Catching Up: Spezza's Retirement, Alfie's Interest in a Return, WJC Sexual Assault Scandal, JR Addresses TSN 1200's Silence on The Athletic Article, Trent Mann Talks the Draft
It has been a minute since I’ve penned anything, so apologies for that. There’s been a ton of interesting Senators news that has gone down over the last two weeks that I’d really like to discuss and break down, so here it is.
Spezza Retires
As a player who was a captain and averaged more than a point per game (876 points in 875 games) for the Ottawa Senators, it feels weird to write that Jason Spezza may go down as the most underappreciated star player in this franchise’s history.
Spezza always played in the shadow of those around him even during the team’s heyday when the ‘Pizza Line’ was clicking on all cylinders. The iconic Daniel Alfredsson was the leader and face of the franchise. The centre’s most productive seasons coincided with Dany Heatley’s arrival and it was the goal-scoring winger’s 50-goal campaigns that truly captivated fans. Speaking of the fans, it often felt like they were quick to judge Spezza for what he wasn’t rather than appreciate his strengths. No one will forget the volume of post-game calls that TSN 1200 took decrying Spezza’s drop passes at the opposition’s blue line.
By the end of his tenure in Ottawa, the combination of the team’s downturn, Spezza’s ailing back, and the emergence of Erik Karlsson as the future of the franchise helped pave a path for the team and its transitional captain to part ways.
Like many players, Spezza’s production began to diminish in his early 30’s in Dallas, before it dropped precipitously in his final two years in Dallas. For an offensive player to experience that deterioration in performance, it would have been easy to write Spezza off. Mike Babcock certainly did.
To Spezza’s credit, he brushed off those early benchings and adjusted carving out a new role playing reduced minutes on Toronto’s third and fourth lines.
In looking at his career numbers, Spezza was a victim of circumstance in some respects. Injuries, two lockouts, and two Covid-shortened seasons essentially prevented him from surpassing the 1,000-point plateau. Spezza will not be the only one whose career numbers will suffer from these abbreviated campaigns, but it makes you wonder how some of the other league’s top players during the modern era will eventually stack up historically.
After announcing his retirement on May 29th, it was revealed that Spezza would be joining the Maple Leafs’ front office to serve as a special assistant to general manager Kyle Dubas.
It should not have come as a surprise to see Spezza land a front-office role. He was always highly regarded for being a student of the game and his consumption of hockey knowledge. When he was not playing the game, he was watching it and Dubas spoke to this commitment when addressing Spezza’s decision to join the management side of the organization.
"We felt as an organization, myself, our management team, that [he] was someone — because of his passion for hockey, his intelligence, the way he views the game, and his ability to impart that knowledge onto others — that we definitely would want to have him as a member of our front office." said Dubas. "And there was an onus on us for everything he's done for our organization to ensure that we had a plan and a path for him when his days as a player came to an end."
Looking back, I always wonder about situational things that may have helped things turn out differently for the Senators. Like, had Daniel Alfredsson’s relationship with ownership not played a pivotal role in him bolting for Detroit, would his presence have led to Spezza sticking in the nation’s capital for longer? And had one or both players remained in the picture longer, would that have benefitted Erik Karlsson’s development and maturity as a leader?
Obviously, we will never get the answers to those types of questions, but it is easy to look at the size of the Senators’ front office and believe that if the cards were a little different, Spezza would be joining Ottawa’s management team instead of that of their provincial rivals.
They could certainly use the help.
At the very least, Spezza’s retirement could finally represent another opportunity for the organization to induct a second member to the team’s neglected ‘Ring of Honour’. The organization has not inducted anyone since its creation when it inducted former coach and general manager Bryan Murray in 2016.
It could be the perfect opportunity to get mileage out of something that can honour alumni (and the founding fathers of this franchise) and pay homage to this team’s history.
Alfredsson Expresses Interest in Returning to the Organization
If you have not been paying attention during this lull of the Senators’ offseason, Ian Mendes has been killing it with some fresh content over at The Athletic. Following up his conversations with Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley’s reflections on Spezza’s career, Mendes had a ( *gasp* non-Postmedia) exclusive with Alfie who shed light on a number of interesting topics.
