I’m driving to work, listening to sports talk radio, errr, I mean Sens-talk radio crunched between ads with that Alarmforce guy s aying “Alarmforce” in a weird way. AL-AR-M-for-ce. Like whats up with that?
And if thats not bad enough, every morning is starting to feel like groundhog day. Seems as though the city of Ottawa has collectively banned against the winter season (fair enough, too cold), OC Transpo (also fair, but glad the strike is over) and Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray (huh?).
Why, I ask the faithful StayClassy nation? I can’t understand this one.
Let’s pretend Bryan Murray didn’t build the Anaheim Ducks into Stanley Cup Champions less than two years ago. And let’s pretend he didn’t guide the Senators to their first modern Stanley Cup final appearance (how ironic is that, anyways?). Let’s pretend he’s an NHL general manager, new to Ottawa weeks before last summer’s NHL Entry Draft.
Hockey fans worldwide and more specifically, Ottawans have short memories and an even shorter tolerance for losing seasons. I understand the Canadian hockey markets demand success and the pressures that revolve around that. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But how can we dismiss Bryan Murray this quickly?
Yes, the Senators haven’t acquired their elusive puck moving defenseman (but neither has any other GM this season) and they still don’t have a franchise goaltender (so… they aren’t available at BulkBarn, across from the Jason Spezza turnover aisle?). But consider the following:
Lack of trades
This isn’t an Ottawa/Bryan Murray thing – this is an NHL thing. There are more OC Transpo busses back to work than trades this year. Translation for those of you who don’t reside in Ottawa: that means trades are few and far between. And when they happen, its no-name prospects going back and forth. People can say Murray isn’t doing anything and while I won’t profess to knowing what exactly he’s doing, you could say the exact same about other GM’s around the NHL.
Ridiculous contracts
We’ve seen some ridiculous contracts being thrown around over the last few summers (my buddy Fantana wrote a good column on this last week). I’m sure you’re already thinking of a few now. And thats good, because no matter who you are thinking of, not one of those inflated contracts belong to the Senators (well, except Mike Fisher… but let’s not go there for now). Think of Scott Gomez’ $32.25 Million/5 years, Wade Redden’s $39 Million/6 years, Mats Sundin’s $10 Million/1 year, Sean Avery’s $15.5 Million/4 years, etc… You get the idea. Murray may not have made the splash we all hoped for (*cough, Brian Campbell cough*), but he certainly didn’t handicap the team with crazy contracts that these teams will be paying for years to come.
Drafting
Part of Ottawa’s slide from Conference favorites to lottery hopefuls reflect some of former GM John Muckler’s poor draft selections. In 2005, Muckler drafted Brian Lee over Marc Staal and Anze Kopitar. And in 2003, Muckler selected Patrick Eaves over Shea Weber and Loui Eriksson. Yes, Muckler’s draft record is good (Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Andreij Meszaros) and I mean real good, but so is Murray’s (Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Joffrey Lupul). Murray drafted Erik Karlsson in the first round last year and that was the best pick they could made. With this summer, the depth of the draft and the number of picks the Senators have, Murray should continue his successful draft record.
Now, if you still want Murray gone, you must explain why. But my point is this: GM’s can’t be judged like players or coaches. I see GM’s in the same vein as various health problems or even injuries. And let’s use an example of a knee injury – Sens Nation should be able to fully grasp (Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher and new to the club from Saturday’s Buffalo Sabres game, Chris Neil). Much like knee injuries, its unreasonable to expect overnight improvements with GMs. Teams can’t rebuild overnight (the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t fare too well this year) and neither can knees. Let’s give Murray two full years of drafts and NHL seasons and then review his work. His track record for success with the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings merits at least that.
Let’s be thankful what what Murray has or hasn’t done for us: no ridiculous contracts/over-paying, start of strong drafting last summer and he hasn’t traded our touted draft picks this year to save his job. That would certainly be the Achilles-Neil.
You stay classy, internet.
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Top 10 breakout stars of the 2009-2010 season
September 23rd, 2009For all the last-minute hockey poolers out there who are putting the finishing touches on their season-opening rosters, this blog’s for you. Last season, any poolers who made some mid to late-round picks like Loui Eriksson (36 goals, 63 points) or Devin Setoguchi (31 goals, 61 points) got some unexpected scoring help and likely did very well in their pools as a result. These types of breakout seasons can literally make or break a hockey pool and become absolutely critical in determining bragging rights as well as some always needed boozing money.
So the question becomes, who will be this season’s Eriksson or Setoguchi? Here’s a look at my top 10 picks for breakout players of the year:
This pick probably isn’t a surprise to anyone, especially since I picked Lucic to make the Canadian Olympic squad. But after watching Lucic make a huge impact in last year’s playoffs, it’s fair to assume that his progress will continue. I also believe he’ll get a little more icetime thanks to the departure of Phil Kessel.
