Halifax Bound + The Latest Rumors

Tonight, the NHL pre-season starts for the Ottawa Senators…in Halifax, Nova Scotia. According to Ticketmaster, the place is sold out tonight to see Canada’s favorite team play the Florida Panthers. Even though it’s meaningless it’s still hockey! The lineup was released yesterday and you can see it in the post below. No big-time regulars are starting tonight except for Pascal LeClaire. He should the focal point tonight along with standout rookie Erik Karlsson. Murray said on the Fan 590 he expects Karlsson to battle hard for the 6th Defenseman spot with Alexandre Picard. After seeing the Panthers’ roster tonight, which has a lot of their regulars, I think we might lose but if some players step up then I think it will be a win for Les Senateurs.

Florida 3 (Koistinen, Kulikov, Horton), Ottawa 2 (Karlsson, Shannon)

Let’s go back to some rumors. The Sens are still talking the Panthers but I have to say this is just a dump of players. Florida has had their eyes on Chris Kelly for wuite some time so hem ay be the centrepiece of this deal. I can see this move being done tomorrow under the right circumstances. There’s also a big rumor spread by Icky Ekky that Ottawa are interested in Peter Forsberg and/or Mats Sundin. Let me make this sure, this will never happen. Murray stated last year’s Sundin fiasco proved to him Sundin’s not worth the risk and the same thing with Foppa. I’ve talked a reliable source who claims Ottawa would absolutely love to have Brandon Dubinsky as their Second Line Centre. The price may be steep as we say in the Gomez trade with the Habs but if we cook up some Russians in the deal I think it will work. Ottawa would likely have to absorb another salary to acquire Dubinsky.

Nonetheless, hockey’s back back back!!!!!!!