if GM Glen Sather used his two buyouts for Mr. Richards and Nash and recalibrating his team? The Bruins 5-2 victory puts them up 2-0 in their series.
The big buzz already is over next season and the cap coming down. Some talented players may find themselves on the open market.
Top Ten Potential Buy Outs.
Of course Mr. Richards and Nash are at the top of the list as is Vinny Lecavlier and Roberto Luongo. Some bad contracts might be tradeable because a team still has to payout a ton of cash for some buyouts like Ilya Bryzgalov in Philly. Some major poison pills will be swallowed in the off season and why would a team trade for a Luongo and take on that contract. Not being able to trade him this season might be a core reason why Vancouver failed. Montreal ate Scott Gomez deal and look how the team responded all though the irony is that Mr. Gomez is in round two of the playoffs for the Sharks while his former team is hitting the links.
Skimming rosters David Booth’s two years at $4.5 each are rip for buyout; Danny Briere is a candidate to join the Flyers goalie. Would you give Dany Heatley $7.5M? That will be a trade talk question. As good a player as Marion Hossa is now is Chicago’s get out of jail free card on that long term contract if they want to eat some cash.
On Montreal while it would never happen Habs GM Marc Bergevin has to do some deep thinking if goalie Carey Price is simply young or a head case? Will he be a $6.5M goalie because now is the time to trade or dump him if you don’t think the Price will be right for Montreal. Many think Tomas Kaberle is gone, but I might just hang on to him as it’s the last year of his contract, unless you really need his cap space.
The Habs have some other stinky contracts too; but most are tradeable with some finesse.
SJ would be well rid of 2 years at $5M for Marty Havlat. Is he tradeable? Ryan Malone might not be movable for Tampa Bay.
Can Washington win with Alex Ovechkin? Could he be traded? In a Rotisserie league a lot of owners might dump his contract; but in the NHL that would be one awfully big good bye cheque.
JM Liles on the Leafs will be getting the boot along with Mike Komiserak most likely. There’s buzz that they Leafs would rather keep Bozak than Grabvoski….
Ville Leino and his $4.5M cap hit may depart the Sabres.
Could Columbus trade RJ Umberger’s remaining years at $4.5M will he bounce up on this rebuilding club or is he a candidate for buyout? D man James Wisniewski is also a big question mark.
So hockey fans? Which players do you think get the buy out? You can post your comments below.
