It’s been an exciting few days for the Sens, and I haven’t had time to write about any of it until now. I spent most of Friday and Saturday on the bus going to and from Kanata, and then I was also at the Draft for a while.

On Friday afternoon just before I left work to head to Scotiabank Place, I heard that Ray Emery had been placed on waivers. Yesterday, the Sun reported that he had cleared waivers, and the Sens have started the paperwork needed to buy him out. It’s a sad end to what seemed to be a promising career in Ottawa, and it’s certainly frustrating to see yet another Sens goaltender turn out to be a bust. I do think Emery could still make a comeback with another team, as Alfie said:

“There’s a lot of negativity on him here in the city,” the Senators captain said. “I believe if he wants to commit himself to this game and work out hard, he can be a really good goalie. But I just don’t think it could happen here.”

I hope Emery gets back on track with a fresh start somewhere else, or if he’s really uninterested in putting in the work necessary to be a pro hockey player then I hope he finds something else to do. But I’m really, really glad he’s not going to be back in Ottawa. When I found out he’d been put on waivers, I felt relieved. Happy. Thrilled, even. I did the dance of joy! This is something I’ve been anticipating since the Sens’ “playoff run” ended. I’m seeing it as the first step in changing the character of the team. 

As Damien Cox writes in the Toronto Star, it seems clear that the Sens are in the process of “weeding out the dressing room.” Cox quotes Bryan Murray as saying:

“Character is everything to me,” said Sens GM Bryan Murray. “Every time you hire a coach, you hired players, the most important thing to be successful is to have good people, people that really care and have good character, that will work hard every day.

“And if they don’t, you’ve got to try to address it.”

The signing of potential UFA Chris Kelly to a four-year, $8.5 million deal, which I heard about when it was announced at the Draft on Friday night, seems like another step in the right direction. The Sun points out that Kelly was the Captain of the Baby Sens when he was in Binghamton and is very well-liked by his teammates. He’s also a hard worker on the ice, which is exactly what the team needs. I was hoping to see Kelly sign for a bit less money, but I’m very happy to see him back. He was one of the three pending UFAs I wanted the team to re-sign, the other two being Cory Stillman and Shean Donovan. The Sun has a little blurb today about the futures of Donovan and Stillman:

Winger Shean Donovan is willing to accept a paycut from the $925,000 he made last season, but wants more than a one-year deal.

The Senators also haven’t ruled out bringing back Cory Stillman, but the chances of getting a deal appear slim.

It’s being said that the Sens have only offered Donovan a one-year contract. Here’s hoping they step up and give him what he wants, because I think he’s a useful player, and he’s another hard-working guy who will provide a good example for the players around him. The Stillman situation doesn’t sound too good, which is really unfortunate. I thought he was one of the few Senators who looked as though they knew what they were doing by the end of the season and I really liked the leadership he appeared to be bringing to the team.

The same Sun article speculates that with Emery gone, the Sens could try to get Ty Conklin or Dwayne Roloson to back up Martin Gerber next year. I’m against the idea of Roloson: he’s still under contract for next season so we would have to send something the Oilers’ way to get him. Also, he’s under contract for $3 million, and I don’t fancy spending that much on a backup goalie yet again. The Sun speculates that he could challenge Gerber for the #1 job, which means we could have another goalie controversy on our hands, which we should totally try for, because, you know, it turned out so well this year. As for Conklin, well, this is always the first thing that comes to mind when I think of him. But he’s a UFA who made only about half a million last season, he played very well when the Penguins called on him, and he seems like a pretty nice guy.

All that and I haven’t even touched on the Draft. As I already said, I was there, and I made notes! I will post my Draft Chronicle sometime this week.