Replacing Redden
July 6th, 2008 by Jason ChenIt was no secret that Wade Redden would leave on July 1st. The Sens had no intention of re-signing him if he did not drop his asking price to Chris Phillips‘ $3.5m/year contract. However, with Andrej Meszaros still not signed, the Sens have only three regular defensemen signed, with Phillips, Anton Volchenkov, and Christoph Schubert. Brian Lee is expected to play some big minutes next year (he logged 16:49 in 6 games), but even then that leaves the Sens two shy of completing their defensive corps. Lawrence Nycholat is also signed but he is a depth defenseman at best. The Sens defense currently only runs two deep with a Volchenkov and Phillips.
Rumours are circulating that Bryan Murray is very much interested in Mathieu Schneider, but it remains to be seen what sort of package he is willing to offer, with both teams lacking some secondary scoring. Along with Schneider, a surprising number of big name defensemen have had their names pop up in the rumour mill, with the likes of Sheldon Souray, Adrian Aucoin, Tom Poti, Filip Kuba (don’t ask), Jaroslav Spacek, Cam Barker, and Kevin Bieksa. It’s actually quite an impressive group of players, and any of these would fit well in Ottawa, who are lacking a quarterback on the PP. If all else fails, Tuomo Ruutu’s name had resurfaced again on the Sens’ radar, although I’m inclined to believe Carolina would like to keep him after dealing away Erik Cole.
The Sens lost a lot of depth through free agency, and while their top line remains intact, that was never the problem with this team. They have yet to address their secondary scoring issues or replace Redden, and I think a couple moves are in store for them before the season starts.
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2 Responses to “Replacing Redden”
By Troy on Jul 6, 2008
Filip Kuba. Why am I not surprised…
By Troy on Jul 7, 2008
Wow. Mark Recchi has reportedly signed a 1 yr/1.25 mil deal with Tampa Bay.
I won’t bother. If the Bolts really need that many forwards, whatever.