Smith and Lee recalled from Bingo

The Senators announced today that both forward Zack Smith and defenceman Brian Lee have been recalled from Binghamton as Shean Donovan and Alex Picard are both listed as doubtful for Saturday's game against the New York Islanders. Dean McAmmond is still out with his cold, so the Sens don't have any wiggle room on the roster (although the B-Sens have even less, with as many as nine regulars out of the lineup for their game Saturday to various injuries or callups.).

I have no idea what Picard's injury is at the moment, but Donovan has an upper-body injury, according to TSN. If McAmmond and Ryan Shannon are both still unable to play on Saturday, then Christoph Schubert will draw back into the lineup for the Sens, as a forward once again.

Although Smith has continued dazzling Sens' brass with his play at the AHL level, with a team-leading nine goals to complement seven assists in 21 games, Lee hasn't quite gotten back to the level he was playing at last season. That probably has a lot to do with not playing alongside AHL All-Star Lawrence Nycholat, but the Sens need big things from this kid.

The game on Saturday would be Smith's NHL debut. At 20 years, 7 months, and 23 days, Smith will be the youngest player to dress for the Sens since Nick Foligno's debut on Oct. 3, 2007 at the age of 19 years, 11 months, and three days. Youngest player to debut before Foligno was Martin Havlat (debut 2000-10-05 at 19Y, 5M, 16D) and before Havlat was Mike Fisher (debut 1999-10-02 at 19Y, 3M, 27D). Considering how long it took me to figure out that statistic, it wasn't at all worth it.

Senators GMs stick to their guns

An article on Bleacher Report brought up the ongoing trend of Ottawa Senators owners and general managers facing players whose contract demands are overzealous, sticking to their guns, and eventually forcing those players to fall in line or get traded.

The article mentions, of course, the recently-traded Andrej Meszaros and goes back to include Alexei Yashin, Zdeno Chara, and Martin Havlat on the list of Senators players whose salary demands didn't fit into the Senators' payroll structure. (Not included was Marian Hossa, whose sign-and-trade departure could rightfully have fallen under the criteria, but may have just been an oversight).

Although the article was a little overzealous at times--making contentions about some of the traded players that are either unfair or unfounded (including statements that all the Sens lost in Meszaros was "inconsistency, give aways [stet], and inaccurate shooting", that Chara "let Jason Pominville skate around him, Wade Redden, and Daniel Alfredsson to eventually score the series winning goal for Buffalo in the 2006 Eastern Semi-finals" and also that Chara openly questioned Alfredsson's leadership [which I don't remember happening directly])--the story brings up an interesting trend in modern Senators history.

What may be most interesting is the fact that these instances span over several general managers, and both owners the team has ever had. Meszaros was traded by current GM Bryan Murray, Havlat and Hossa were traded during the tenure of John Muckler, and Yashin was traded by Marshall Johnston in 2001. The first three listed were traded during the ownership of Eugene Melnyk, and the Yashin Saga was with former owner Rod Bryden. It is interesting in an era of overpaying for so many free agents, whether restricted or unrestricted, the Senators have managed to operate with relative frugality and responsibility in the face of so many apparent arms-races.

Murray today said that part of his reasoning in trading Meszaros, rather than allowing him to be (potentially, if Tampa Bay could acquire that elusive third-round pick) scooped up via a free-agent offer sheet for $5M a year, was to avoid further salary inflation among young defencemen (see a story in the Ottawa Citizen about his remarks here). Not to suggest the trade was a hugely Mother Theresa-like sacrifice for the Sens to make, but that kind of long-term thinking seems to be all but lost in today's NHL.

The Sens' best, according to E.J. Hradek

ESPN blogger E.J. Hradek went over a listing of the Northeast Division teams' best-ever players, including the Senators. His picks were Daniel Alfredsson as the best-ever forward, Wade Redden as the best-ever defenceman, and Patrick Lalime as the best-ever goaltender.

Something tells me that Hradek based his picks on what the players did while in a Senators uniform, and not based on pure skill (which is what I did in my all-time roster).

(via Kukla's Korner)

Sens chasing players to Russia?

