Senators Roundtable – 2024 Free Agent Targets, Upgrading Defence or Goaltending, Stay or Go & More
hey everybody welcome back to the Senators round table I’m your host Jacob Billington joined by Paul Quinny as usual and today we’re joined by special guest Sean Simpson welcome back to the show Sean how you doing oh thank you very much yeah good been a long time I think it was last fall so uh Lots has happened in s land since we last spoke so uh yeah happy to be back uh yeah back talking some hockey and again lots lots of changed since we last spoke so excited to be on with you guys yeah it’s a busy time in Ottawa I mean there’s plenty of specul to get into before the offseason and kind of what kind of what kind of stuff Steve seos is going to be doing because he’s going to have his hands full especially with the mesp DOR on left them um how you doing Paul we missed you last week hey great I uh was out today and shot a decent round of golf so how bad can it be oh exactly yeah no I hear in Auto a man oh man that uh spring or summer has come early and so getting lots of projects done and I got to be honest with you I usually look at kind of mid June is when it hits in and these last few weeks have been outstanding so if you’re able to get out on the course which I’m sure a lot of people are right now you consider it to be a good day and especially on a Tuesday that’s right it’s been pretty rainy here in Nova Scotia for the last few weeks so oh has it yeah yeah yeah tough to get out but I’m sure we’ll get there soon enough well for sure uh so the first question I want to ask you guys um and we’ll start with you on this simmer um yeah whether it’s the position of the player whether it’s the role of the player what do you think Steve stos needs to be looking for in free agency this year I have a list of names that we’re going to run through but what position or role well looking for everything but I I guess we love to spin this talk and realistically when you look at the defenseman you’re looking for a partner for a guy like Shabbat what’s realistic are they coming to Ottawa and this isn’t an anti- auto or anti-canadian thing just I mean you look at a guy like peshi I mean there’s going to be a ton of teams are you willing to pay that are there the fits um if I’m auttaa I’m being realistic I need a number one golender I need a partner for Shabbat am I going to move Cher and I certainly need some help up front I I’m just not positive as to the free agents and I I’m always very careful with this I I’ll see guys and thought Matt Murray was a pretty good pickup I I thought Corpus Salo I thought some other things but until guys get here and you see them play I’m a little careful to react but I’m sure they’d like to do lots of things I just don’t know how realistic it is when it comes to you know you go back historically with the Ottawa Senators guys one of the best free agent signings they probably ever had was Clark McArthur now unfortunately his contract extension he got hurt um if you can find a diamond in the rough you know something that makes sense for both sides and that’s great uh and we can spin and throw around all these different names I I just don’t know how realistic it is to be quite honest with you but hey that’s why we’re here we’ll we’ll talk about a little bit uh but my my my Spidey Sense is it feel like pretty more likely they’re going to do things via trades uh teams up against the salary cap or maybe some moves when it comes draft time I agree I I think I mean looking historically like you mention Sean um Clark MacArthur is definitely up there as one of the best which he was pretty good while he while healthy but but that sets a pretty low bar I would say the top two signings by otwa is Claude jaru who which kind of have to put an asteris on because he wanted to come home yeah but still still give credit you know they but yeah and and you know going back to gonch I mean I had him as a player in Washington he was terrible early in that contract it finished smoothly here’s a guy that goes boo near the anthem but as far as Claud Drew hey lots of guys come home at the end of their career they’re terrible you got to give credit there but let’s also not forget this isn’t an Ottawa thing I mean my God go through free agency around the National Hockey League and how many misses there are that’s where you know you see a paner and is you know has done well you see boski now doing well well four years he didn’t do well so like I said it’s not just an Ottawa thing but you got to be so careful nowadays not to unfortunately when you look at the Corpus Alo situation you know lock yourself into five years of what might not work you look at the EV of Jack Campbell fortunately it’s worked out with Skinner but that’s the danger of free agency long-term deals big money and U A lot of times it doesn’t work out well you look back to the offseason of well I believe it was 2016 with the year of the kind of 6×6 deals passed out you got Lou Erikson um Milan Lich like there were just so many bad deals signed that off season and yeah they don’t always age no no I mean and this goes back pre-s salary cap there’s