Ottawa.

[nfreeman]

This has been on my mind since MHIMG's last post. I think the Senators made a big mistake in keeping Redden over Chara. I think Chara is one of the half-dozen best players in the league. He is a huge difference-maker and at times a dominant force. I have never seen a defenseman shut down the defensive zone like Chara does. He also is highly effective setting up in front of the net on the power play.

 

On the other hand, I will freely admit that my opinion is based on watching a dozen or so Ottawa games per season for the past 2-3 seasons, while I assume that MHIMG watches most if not all of their games.

 

Redden is certainly an excellent defenseman, but I don't think he's worth $6.5 million per year (ie 2.5 times Tallinder's average salary under his new deal). I also think that if I were going to go that high for Redden I would have gone a little higher and kept Chara instead.

 

I probably shouldn't care about this, since it's better for the Sabres that Chara (and Havlat and Dominik) are gone. I think maybe I'm a bit disappointed because I sort of measured the Sabres last year against the Senators. Ottawa, before Dominik got hurt, was one of the best teams I've ever seen last year. They were like an all-star team on both ends of the ice and in all phases of the game. That's why it was so huge to finally beat them in the shootout at HSBC, with Miller stoning their big guns and Vanek going around the world and then top shelf on Dominik, and then again in the playoffs. (FWIW, Lindy mentioned the shootout win in an offseason interview when asked about the biggest games of the season).

 

Ottawa will still be very good. I think Gerber will do pretty well for them and they still have a lot of talent. I would expect Buffalo-Ottawa to be the best divisional rivalry in the East if not the NHL. But beating them won't be a huge accomplishment like it was last year. And I think if they still had Chara beating them would be a greater accomplishment.

 

Just my opinion.

[X. Benedict]

Redden is about as good as they make them, but Chara with his freak wingspan

make him unique in terms of talent and ability. How many defensemen can post in

front of goal on the powerplay?

 

Chara with just his size and presence seems to alter plays, and one thing that

is underated about Chara is that with his size, when he is tugged or pulled to

the ice he flops more than a fish - he draws a lot of ticky-tack penalties in his

defensive zone.

 

Me? I'm happy they chose to keep Redden and shipped out Chara.

My feeling is that the Ottawa blue-line is a bit over-rated, but not

by much, they are still pretty damn good. Chara is a freak.

[topshelfcookies]

I was thrilled when I heard that Johnny Muck chose to keep Redden over Chara. Redden is an all-star defenseman, but he's not a unique player like Chara is. Go figure that Chara goes and signs with Boston, so we still have to see his ugly mug 8 times a year. Sigh.

 

At least WGR can make fun of him again more often...I don't care what anyone says, I still laugh anytime one of my friends does the "Chara voice".