While reading a KHL season preview on the New York Times' Slapshot blog, I noticed just how many former Senators are going to be playing key roles for the various teams in the Russian league. Here is a listing of them:

1. Ray Emery, G, Atlant Mytishchi
   No need to rehash the Emery Saga.


2. Alexei Yashin, C, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
   I don't really want to go over Yashin's Senators' career, either. It's well-documented.


3. Oleg Saprykin, C, CSKA Moscow
   Saprykin was a pretty big part of the fourth line during the Sens' 2007 cup run (even though he only had two points), but it was rumoured that GM Bryan Murray didn't like the qualifying offer issued to him.


4. Alexei Kaigorodov, C, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
   Drafted in the second round of 2002 by the Sens, Kaigorodov was pencilled in as Ottawa's second-line centre for the 2006-07 season, but when things didn't go his way he left North America and went back to Russia. The Sens traded his rights to Phoenix for Mike Comrie.


5. Petr Schastlivy, LW, CSKA Moscow
   Another second-line centre hopeful, Schastlivy played parts of five seasons with the Senators, but never really panned out. He was traded to Anaheim in 2004.


6. Joel Kwiatkowski, D, Severstal Cherepovets
   Kwiatkowski had a few stints with the Senators, but played most of his time with the organization for the Grand Rapids Griffins when they were the Sens' affiliate. He also had a stint with the Binghamton Senators.
   


7. Mike Fountain, G, Lada Togliatti
   Played in two games for the Senators, and 88 for the Griffins. Not spectacular
   


8. Ivan Ciernik, F, Sibir Novosibirsk
   Good ol' Ivan was drafted in the ninth round of the 1996 draft, and played 29 games for the Sens while being bumped around all sorts of AHL teams. Then he went to a German league, and now he's in the KHL.
   


9. Filip Novak, D, Dinamo Riga
   No, Filip Kuba is not the first defenceman named Filip that ever played for Ottawa. Novak played 11 games for the Sens in 2005-06, and 64 for Binghamton in the same season. He did well, too, scoring 58 points for the B-Sens in that season.
   

I guess there's something about the Senators' franchise and chasing players out of the NHL. Which is kind of a shame... good to see Russians like Ilya Zubov and Alexander Nikulin

aren't afraid to try and work their way onto the team.

The original Senators: The hockey cards

Longtime Sens fans or followers will likely remember the 1992-93 Ottawa Senators, no matter how much they try to forget about them. Over the course of the 84-game season, the Senators won only ten games, losing 70 and tying another four. The records that the Sens set for that year include fewest road wins in a season (one game), longest home losing streak (11 games), and longest road losing streak (38 games).

But, with some recent successes in mind, I feel that it's safe to look back on some of those memories in fond, humble self-deprecation. So here is the final instalment of The Hockey Cards mini-series (at least for the foreseeable future) with what I believe were the first cards issued of the modern-day Ottawa Senators' franchise.


Oh, the classics. Remember Jamie Baker (bottom, middle) and Sylvain Turgeon (top left), who finished second and third, respectively, in team scoring that season? It was the first and only time a defenceman (Norm McIver) led the Sens in scoring.

Then there's Rob Murphy (top middle), who had scored ten points in his career before coming to the Senators, and doubled that career-total in Ottawa. After his year in Ottawa, he played eight more games in the NHL, struggled in the IHL, and went to Germany for a bunch of years after that. Memories...

Also pictured are Brad Shaw (top right) and Darren Rumble (bottom left), but the most memorable of them all is the Polish-born goaltending phenom Peter (or "Piotr") Sidorkiewicz. Selected with the Sens' first-overall pick in the 1992 Expansion Draft, Sidorkiewick played 64 games for the Senators in 1992-93, and won eight of them. He sits seventh all-time in games-played among goaltenders, and eleventh in career wins.

How far we've come.

The Sens' all-time best lineup

In response to Bleacher Report's Ottawa Senators' blog's all-time Senators' lineup (which included the likes of Randy Cunneyworth and Janne Laukkanen), I've formulated my own all-time Senators' lineup--respecting the players' natural positions. I've gone All-Star Game style, picking the best players with little to no thought of how they would serve as 'fourth-line role players' or 'grinders' or anything; pure skill is measured, with very few exceptions made to intangible assets (like Magnus Arvedson).

