Ottawa Senators

Is spezza unhappy in Ottawa?




In the next three weeks Bryan Murray will have a very important conversation with Jason Spezza , to see if his star centre is still happy in Ottawa.

At their season-ending meeting in April, Spezza expressed some frustration to the Senators general manager with the way his season ended. He was booed by his home fans in Ottawa during the club's first-round playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"He was a little unhappy at the end of the year. I took it as being somewhat emotional more than anything. I haven't talked to him in the last few weeks. I hope before July 1st to have that conversation with him," said Murray on Wednesday afternoon.

Murray did not confirm that Spezza asked for a trade during that meeting in late April. He simply said his star player felt like he was being unfairly targeted by the fans and media.


"I got an impression that he was quite unhappy at the end," continued Murray. "I think the coverage he felt he got and the fan reaction a couple of times left him kind of wanting a little bit. But I don't think it's anything beyond that. My next conversation with him will be away from the emotion of playoff time to see what we can do and what we have to do."

Murray was quick to defend Spezza, the Senators only true offensive centreman. After returning from a knee injury in mid-January, the centre collected 38 points in his final 30 games of the regular season. He was also invited to Team Canada's Olympic orientation camp last August, a sign that he is considered among one of the most skilled players in the NHL.

"He's not always going to satisfy everyone because he's a skill player not a gritty run-around guy. He's not going to hit people - but we don't want him to do that," Murray said. "He probably gets lambasted a little more (by the fans) than an energy guy."

After dealing with the Dany Heatley situation last summer, the last thing that Murray wants to do is spend another summer trying to trade a superstar. The Heatley incident taught Murray how difficult it is to move a long-term contract to another team.

Ja sa onolkom platom uopste ne bih bio unhappy..

Brate nakupio se on para,mislim da trazi nesto drugo

Pa ko ce od ozbiljnijih timova da preuzme onoliki ugovor?

Ne vjerujem da ce neko i razmisljati da ga uzme,ali to ne mijenja na stvari.

Will Spezza follow Heatley out of capital?

Does Jason Spezza want to be traded?

That was the question posed to the Ottawa Senators forward on Thursday after reports had surfaced that he was unhappy with his current hockey team. Spezza , who was booed by Ottawa fans at the end of this season, has five more years remaining on a $7 million US annual contract.

But the 26-year-old said the decision is not up to him.


“I don’t have a no-trade now, so if they trade you, then you get traded,” Spezza said at a charity event in Toronto. “If not, obviously I’ve spent some time there so I’m happy to be there and we’re looking forward to the future.”

When asked again if he wanted to go back to Ottawa, Spezza responded: “Yeah.”

It is not difficult to see why Spezza might want a change in scenery.

The native of Mississauga, Ont., has spent all seven NHL seasons with the Senators. While he has reached the 30-goal mark three times and twice put up 90 or more points, he has yet to reach the superstar status of a second overall pick (in 2001). As a result, fans have grown increasingly frustrated with the dynamic centre.

After Spezza was booed during a first-round series loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the feeling might be mutual.

“I got an impression that he was quite unhappy at the end,” Senators general manager Bryan Murray told Sportsnet in regards to his season-ending meeting with Spezza . “I think the coverage he felt he got and the fan reaction a couple of times left him kind of wanting a little bit. But I don’t think it’s anything beyond that. My next conversation with him will be away from the emotion of playoff time to see what we can do and what we have to do.”

While Spezza said his meeting with Murray was confidential, he hinted that he was unhappy with the response he received from fans.

Vec smo se smejali na to.. Part 1 AND part 2..

Could Jason Spezza Be Traded? Florida and Columbus Are Top Candidates



Rumours began to swirl this week that Ottawa Senators’ centre Jason Spezza wants out of the nation’s capital.

This after Senators’ general manager Bryan Murray gave an interview with Rogers Sportsnet on June 3rd in which he referred to a conversation he and Spezza had had at the end of the season.

Apparently, Spezza told Murray that he was unhappy about fans giving him a hard time.

