A unique set of Finnish visitors came to the site the other day reading my ancient Nathan Lawson profile from four years ago. Someone (“Rinksu”) on the HPK end of the Jatkoaika Keskustelu boards linked it and I hope fans there got something useful out of it (HPK has lost one of its goaltenders, former Edmonton pick Samu Perhonen, while the other ‘tender, Jere Myllyniemi, had an awful season; presumably Lawson is in the rumour-mill after spending a couple of years in the Austrian league).
I also appreciate the RT from Nichols yesterday–it’s gratifying when poppabear gives you a little love.
Ary M has a piece discussing potential options for Ottawa’s bottom-pairing (something likely moot since the current options are already signed), but what grabbed my attention were these two comments:
Fredrik Claeasson has been Binghamton’s best defender for quite some time but likely caps out as a 6th defender.
Can you just state that as fact? It’s certainly something that gets tossed around by fans a lot, but internally the organisation rewarded the god awful Mark Fraser (?) and I feel like Freddy has showed some worrying signs (such as his on-ice numbers for powerplay goals against). My feeling is that Ary M has watched very few Binghamton games and is simply repeating sentiments he’s heard.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save Luke Richardson
Why is this unfortunate? As above there’s no effort to justify the statement–for those of us who’ve watched the trainwreck that was Richardson this was a welcome relief (about which I discussed here; and about the coaching staff in general, here).
Speaking of Binghamton, Nichols breaks down the rumour that Ottawa might be looking to move it’s AHL affiliate to Belleville. There are two hurdles to this (the Bruce Garrioch report suggests the team wants the move for the 2017-18 season), and let’s look at them quickly:
1. The Sens signed an agreement with Binghamton through the 2018-19 season
I wasn’t able to find an example of an NHL team breaking it’s affiliate agreement, but I imagine it’s not an insurmountable hurdle (there are likely mechanisms within the contract allowing it to happen)
2. Millions of dollars are needed to renovate the the arena and the city council has yet to approve the money
Belleville lost it’s OHL team to Hamilton last year in part to city council refusing to invest in arena improvements; however, there was a recent report that suggests the changes required are already underway:
During closed door talks Thursday, council approved spending $510,000 (contract worth $450,000) for an Ottawa-based firm to commence drawings and designs aimed at rejuvenating the antiquated arena.
What it will do is convince a pair of current suitors the city is serious about bringing hockey back to Belleville. The mayor is holding “healthy discussions” with those clubs, one of which the city has signed a non-disclosure agreement with and the second interested party inking a “letter of intent with a party that we’ve been discussing for the last four months and we’ve extended that for 30 days. It’s a party that has interest in our community in a hockey capacity.”
We know the non-disclosure agreement is with the Senators, but not who the second suitor is. Garrioc’s report means Ottawa’s management wants the notion floated, but it remains to be seen if an actual deal will be finalised. (In researching this, incidentally, I came across an old blog by AHL President Dave Andrews which is worth reading.)
For those who missed it I provided my breakdown of Binghamton’s season yesterday.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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