Got any comments, criticisms, or recommendations? Let me know in the comments.

FORWARDS

1. Dany Heatley-Jason Spezza-Daniel Alfredsson

• 'Nuff said. Best line the Sens have ever had.

2. Shawn McEachern-Alexei Yashin-Marian Hossa

• Alexei Yashin may not be very popular in Ottawa today, but he was certainly one of the best all-time offensive players the Senators have had. He helped reinvigorate Shawn McEachern's career, which is the biggest reason he made this list. And Marian Hossa is one of the best right wingers in hockey today, cementing his place in Senators' history.

3. Vaclav Prospal-Pavol Demitra-Martin Havlat

• Injury problems aside, Martin Havlat is a dynamic player, and has the ability to be a game-breaker. He was hampered in Ottawa by virtue of the fact that in front of him on the depth chart were Daniel Alfredsson and Hossa. And even though Vaclav Prospal and Pavol Demitra enjoyed much of their offensive success for other teams, they very well could have done so for the Senators given the opportunities.

4. Magnus Arvedson-Mike Fisher-Peter Bondra

• It would have been interesting to see this line in action. Again, most of Peter Bondra's success was with another team, but he could very well have produced given more than a half-season with the Sens. Mike Fisher may very well move up on this list, and is certainly higher on a popularity listing. And Arvedson may have been given this spot because he played his heart out, but he also had a great career as a Senator.

Notable forwards: Antoine Vermette (LW), Radek Bonk (C), Mike Comrie (RW), Andreas Dackell (RW), Bob Kudelski (RW).

DEFENCE

1. Zdeno Chara-Chris Phillips

• Incredible shut-down pair. The only defenceman in Senators history who made Chris Phillips look small was Zdeno Chara, and the two were strong when they played together.

2. Steve Duchesne-Wade Redden

• Offence from the defence. His later years were not as strong, but Wade Redden was the Senators' highest-scoring all-time defenceman. And Steve Duchesne was a huge part of the Senators' early success.

3. Anton Volchenkov-Norm McIver

• Norm McIver is the only Sens defenceman to lead the team in scoring. And I don't need to outline the many attributes that earned Anton Volchenkov a spot on the all-time roster.

Notable defencemen: Joe Corvo, Sami Salo.

GOALTENDERS

1. Dominik Hasek

• As irritating as Dominik Hasek's injury problems were, he was the best goaltender ever to play in the Senators' uniform. Had he managed to play the whole season, I can only imagine where the Sens would have gone. And I'm imagining the Stanley Cup.

2. Ron Tugnutt

• Ron Tugnutt's best years, by far, were with the Senators. In 1998-99, Tugger set an NHL-low 1.78 goals-against average, and he's a nice guy to boot.

Notable goaltenders: Patrick Lalime, Ray Emery, Damian Rhodes.

Blast from the Past: Czech Mates

Rememer the days of the Euro Sens, back when the team was almost half Europeans, and half North Americans? I do. The 1995-96 season was the last time the Senators missed the playoffs, and began the Jacques Martin era--a time of a lot of lesser-known European players performing beyond expectations in a defensive style which made Don Beaupre, Ron Tugnutt, and Damian Rhodes look like NHL All-Stars.

The poster above commemorates the Senators' European experiment, which has been largely abandoned by current GM Bryan Murray in favour of North American flavour to the team. Three players hailing from the relatively small Czech Republic played big minutes for the Senators that year: Martin Straka, Radek Bonk, and Stanislav Neckar.

Although Straka would be traded during that year to the New York Islanders (in the deal that brought Wade Redden to Ottawa), he would manage to score nine goals and 16 assists in his 43 games in the Ottawa uniform.

Bonk would have a much ore illustrious (or at least longer) career with the Senators, and is one of only three players from that 1995-96 team still active in the NHL (along with Pavol Demitra and Daniel Alfredsson; Straka remains unsigned). Bonkers would score 35 points (16G, 19A) in 76 games in '95-96. He played with the Sens until the great collapse of 2003-04, which coincidentally was the season that marked the end of the Martin era in Ottawa. In 689 career games, Bonk had 152G, 247A, 399P, 401PM and in the playoffs scored 9G and 15A in 61GP.