Spezza who is a talented offensive forward has the ability to draw fans out of their seats as he executes a nearly impossible manoeuvre to deke a defenseman and pick the corner of the net and score a beautiful goal. Unfortunately, he also has a tendency to make blind back passes and is not known for his defensive prowess.

During the regular season, Spezza is often forgiven for his defensive lapses because of his ability to help win games by scoring and setting up game winning goals. However, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, when fancy dipsy—doodle plays are rarely effective, and a player’s value is measured as much by his ability to prevent a goal as to score one himself, Spezza doesn’t measure up well to fellow Senators like Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher.

Despite the fact that Spezza had 7 points in 6 games in Ottawa's series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, third liners Chris Kelly, Chris Neil, and Jarkko Ruutu received more credit for Ottawa’s ability to compete with the 2009 champs than did Spezza.

Now, whether Spezza is a net asset to the Ottawa Senators is not up for debate: he is. So, if Murray decided to explore trade options for Spezza, he would require a good return.

My feeling is that Murray would not be interested in trading Spezza to a team only interested in unloading some underachieving players of their own. However, there are not many teams that would be willing to give up prime assets for a player with some defensive liabilities.

For a team to be willing to give up something of value for Spezza, the team would have to be in dire need of some goal scoring talent and have the cap space to take on Spezza’s $7 million a year hit for five more years.

The list of teams that fit the bill is pretty short. The Florida Panthers are pretty much the only team that is a prime candidate to acquire a player like Spezza. However, there are rumblings that the Columbus Blue Jackets are ready to make a move to get themselves into the playoffs next year.

"Slatke muke"..

Senators sign Gonchar to 3-year deal



Sergei Gonchar couldn't get a deal done to stay in Pittsburgh, and shortly after the market opened Thursday he got an offer he couldn't refuse from the Ottawa Senators.

Gonchar has signed a reported three-year contract with the Senators that will pay him $5.5 million annually and includes a no-trade clause.

"I'm very happy to be there because I'm going to play in Canada, which is special for me all the time," Gonchar said. "Second of all I believe Ottawa ha a very good team, probably missing a few pieces to go far in the playoffs and hopefully I fill one of them. We played against them last year in the playoffs and it was really a battle. It's not easy to ply against that team. That's the reason I'm signing with them."

Gonchar was a Penguin since 2005 after signing a five-year deal to play coming out of the work stoppage. He did not disappoint. For most of his five seasons he was Pittsburgh's best defenseman and power play quarterback. He contributed 54 goals and 205 assists (259 points) in 322 games in Pittsburgh.

Injuries limited Gonchar to only 87 games over the past two regular seasons, including just 25 in 2008-09, but he played in all but two playoff games and helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2009 with 14 points in 22 games. He had 12 points in 13 playoff games this past spring.

Gonchar is nine games away from 1,000 for his career. He played 10-plus seasons with Washington before being traded to Boston in 2004, but he played in only 15 games with the Bruins before the work stoppage. He has 202 goals and 482 assists (694 points) for his career.

"Sergei had Ottawa one of his top teams to hopefully speak with," Gonchar's agent, J.P. Barry, told the Ottawa Sun. "They showed how much they wanted Sergei to help run the power play in Ottawa and he hoped that they were a team that would step up. He can help them. He's very excited."

Senatorsi su mi sada 2. omiljen tim..
A za Sergeja odlican ugovor..

Odlican potez uprave Sensa!

Bolje da su Volchenkova potpisali

Da.. Mada Gonchar im donosi dosta toga u napadu..

Leclaire se povredio... Ponovo...

Ko ce da im brani jbt.

Pa Elliot naravno ili Mike Brodeur, solidni su obojica...

Elliot je po meni sigurnije rjesenje

Eliot i Lekler su se menjali na golu.. Realno, nisu srecni ni jedan ni drugi..

Gagne budio uspomene iz Filadelfije,kako da ne!

Kau utakmicu veceri u prvi plan stavljaju divizijski duel dve ekipe koje se muce na pocetku.. Sensi gostuju Sejbersima u HBSC areni..