FEBRUARY 26, 2021 – Remember the Sens being in a long play off run and seats being empty? Remember that exposed mess of players trashing a coach? Ottawa Sens owner Eugene Melnyk has been tire fired an awful lot and put into place a clear game plan of dumping salary and improving the value of his franchise.
The goal of a down town rink failed, but the team actually is better and going in the right direction. There’s a core taking shape which is crucial. There are veteran assets to trade this season to add to that core.
The team frankly is a year or two of having a play off expectation. Credit to GM Pierre Dorion who has made some shrewd pick ups with budget challenges.
The team wasn’t afraid to commit to Thomas Chabot and won’t be afraid to commit to Brady Tkachuk who’s an utter beast and genuine top 20 NHL player at a very young age.
Their only NMC is Zaitsev who frankly has been better than expected and their veteran minute eater on D.
The team also isn’t saddle with any putrid long term contracts to eat or work around and they have valuable cap space to help teams at the trade deadline with.
The flexibility of the roster frankly makes this one of the most interesting teams in the NHL and looking now at some of their departed veterans like Matt Duchene and Erik Karlsson can one really say Ottawa is worse? Nope.
The Sens have 6-8 top notch NHL caliber players in their system and time on their side. Well done Mr. Melnyk & Dorion.