just hey a lot of them are guys at the end of their career a lot of guys are handed money uh you know you even look at JT Miller that didn’t look like it was going to go well but Rick toets come in and turned that around so no as I said and then just realistically amongst 32 teams are players willing to come to your market and again not an Ottawa thing but you’re up against a lot when it comes to Canada comes to weather comes to taxes a lot of different things there so like I said I I don’t know if you’re autta with Senators you know you’re going and you know and not trying to be negative here but for a long time what Buffalo did was nothing more than driving up the price for other teams you know they’re always getting the call even Mike Babcock you know they get that call late oh man I I loved your offer but I took the same offer from another team so we’ll see what happens come free agency yeah absolutely uh Paul what do you think Ottawa should be looking at in free agency like like simmer said it’s hard to bring in the big guys especially because it’s a bidding war at that point like like you look at guys like Jake gensel AWA is not going to land him there’s going to be plenty of teams that can out bid then Ottawa doesn’t really necessarily need that big fish Winger um it sure would help but that’s not what they’re really needing in this free agency class what do you think Paul who should they be tarting yeah I mean I I Echo what uh simmer and you were saying Jacob um you know Ottawa is a tough town to bring a big name to and it and like other Canadian franchises it forces them well Canadian small Market franchises it forces them to focus on the draft uh pick carefully manage their prospects and um you know all things that and develop their prospects all things I think that you you can’t really accuse the Ottawa Senators of having done uh certainly not under the P Pier Doran regime but yeah u i mean I think going through stos his mind he’s he’s got constraints here he’s got a budget because once once you sign Pinto I would think he’s got about uh $7 million left that’s it in free cap space so you’re not going out on a big shopping spree with that kind of money it’s just not a lot of money and um uh so I think you know he’s he’s going to emphasize I mean you can it’s a right shot defenseman a veteran presence uh in the forward uh lines and I was going to say a goal tender but the on the free agency market the pickings are so slim this year um there’s virtually no one there that was the same way it was last year unless you want to bring cam tala back just kidding yeah yeah but uh you know it it’s uh they’re just aren’t any good goal tenders up for grabs um you know you could look at uh you you Samson off in Toronto but the buds aren’t going to let him go no team’s going to let a good goenda go unless of course they found someone better and I hear they’re working on lineus Almar but um you know there’s a lot in flux here and you know against that backdrop um you know you can throw up all kinds of names uh but though that would be the framework that he’s got to work with yeah um and simmer we actually had a conversation uh two weeks ago I believe it was about um does Ottawa really need a upgrade in net and is that their biggest priority and of course bringing in lenus omark or um whether it’s gonna be UC SOS or Jacob markstrom or anybody else on the market yeah that’d be absolutely fantastic but where is the issue is it in the net or is it the defense in front of it or like would you prioritize getting one of the big fish defenseman um so just a couple names Chris TV Brett pesy um Brady Shay would you target one of those guys or would you target yeah i’ certainly targeted I mean look at pesi and again just on the surface playing in Carolina N9 years American is he going to come to Ottawa I don’t know is he a great fit for Thomas Shabbat which you should have solved years ago instead of you know getting rid of Dello and putting zeit of in it’s been a disaster you’re not getting rid of the guy so try to make it work CH room would be an obvious to move along what does that turn into well yeah I mean an oark to me would be an upgrade people talk about well what’s he going to be like well his Buffalo numbers are awfully good yuss SOS makes a big difference internally I don’t know as far as their expectations their thoughts on Corpus Al he was terrible last year uh a guy like forsberg I’m very comfortable as a backup but I can’t watch Corp pasalo realistically okay say is there better structure well his time in LA was pretty good you know but was not great in the playoffs do I think as of right now that they should end up upgrading in goal absolutely does better structure better defense do all these things kind of help it out for sure uh but from what we saw last year out of him I’m not real excited now what does Peter as a off and he’s going to come back and be much better along with forsberg you know that’s internal answers and then realistically okay it’d be great if you brought in Newark but who you getting rid of you know and are you going to go with Corpus Alo and W Mark do you want to end