Neckar played his first five seasons in Ottawa, scoring 6G and 16A in 198 games, but was traded in 1998-99 for playoff rental (and bust) Bill Berg. He finished his career going through four more teams, playing another 312 NHL games (510 total, scoring 53 points in his career).

One short chapter in Senators history.

Ottawa at the trade deadline

The Ottawa Senators have made quite a few trades at trade deadlines in the past, and few have had any affect on the playoff run for that year. Here's a run-down of the trade-deadline acquisitions (or just about trade deadline) since 1998 for the Senators:

2007: Won CQF over Pittsburgh, Won CSF over New Jersey, Won CF over Buffalo, Lost SCF to Anaheim

• Oleg Saprykin (02/27/2007): Cost us a second-rounder, and was a decent contributor. He scored one clutch goal in the playoff run, which is all you can really ask of a fourth-liner.
• Mike Comrie (01/03/2007): This was a steal of a deal for Alexei Kaigorodov, although his playoff production dipped. He would be fun to see again, on a line with the much-improved Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson.
• Lawrence Nycholat (02/26/2007): Was scratched throughout the playoffs, this was a depth move. Nycholat could still be an NHL defenceman in 2008-09, though, and has a one-way contract that says he will be. Cost Andy Hedlund and a pick.

2006: Won CQF over Tampa Bay, Lost CSF to Buffalo

• Tyler Arnason (03/09/2006): Bomb! Virtually nothing in the regular season, scratched in the playoffs, and left the next year. Brandon Bochenski and that second-round pick this deal cost us would have scored more points.
• Mike Morrison (03/09/2006): Claimed off waivers, Mikey Mo was an insurance plan. He's got a wickedly nicknameable name, though, so this acquisition was a success.

2004: Lost CQF to Toronto

• Peter Bondra (02/18/2004): As much as Marian Hossa loved his childhood hero coming to town, Bondra did nothing in the playoffs. The players lost in this deal (Brooks Laich and a pick) aren't significant, though, so it's not so bad.\
• Greg de Vries (03/09/2004): Looking to boost the veteran presence and defensive awareness, this trade was ugly. It cost us Karel Rachunek, who I maintain is an NHL defenceman, and Alexandre Giroux, who isn't an NHLer. De Vries wsa gone the next September.
• Todd Simpson (02/04/2004): Scratched throughout the playoffs, Simpson was a depth player for whom the Sens got rid of perennial disappointment Petr Schastlivy.

2003: Won CQF over New York Islanders, Won CSF over Philadelphia, Lost CF to New Jersey

• Bryan Smolinski (03/11/2003): Smokes came over for Tim Gleason, stuck around for a few seasons (102P in 171GP) and helped a bit in the 2003 playoff drive (9 points). He was one of Muckler's decent deals, but was shipped away for cap reasons.
  
• Vaclav Varada (02/05/2003): A Muckler love-in brought in VV for Jakub Klepis (who hasn't blossomed into the player he was thought to be, anyway). Varada played a few more seasons, 117 games in total, but he wasn't tremendous. I can remember one goal of his, in game 7 of the 2004 playoffs against Toronto.
  
• Rob Ray (03/10/2003): "Future Considerations" brought him in, and he did nothing. He played six games the following year, and scored a goal. He was a backup to give Ottawa some toughness.

2002: Won CQF over Philadelphia, Lost CSF to Toronto

• Juha Ylonen (03/15/2002): One of the strangest deals John Muckler pulled off. Ylonen scored five points in seven games over the run, but he didn't make a difference when it mattered. Against the Leafs, Andre Roy (who the Sens traded for Ylonen) might have made a difference physically, but hindsight is 20/20 (plus there were rumours of off-ice controversy surrounding Roy). More importantly, the sixth-round throw-in pick was used for Paul Ranger, who wouldn't be too bad right now.
  
• Benoit Brunet (03/16/2002): Cost next to nothing, and got some playing time in his one season. Nothing wrong with that.

