-The news I’ve expected for months has finally come down the wire with Daniel Alfredsson deciding to play another season in Ottawa. It’s great for the organisation because there is no one to replace Alfie. Luke Fox added an interesting tidbit “It’s been four years (or one Olympics ago, for those of you stricken with the fever) since Alfie has been able to train properly in the off-season and have his muscles respond the way he wants them to. A bad back, bouts of rehab and last summer’s surgery left him at a crossroads.”
–Brochenski goes to the Corsi bat in support of Erik Condra (apparently lifting the idea from Travis Yost who compared him to Ville Leino) where he uses stats to show just how good Condra is at the possession game. This is certainly what I noticed over the season and is what makes him an effective player. Peter Raaymakers has jumped onto the bandwagon and adds this salient point, “I think advanced statistics like Corsi or CF% or what-have-you are only as useful inasmuch as they can be used to explain or challenge preconceived notions we make while watching a player.”
–Varada provides a puzzling argument for retaining Bobby Butler. He begins by saying the Sens need him to reach the cap floor (a canard that has been exploded many times), then conflates his numbers from this season and last season, as if they are one and the same thing (limited success on a terrible team versus no success on a competitive team). Then he suggests they need Butler in case of injury, apparently not thinking much of the parade of forward prospects (Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Stone, and others) Ottawa has waiting in the wings. He ends by saying this is an indication that Murray is planning a big move…or Melnyk wants to save money. There’s no basis for the former, while the latter isn’t changed with or without Butler. Putting aside the confusing arguments, I’m not sure why Varada wants to keep a one-dimensional player who was unable to produce. He’s essentially Ryan Shannon without the passion, and Shannon is now out of the NHL playing in Switzerland.
–Tim Conboy signed a deal to play with ERC Ingolstadt in the DEL. A free agent after spending last season with Binghamton, I thought there was a slight chance he would be retained up until the Sens signed Andre Benoit.
–Chet Pickard, the primary piece to Nashville via the Erik Karlsson trade at the 2008 draft, has parted ways with the Predators and signed with Djurgarden in the Allsvenskan. If there needed to be any more evidence that Bryan Murray won this trade, this is it.
-For those of you buying season tickets for the Phoenix Coyotes, Stu Hackel provides us with the expected problems with the current sale. Prospective owner Greg Jamison is short 20 million to purchase the franchise, which is why Shane Doan is trying to extort crazy money from other NHL teams.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
eyeonthesens 