up having that cap hit so there’s lots of ways to go about this on the surface looking at it to me they need an upgrading goal but if you improve the defense you improve the structure we saw in Vancouver this year although they have one of the best goers in the National Hockey League so those are internal questions to answer I just got to say from what I said out saw Corpus Salo last year in the Canadian Market I’m not real excited you know I he just didn’t perform well I mean not being able to catch the puck can be a minor or major issue and to me what I’ve saw out of Matt Marie Corpus the last couple of years it just hasn’t been very good but like I said that’s an internal debate if they feel like going with those two and and you know doing some other things with the coaching staff and other things as far as augmenting the roster then okay but I’ll certainly be in wait and see mode to me the priority would be to get a you’re going to do that through free agency but one way you could do it is uh deal Chan to the Boston Bruins they need help on defense andark is apparently Surplus to their needs so uh the only downside though again uh Sam you were talking about the the drawbacks of the Canadian Market is apparently he’s got uh a 10 10 team no trade list and I’d be willing to wag your OTAs on it yeah yeah I’m going to throw out and I just threw it out as a joke that he’s from northern Sweden he wants to come here you you dream of having an eckholm situation where the wife is actually celebrating going from Nashville to Edmonton so let’s just put that out there but yeah I mean he turned it down I you know rumors has he turned down going to La so I’d love to know what his 10 team list is and when you talk about the California New York teams it could be a tax situation as well I mean that’s what people forget as far as the way these players look around so that would be and let’s also be honest guys you know I think some of the things have been thrown out about chick or in a first round pick some of the other things historically goal tenders just don’t go for much I mean this is an older goenda Bo Horvat the 10th pick overall but you know back to the day kiers off a second round pick if we historically look at this you know I I think on the surface a Cher and Fu mark would be a very fair deal to be quite honest with you and if Otto is able to find a right shot defenseman or someone to play the right side would be a real good fit for both clubs yeah I think it’s really interesting because I mean we haven’t seen a big goenda like that in what 15 years now um I was I just I I threw that Oak guys and I was just trying to think of I mean you know marrom I well obviously was free agency but you know you go back to the Patrick W deals and you go back to some of the well you’re going way way back but yeah I was hard pressed to find anybody that really you again and as I said even in that market tends to be a lot less than you’d expect when it becomes such an important position I mean a late first round pick I guess a possibility but there’s no way if I’m the Auto Centers I’m trading tricker and a first round pick pick for Ru markk not with one year left no not a chance no no um so we already kind of talked about Brett pesi it would be a luxury to have him in Ottawa um I think that he would be a perfect fit alongside Thomas Shabbat um I got some other names I just want to get your opinions on um yeah Ty Tyler Meers that’s that name has been going around a little bit um I I wrote a piece on it for the hockey writers and kind of thought about the idea of having 13 feet of Tyler on the third pair between him Tyler cevin I think that would be fantastic but simmer what are your thoughts on Tyler Meers do you think he would fit in I mean now that otwa has Travis Green and Nolan bomgardner I mean they they’re familiar with him well and that’s where I’ll go to Tyler Myers is a extremely soft hockey player and in the Canadian Market people get on him I mean he got boot out of Buffalo was tough in Winnipeg now he’s at the latter part of you know are you comfortable just with a bigger man that’s not going to be physical but is HE capable of playing in the third pairing they’ve got the answers to that and I’m more I’m all forward I think he’s passed through now where people don’t have the expectations of the crazy contract you’re not going to get a physical guy but let’s be honest as well I I don’t think the National Hockey League need that right now so on the surface have you told me he’s a third pairing defenseman Nolan bomgardner who I drafted in Washington respect and as you said with green if they feel like he’s a fit and we’ll talk about tanov as well well first of all a couple of things they know the fit they know the player I’m sure they’re you know current on why he only played 13 minutes last year and then the other part this is going to take some recruiting so it would seem on the surface but nothing more than that I don’t expect him to come in and be a partner for Thomas Shabbat but like I said you you got a couple of guys here in green and bomgardner that can answer those questions for you I just hope