The Ottawa Senators had a glaring gap to fill coming into the off season that only got bigger as the summer went on, much bigger. The Sens, at the end of the regular season, finished tied for 26th in scoring in the league. Yes, despite only having averaged 2.41 goals per game, the Sens finished 7th in the Eastern Conference and were off to the playoffs.

This shines much light on the strength of their hockey club; defense. The Sens allowed only 104 goals against during the regular season, finishing second in the league only to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. So taking these statistics into consideration, it is clear that the Sens were missing needed scoring talent up front.

First off, to be fair to the Sens, they were missing their top two point getters of the previous season in Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson for the majority of the season. Spezza was sidelined just 5 games into the campaign after suffering a herniated disc in his back, while Karlsson, playing against the Pittsburgh Penguins, had his Achilles tendon lacerated by Matt Cooke”s skate. With these injuries, and the lack of scoring depth on their roster, I would be inclined to say that the season was actually a success for the Senators. They steam rolled the second seeded Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs too! It was Nel particolare, la nuova promozione del casino Aams di proprieta del famoso bookmakers inglese nasce per festeggiare la prossima uscita del film su Wolverine, il piu importante fra i mutanti protagonisti del fumetto Marvel Xmen. no surprise that the Penguins beat the Sens in the second round however. So with the 2012/2013 season in the books, the Sens were heading into the off season with a clear goal to add a top six forward to their roster.

First on the agenda in the off season was to deal with Daniel Alfredsson. Will he retire? Will he not retire? That was the only question on everyone”s mind. At this point, we are all aware of what Alfie did, understandably I might add. He didn”t decide to retire, however he did take an offer from the Detroit Red Wings. Personally, I don”t blame the guy; he wants to win a cup and he obviously felt he has a better chance of doing so with Detroit. So with Alfie gone, this is why I say the gap got much bigger in the off season.

Alfie”s leadership on and off the ice is nearly impossible to replace. But I think Bryan Murray did a very respectable job in terms of improving his hockey club even with Alfredsson gone. Murray went out and acquired Bobby Ryan from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Jakob Silfverberg, Stefan Noesen and a first round pick in 2014. Silfverberg is a young up and comer who will be a solid player one day but Bobby Ryan is ready for a break out year and has already proven himself in years past. Playing behind Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne, Bobby has still scored over 30 goals in each of his last 4 seasons (excluding the lockout shortened 2012/2013 season). Now with a larger role in Ottawa, I would look for him to push for the 40 goal plateau. Giving up a first round pick for Ryan who I would say is grossly underrated is a no brainer in my opinion as he is only 26 years of age and we know that he can produce. In addition to Ryan, Murray also added Clarke MacArthur to the roster. MacArthur is a big guy who has a well rounded game. He can add a little bit of grit to the lineup, as well as added scoring touch.

On the back end, Murray picked up Joe Corvo, a good puck moving defenseman after losing Sergei Gonchar to the Dallas Stars. Corvo will be a good addition to the Sens power play unit and can improve the Sens transition out of their own zone.