On the Ottawa Senators …
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen: Senators owner Eugene Melnyk spoke to the media today and he’s not happy with the team. Changes are coming and “nobody is safe.”
“I’m looking at all of it, right across the board, nobody is safe when you have a year like we just did,” said Melnyk. “The status quo would just get us there again next year and this team cannot survive not making the playoffs.
“We have to do it by guts, by hard work and we can get there. That’s what we need to do. Nothing more. You can’t just throw money at these things. We all know teams that would just throw money at things for decades and they’ve gotten nowhere. We need to do it a different way and I think we are.”
Melnyk hasn’t been happy with some decisions since the first game of the year when rookie Matt O’Connor was given the net over Craig Anderson. On why this season has gone so badly.
“No idea. Bryan and I sit there and we just nod our head. We can’t get it. We get it now. I remember back in December some of those games, three in a row that we lost by a goal we were leading. It was inconsistency and some stupidity,” said Melnyk, who then pointed at Cameron’s decision.
“I go back to the very first game. You put in the second goalie. What was that about? On opening night and the guy gets clobbered. It’s not fair to him, not fair to the fans. Just a lot of little tiny mistakes that all of a sudden escalate and get serious and get in people’s heads.”
Bruce Garrioch in the Ottawa Citizen: Some of the Senators are playing for jobs. The Senators will need to decide on what to do with Mike Hoffman – re-sign him long-term, take to arbitration or trade him for assets.
Alex Chiasson will likely be traded or not qualified this offseason. The Senators are unlikely to qualify defenseman Patrick Wiercioch.
