Bryan Murray and the Ottawa Senators have had no choice but to watch other teams make free agent signings this offseason. The reason for this is that Murray is right up against the salary cap, and still needs room to sign RFA’s such as Emery. He is trying extremely hard to move players such as Peter Schaeffer and Martin Gerber, but other teams are not attracted to this because of Gerber’s salary and Schaeffer’s performance in the playoffs.
I, for one, think Murray should send Gerber down to the minors at the start of the year, then he will have room to sign Forsberg in December so we have a strong asset to help us when it matters. I think Forsberg and Alffy have great chemistry, and it shows during world tournaments when they are teammates on team Sweden.
However, if another team signs Forsberg, Murray could start the negotiations with Heatley and Spezza, which I think will go well because those two players love the city of Ottawa.
The third option is to pick up a gritty offensive player at the deadline who could help us in the playoffs. So there are three options that Murray can choose from if he decides to send Gerber down to the minors.
