Article: Is Marco Rossi A Better Fit On the First Line?

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

On 12/14/2024 at 1:53 PM, OldDutchChip said:

just like stone and eichel and M tkachuk - 25/26 - Brady may be on the move and Wild have the pieces

Just so we are clear M Tkachuck made clear he wasn't going to resign when his contract expired and forced Calgary to sell him. Stone was also an unrestricted free agent that made clear he was going elsewhere. Buffalo pissed Eichel off after not letting him undergo surgery of his choice to fix his neck. He was not playing and refused the surgery Buffalo doctors recommended , so he was basically on permanent LTIR until this was resolved and requested a trade.

B Tkachuk isn't a pending unrestricted free agent and is not in a dispute over an injury. He has no leverage to get out of Ottawa and they have made clear they aren't willing to even entertain trading him.

[OldDutchChip]

12 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Just so we are clear M Tkachuck made clear he wasn't going to resign when his contract expired and forced Calgary to sell him. Stone was also an unrestricted free agent that made clear he was going elsewhere. Buffalo pissed Eichel off after not letting him undergo surgery of his choice to fix his neck. He was not playing and refused the surgery Buffalo doctors recommended , so he was basically on permanent LTIR until this was resolved and requested a trade.

B Tkachuk isn't a pending unrestricted free agent and is not in a dispute over an injury. He has no leverage to get out of Ottawa and they have made clear they aren't willing to even entertain trading him.

Sens are barely in playoff contention and haven’t  won anything in the last decade

he needs no leverage because sometimes trades are made without the interest of the player but at interest of the team and/or GM - shocking!

oh I forgot - he is not a Minnesotan so let’s just wait for BrocK

 

[Mateo3xm]

On 12/14/2024 at 11:32 AM, mnfaninnc said:

Let's explore this a little further. Is it the mix of players or is it the youth?

Claude Girioux and David Perron are the forwards supposed to be leading this group. Travis Homonic and Nick Jensen are supposed to be leading the defense. That's their veteran guys who are paid for their leadership and what they've done in the past.

But, their core is:

• Stutzle $8.35m  22
• Tkachuk $8.2m  25
• Norris $7.95m  25
• Batherson $4.975m 26
• Pinto $3.75m 24
• Sanderson $8m 22
• Chabot $8m 27
• Zub $4.6m  29
• Ullmark $8.25m  31

These are the guys who are supposed to be getting it done. They are good, young, exciting, and lightly structured. It looks to me that their core is young and good, but their supporting cast is letting them down. 

Their top 6 looks like they can compete with anyone. Their center depth looks very deep, in fact, they've got several playing wing. On defense, they appear to have some good puck moving defenders that can support the top 6. I would expect their PP to be top 10 with these guys. 

As an organization, everything has settled down. New ownership is in town, new GM, new coach. Are we witnessing an acclimation period?

I don't know much about Steve Staios, but Travis Green seems to be a front line coach. Staios came up through the ranks in Toronto, Edmonton, and most of his playing career was with Canadian teams. He's got a similar track record with a different organization to Bill Guerin when we hired him. Former player, a GM in major juniors (Guerin doesn't have that), and he spent some time under Ken Holland who would be a similar mentor like Jim Rutherford. 

Everything I'm looking at looks solid, so why can't they win? The only thing I can put my finger on is that their defense is leaky. They are a lot better going forward than they are defending. 

Based upon that, I would say that a young center in Rossi would likely be switched to wing, as they are deep down the middle. I wouldn't think they'd be too excited about that except he played his jr. hockey in the town and people remember the name. As for Buium, I'd think that would be the wrong pick up unless they see him as a 200' defender. But most of what we see from him is PP QB, putting up points on a dominant team, is he the defender that they need? I would think that both Brodin and Middleton would be more useful for them than Buium. I would think pairing Sanderson and Chabot with a stay at home defender would probably help everyone get better. 

So, while they have plenty of guys who can put on a show, where I see the lacking is those shutdown guys like our 3rd/4th line (when healthy) and our left handed D pairs. Chisholm could be interesting because while he can skate the puck up, he is also learning structural defense. We do have a glut of defensive defenders, and 3 of those guys are adequate in the offensive side. Could they use a guy like Spurgeon? Absolutely! I still haven't figured out why Lassi Tomson hasn't made their team. Zub is on LTIR, and Perron is out (Zub looks like he may have broken his foot). 

IMO, a jolt is what this team needs, and that jolt can be internal or external. If I were in Staios' shoes, I look at my cap and it's almost maxed. I look at my team and see that one weakness, and will be looking for a guy who can bring that defense on the 1st pair and shutdown opponents. Everywhere else, this team looks like it should be at minimum in the WC hunt. I'm thinking tweak, not blockbuster from their standpoint.

Ottawa isn’t winning because most of their core players are still very young. Look at Stutzle’s age and he’s already put up a 90pt seasons. Their defense is leaky but young still. Once they get closer to that 26-29 age range they are going to be a very hard team to play against. I definitely think their defense needs to commit more to defense. Chabot is a black hole but I honestly think Sanderson could be in the top 10 in Norris voting once he gets older. They have that other huge dmen coming soon that was picked 5th I believe and he looks to be good too