Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Deja Vu


Did you ever notice that the Over The Edge show never interviews players on the Senators?

Their excuse is that the Senators practice during their time slot, but maybe they have a little more humility than we expected. They spend the better part of the year questioning the players manhood's but don't have the guts to talk to them face to face. Fair enough.

They spent the whole show today continuing their extended campaign to run Dany Heatley out of town by playing a benign clip of the player saying he had an up and down year. Apparently the problem is that Heatley knew his stats off-hand and in Kulka and Versage's minds, that is proof that Heater is not a team player.

I'm getting a little sick of commenting on these two radio jocks but at what point does their personal attacks against Heatley and Jason Spezza completely poison the Team 1200's business relationship with the organization?

The Senators are selling a product to fans and are allowing the Team 1200 the luxury of paying to broadcast the games. When the Team 1200 promotes antagonistic attitudes towards the players day in and day out regardless of the facts and against all good taste and balance, how soon does the day come when the Senators go shopping for another radio outlet to broadcast their games?

There is an expectation of criticism when a team or a player does poorly, but where do you draw the line?

Kulka and Versage go beyond any sense of fairness and balance in attacking Spezza and Heatley day after day based on faulty logic and reasoning.

Only when enough people stop buying tickets to the games to watch a bunch of "spoiled rich hockey players", thanks in part to the incessant diatribes of the Over The Edgers to hate their team, will someone like team president Roy Mlakar wake up and smell something rotten with their business relationship with the Team 1200.

***

A disaster looming?

The notion of Chris Neil going to the Toronto Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free-agent would be a total pie-in-the-face to Bryan Murray and the organization who should have gotten Neil under contract a long time ago.

Letting a heart and soul player go is one thing. Letting him go to your biggest rival is unforgiveable. Murray has painted himself into a corner here knowing that Brian Burke has all the money in the world to poach the toughest player the Senators have ever had.

Just give Neil the 2 million and get it over with. He's worth it off and on the ice.

14 comments:

Canucnik said...

Chris Neil is a Hi-Bred...not a full fledged "Big Fella" and not a productive forward anymore...he's lost a step...is not worth the money...is a perfect fit for Burke/Leafs @ 2M.

Let him go and get his payday. He did everything he could here. He is just... "done here".

Chris Neil does not win hockey games anymore.

Heater is a fifty goal scorer, they can be honest with us and the media. He doesn't care about the Edgers. He knows his life time stats...Danny Heatley is in the top 5 in the world at what he does...He does not need us to defend him.

Anonymous said...

Well who are you going to get to replace him? We need some more grit on the team, and if we loose Neil then we don't really have a fighter. Who is going to step up to the plate to defend his teammates on this team? The only person I can think of is Fish (decent fighter, strong as heck, not afraid to drop the gloves), but he is too injury proned as it is.

Anonymous said...

I agree, let Neil go. $2mill is way too much for him. If we don't have 1-2 kids in our system that can play that kinda game then we're not doing a good job at scouting and development.

BTW, Neil was good this year but not very good last year + he tends to only play hard for home games.

Na, I say let Neil go and have his pay day. Thanks for the hard years of service, but its time to part ways. I agree, he no longer wins hockey games. My only regret is that we'll lose him for nothing - maybe we should sign him and then trade him, a la Marian Hossa.

Caanucnik said...

To Anonymous 12:49PM.

No one, it's all for one and one for all. If one of the "Big Fellas" starts...it's Yablonski from the Limo. Actually, I don't think we have anyone left without a visor.

Don't get me wrong I admire Chris Neil and appreciate what he's done here, it's just... over!

Fighting those heavies and doing alright was the worst thing that could have ever happened to him (and his agent).

G said...

Seeing neil in blue and white would be suck unlike seeing gerber in blue and white which was awesome/hilarious/bizzarro. However we are talking abiout a 3rd/4th line winger who is a tweener in the goon world not worth more than 1.3million. as has been already said they should have a young kid happy to be in the show who is a true heavyweight and cheap.

Burke in toronto is good for hockey - he is a pompus windbag (much like his coach) who gives a good soundbite gets people riled up and is a reason to pay attention. the nhl needs more characters - it is a game and it is entertainment afterall,,, right?

Anonymous said...

Cody Bass will do ths same thing for less than 1M a year and would probably kick his ass. Bye Bye Neil!

Canucnik said...

4:53 You got that right.

When you have lost a step and thinking hockey (not fighting first) you are easy meat for a Cody Bass or one of the young guns because you are slower to see it coming and even slower to react off the bad pins.