2001: Lost CQF to Toronto

• Curtis Leschyshyn (03/13/2001): Didn't matter in the playoff loss, but was a valuable veteran in future seasons with the Sens. Played 200 solid games over four seasons for the Sens, plus he only cost a third-round pick.
• Mike Sillinger (03/01/2001): Might have been good for the dressing room, but he didn't do anything in the playoffs and moved onto Columbus the following July.

2000: Lost CQF to Toronto

• Tom Barasso (03/14/2000): Cost us Janne Laukkanen and Ron Tugnutt, but wasn't able to cure the Sens of their Leafs woes. A risk was taken, and it was a terrible failure.

1999: Lost CQF to Buffalo

• Ted Donato (03/20/1999): Did nothing in the playoffs, but cost nothing, and was turned around to bring in Patrick Lalime the following June.
• Nelson Emerson (03/23/1999): Scored four points in the four-game series loss to Buffalo, so he wasn't a bad pickup.
• Bill Berg (11/27/1998): Not really a deadline-deal, he was traded for Stan Neckar and scored 4 points in 44 regular-season games. The epitome of a disappointment.
  

1998: Won CQF over New Jersey, Lost CSF to Buffalo.

• Vaclav Prospal (01/17/1998): Acquired for Alex Daigle in a pretty good deal for the Sens. He didn't do anything in the playoffs that year (and very little in future years), but he played a few more years and scored 111 points in 213 games for the Sens.
  
• Pat Falloon (01/17/1998): Also brought over in the Daigle trade, Falloon did nothing and was gone at the end of the season.
  
• Per Gustafsson (03/17/1998): Cost an eighth-round pick, played nine games, then was gone. Inconsequential.

That's all I can think of. Let me know if I forgot any, and I'll update. The bottom line is this: Ottawa has rarely, if ever, made a trade at the trade deadline that has made a difference in the upcoming playoff run. If Bryan Murray can do so this year, awesome. I have a feeling some move has to be made, though, because this Senators team is similar to (or slightly worse) than last year's on paper, while chief opponents such as the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings appear to have gotten better.

AL-FIE! AL-FIE! AL-FIE!

Daniel Alfredsson is the man. It's official.

Obviously, any Senators fan already knows this. He is the quintessential Mr. Senator, and has been for years; since Alexei Yashin ruined his reputation by holding out in 1999-2000, and maybe even long before that point.

He's not only an all-star for the team, but for the whole league. I want to mention some of the awards he's won or been nominated for:

• Won Calder Trophy in 1995-96
• Fourth in voting for the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 2005-06
• Fourth in voting for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2005-06
• Second in voting for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2003-04

And this year he's on pace for 119 points (which are Art Ross numbers, Sidney Crosby got 120 points last year), 55 goals (Vincent Lecavalier won the Maurice Richard with 52 goals last year), plus he's an early pick for the Hart Trophy and maybe the Lester B. Pearson. I'm not trying to overstate things, I realize it's only 9 games into the Sens season, but I just want to illustrate how Alfredsson is getting better with age. As you can see in the two charts provided (in blue and yellow in honour of his Swedish homeland), a minor dip last year may certainly be countered with a significant jump this season.

Speaking of Sweden, a lot of Alfie's successes have come on the international stage, too; silver (1995) and bronze (1999) in the World Junior Championships, silver (2004) and bronze (2001) in the World Championships, and gold (2006) in the Olympics where he was an alternate captain. Plus he won the Elitserien Championship with Frolunda during the lockout season of 2004-05.

A lot of people have been suggesting that his Olympic gold and Elitserien title have taught Alfredsson more of what it takes to win, and that seems to show in his post-lockout leadership. Not to suggest that Alfredsson wasn't a great leader before, but making it to the Eastern Conference Championships in 2005-06 and then the Stanley Cup Championships in 2006-07 show he's become even stronger, especially at times when he seemed to will the Senators to win.

Take, for instance, the Game Five win over Buffalo in the 2007 ECFs. Going into overtime, Alfredsson decided that it was time he became the first European captain to lead his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, and made it happen. Or think back to Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals, as every fan in attendance started a chant of "AL-FIE! AL-FIE! AL-FIE!" and the captain responded, getting the Sens started on their way to their only victory in the SCFs. Even in Game Five of the SCFs, despite the fact that the Sens lost, it wasn't for lack of effort from Alfredsson. Especially when he saw how dejected Chris Phillips looked after scoring on his own net, Alfredsson made a goal happen to lessen the distress--one of his two on the night.