fans don’t have expectations again he’s not a hard hockey player but he doesn’t need to be and he could be a perfect fit for clevin and let’s also face facts I I’m just talking about length you know he is a bigger guy and there’s no doubt that they have to get bigger on the back end even if the guy’s not overly physical right and I I think physicality looks a little bit different to everybody he’s not throwing to big hits but he can move bodies in front of the net which is something Ottawa really lacks on that third pair um so yeah I I think there’s a couple different levels of physicality and the physicality that Tyler Myers brings is something that Ottawa needs on their defense um and just the gonna push and shv you he’s not GNA again lay those giant hits to change the momentum or anything um I’m not I’m not even sure how much push in N chovin he does but again he’s bigger and he’s an upgrade and and I’m not really sold I mean you know hamus is is not hamus um I’m blanking right now on the fence hamik you know I really can’t play I’m not sold on jbd as a fulltime player and hey I give branstrom a lot of credit but flat out you just have to get bigger and better so like I said that may be a nice fit as long as it’s thought of uh for the third pairing with clevin yeah uh well it’s problem with Myers though is he uh was reading in the uh Vancouver paper I forget the name of it drawing a blank on it but he came right out and said uh I don’t want to leave I like it here and you know who can blame them I mean they they’re a cup so you’re trying to convince him to go from a cup Contender to a team that’s look I hate to say it still rebuilding yeah yeah and it looks like and let’s also face that you get a lot of you know and again this isn’t but hey you know you get into Vancouver and this the other part guys with free agency and why it’s such a key and I’ll go back to the Edmonton Oilers in the 80s the key is drafting single players that are young you know come through your system and I don’t want to use the term they don’t know any better but when guys get into free agency I mean who’s kidding you know if you got a family and a wife and children and in school who do you think has to say as to where you’re going you know and Vancouver is a gorgeous Place guys settle there you know he may be a player that lives in Vancouver the rest of his life so there has to be that’s why free agency is so difficult like I said your hope is you draft and develop and they’re proud and they’re the Brady Chucks of the world and like a lot of other teams in the National Hockey League even Winnipeg they’re not looking around in the same way but can can you know convincing free agents and their families to uproot for as you said a team that is very much Touch and Go make the playoffs what would be the purpose of that unless you just blow them out of the water financially but or financially not only in money but certainly in the term that you’re willing to give and you know you Echo something there Sim that uh uh TR living said Brad TR living said when he was in Calgary uh and he was admonishing the fans who have these wild expectations about the town and he said look I’m not running a fantasy hockey pool here I I can’t go to the the player tree and pick a couple couple of Plum choices you know they didn’t work that way there’s got to be two willing partners and that’s that’s and you know you look at the hubero situation I I thought at the time that was a pretty good recovery and my God that that has literally been a complete Gong Show for both parties that that has been you know a player that I don’t obviously didn’t want to be traded and then you thought Boy you know you dodged this with a year out and got him on a long-term contract and it’s just turned out to be a disaster and I don’t know how much of that is personally related uh professionally basically got the coach fired and didn’t work out any better this year so yeah it’s it’s not easy but you know that’s that’s for a lot of teams I don’t ever want to just use a Canadian angle to it um but again finding the right fit on and off the ice and you’re very lucky in the case of Claude Drew but I’m not also looking past that hey he’s come in and played you know beyond expectations and when you give a guy three years 188 million that’s not exactly a HomeTown discount as well we can say that he wanted to come to Ottawa but I don’t think there was anybody else lining up given that contract and been great for both parties so far yeah it has been great I I wonder if there’s frustration building up with Claud juru not to get too off topic with these free agent signings but um I wonder if there’s frustration building that these that’s two years wasted already there has to be there I mean again I don’t even know about frustration but hey you’ve done as much as you possibly can he may even you know again I I I spoke to people around there he called Florida they didn’t really want him back you know they offered him a one-year deal not much money Philly didn’t want him um so he kind of looked around and yeah he has to be his goal is to win a Stanley Cup and he has has played