My Ottawa Senators Christmas List

Christmas is almost here, and no matter if you are five years old or fifty years old, I’m sure many people still get excited around this time. It’s great to be spending time with family and friends, and also getting and buying gifts is great as well. While many of us have asked for certain things that we want for Christmas, there are also I few things that I wanted to share with you. However, it doesn’t include items like a winter jacket or headphones, instead it’s a list of things I want regarding the Ottawa Senators.

The Senators are not spoiled child like the Los Angeles Kings or Chicago Blackhawks are, instead they are the family that gets the knockoff version of toys and the parents always “wait for next year” to get the next best thing. Because of that, I know Uncle Euge won’t be spending top dollar to get us fans and the team the best gifts. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t wish for things that money can’t buy too.

Without further ado, here is my Christmas list for 2014:

1. Waive/Trade/Fire into the Sun Colin Greening

While Greening genuinely seems like a really nice guy and one of the smartest players in the league, he has no place on the team, and that means he’ll be hard pressed to find a job anywhere else. He’s 28 years old, and there’s no more growth for him left. He is what he is, and he simply isn’t good enough. His contract still has two years left after 2014, and getting that off the books would be tremendous for the small budgeted Ottawa.

2. Trade for a defenceman (or three)

By this point, everybody knows that Ottawa’s defence is a clear weakness, and I would argue it’s one of the worst in the league. Without Erik Karlsson it would be an even bigger mess. Right now there’s still some potential with Cody Ceci and Patrick Wiercioch, but there are way too many question marks after that. Chris Phillips should no longer be an NHL regular, Jared Cowen still is a third pairing guy, Eric Gryba has a limited ceiling, Mark Borowiecki takes too many penalties, and Marc Methot may never play another game this year with his luck. Karlsson needs a competent partner, and even after that the team should look at another acquisition.

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3. Get Eugene Melnyk to increase the budget

This is a huge pipe dream for me, personally. I doubt he will open his cheque book, because he knows the team isn’t ready to take that “next step.” Apparently, when money is needed Melnyk will spend, but nobody knows when that will be. Melnyk has to realize that in order to compete, the team needs to spend. They sit 30th in the league in spending this season, and that’s not good enough. A fantastic alternate to this Christmas list is to have Melnyk sell the team, but I doubt that’s happening as well.

4. Roll with the young guys

Despite being one of the youngest teams in the league, Ottawa could and should easily get younger. Some veteran players like Chris Phillips, Chris Neil, David Legwand, Milan Michalek, and Colin Greening can all be detrimental to the teams success at some points. Of course they still have value in their leadership roles, but if they were traded to another team even for a minimal asset, I doubt Ottawa would falter even more. If some veteran players are traded, the Senators could still easily be competitive next year, plus they would have extra assets like draft picks.

It’s clear that when the young players like Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone and Curtis Lazar are getting more ice time and heating up, the team plays much better. The same can not be said for the older players simply because they haven’t been good enough.

5. Erik Karlsson winning a second Norris trophy

With the way this season is going, Senators fans don’t have a whole lot to cheer for. However, we do have one of the best defenceman in the league in Erik Karlsson. He hasn’t been as good as he was in his Norris winning 2011-12 season, but he will still put up a lot of points. It seems like he hasn’t been getting as many points so far, yet he’s actually on pace for 57 points, which is amazing for basically any other defenceman.

Karlsson gets way too much flak around the league for his defending style, and it would really be nice to see him win another Norris to get more people to realize how good he is. If Ottawa does indeed miss the playoffs, this would be a small consolation prize.

6. Don’t make any knee-jerk trades (*cough cough*, Chris Stewart)

It’s been clear that Ottawa has been looking for help via the trade route, although they have mostly been looking at forwards. For some reason, Buffalo Sabres forward Chris Stewart has drawn tons of interest from Ottawa’s side, despite his horrific possession numbers, and awful point totals the last two seasons. I feel like a trade like that may occur, but it would be a huge knee-jerk reaction to do something like that. If a trade were made for a solid top-four defenceman, then I would be all over it. However, if it is for a “power forward” that won’t really bring much to the team it’ll be fairly pointless.

Chris Stewart has drawn tons of interest from Ottawa’s side, despite his horrific possession numbers, and awful point totals the last two seasons

Another important part of this wish is that Ottawa needs to keep their draft picks. Obviously 2015 is one of the best drafts since 2003, and having three picks potentially in the top 45 could be very valuable. There is no way that the first round pick should be moved unless it’s for young all-star level talent.

7. Get Team Canada (and Curtis Lazar/Nick Paul) a gold medal

This isn’t totally an Ottawa wish, but more of a Canadian wish. Canada hasn’t won the World Juniors sine 2009 when it was held in Ottawa, and it’s been a downward trend since then. Having two Senators prospects on the team to buck the trend would be fantastic, and it would look fantastic for Captain Lazar to have that on his resume. I’m sure it would do wonders for both Lazar and Paul’s confidence. When Lazar comes back with the team maybe he plays even better because of the gold medal.

Life as a Senators fan will never be easy. Ottawa has always been an underdog, and perhaps the gifts they get for Christmas won’t be as much as their neighbours. It’s always good to dream though, and maybe Santa will be generous this holiday season.

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