Once the NHL Trade Deadline had passed at 3pm Eastern time, the Ottawa Senators had not made a trade, and many fans were disappointed with the lack of movement. I think it’s fair to say that many were hoping that players like Chris Neil, Chris Phillips, Eric Gryba, David Legwand, Jared Cowen, and others would be moved or at least one or two of them.
And really, how can you blame people for having those wishes? Some of the returns for rentals or simply depth players were quite large. I don’t think it’s too crazy to think that Ottawa could have gotten a second round pick for one of the players that the team was shopping. Along with that pick, I would have been absolutely fine with acquiring some mid-round picks for Gryba, Legwand, and Mark Borowiecki.
Despite the team carrying eight defenseman, and there being rumours since the summer that the they could make a move, absolutely nothing happened. They didn’t acquire a depth forward, nor did they solve their problem on the back-end of too many redundant defenseman. It’s pretty disappointing for a team that needs to save some money and also give up some roster spots.
It seems like Ottawa hasn’t done anything in terms of roster construction lately, and SenShot’s own Jack Leiper confirmed that:
That is pathetically bad for a team that has some holes. Obviously I was not expecting them to acquire Keith Yandle or Mats Zuccarello, but a couple trades here or there to gain some draft picks could have helped immensely in more ways than one.
In a perfect world, Neil, Phillips, Gryba, Borowiecki, Legwand, and Colin Greening would have all been shipped for a draft pick or two. I wouldn’t expect much, as even a 7th round pick for some of them would suffice. But the value of an extra roster spot and cap space would be huge. Furthermore, I would still pursue trades for Cowen, Alex Chiasson, and Zack Smith, as it’s become clear that neither of those three will be particularly important for the future of the organization.
If a team out there is still very high on Cowen, I would trade him right away. However, I don’t think that’s happening any time soon.
Murray still sees a lot of growth and Cowen becoming a "real fine defenceman".
— Graeme Nichols (@GraemeNichols) March 2, 2015
That is one reason why this is a disappointing day. Because I do not have 100% faith in management, as they still see Cowen as a good player, which he is not. Also, Murray later said that he was only trying to move an extra defenseman today and that is it, which is very underwhelming. He still came up empty-handed on that.
Now it’s hard to just blame Murray. Not many teams were interested in some of these players, and if they were they most likely offered a 6th or 7th round pick. So maybe Murray thinks that it will be better to keep them or trade them at a better time. He obviously had his hands tied and not many teams were (understandably) interested in the players he had to offer.
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Flipping back to the other side again though, it was Murray who constructed this roster. He gave extensions to Phillips, Borowiecki, Greening, Neil, and Smith, and also signed Legwand. Some of those seemed good at the time, but others looked awful (or at least unnecessary) from the get-go. Now there’s a logjam of players at the NHL level, and most of the players available aren’t particularly good players.
So you do have to have some sympathy for Murray, but at the same time he was the one who got himself into this.
At the end of the day, it wasn’t too encouraging to see what’s unfolding in the organization. I think the opportunity to gain a couple of draft picks was lost, and that value can never come back. Perhaps something will happen at the draft or in the summer. Actually to be honest, if nothing is done by that point to fix the roster or at least the budget issue, then I will have some serious problems with management.
The team is failing to deliver on the trade front again and again
Although it was an underwhelming day, there are some positives to look at. Underrated Patrick Wiercioch and Erik Condra are still on the team, and hopefully they stay for a while longer. Also the team is still on their five game winning streak, and they look to continue the momentum on Wednesday.
For the long-term, this team has a good young core that will be locked up for a while, and if the defense can be fixed then the Senators could quickly rise in the standings in the next couple years. It’s nice to think about the future because I can see them enjoying success relatively soon, but at the same time it’s disappointing that the team is failing to deliver on the trade front again and again.