Of note, when asked whether he still had any interest in being a part of the Senators’ organization, Alfredsson had this to say:
“I’m open to listening. And I think everybody knows my commitment to Ottawa and the team here. And that’s the team that if I was ever going to do anything, this is where I would do it. But there is nothing in the plans right now. And I haven’t spoken to anybody about something imminent, but it does interest me. If the timing is right and the circumstances were right, I would definitely be willing to talk. And if there is interest from the team, then it could very well be possible.”
Pick up the phone, Pierre.
For an organization that should absolutely be scrambling to restore consumer confidence in its product and move tickets, exhausting whatever avenues are needed to bring back beloved alumni like Alfie and Chris Phillips should be a no-brainer.
WJC Sexual Assault Scandal
Investigative reporter Rick Westhead broke news on TSN last week that Hockey Canada and the CHL have settled a lawsuit with an unnamed victim of sexual assault.
According to the complainant’s claims, she alleged that “she was sexually assaulted by eight Canadian Hockey League players, including members of Canada’s gold medal-winning 2017-18 World Junior team.”
The alleged assaults reportedly occurred on June 19th in London, Ontario following a gala where the team was being honoured for its gold medal-winning performance.
None of the players involved were named, but three current members of the Ottawa Senators — Drake Batherson, Alex Formenton, and Victor Mete — were on that team. (Note: Pierre Dorion acknowledged in his end of the season media availability that Mete would not receive a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent.)
Westhead published the graphic details of the alleged assault, but it is worth noting that none of the allegations have been proven in court. In saying that, the described events were pretty heinous. And because a settlement was reached, it’s really difficult to look past it because it feels like admission or acknowledgment of wrongdoing on some level.
As much as a settlement provides a measure of reparation to the victim and spares her from enduring the stress of a trial and the players being named, this isn’t a situation that provides any positive outcomes.
A victim was wronged. Money will not change that.
The alleged actions of eight unnamed players have tainted the reputation of everyone involved — not just the players, but the staff, management group, Hockey Canada, and whomever else helped cover this story up and failed to bring it to light.
This incident will do nothing but preserve the negative connotations associated with hockey culture.
Ken Campbell, formerly of The Hockey News, has taken to Twitter to acknowledge that he has reached out to the representatives of each member of that gold medal-winning team. Whether that is the right medium to orchestrate a process of elimination is certainly up for debate, but I don’t even know that it matters.
One of the troubling things about this incident is that agents will give denials saying that their client was not involved. That’s to be expected. Even if not directly involved, however, there inevitably is going to be a little bit of cynicism that the players who weren’t directly involved had absolutely no idea of what may have transpired on the evening in question.
For all the focus on unnamed players, what are the odds that a tightly bonded group of young men did not disclose the events of that night with their friends and teammates?
I obviously don’t know the answer to that, but the incident is going to be investigated further. The NHL released the following statement:
In a separate article that Westhead wrote recently , two sources told him that “because many players on the 2017-18 Canadian World Juniors team had already signed NHL contracts by June of 2018, an NHL investigation would need to follow the rules of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.”
In other words, if any of the involved players are found culpable during the NHL’s investigation, they could be subject to discipline.
For what it is worth, Alex Formenton and Drake Batherson signed their entry-level contracts in October of 2017.
The Senators have to hope like hell that neither player is implicated. When it comes to this fan base’s hopes and optimism, all of it essentially lies in the development and performance of this team’s young players. If either of these players was involved, it is just going to be another gutting blow to an organization that certainly does not need any more negativity.
John Rodenburg Addresses TSN 1200’s Silence
Friend of the site Matt Robinson from Tall Can Audio spoke with TSN 1200 program director John Rodenburg recently about hockey, his radio station and its relationship with the Ottawa Senators as a broadcast partner.
The interview offered the first real insights into why the station refused to acknowledge or cover what was arguably one of the biggest stories of the year relating to the Ottawa Senators.
When asked why his station did not cover or analyze the contents of the Eugene Melnyk article written by Dan Robson, Katie Strang and Ian Mendes in The Athletic, JR said the following.
“To give you a quick summation of what went on, basically, the word back from the lawyer was, ‘You can’t touch this.’ I think the issue as it was explained to me, if you go through the article… listen, those are three great reporters. I’ve got tons of respect for Ian (Mendes). No doubt well researched and all that. The issue for us is that there are a lot of things in there that were said to their reporters without any names attributed to it. So, and things that can potentially be slanderous potentially if there were legal actions – if any of it turned out not to be true. So without any access to any of that information that they had gotten such as an email or things like that, if there were legal direction to be taken in our direction, we don’t have any fallback. This is not our story and we don’t have access to it. If there were a lawsuit, and there was no threat of a lawsuit on our end, we have no background to fall back on. We can’t say, ‘Here’s the person we can produce to back up what we are saying.’ So, from our point of view, that was the advice from legal and that’s why we didn’t touch it.”
