Rumour: Horcoff to Ottawa, Schneider to Habs

[V-HAB]

OK, just so you know, this guy isn't an entirely reliable source. But, it's still interesting to discuss.

According to him, something like Horcoff and most likely Roloson to Ottawa in return for Spezza, which I think wouldn't be so bad since Horcoff is just a slight downgrade from Spezza, plus they would get a guy that has #1 potential between the pipes, he's done it before.

For the Habs, Schneider could help at the point on the struggling powerplay, but at an extremely hefty 5.7mil cap hit.


www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Horcoff-to-Ottawa-e3-Schneider-to-Montreal-e3-and-may-be-imminent/1/18743

[Carson!]

not Eklund, that guys a tool. He never gets anything right. So don't expect this to happen.

[V-HAB]

You basically repeated my opening paragraph in a less polite way.

The point is to discuss.

[Carson!]

lol I mis-read the first paragraph. But yeah, like you said Schneider in Montreal is a really good thing, it would be perfect if his contract would be closer to 3mil, or even 4 mil. But I don`t think Schneider is worth the 5.7. But Montreal doesn`t have 1mil left, so I don`t see this happening.

As for Horcoff, maybe Roloson for Spezza, meh. I`ve said it a million times before, Trading Spezza isn`t going to help much. Horcoff, He`s a good player, but he`s still no Spezza. Roloson is getting old, and he`s a free agent at the end of this season. Ottawa need players who will get points, so they can`t be trading players who are getting the most points. A more suitable trade in my opinion would be:

To Edmonton:
Vermette ,Auld, San Jose 1st round draft pick

To Ottawa:
Horcoff, Roloson

Since Ottawa has about 3 penalty killing forward lines, Vermette can be traded, he`s underacheiving this year and GMs go for the underacheivers because they know they will play better under different circumstances. The only problem with this trade is Ottawa`s cap space, they have about 2.7mil left. Horcoff and Roloson`s contracts are 3.6 each. Vermette is 2.6 and Auld is 1mil.

So, I don't about getting both Roloson and Horcoff at the same time for Vermette and Auld. But take out the first round draft pick and and Roloson. So the cap hit is about the same. Ottawa can call up Brian Elliot from Binghamtonand use him as a back-up, or even a starter for the rest of the season.

There I discussed, happy now?

[Carson!]

hockeybuzzhogwash.com/

And this is some of the reason why I don't trust Eklund.

[V-HAB]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a skeptical as the next guy when it comes to Eklund.

That being said, rumors are fun to discuss wether they contain truth or not. If you think about it, a rumor is basically a trade proposal that you didn't come up with.

On topic, Horcoff's best season is 70 points in comparison to Spezza's 90. This was back in 06 centering Hemsky and whoever else. I doubt you will disagree that having Heatley and Alfredsson as his wingers would easily help him fetch that extra 20 points.

Horcoff is severely underrated and could put up Spezza's numbers with Spezza's wingers, all the while being more reliable defensively.

[Carson!]

well, thats the thing, Spezza's wingers have less goals than he does as of last night. Spezza is leading the Sens in goals. Athough, I do agree that Horcoff will come close to reaching Spezza's numbers, with Heatley and Alfredsson as wingers, He doesn't have the passing and stick handleing skills that Spezza has. Although Horcoff may be useful offencively, Ottawa doesn't really need defencive offence players when they have Fisher,Vermette, Kelly, Rutuu, Alfredsson(PK player), Donovan and McAmmond. What Ottawa needs is Offencive players, who can get 30 goals a season. As of today, only 2 players are on pace to pass 30 goals, and 1 player to almost get 30. they need a defenceman who can get 40-50 points, this year they only have 1(kuba) as opposed to 06-07 where they had 3.

** Spezza is one of those players on pace for over 30 goals.

[V-HAB]

I'm going to go slightly off-topic here.

You can't rebuild a team from the front end. Yes I know they're not scoring goals, but a team with offensive skill like the Senators should not have to play defensively because of their crappy defense and goaltending. I'll bet you anything that team has more goals with a better goalie and a stronger defensive core.

How does that make sense? Your system allows for positional errors so that you can roam around the offensive zone and create chances on the cycle instead of on the rush and having to backcheck like mad when the other team takes possession.

Of course they lack secondary scoring, of course they lack puck-moving d-men. But rebuilding a team, you need to rebuild from the back, especially on this team where that is obviously the problem because they have three of the best offensively. Get a real goalie, solidify your D, and you will see a major improvement at both ends.

If Ottawa gets a high draft pick it's important that they don't **** up and go for what fan want. Hedmen is definitely the right choice for them if they can get him. Purely a logical and I hope obvious move.

Anyway, all that because I constantly see you talking as if Ottawa needs more fire power up front. A 50 goal scorer, a 100 point guy and a great playmaker to centre them, they were fine with just that in their cup run not so long ago. And I sure as Hell hope a line you are shelling out 25 million dollars for can carry your team.

Anyways a bit more on topic now, I never meant to say that Horcoff is a defensive player. He isn't. He is just more reliable defensively. And Horcoff definitely has the passing skills Spezza has.

[Carson!]

I agree with everything you said. But with Horcoff and Roloson we are talking about trading Spezza for a old rental goalie and a fairly mediocre player. I just doesn't make sense to me to trade one of the only players scoring right now.

If you look at Ottawa's defence you will notice that they're all solid defencemen with no puck handling skills. Phillips, Volchenkov, Smith, Schubert they're all very solid defencemen but crappy with the puck. Kuba, Picard, Lee and Bell are the better puck movers but Kuba was never known for getting much points, and Picard, Lee and Bell all spent most of the year in the minors last season, So they don't have much experience. There's Erik Karlsson too, who by the look of it is going to be quite the puck moving defencemen.

As for Goaltending, well, Auld and Gerber. Auld isn't great and Gerber is untradable with his +3mil contract. Next season Brian Elliot is going to be one of the Goaltenders, probably the starter. He's ready for the NHL but Murray wants to keep him in the minors for the season just so he's not wasting his time on the bench.

The obvious choice in this year's draft is Hedman. Although letting up Taveres would be a difficult choice, Hedman is the type of player that comes around every 10 years.

So these are the reasons why I want Ottawa to have secondary scoring this season, because they're probably not making the play-offs(unless they're a super miracle). Ottawa isn't going to need much more defencemen, because of thier prospects(and hopefully Hedmen) and I think Brian Elliot is going to be a great goaltender. So its all about rebuilding the offence, because as far as im concerned, in the next few season, Ottawa will have some of the best defence pairings and hopefully the best 1st line, and a scoring second line, then leave the rest of the lines to the defencivly inclined players.

so thats basically ottawa's situations, it probably wont make sense, because its 2:30 in the morning, so sorry for that