Time running out for Sens
A-train’s last game?
If the Senators lose Thursday night, it could be D Anton Volchenkov’s last game in an Ottawa uniform. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and turned down a five-year offer from GM Bryan Murray before the Olympic break.
While talks will continue in the off-season, the going price for a shutdown blueliner on the open market is around $5 million US a season. He will easily get that from somebody on July 1. There is a lot of speculation the Capitals will make a pitch. Volchenkov was an ugly minus-3 in Game 4 Tuesday.
http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/columnists/2010/04/21/13672471.html
6 Responses to Time running out for Sens
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After the sh!t kicking they took on home ice, the Sens are gonna play a really strong game and win game 5 at the Igloo. Pittsburgh will then win game 6 back in Ottawa.
5 million seems like alot, thats like star money, but I can see someone giving him that considering his play the last couple of seasons….. capitals are a perfect fit. They need a shut down guy on the back end. i mean they r basically only as good as they can score this year. If they couldnt score, their defence would be mediocre………………….
Though how can Washington afford Volchenkov at 5 million? dont they have Ovechkin at the max, plus Semin pretty high and Green not too far off, oh and not sure about Backstrom.
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Ottawa has Volchenkov's replacment in waiting……….. Jared Cowen. he plays a similar role as Volchenkov and is if lives up to expectations, should be a similar player
Plus, we have first shot at getting Sutton inked for next year too. If Volchenkov wants $5M, I'd say let him walk. As good as he's been to this team (and he has been stellar), I don't think he's worth THAT much to the team.
Sutton can probably be had for $2.5M to $3M on a 1 or 2 year deal…plus, look at our defense already signed for next year:
Phillips
Kuba
Karlsson
Lee
Carkner
Cowan
plus, Campoli's a RFA…so, if Sutton returns, as does Campoli, we're at 7 NHL Dmen plus Cowan
I agree signing Sutton would be smart. I can't stand the bastard, but he's a good defenceman.
Ottawa has made great strides this year. Obviously beating Pittsburgh is a tall order, but big improvement from last year. I hope the Leafs follow this pattern next year as their young players develop further.
You have to give the Sens all the credit in the world for even being able to stay in this series at all. Not to put them down, but the sens do not match up well against the pens on paper. Usually, even the underdog has some area of their game that gives them an edge, but in this series Pittsburgh is really holding all over the Sens in just about any category you can think of. Scoring, Defense, goaltending, special teams. Also, Pittsburgh's core is younger, their high end talent is better, and they also have much more playoff experience than Ottawa. Throw in two top six forwards out of Ottawa's line up and this should have been a sweep, but Ottawa has battled very hard, and are staying in this on pure will power and grit. I am not a big Ottawa fan, but I have to give them credit where it's due.