Rodenburg confirmed what was rumoured. Bell Media’s legal team instructed the radio station not to touch the story. I do find it interesting that they felt the best course of action was to adopt a strategy of simply not acknowledging the article.
To me, I feel like that cuts their hosts off at the knees and frustrates the listener.
Hockey fans here are smart and when everyone around the league is discussing the contents of that article, I feel like it’s a disservice not to say, “We understand that this article is out there. As much as we would like to analyze what has been written, we have been instructed not to discuss any of its contents by our legal team.”
At the very least, it’s an out that protects the hosts for not covering the topic.
When asked how his employees handled the decision not to address the article, Rodenburg had this to say.
“I’ll be honest with you, I mean, it’s disappointing. It’s what the fans are talking about and we always want to be talking about what the fans are talking about, right? I totally get it. We took a lot of criticism and we took a lot of criticism because we weren’t even talking about the fact that we weren’t talking about it, right? If we did that and we open that Pandora’s box, it probably would have gotten even more reaction. So, the advice was just to not touch it period. We’re going to take some slings and arrows. Understandably so. The guys? When I explained to them what the thinking was, I think they understood. But again, it was a huge topic, to be sure. I think everybody was disappointed, but understood.”
Being the broadcast partner of the hockey club makes things a little bit more challenging when an article of this nature comes out. I feel for everyone at the station who wanted to address this topic but took a lot of flak for their silence.
Trent Mann on the 2022 NHL Draft
The Senators’ director of amateur scouting Trent Mann was on TSN 1200 this morning discussing the 2022 NHL Draft and a number of other important items.
After discussing the benefits of the scouting world returning to its normal operations, Mann was asked about the quality of talent at the top of this year’s draft.
“I think on the top end of the draft… at this point, I mean, in looking at every draft, there are always players that turn out that turn out to be something you just (say), ‘Oof, you know what, I didn’t see that.’ I’ll be the first to admit that. Right now, it does not appear that there is a superstar quality kid – where there’s no Crosby, McDavid, or Matthews at this point in time. So, I guess what happens at the top end, there’s that group of players that tend to be at the top. You kind of start from there if you’re picking below there. Where this year, it’s a little bit more wide-open right off the hop. So, I think it could go in a lot of different directions. Those teams that pick based on need, if they decide they’re going to pick a defenceman earlier than you would or a certain type of forward that they might pick a little bit earlier, you have to be ready for all those scenarios for sure. I know Tom Fitzgerald has been open in the media saying that no. 2 is (available) and he’s up for discussions. And, Pierre (Dorion) has been very open too about doing whatever he needs to do to help us this year take another step. So, I’ll leave that to those guys to figure out, of course. But, we’ll be ready for whatever the scenarios are because once they start picking, there will be a good player available at seven. That’s for sure. Maybe there’s a player… maybe we can move back a couple of spots because there are still a couple of players that we feel there is not a big difference (in talent). If Pierre can make a deal to acquire something that helps us now. So, there are all kinds of scenarios that can play out, of course. I’ll let Pierre do the job on that one. We’re ready for every scenario and he knows that. He knows that he’ll give us some heads up on some scenarios to be ready for and he does a good job of prepping us going into the draft. From that end of it, it could go in a lot of different directions and we’ll be ready for that. But, even like I said, there’s a block of players that are very, very close to each other and I guess that’s what makes this draft probably more interesting than some of the others.”
After mentioning Dorion’s interest in potentially moving the seventh overall pick, I would not read too much into the possibility of the Senators finalizing a deal to move up to the second overall selection. In this instance, I simply think Mann is referring to how team’s do their due diligence at this time of year and explore what the market has to offer.
I really like what Mann had to say about the fluidity of this draft and how prospects could move or slide because of this perceived closeness in value. If teams ahead of the Senators draft for need or value something a little differently, maybe there is a chance for a really talented option to slide to the Senators at seven or the team’s early selection in the second round. With two second round picks, there could be an opportunity for the Senators to move up or acquire another first-round pick.