Just the money Neiler will make will put a bounty on old #25... even "Georges" will lay a beating on him for looking too good and getting Laraque type money.

Note: Ya know who can defend his goal crease... Monsieur Leclaire!!

Anonymous said...

1 name...... CODY BASS.

Jeremy Milks said...

Cody Bass is not even close to Neil in the fighting department. This is a mistake that people make all the time.

Bass is tough, but he is not a good fighter.

The comparisons aren't really relevant.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Jeremy.

Cody Bass is not a contender, he's a pretender. The Sens management is selling false hope in Bass. I don't see him ever being a full-time NHLer.

To me, the Chris Neil decison comes down to how the Sens see themselves. If management thinks that they are legitimate Cup contenders next year, then sign Neil. You need a guy like him for the playoffs.

If next year is a reload and rebuild year, then dump Neil. His roster spot would allow a younger player to develop experience for an eventual Cup run.

My personal opinion is that they should re-sign him. I like to see loyalty rewarded as long as the player can still contribute. I think that Neil had an off year.

I also think that $2M is too high. To me, Neil is worth $1.5M a year. That said, there are creative ways to bridge the divide. I would give Neil a NTC in exchange for a home town discount. I would also front load the deal. For example, a four year deal at $2M, $2M, $2M, and $500K; gives a cap hit at $1.6M.

Neil is an important player. It would be sad to see it end so abruptly.

Anonymous said...

I think the Team 1200 continues its assault on the Sens players because it is easy and because there are no consequences for its actions.

Let's face it, the Sens are vital to 1200's business model. Without the Sens, their audience drops significantly.

I think that they take their cues from Sens management. They rarely point the finger at Murray, they defended Gerber, they defended Hartsy, they branded the players as coach killers, and they are very supportive in helping Sens management in deflecting the blame onto the players.

Consider this: Michael Landsberg recently said that Bryan Murray won't do this show ever since he started critisizing him.

Murray's M.O. is clear. Cross him and he'll chop your balls off.

Contrast that with Over the Edge. Tim Murray appears regularly. That tells me that the Murrays are ok with the bashing.

Personally, I think that the media should say whatever they want, as long as it's true. If they want to critisize anyone, back it up with soild, thoughtful facts. That's what a democracy is about.

Unfortunately, some media get intimidated by certain personalities and then create bias in their reporting.

There is anger and frustration in Sens Nation. It's too bad that the Edgers are doing their best to put that anger on a few players when it should be shouldered by management.

Anonymous said...

I would not look for Roy Mlakar to make any major decisions at this point.

For quite some time, I've felt that he has been marginalized. Hearing him at his year-end wrap up, he looked like he was going to cry.

It makes me sad that his job is in jeopardy after having done so much building over the last 13 years.

Brian Burke called him the best sports executive of the last 50 years, on the Jim Rome Show last year.

I normally critisize the Sun, but kudos to them for suggesting that Melnyk should give him a contract.

It makes me sad to see what is happening to our Sens. A team that was looked at as the class of the league, as an organization that others wanted to model, is quickly becoming a dysfunctional joke.

We are purging the organization of players and management who created a successful winning culture that was principled and fair, and replacing it with one that lacks integrity.

I'm sick of Melnyk. Let's call a spade a spade. When Melnyk isn't in the Sports pages, he is in the Business section because he is under investigation for something.

To put it politely, Melnyk is no Mike Fisher.

I feel like our city is a bunch of idiots. We have this guy who lives in Barbados, who in all likelihood pays his taxes in Barbados, yet has convinced some people on city council to GIVE him $20 million to build a stadium so that he can make some money.

If he makes money, he'll take that money back with him to Barbados.

Can't we at least wait until the guy is cleared of all his investigations by the OSC and SEC before giving him $20 million?

Based on what he's done to the Sens, I don't like the idea of giving him any taxpayers money.

Anonymous said...

I love cody bass but he is not nearly as good a fighter or as good a scorer as Chris Neil. I don't think he'll amount to much more than a pretty good fourth liner. When you consider what comparable players are making in the NHL these days, I think 2 mil is a reasonable asking price. He had a hard year this year because of some injury trouble and, well, everyone had a bad year. But let's show some respect for a guy who has really earned it over the years as a senator.

Anonymous said...

neil is a bum. sure he goes out every shift and tries to get energy going or whatever but he is ineffective in the goals dept. and barely saw any majors this year.