Stay classy, Milan Lucic
I know Andy McDonald is 32 years old and he did score 85 points with Anaheim in 2005-2006. Having said that, this season will be more of a comeback season for Mcdonald, who’s entering his third season with St. Louis but has only played 95 games as a Blue. McDonald was a part of Team Canada’s Orientation camp earlier this summer and I think he’s going to be much healthier this year. Factor in the Blues stellar young talent up front and you’ve got a guy that could potentially score 80 points this season.
Is anybody else still wondering why Nashville gave up on Peverley? He’s like that guy that everyone gives up on too early, kind of like what happened with Martin St. Louis before he got to Tampa Bay. Anyway, Peverley seemed to really fit well with Atlanta’s style of play in the second half of last year, scoring 35 points in only 39 games. Nice! He was also +12 last season with one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Peverley will be a solid mid-round pick in your fantasy draft because he’ll be surrounded with strong players such as Ilya Kovalchuk, Todd White, Bryan Little, Nik Antropov, Colby Armstrong and possibly Evander Kane. Finally, this is also a contract year for Peverley.
Simply put, the Rangers don’t really have a number one centre and somebody has to set up Marion Gaborik. Chris Drury is better suited to be their #2 centre and that’s where Dubinsky comes into play. If penalty minutes get you points, BD will be a great choice, as he picked up 112 PIM’s last season. And in case you really aren’t convinced on Dubinsky yet, he scored 7 game-winning goals last season, which was by far the most on the team.
Stay classy, Brandon Dubinsky
Stamkos took a lot of heat for his slow start to his NHL career but in all fairness, it’s not easy to jump into the NHL as an 18 year old. I actually blame Barry Melrose for Stamkos’ slow start. You see, Melrose’s mullet probably blocked Stamkos’ view of the blackboard and so Stamkos probably had to figure out Tampa’s breakouts and zone-entries on his own. Tampa fans will fall in love with little Steven all over again this season.
T.J. Oshie is one truly exciting and talented player. He’s the leader of the young players on the Blues and he’ll be playing up front with a healthy Paul Kariya, Andy McDonald, Brad Boyes and David Backes. This pick is a slam dunk.
Stay classy, TJ Oshie
I’m a big fan of Drew Stafford and with every passing season, he seems to get better and better. Stafford is a fixture on the powerplay and scored 9 PP goals last season, so you know he’ll see plenty of time on the PP. He averaged over 15 minutes a game last year and didn’t look out of place at all. Keep in mind, he’s 6’2” and only 23 years old, so there’s lots of room for improvement.
Everyone knows that Detroit took a huge hit in the off-season when they couldn’t resign Mikael Samuelsson or Marian Hossa. Then, Jiri Hudler bolts to Russia. Ouch, tough luck for Red Wings fans. The one positive that comes from this, is that it will give guys like Ville Leino a chance to play top-6 minutes. If Leino isn’t available, you may want to consider Justin Abdelkader as a back up.
When Montreal limped into the playoffs last year, they looked like an absolute trainwreck. Very few players actually looked like they cared, but I thought Matt D’Agostini played hard down the stretch. Montreal only resigned him to a one year contract for this season, so D’Agostini has no choice but to make a big impact in La Bell Province. But if you look at Montreal’s depth chart, the only RW’s that are better than him are Brian Gionta and Guillaume Latendresse and I’m not convinced that Latendresse is that much better than D’Agostini.
My final pick is Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux. This kid can flat-out fly and he knows how to score. He scored over 100 points in all three of the years he played in the QMJHL and also looked really strong for the Flyers in the playoffs last year, scoring 5 points in their 6 game series with Pittsburgh.
Stay classy, Claude Giroux
Honourable Mentions: Saku Koivu (ANA), Jonathan Cheechoo (OTT), Blake Wheeler (BOS), David Bolland (CHI), and Kyle Okposo (NYI)
Did I miss anyone? Drop me a line and let me know. Otherwise, when you win your pools in May because of this supremely helpful blog, I’d happily accept any gratuities. In case you haven’t heard the rumours, the Stayclassy writers are horribly underpaid. Burgundy’s hogging all the dough and I’m running low on Sex Panther cologne…
Your reporter in the field,
Fantana
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Posted in NHL Commentary
Tags: Atlanta Thrashers Boston Bruins Brandon Dubinsky Buffalo Sabres Claude Giroux Detroit Red Wings Devin Setoguchi Drew Stafford Loui Eriksson Matt D'Agostini Milan Lucic Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers NHL Phil Kessel Philadelphia Flyers Rich Peverley St. Louis Blues StayClassy.net Steve Stamkos Tampa Bay Lightning TJ Oshie Ville Leino