Randy Lee talked about a bunch of things and I have a few thoughts:
-22 candidates applied for the Binghamton position and he says interviews were conducted (which contradicts my speculation that they’d simply picked Kleinendorst for the usual nostalgia reasons that have guided the Sens for years); with that said, and regardless of who the other top candidate was, they did go with the feel-good decision that’s based on results from five years ago (rather than looking at recent track records, something comically emphasized in an attempt to say it’s not the reason: “Well, the proven track record. I mean, that year, a lot of those young players he put into really sort of bigger roles and these are guys that were really instrumental in helping us win the Calder Cup Championship … We think that winning is a huge part of development“); Nichols (whose transcription is cited) doesn’t actually delve into Kleinendorst’s struggles since leaving Binghamton, but if “winning” was a true criteria he never would have been hired; it’s also odd that the “fit” with Steve Stirling relevant
-Lee provided absolutely no specifics on how Marc Crawford’s “liaison” position in relation to Binghamton will function despite talking about it at length
-On retaining Stirling: “Definitely, he’s one of those glue guys who you can sort of go to. He’s an extremely hard worker;” I don’t think hard work is something unique to Stirling, so my assumption is that the personal relationships he’s built up with the organisation are what’s keeping him around
-Lee gave Francis Perron the usual nonsense we hear him give to every talented player drafted, “If you don’t change your game, we probably wouldn’t sign you … We don’t want you to score goal six or seven to two. We want you to score the goal that brings your team back or be on the ice when you’re protecting the lead.” The idea that Perron was only scoring meaningless goals before this is absurd and the idea that the Sens somehow have so much goalscoring talent they don’t need more is equally silly, but Lee is all about the hockey jargon of the day before yesterday (as Nichols points out, “It’s kind of weird that hockey’s a sport where less talented individuals are rarely held to the same level of scrutiny as offensive players“–this is more than weird, it’s just dumb)
My overall takeaway from this is what I’ve long thought: Lee isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and there’s nothing in his comments that suggests any changes from the way things were done under Bryan Murray.
Nichols writes about Elliotte Friedman’s casual inclusion of Ottawa as a possible candidate to move to Quebec City and I think this point is the proper conclusion:
reach an agreement with the NCC on building a new rink at LeBreton Flats, without an agreement in place, the threat of relocation to a city like Quebec City gives the Senators and the NHL exactly what they want: leverage.
This is all it is–just some smoke to try and shake the trees at the NCC.
Senators prospect Robert Baillargeon, whose development has badly stalled at Boston University, has transferred to Arizona State for his senior year. The move is a good one for Baillargeon as a less cluttered lineup will give him an opportunity to show what he can do.
Ross A indulges in some draft speculation and decides that, for no reason in particular, the Sens will ditch their post-Muckler policy and draft a Russian player. If it happens I’ll eat my hat (fyi, Ruslan Bashkirov played in the Q which is the only reason Murray let Muckler’s scouts pick him).
Free agent signing: Calgary signed Czech goaltender David Rittich
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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[…] Place, and when I realized the move was something desperately desired that the threat to leave was leverage for that purpose. His promise to keep the team in Ottawa is irrelevant since I think it’s the NHL that’s […]