And Alfredsson doesn't seem to have lost anything over the off-season. The way he's played in the nine games so far, this should be the best campaign yet, and I can't wait to see what that will mean for his leadership and for the Senators' success. It will definitely be fun to watch, though.

Former Senators are doing well, too

It's often nice to see players you watched play for your team previously doing well for their new teams, especially when your team happens to be the 8-1 Ottawa Senators. If the Sens were losing games, well, it might be different; I might be wishing these players were on our team instead of getting points or wins for other teams.

I noticed a lot of former Sens making headlines, especially last night watching the league highlights. Here are a few examples from last night's games:

• Patrick Lalime (1999-2004, 283 GP), Chicago: win versus Toronto, stopped 28 of 32 shots
• Vaclav Prospal (1997-2001, 213 GP), Tampa Bay: 2 goals, 1 assist against Atlanta
  
• Bryan Smolinski (2002-06, 171 GP), Montreal: 1 goal against Buffalo
• Brian Pothier (2002-06, 146 GP), Washington: 1 goal against Pittsburgh
• Pavol Demitra (1993-96, 59 GP), Minnesota: 1 goal against St. Louis
• Dominik Hasek (2005-06, 43 GP), Detroit: win versus Phoenix, stopped 29 of 31 shots
• Mike Comrie (2006-07, 41 GP), NY Islanders: 1 goal, 1 assist against New Jersey

That includes a quiet night for Todd White (2000-05, 230 GP) and Marian Hossa (1997-2005, 467 GP), who played for Atlanta against Tampa Bay. Radek Bonk (1994-2004, 689 GP) also played last night, getting no points in a game where his Nashville Predators got shut out by San Jose.

I also saw in The Hockey News that Magnus Arvedson (1997-2003, 393 GP) has recently taken over the head coaching job for Mora IK of the Swedish Elite League at the ripe young age of 35. Good for Arvie, I loved his hustle.

And apparently both Randy Cunnneyworth (1994-98, 276 GP) and Kevin "Sandwiches" Dineen (1999-2000, 67 GP) are in the running for the now-vacant Atlanta Thrashers head coach position. (Dineen is nicknamed Sandwiches for a reason; ask me why in the comments if you care to hear the story.)

Another piece of noteworthy news was the very strange coincidence of Martin Straka (1994-96, 49 GP) of the Rangers breaking his finger trying to block a shot from Zdeno Chara (2001-06, 299 GP) now of the Boston Bruins. Weird!

Heatley signs a dealie!

Holy shit, the Heater Dany Heatley has officially been signed to the most expensive contract in Ottawa Senators history!

Word on the street is that the Heatley camp and Sens GM Bryan Murray agreed to the deal only a few hours before Heatley's self-declared negotiating deadline.

Terms of the deal are not quite disclosed, but TSN.ca is reporting it's a six-year deal worth $45M; and average of $7.5M per season. It also includes a no-movement clause (so Heater can't be traded, demoted to the farm team, or have his contract bought out without personal approval) and also means that Heatley will not become a free agent this off-season.

What does it mean for the future of the Senators, though? Even though the 2007-08 regular season is still 40 minutes away as I'm writing this, I'll go ahead and speculate what might happen in preparation for the 2008-09 season.

The Sens have eleven players under contract for 08-09, with cap-hit in brackets (source: NHLnumbers.com); Heatley ($7.5M), Daniel Alfredsson ($4.339), Mike Fisher ($4.2M), Martin Gerber ($3.7M), Chris Phillips ($3.5M), Joe Corvo ($2.75M), Ray Emery ($2.75M), Anton Volchenkov ($2.5M), Chris Neil ($1.2M), Dean McAmmond ($900K), and Christoph Schubert (also $900K). The total of those eleven is $34.239M.

Compare that number to this year's salary cap of $50.3M, and the Sens have about $16M left to sign a number of important restricted free agents, notably Jason Spezza, but also including Antoine Vermette, Patrick Eaves, Andrej Meszaros, and to a lesser extent Brian McGrattan. Spezza is the foremost concern amongst that group, and could certainly command a figure somewhere between Alfie's and Heatley's salary numbers.

