Leave Us Alone TSN!

All I have heard on TSN for the past few days following the NHL trade deadline was that the Sens should have been more active in the trading market and that Muckler's open refusal to give up any players on his roster was not only a mistake but could cost us dearly come playoff time.

At the end of the day the only guy we picked up was Oleg Saprykin who is on pace to break 40 points this season... for just a 2nd round draft pick. Sure this guy isn't going to be heading to next year's all-star game but he is a solid 3rd or 4th line winger and we didn't have to break up anyone on our roster to get him. However my point here isn't whether or not Saprykin was a good pick up, I'll leave that for someone else to tackle... instead what I'd like to touch on is why I support staying the hell away from giving up roster spots for rental players, simply based on our past experiences and the lack of... success... they've brought.

Please indulge me for a moment as we take a trip through memory lane, below are a our trade deadline deals from the past years and an explaination of how the player performed for the rest of the year and during the playoffs....

2000 - Sent Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen to Pittsburg for Tom Barrasso.
(Barrasso went 3-4 in the final 7 regular season games and 2-4 in the playoffs.)

2001 - Brought in Curtis Leschyshyn & Mike Sillinger for 3rd round pick.
(Sillinger had 7 points in 13 final regular season games, and 0 pts in 4 playoff games.) (Leschyshyn had 5 points in 11 final regular season games, and 0 pts in 4 playoff games.)

2003 - Traded Jakub Klepis to Buffalo for Vaclav Varada.
(Varada has 8 points in 11 season games and 6 pts in 18 playoff games.)

2004 - We acquired Greg de Vries from the Rangers for Karl Rachunek & Alexandre Giroux.
(de Vries had 1 point in 13 regular season games and 1 point in 7 playoff games.)


2004 - Acquired Peter Bondra from Washington for Brooks Laich and 2nd round draft pick.
(Bondra played 23 season games with 14 points and had 0 pts in 7 playoff games.)


Of 6 players acquired at or near the trade deadline, arguably only one really went on to perform for the rest of the season AND the playoffs! (Varada)

So really TSN, your going to have to excuse MY interruption so I can tell you that, as a Sens fan, I don't give a crap that Muckler wasn't willing to deal our players. History shows that the chances of bringing someone in who will make a real difference for us come playoff time, someone who isn't used to our players, our routines or our coaching style... just doesn't pay off in the end. I have no idea if Saprykin is going to help us out, but frankly my hopes lay on the shoulders of the players who carried our team through the tough beginning of the season and who are going to carry us far into the playoffs!


For Sens Army Blog, I'm Kyle.

(Take that TSN!)