Cornwall Ontario – The Ottawa Senators bit first in the trade deadline sweeps dumping D man Dion Phaneuf to Los Angeles in what clearly is a cap deal. The Sens will save at least $5M depending on what happens on with Marion Gaborik.
Gaborik, who’s seen far better days in his career is on the books for three more years. The Sens also retained part of Dion’s salary, but still will save money. They also swapped Nate Thompson and picked up C Nick Shore in the deal.
Shore is an intriguing piece as he has the potential to replace the production of the soon to be traded Derick Brassard.
Team owner Eugene Melynk has been upfront that the team will be shaving budget as the revenues simply are not there. The hope is that a new rink in Otown will see revs rise, but of course there’s no guarantee that is what will result.
The buzz is to make them lean and mean, but still saleable to maximize a return for Mr. Melnyk.
The bigger question is what the team will have to give up to get someone to take on the Bobby Ryan contract?
And while some see this trade as an opening to retain Captain Erik Karlsson, his days in Ottawa also seem numbered.
What do you think Sens fans? You can post your comments below.
IMHO the problem is Melynk. He continues to say Dorion is the hockey guy. Maybe, but who is pulling the puppet Dorion’s strings? Simple answer….Melynk. If Melynk hired Dorion to be GM and his hockey guy he should let him do his job.
Hugger I think you’ve find that it’s pretty common for an owner to have input to varying degrees when the spend hundreds of millions on a major sports franchise 😉
Agreed to a point. But why bother then having a GM if the moneybags isn’t going to let him / her do their job?
SO you have someone to blame and fire when you stink out 😉
Fer sure. As the saying goes “hired to be fired.”
And the cleansing continues……….Chris DiDomenico for Ville Pokka
And now Eugene Melynk has “appointed” himself president and CEO. This comedy gets sadder and sadder by the day. Gary Bettman must be thinking “WTF is Melynk doing?”