Mann was also asked about the performance of his 2021 draft class and how in some spheres of the scouting world, it has not received great reviews.
“We’re still very happy with who we picked. I guess from our standpoint when we look at these players, we picked players and we knew for some of them that the development path was going to be a bit longer than maybe what we focused on in previous years. When you’re in the rebuild like we’ve been, we’ve been very fortunate where the Brady Tkachuks of the world have been able to step in pretty quickly and then have impacts. And Timmy Stützle and I’m sure Jake Sanderson will have some impact sooner rather than later. Those types of players. But, the reality is that we felt that we were in another phase of our development path or the rebuild. We thought where we felt we had some time. Some of these kids, they’re going to pay dividends (to wait on)… to just… maybe it won’t be this year and maybe people will question it, but, we’re not really worried about that. We have to be worried about what the Ottawa Senators need down the road. In a salary-cap world, you need certain things and certain types of players moving forward to help you win. Teams don’t give you those players. Sometimes those players also price themselves out of a cap for certain teams, so our job is to make sure that we have assets available for Pierre (Dorion) and management to use. Whatever they decide to do with it. So, while our kids didn’t play a lot the year before, their development path is taking a little bit longer. The (Tyler) Boucher kid, you talk to a lot of hockey people and the indication is that the Ottawa 67’s team was a completely different team when he arrived. Do you like his point totals? Like it or not like it, it’s up to each individual to decide. He’ll have to play. Please, don’t get me wrong. He’s not Tom Wilson because that’s not fair to the kid, but he has to play that kind of game. When I checked Tom Wilson’s second year of junior, he didn’t have great numbers either. So, that’s just the process. The kid needs to play more hockey. Ben Roger is probably one of the best skating defencemen in the OHL, long reach and long body. Played his underage year in London and we know, the London Knights have a model there. They just don’t play as much and then he missed a year and he’s a late birthday. So, he’s catching up with games and he’ll be a good player moving forward. Late round, we picked a bigger kid on the back end in (Chandler) Romeo – a kid who skates extremely well and he got moved over to Sarnia. His role got increased and he’s come a long way, but the kid played Jr. B hockey two years ago. We knew it was going to be a longer process and we’re comfortable with that. Our development is very good, we feel. They do a great job and we’re working with them. It’s just a process and we can’t have all the players make the Ottawa Senators in the same year. That won’t work either. We’re comfortable with how it went and the nice thing about the group of players that we picked up, is that they’re good kids and they’re working hard to get better. That’s half the battle and we’re optimistic.”
Mann’s comments about the cap situation is interesting. The way he phrased it, he made it sound like the Senators targeted Boucher with the 2021 tenth overall selection because they felt they needed a specific type of player and because drafting too much forward skill up front could put the team into cap compliance difficulty down the road.
Cap compliance is always going to a challenge because of the economic system, but teams should be trying to draft as many high-end pieces as they can. If a team is approaching the salary cap ceiling because it has too many good, young players, that is a good thing. It means you’re drafting and developing well. At the very least, having more talented, young pieces in the pipeline affords you the opportunity to keep them and flip out older alternatives or they become valuable trade chips that can be used to address specific needs when the team is closer to contention.
Top-ten selections are luxuries that teams are not often afforded and as the Senators improve in the standings, they should be fewer and far between. Using one to address a specific niche is an interesting strategy because it puts a lot of pressure on the individual to live up to the hype and on the organization to develop the prospect. Every team would love to have a Tom Wilson type, but there’s a reason why players like him are so rare. Players who can impose themselves physically and be productive NHL forwards are like unicorns. Every team is looking for the next Tom Wilson. It is similar to the Zdeno Chara phenomenon in the mid-2000’s when prospects like Boris Valabik started getting drafted very high.
Thanks Graeme great onsite ... FYI - Alfie spoke at the Feherty golf event Monday on the subject of involvement with Sens. As stated if a position that is mutually beneficial was available he would love to work with Sens. Likes the core, direction
Thanks for the insight. For once I agree with TSNs decision not to discuss the article. I found it in poor taste to discuss so soon after his death. Our morality has been eroded in society and I felt that was one article I could have waited to read in the off season.
Regarding Batherson and Formenton. We shall never know who was involved but the shine is off the Apple. This fan will not buy either merchandise. Guilty by association.
Bring back Afie NOW! This fanbase needs some heroes!