When it comes to unrestricted FAs, there's Chris Kelly--who might look for $1.5-2.5M a year--as well as Wade Redden. If Redden doesn't take a serious pay-cut, from his current $6.5M down to somewhere nearer Phillips' number, he definitely won't be back. Even if he does, it depends on whether or not Reds returns to form this season. Shean Donovan and Luke Richardson are also both UFAs, but Richardson could certainly retire, and Donovan may even sign for less than his current $925K to stay with this team.

Ottawa then has $16M to sign 11 players. Trading a goalie would free up a couple million, but there's still the need to have an adequate backup, and I'm not sold on prospect Brian Elliott. Even to sign depth players it would be a stretch to get eleven for $16-18M, and re-signing from a pool that includes Kelly, Spezza, Redden, Eaves, Vermette, and Meszaros. We've known it was coming for quite a while, but it will be an interesting year for Murrray.

Ruslan Bashkirov and a wave of young Russians dressed to impress

Okay, maybe the Ottawa Senators have had a hard time with Russian players. Alexei Yashin being the pinnacle of those troubles. There have been good times, though, even when it comes to the up-and-down relationship Senators fans have with Yashin himself--occasionally a clutch goal, some fancy moves, he looked good when he wasn't distracted by his next paycheque or his geriatric wife. After Yashin in the disappointment category comes once-highly-touted prospect Alexei Kaigorodov; slated to be our second-line centre at the start of the 2006 -07 season, he couldn't cut it in the professional North American game so he went home and complained to the Russian media about the Senators' front office. If you're looking for a way to burn bridges, ask Kaigorodov. Then there's Petr Schastlivy, another project player who never quite panned out as team management hoped.

There were good times, though. Igor Kravchuk was a decent defenseman for the Sens, despite some untimely giveaways and often inconsistent play. The man played 238 games in a Sens jersey, giving some veteran presence while the team was struggling to find an identity. Then there's Oleg Saprykin; past success indicates it might be better not to question the actions of Bryan Murray, but I don't agree with him that Sappy has no place on this team. Even if it is for $1-1.5M a season. He bought into the Sens system and provided some much-needed speed and creativity on an often-struggling fourth line. He looked good with Dean McAmmond and Chris Schubert, and I would have liked to see him play a full season with the Sens. Finally, Anton Volchenkov is undoubtedly the all-around best Russian this relatively young Senators team has employed--shot blocking, occasional goal-scoring, punishing physical play; he's awesome.

The future looks moderately bright on the Russian front, however, and if the NHL can somehow get the Russian Ice Hockey Federation to agree to a player-transfer agreement, it'll get even brighter. I'm looking at a player like 2007 second-round pick Ruslan Bashkirov. Watching this young man play in the (not-so-) Super Series between Russia and Canada has made me excited. The fact that he's already playing in North America (with the Quebec Remparts of the QJMHL) gets me almost as excited as his play in the tournament. After goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and forward Alexander Vasyunov, I'd venture to say that Bashkirov was Russia's best player in Game 5 of the tournament, and I'll be expecting more in the coming games. He had a decent edge in game five, and even when his team was down by a few goals he seemed to be playing hard and making things happen. Here's to hoping he'll give North America a shot at some point.

Another young Russian is Alexander Nikulin. The 2004 fourth-round pick signed a two-year, entry-level contract on June 1, and has expressed a willingness--as opposed to some other Russian prospects (*cough*Kaigorodov*cough*)--to serve his time in the minor league instead of insisting on an immediate roster spot on the big team. As quoted on RussianProspects.com: "I will be patient and will work very hard. My contract is signed for two years. I believe that in the beginning I will have to play on the farm team. I will gain experience, learn the language. But I am ready for this." So, you know, that's a plus.

Then there's right-winger Ilya Zubov, drafted by Ottawa in the fourth round of the 2005 entry draft. He's just signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the club on August 9, and is reportedly coming to North America to participate in the Sens training camp. It's unknown whether he'll make the big Senators, but I wouldn't count on it. Here's hoping that, even if he doesn't, he'll report to Binghamton instead of returning to HC CSKA in Russia.