That means Brian Lee's chances of making this team just got a lot better. The horror, the horror...
It could also mean Erik Karlsson gets paired with Matt Carkner again, a combination that seemed to work well at times last year (purely my own speculation).
It's funny how one guy going down on that back end all of a sudden shows how fragile that blueline really is. One more serious injury to one of their top two and it's "good night Irene", as they say.
If there is any compassion in this world, perhaps Eric Gryba or maybe even Jared Cowen outplays Lee by a mile and forces Bryan Murray to eat that one-way contract of Lee's.
If rookie camp was any indication, Cowen doesn't look very ready to me. Both Gryba and Patrick Wiercioch outplayed him but then again it's only rookie camp. It would be an interesting story if the Senators found their much needed grit and toughness from Gryba and not the much heralded Cowen this season.
10 comments:
Great Just Great...
why do we keep clinging to these Glass Jawed flawed players.. watch Pascal Leclaire will take a shot off the mask an be gone for 2 months next... Why.. why why.. did they let a 6"6" 250 LBS wrecking ball walk at a reasonable salary.. I know the sens apologists in the media say he was slow.. but Sutton would look pretty freakin good now.. Carks is way to slow to provide the open ice hits or hits closing in on the boards.. and with Kuba gone probably for the season (with our luck).. our D will be about the size of the Liluputions.. err I mean the Canadiens d.. unless one of the young guys can step up.
1. Brian Lee is still a good prospect. You can't write a guy off who is 22. Let's see what he had this pre-season.
2. I loved Sutton as much as the next guy but he is even more fragile then Kuba. Murray made the right decision letting him walk.
Defensive depth is a big strength of this team. We can handle Kuba missing some games.
If Lee has a good year, I'll be the first to congratulate him on Black Aces. I hope he proves me wrong.
I think you're out of line on the Lee criticism.
He's still very young, and he hasn't been given a fair shot so far.
Partly due to his contract, he's been up and down like yo-yo, between the AHL and NHL.
At $875K for this season, I think he can provide great value if he's given a fair opportunity. If the Sens don't need him, I hope that they build him up in order to get maximum value, rather than tear him down and get nothing.
He'll be an NHLer for many years, so you don't want to give those guys up for free. You gotta manage your assets properly.
I agree with you about Gryba, though. I think that he looks more ready than Cowen. But, who knows, maybe Cowen will pick up his socks later this week.
In any case, winning gold at the World Juniors would be good for his confidence.
Sorry Lee is a Waif.. while I am sure a good player not particularily good at any one thing.. even worse when you compare him to Staal or Kopitar as options in his draft year.. maybe unfair criticism but that is the reality.. Hope you pom pom waivers are right.. really do but Lee? Campoli? .. I would prefer they bring in Gryba or Cowen.. at least have some jam on the back end.
Brutal.
At least we have some prospects to fill in.
Any opinions on McRae's article on Spezza? Pretty heavy with sarcasm as always with Earl, but interesting that Spezza ignored him and Earl basically repeated what a lot of fans are saying about Spezza...
"Veteran implies maturity, not only as a player doing it right, but the mental and emotional feeder maturity as a person that will bring together all that is expected of him on the ice, and serve to dissuade the fans making him their favourite whipping boy as they so often do.
"It didn’t help Spezza, or the Sens fans’ belief that for a big player who shies away from hitting or fighting — unlike the far more skilled and talented Alex Ovechkin — he’s an under-achieving, immature, emotionally fragile baby when after last season he complained to general manager Bryan Murray he was upset over the fans booing him and would not say no to a trade. (emphasis mine)
"One of those many fans was at the arena Saturday to watch the practice, his name Gerard Beliveau, 43. “Instead of crying over it, suck it up like a gawdamn man. He’d better get used to the booing. No one gives the puck away as much as that guy.” (Emphasis mine)
Sigh.
Why do I get the feeling Jason Spezza will not retire a Senator? :(
Honestly, the Sun will just not give it up. Let it go fuck, the guy has a new baby at home.
Just FUCK OFF and leave him alone. He's here to play hockey, let's see how that goes AT LEAST before ripping on him more.
Fuck, the SUN is such a total rag these days. I wish they would be banned from SBP.
Lee not being in the NHL has nothing to do with his contract, if he was good enough, he would be playing in the top 6. he was beat out by Matt Crakner last year for his own spot - it was Lee's to lose.
Murray today said a good year for Lee would be him becoming a "somewhat regular player who the coach believes in, he won't put up big points or score goals" ...This says to me the organization see's Lee's game as useless beyond being an injury fill in.
He can't play the PP or the PK, he is not great 5 on 5, his outlet pass is decent but nothing speical and he plays small and has no base to keep him stable.
Cowen or B=gryba can kill penalties and play the PK, so I'd say bu this very fact alone they are further along in their development and what they can do for the team at an NHL level to help them win.
Let`s all just call Lee what he is, a jounreyman 6-7 Dman who will never put up more then 20 points in a season and fall down a lot along the boards.
Lee is fine, he has never really been given much of a chance.
Once Muckler left, that sealed his fate as Murray was never going to play him over his own guys.
I could see him getting 25-35 a year and improving in the right situation. That won't happen here, sadly, but maybe the Senators can trade him and make someone else's defense corps better.
Kara's analysis is bang on.
Lee hasn't been given a fair opportunity because he isn't Murray's guy.
Matt Carkner was a career minor leaguer until Murray brought him into the Sens organization. Murray gave him an opportunity and then gave him a two year contract extension (on a one-way deal) worth $1.4M, after ONLY seven NHL games.
If that doesn't tell you that Murray was sticking up for one of his own, I don't know what does.
Same goes for Luke Richardson. He was sitting in the pressbox on a non playoff team like the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2006-07. They only played him for 27 games.
Then all of a sudden, in 2007-08, he's magically good enough to be a regular defenceman for a team that was a few months remove from being a Cup Finalist. He played 76 games.
Bottom line, Murray gives his own guys opportunities that he doesn't give others. The leash is much shorter if you are not one of his guys.
It is what it is. I think it's wrong because it hurts the organization. The opportunities should go to those who have the potential to help the team the most. Favouritism shouldn't be part of it.
In the modern history of the Sens, I can't remember any GM having as strong a hold on the organization as Murray. This really is his team, and his organization.
In the past, it always seemed like the GM was just a piece of the puzzle, and the organization as a whole was bigger than the GM.
Think about it, Jacques Martin survived four GM's (Gauthier, Dudley, Johnson, Muckler). That doesn't happen anywhere. That's a credit to the professionalism of the team. Everybody had a job, and politics was not a part of it.
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