to the expectation point the last couple of years where obviously he would have helped the team win a cup so you’re if if if he’s not frustrated then you’re not a competitor which we know he’s one hell of a competitor it’s going to be really tough because I think it’s either extension or trade at this year’s deadline and it’s going to be incredibly hard to trade him because you can’t let him walk as a free agent you need to have him no no no no for sure for sure and you know and and the other part that’s going on guys with the organization is that they had a bunch of young players come through and it was awesome but when you start tracking back to bushe 10th overall du Brink 7th overall CH 12th overall start to look at the system itself well all of a sudden you’re short forwards there’s nobody really in your system or or in Belleville that’s coming up to fill these roles we can say whatever we about Claud Drew there’s nobody I repeat nobody now the seventh pick overall we’ll see what ends up happening but you’re starting to thin out in a hurry here and you have nothing to replace it with so that’s really starting to catch up with the organization and right now if you look at Claude Drew I don’t care how he finished the season last couple of years he is still very much part of the solution here in Ottawa and getting rid of him like I said you got nobody to replace him 100% And yeah outside of him and bson rightwing depth is not great right now so um they they Steve stos has a ton of work to do Pier Doran dug a big hole before he left very much so well I mean you really go back to and I know it was all Flash and Dash the whole de Brink it thing was a disaster you know and then shifting out getting a late pick kubalik being one year and not doing anything for you you know now what do you picking what 26 overall that’s what you have to show for the seventh pick overall absolute disaster in a rebuild y it’s it’s miserable and it really again dug this big hole and again you have to Forfeit a first round pick uh you have and it all goes back that’s just it’s just that that’s a kick in the balls that’s what it is let’s let’s be honest Y and just all these all the things that happened and then that I I broke that story when it first happened cuz I talked to Vegas and people thought it’s no big deal no I’m like I I got to tell you if this is what I’m being told it is this is a big deal I was just shocked it took that long to resurface but man you get into these trade calls and you start uh um fibbing about what had actually gone on well you’re gonna have to pay the price and obviously they did yeah and it all stems back to just these silly trades that dorion made like a second for Derek ston trading a third because you didn’t have a fourth for Travis hamonic like just burrow Murray I mean the two picks he got for Dingle it end up being Murray and step on and it was just again the pro Scout if the pro scouting last few years here had matched up with the amateur scouting you know you’re talking about a playoff team easily easily with how many mistakes they’ve made but hey let’s focus on the future and keep it positive on this glorious day um I got one more name for you in terms of free agency signings we’re we’re sticking to the defense today um Ilia leushin he’s had some interesting Canada for a couple years so I don’t think that’s um a huge deterrent for him I know it is for some players but doesn’t to be do you think that ilushin would be a good fit on this team well again I’m just a little careful guys because I don’t I really liked when he played for at least a couple of years ago and he came in came out of nowhere for you know a next to nothing pick these are the things of and I won’t go MTH and Carlson but I’ll go Philip Kuba one of the things and I still think first of all with Thomas Shabbat I think he could be a better hockey player but he’s not going anywhere he’s making 10 million dollar so when you and and if I I’ll use this as a reverse say Ottawa back in the day had lost myth Aon free agency well they brought in Kuba and when Kuba played with Carlson he won a Stanley Cup if Thomas Shabbat is supposed to be the defenseman that we hope he can be and that I still hope well you have no choice you don’t have to find the best partner in the world I was used my famous Jeff baboom story he couldn’t play in Edmonton he comes in with Brian leech I mean and not that this is a surprise but we can talk that Bard’s a good hockey player all we want they don’t make that elol trade people are complaining about all the defensive deficiencies he’s had you would just have to and and if lushin is the guy I don’t mind him but like I said that’s where your Pro Staff has to come and say hey is it Dello is it labush what is it what can we bring in to compliment Thomas Shabbat that ends up being that that that’s the trick of the trade right there and I don’t mind him but I very careful because I haven’t watched him a ton but I know two years ago in the playoffs from from a a leaf standpoint I was like wow that’s a pretty shrewd pickup he was a big body kept it simple played pretty well so if your staff thinks