2009 NHL ENTRY DRAFT

Howdy from Ottawa....draft night!  No surprises through the top 3 picks.    Can't believe Philly gave up Lupul, Sbisa, two 1st rounder's and a conditional 3rd to Anaheim for Pronger who has all but 1-yr left on his contract. The rumour now is Flyers F Daniel Briere is going to be moved (Montreal?) to make cap room for Pronger. The Ducks on the other hand save $1 mil. on the deal, get two roster players and two real high picks in a deep draft. Also with Scott Nidermayer returning, I can only assume the Ducks will save another $1 million plus as Scott has to sign less than the $6.75 million he made last season. Another amazing deal for Anaheim which dates back to moves done at last season's trade deadline. Maybe our team has the wrong Murray employed as GM?   Very disappointed Bryan Murray didn't trade Heatley to L.A for their 5th pick. Ottawa is ranked within the bottom 10 NHL clubs in terms of prospects and basically have two or three potential NHL forwards in their system at best. Whether it was a combination of Frolov, Brown, Stoll or Jack Johnson it really shouldn't have mattered. The Senators REALLY needed to trade with L.A given the 5th pick they had. Wouldn't Brayden Schenn looked good in a Senators jersey? Exactly what the team needed as a smart reader commented...a power forward.  In 'the travelling draft pick' the Islanders sent Ottawa's former 1st round pick from the Comrie/Campoli deal to Columbus. Ottawa got the pick from San Jose which SJ got from Tampa Bay. Swedish D Oliver Ekman-Larsson off to Phoenix for a few years before the team is relocated.  Rumours swirl of Toronto GM Brian Burke making Sens GM Bryan Murray sweat as the Senators are now confirmed in wanting F Nazem Kadri. Toronto of course is at 7, Ottawa at 9. And the battle of Ontario continues... Great TSN coverage...we see Burke and Murray discuss a possible draft pick trade, Burke tells Murray he is taking Kadri but Murray stands his ground. Then Brian Burke screws Ottawa by selecting Kadri. Let's see if Ottawa really wants Kadri and Murray trades for him. Personally this opens the door for Ottawa to select the right player at 9...F Jordan Schroeder.  In my opinion, it would be a total mistake for Ottawa to select a defensemen with the 9th pick...we desperately need a top forward prospect in the system. Dallas selects F Scott Glennie way too early...now Ottawa has options with their selection. TSN update stating yet again GM Bryan Murray is asking for THREE players in return for Heatley. I can't understand why you wouldn't be satisfied with one player, one prospect and a top 10 draft pick for Heatley. God Minnesota is at 12 and I'd trade with them. I understand you want to get 'full value' for a former 50-goal scorer, but this is also a guy who doesn't want to be a Senator, doesn't like the coach and has a $4 million dollar bonus coming up in 5 days. Playing hard to get clearly isn't working.    So the Senators select ANOTHER defensemen in Jared Cowen. A 6'5 defensive-defensemen (who isn't overly physical) that Bob MacKenzie says has 'shut-down' potential. I do have to mention he has ALREADY had reconstructive knee surgery. Yes he will recover but this kid won't be an NHLer for at least 2-3 seasons. I do not like this pick at all...on paper our club has a solid defensive group both in the NHL and AHL. But why did Ottawa struggle so mightly last season? They could not score. And unless Dany Heatley is traded, what makes anyone think our offense will improve? If Heatley ends up playing for Ottawa this coming season is he magically going to score 50 goals again even though he doesn't want any part of Ottawa? Anyways, drafting Cowen makes no sense unless he is going to be flipped in a trade. Islanders grab Minnesota's 12th pick for three picks...obviously Long Island has a player in mind. Also 'the travelling draft pick' was moved yet again. Isles pick Calvin DeHAAN? Who? A former Kemptville 73 (I used to call their games on TVCogeco) who is an offensive-defensemen. However trading three picks for a guy most had going in the mid-20's isn't smart. We'll see in a few years I guess... Bryan Murray is in talks with NYR GM Glen Sather. Heatley and Redden together again...good riddance. However we now hear Murray told his management staff a NYR deal is a no-go...also he and Eugene Melnyk have walked off the draft floor for a little chat. Wow. My favourite prospect outside of the obvious selections, F Jordan Schroeder has dropped drastically. Even Minnesota passed on him...twice. Pie on my face currently. Although I truely believe my faith in him will allow me to say 'I told you so' in a couple of years. Still can't believe we took Cowen, who at best has been compared to Adam Foote but less grit. Look, hate to rag on a kid that is so young...who knows maybe he turns into Chara. But the reconstructive knee surgery which he still hasn't recovered from is a red flag for me.  Ok just checked the message boards...Sens fans seem to love the Cowen pick. I read comparisons to Victor Hedman. Way off on that comparison Sens fans...I love you all but man, Cowen and Hedman have nothing in common other than being tall. Hedman is head and shoulders above Cowen at this time, plus Hedman has yet to have a major reconstructive surgery. Sens fans are united that our defense will be stellar in a few years...but what about the offense? Generally offense costs more than defense financially and given the last two drafts, good defensemen are not that hard to find in the first round anyways, while a good forward is. Ok so I'm sitting here delivering the televised draft to Canadian troops world-wide and I'm thinking...should the Senators have traded down in the draft? Your thoughts.    Vancouver takes F Jordan Schroeder. Was ranked 15, fell to 22nd. Size must matter again in the NHL because Schroeder dominated the NHL combine. He is 5'8-5'9, but he is one of the fastest players in the draft and was the best U.S.-born player. Stupid he fell as far as he did. Wish him the best. As of right now though, I look stupid for saying he would go top 10. The more mintues click off the clock, the more it looks like GM Bryan Murray's only option to trade Heatley before July 1st is by dealing him to the New York Rangers. The name being thrown around is D Michal Rozsival who has a $5 mil. contract. That leaves $2.5 mil. to make the deal work (NYR is at the cap). Other potential players/prospects we could get are F Nikolai Zherdev, F Brandon Dubinsky, F Pat Rissmiller, D Bobby Sanguinetti, F Artem Anisimov and/or F Evgeny Grachev. I'd also expect we'd get a future 1st round pick from the Rangers. Either way, Murray and Co. are going to seriously regret not trading with L.A if the above is the best Ottawa can do.    Sens owner Eugene Melnyk has stated he was sickened by the news Heatley wanted out of Ottawa. And he has stated he won't pay Heatley's $4 million dollar bonus and Dany-boy will have to sue for it. Also Bryan Murray has stated that if he cannot get fair value for Heater then he will keep him whether or not he shows up to training camp. I fail to see how ANY of the above options help the Senators moving forward. Heatley really screwed the Sens...I get it. But pulling a power play like what has been mentioned above is NOT the answer. Letting a player hold out worked for us once with Yashin being dealt to NYI for Chara and Spezza, but Mike Milbury is no longer an NHL GM. Letting Heatley hold out and waiting for an someone to overpay for Dany is a pipe dream at best in my opinion. Should have just dealt him tonight and moved on. All for now, much more tomorrow. Below is a link to Jared Cowen being interviewed after being drafted. Though I don't like the pick, a warm welcome to Ottawa Jared. Here's hoping you make me eat my words. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOb1qM7zl2c  Colin Jeffrey www.mvn.com/senatorsrow colin_jeffrey@hotmail.com