angryOttawa acquired 36(!!)-year old Sergei Gonchar, a free agent from the Pittsburgh Penguins roster, in a 3-year, $5.5 million per year arrangement. This means, that barring some trades, Ottawa's decided that Anton Volchenkov is definitely gone, Andy Sutton is definitely gone as well likely, and they've got no money left to deal fairly with Peter Regin and some of the other guys on the roster who need new deals.
What is Brian Murray trying to do, age the team? While Gonchar will be good for the Ottawa power play, he's getting up there, and a three-year deal for $16.5 million is just...stupid. Why not go after a Kurtis Foster, a Robin Regehr, try to re-sign Volchenkov, or keep Andy Sutton around? What happens now with Matt Cullen, and any chance of a second line forward?
I suspect this means that Ottawa's dealing is pretty much done. Stupid Brian Murray.
Bad decision, Brian Murray, bad decision. I don't know what kind of message this sends to the rest of the NHL about this team, but it's not a good one. :<
The only good news for Ottawa so far today is that they have resigned restricted free agent Jesse Winchester to a $750,000 deal. Not a great day for the Ottawa Senators so far. :(