that that might be a fit for Thomas Shabbat go for it go ahead no I just going to ask Sim so do you think then you’re talking about someone who can compliment Shabbat what about Dyan yellow well for sure for sure and again you know and Dylan first of all this is so crazy how this happened you know I wouldn’t have pretended when he was first here that you’re you’re getting Scott Stevens or Rod langway but they had a fit they had a comfort level that Zev thing was so ridiculous like I honestly go back and I remember even pieter Maguire said coach is coach and Scout’s Scout this guy coming in and being forc so you imagine trying to play with him like what a disaster no hockey sense and then all of a sudden the market and continuing to force and the great compliment which was also complimented by some of the med well one of the media members about him being an elite shutdown defenseman I think other forwards scrambled to get on the ice when he was out there and I don’t mean to make this personal but that that was an absolute disaster you know when you look back on it so what I also think with Dylan Dello when you want to start being realistic he loved Ottawa does that give you a chance is it perfect in a perfect world I know he played a ton of minutes do I see him as a top four defenseman I’m not sure but would that be realistic for Ottawa absolutely when you look at it of okay I’m not going to go crazy in free agency but if Dylan was thinking okay I’d love to come back to Ottawa you’re going to slide him in with Thomas Shabbat I think that’s a very realistic solution and I think that’s where fans have to get their head around on what you’re actually bringing in and at the same time it’s up to Thomas Shabbat to step up and be able to find a compliment where it’s not the greatest player in the world world but I’m A10 million do hockey player I better make the other people around me better and he better all of a sudden come into form here which I ha I hope he’s able to do with a fresh start and with a guy like Nolan bomgardner behind the bench yeah you both make a fantastic Point Ottawa doesn’t need another top pair defenseman they just need somebody that compliments Thomas Shabbat well and plays we don’t have the do to do it anyway I mean Jesus let’s be honest like and you know Sanderson to Zub I I obviously a huge Zub fan but when I’m paying guys 10 million bucks like I said I I don’t I shouldn’t be finding another $89 million defenseman to compliment him that’s not the way the business Works whether you’re Ford or defenseman yeah and I I think the hope with Chan was that he could play on the right side which he did not he could not he couldn’t play defens the right side and people throw this around and I’m not I don’t I’m not saying you have to although it’s becoming more and more difficult with the four check and the speed of the game but the thing that was throwing out is oh they they both said they’ll try the right side yeah well good luck man try handling the for check keeping the puck in your own Zone relating to it like there was no evidence that it was ever going to work and it really didn’t it ended up being again another one of those disasters another one of those shiny trades it was great because of the local ties and the chcken family is awesome but and I’ll also say this I mean he has not played up to expectations whether he’s playing the right or left side talking about chick or at the same time yeah um I do have uh I don’t know if you know this but I have pretty interesting tidbit here so um each each team has three slots on their right hand defense assuming the running 12 12 and six so you would assume that there’s on average 96 right-handed defenseman in the league MH do you have any idea how many right-handed defenseman played one game this season uh you know what there aren’t a lot of players around I’ll go 60 uh 81 which is but how many how many are playing fulltime though that’s all I you know hey you know go through the Ottawa uh media and people say they want a big right-handed defenseman then go through the other 31 newspapers or or whatever you’re covering is I want a big rangy Center that can play okay again these are things that have been repeated but whatever reason in my lifetime it’s really shifted the other way the amount of left-handed hockey players is astronomical where as a kid and I’m showing my age at 55 but I the majority of our hockey team was right shot so no it’s not easy to find and to find a capable one that could play in your top four yeah and I will add that uh 54 played half the season 41 games so okay yeah 4 right-handed defenseman playing that’s that’s that’s less than two a team yeah yeah so that was just the last tidbit I wanted to throw in there um very solid very solid I right now we’re gonna do should he stay or should he go um and it can be rapid fire if you want to throw in a comment go ahead um okay but all we need is a staying or going kind of answer again feel free to elaborate I’m going to get both your answers on these um simmer we’ll just start with you kubalik well yeah I mean he should go I mean it didn’t work now now having said that