Thankfully, John Muckler has shown he's not entirely out of common sense (the Roberto Luongo proposal he allegedly made had me questioning it's existence). Today, the Senators did not issue a qualifying offer to Tyler Arnason, so he's off the books for good.
Muckler says he asked Arnason to take a pay cut from the (at least) $1.2 mil they would've had to throw his way and he refused. Of course he did. From Arnason's perspective, why take less money to go someplace where the coach already hates you?
If he's going to make less money, and as a UFA I have a hard time believing he'll get more than a million bucks per season on the open market, he'd surely want to do it in a place with no baggage.
By the way, where does the Arnason trade rank in terms of all-time brainfarts by Sens GMs? The Peter Bondra trade was a bust and they gave up a pretty good prospect (Brooks Laich) to get him, but at least Bondra played in the playoff games he was brought in for. The Greg de Vries for Karel Rachunek swap that same season wasn't good, but Rachunek left the NHL after that. Who can say if he would have had he stayed in Ottawa, or if it was New York that soured him on the league (he was already in Ottawa's doghouse, having been a healthy scratch before the trade).
That's what frustrates me so much about the Arnason deal. It's not that he played poorly. He didn't even play! Not in the games that be was brought here for anyway. And I don't blame Bryan Murray for sitting the fat lil' bastard because he played like shit in almost every game as a Senator. But still.
The Sens gave up a decent level draft pick (2nd round) and a guy in Brandon Bochenski who has scored at every level. NCAA, the AHL. The hype surrounding him before the season was too much, but I still believe he'll be a good scorer in this league.
And Ottawa just gave him away.
As of now, the deal doesn't rank ahead of the Pavol Demitra trade that gave Sens fans nightmares for many years, but should Bochenski emerge as the 30-goal scorer many think he will, I have to think we'll be talking about this trade for years to come.
By the way, I assume the Sens did qualify everyone else, including goalie Mike Morrison, because no mention was made to the contrary, but that might not be true.
Muckler says he asked Arnason to take a pay cut from the (at least) $1.2 mil they would've had to throw his way and he refused. Of course he did. From Arnason's perspective, why take less money to go someplace where the coach already hates you?
If he's going to make less money, and as a UFA I have a hard time believing he'll get more than a million bucks per season on the open market, he'd surely want to do it in a place with no baggage.
By the way, where does the Arnason trade rank in terms of all-time brainfarts by Sens GMs? The Peter Bondra trade was a bust and they gave up a pretty good prospect (Brooks Laich) to get him, but at least Bondra played in the playoff games he was brought in for. The Greg de Vries for Karel Rachunek swap that same season wasn't good, but Rachunek left the NHL after that. Who can say if he would have had he stayed in Ottawa, or if it was New York that soured him on the league (he was already in Ottawa's doghouse, having been a healthy scratch before the trade).
That's what frustrates me so much about the Arnason deal. It's not that he played poorly. He didn't even play! Not in the games that be was brought here for anyway. And I don't blame Bryan Murray for sitting the fat lil' bastard because he played like shit in almost every game as a Senator. But still.
The Sens gave up a decent level draft pick (2nd round) and a guy in Brandon Bochenski who has scored at every level. NCAA, the AHL. The hype surrounding him before the season was too much, but I still believe he'll be a good scorer in this league.
And Ottawa just gave him away.
As of now, the deal doesn't rank ahead of the Pavol Demitra trade that gave Sens fans nightmares for many years, but should Bochenski emerge as the 30-goal scorer many think he will, I have to think we'll be talking about this trade for years to come.
By the way, I assume the Sens did qualify everyone else, including goalie Mike Morrison, because no mention was made to the contrary, but that might not be true.