he goes to the world championships and plays well I’d like to know on the surface what happened behind the scenes was he not used properly was he not comfortable is he unhappy being here now all the only thing I’ll say is he a top 9 forward absolutely is he better than Ottawa has absolutely but did I like what I saw last year no but I’m intrigued to know more behind the scenes and like I said he goes and plays at the World Championships like the kubalak that we saw in Detroit yeah I I think in terms of of bringing him back it’s absolutely not um there’s just it didn’t work here once let’s not retry it uh Paul do you have do you concur I saw him buying a bus ticket the other day he’s gone already left we don’t even have a bus station but I got it anyway let’s go VIA Rail uh all right simmer Parker Kelly is he coming back or no um I I don’t even I I I I’ll say no but I I I you know to me he’s a minor league player so if he came back on a two-way contract sure anything beyond that no Paul would you bring him back you know what I’m gonna say stay you know he brings uh some much needed grit to a team that desperately needs it so you know in the absence of anything better sure stays I think he’s a fine 13th forward um I don’t I don’t think he’s an everyday NHL at this point he showed some good signs under jacqu Martin but I don’t think he’s full-time NHL player yeah and I don’t disagree they need some I love everything he does I just wish he was a bigger player could make an impact and great part about being a 13th forward and a seventh defenseman is realistically you’re good in the room but you hope you never they never have to play you so that’s a bit of an out in my estimation he’s a great seventh defenseman well I was a great third goal tender I mean who couldn’t be that’s good that’s good um you had a great Juniors though he did great oh exactly I peaked at 18 yeah um this one’s a bit of a wild card that some people forget about but Boris kajuk what do you think simmer uh I don’t have any no thoughts yeah it’s they’re those players are di does and so like I said two-way contracts if you want to have guys in Belleville uh sure Paul yeah I’d give him another year you know he looked pretty good uh on that line with Kelly and Castell and you know if you look at his output in those 21 games he played uh if you extended that over an entire season I think people would be happy so give him another shot like you say uh you know simmer was saying a two-way contract for the league minimum what the heck yeah he’s he’s one of those guys he just kind of put some energy into the lineup but yeah you claim him on waivers most people are going to do that just have a burst and say I’m here to prove myself but no you’re playing for your Hockey Life yeah exactly uh so we’re gonna get into some bigger names now uh Eric branstrom do you keep him or do you send him away or do you not qualify him uh well as of right now um he would be with chern on the roster he’s my fifth best defenseman so as it sits today I’m keeping him now how clevin factors in could he play the right side with clevin he’s better than jbd in my estimation although I didn’t watch a ton to the end of the year and uh as far as hamonic so as it hits as of today uh I give this guy a lot of credit for being able to turn into a pretty good defensive player so yeah I’d bring him back hey Paul I’d see him go he’s another Lefty and uh he he’s just too small you know he’s he’s getting thrown around out there so you know I’d move on from him yeah don’t disagree with any of that the only thing I say to is that he is still better than what they have and but I agree and and the trade has been crazy you know the way this went and I also kind of wondering where they came up with the formula for his salary last year didn’t really make any sense as to why all of a sudden he was making that kind of dough yeah didn’t make sense to me I will give him credit um we did our player grades um probably a month ago now simmer and I gave him an A+ just because of the expectations on the role that he was given I think that he turned he turned into a fantastic kind of defensive option for that third pair Ottawa just needs something different I think that he did really in the role they just need something different so I think it’s time I thought they were I thought when they made that trade they were getting Quinn Hughes and that’s not the case I mean that that’s realistically what you thought and I give the F fellow full marks and mandis he me works hard and and maybe just a fresh lease on life somewhere else I’m not going to say offensively um but you know he’s a guy that’s at least establish himself he can play and there’s a lot of teams out there that are just looking for Warm Bodies at this point he needs to be a top four offensive option with power play time and he’s never gonna have that in Ottawa so yeah well if you’re not having that in Ottawa I don’t know you might be talking Switzerland well that’s fair that’s fair but I mean they just they loaded up the defense in front of them chck let’s be honest with where a was at the standings you know maybe Chicago maybe one of these other teams but yeah as I said and the other part with the power play guys to be honest with you he has to be he he’s an option in the zone I mean that’s really his game you know unfortunately he’s not even a guy that you know he transports the anytime he had the flashes in the past it was always against Bad teams and everyone would get all fired up have a couple rushes up the ice and then you realize who he’s playing against but yeah good fella I I do think just last thought on bransom I do think that he’s gonna be the next sha dery get moved and break out and just actually show his potential that that’s just my prediction I I really you wish him well yeah yeah uh Jacob chran is he gonna be back or no I would move him um you know certainly I look at kind of the dollars the solution and I I’m more than comfortable didn’t see him play a ton uh but hey with the salary kicking in on Sanders and you got Shabbat and I want to integrate clevin for a lot of different reasons and be honest with you I’m not blaming him but this has unfortunately turned out to be a little bit like Matt duchaine uh for whatever reason when they traded for him and then went on that trip that started in Chicago it’s been an utter Gong Show um here are some rumors about maybe not a great fit I know the family’s outstanding but sometimes things happen so absolutely he be a guy had been moving on and not to mention the money and only a year left on his deal and this is also where if you’re proactive realistically guy like that wants a contract extension so you would think you could work that out with a hockey team and get some pretty good value for the player Paul I’d say state for now he’s a valuable trade ship but uh you know let’s be clear he doesn’t want to be here so yeah that’s what it seemed like like in the locker clean not uh Thomas Shabbat is he staying or going well he ain’t going anywhere um and and I’m only being realistic again I I don’t know I I I still think that there’s something there but a $10 million a year what are you bringing back what what kind of a trade is there going to be like would you be willing to go right now and trade Darnell nurse for him you know I mean you know so I I’m of the M I’m of the mindset that he’s going to be back now am I thrilled about it am I thrilled about the way he’s evolved as a hockey player absolutely Ely not but this is also and I go back to JT Miller I go back to other situations guys you know this is sometimes with your own assets is finding Solutions versus some going somewhere else and taking off so um I don’t think they have a choice but I’m still going to say hey let’s stay the course here uh try to basically start from scratch with him less minutes better defensive player put on some muscle start actually defending um and I went through this with Sergey goner in Washington where he was terrible and Randy Carlile came in and worked with him and turned into a real good all arounde player so I still hold out that hope for Thomas Shabbat yeah um and I do think those bad years for gona kind of people forget about his Washington years just because of he wasn’t as as primed as he was by the time he got to Pittsburgh and yeah he was towards the end but but absolutely not the not the whole time for sure yeah uh Paul Thomas Shabbat stay hopefully green and you just pray hopefully green and his crew can turn them around but uh I agree gmer you’re stuck with him the way he is all right um for the sake of time we’re going to wrap things up now um okay we um yeah we’re running out of time here so uh simmer very grateful for you coming back on um really appreciate it and some good Insight Paul happy to see you this week as always um and for everybody watching thanks for tuning in leave your thoughts in the comments on kind of all your thoughts on all the players we talked about and we’ll see you next time
In this episode of The Hockey Writers Senators Roundtable, Ottawa Senators writers Jacob Billington and Paul Quinney are joined by Shawn Simpson to discuss who the Senators should target in free agency, whether they should upgrade the goaltending or the defence, and more.
0:00 Intro
1:22 Senators’ Targets in Free Agency
7:27 Upgrade in Net or On Defence?
12:15 Free Agent Targets: Tyler Myers
20:50 Free Agent Targets: Ilya Lyubushkin
22:31 Free Agent Targets: Dylan DeMelo
26:57 Stay or Go? Dominik Kubalik
27:50 Stay or Go? Parker Kelly
28:58 Stay or Go? Boris Katchouk
29:50 Stay or Go? Erik Brannstrom
32:28 Stay or Go? Jakob Chychrun
33:29 Stay or Go? Thomas Chabot
The Senators Roundtable crew are great writers too –
Jacob Billington – https://thehockeywriters.com/author/jbillington/
Paul Quinney – https://thehockeywriters.com/author/pquinney/
Dayton Reimer – https://thehockeywriters.com/author/dreimer/
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1 comment
Those will all be excuses Staios uses for not getting a player but look at the moves he has made so far. He has done nothing. He can’t even get Pinto signed. Staios has no idea what he is doing in my opinion. Plus taking forever to make moves, will cost us to miss out on players etc. no faith in Staios.