Senators GM Bryan Murray improved his club at two positions with Tuesday’s trade for the mountain of a man that is Andy Sutton.
With it, Ottawa suddenly appears to be better on defence AND between the pipes.
“Now the goaltenders don’t have to be as good,” Murray said, tongue in cheek, when speaking of the 6-foot-6, 245-pound rental who will almost certainly test the unrestricted free-agent market July 1.
At the Olympic break, Sutton was not only 22nd in the league in hits delivered but also second with 153 blocked shots. He and Anton Volchenkov give the Senators two of the NHL’s top-five puck stoppers of those who don’t list netminder as their occupation.
Does Sutton’s acquisition mean Murray plans on moving Volchenkov — a UFA-eligible with whom contract talks have stalled — before Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline?
Not very likely. In fact, by adding Sutton and forward Matt Cullen the last few weeks, the Senators are probably done dealing.
“I don’t think I’m going to be very active. You don’t have to have your TV cameras close by, I don’t think,” Murray said with a tinge of giddiness. “We wanted to get a little more depth on the blue line and I think Andy fits that need. I wanted somebody I could look up to, and I have to do that.
“Up front with Matt Cullen, he gives us the versatility we talked about. It doesn’t appear there’s much more that’s going to happen, but who knows, at the end of the day, what might stick its head up and maybe be available.”
Sutton, who had four goals, eight assists and 73 PIMs in 54 games with the Islanders this season, is a Kingston product with a salary of $3 million US, the same amount the Senators are playing Jonathan Cheechoo to play in Bingo. The pick Murray used to snag Sutton is the one he received from San Jose in last summer’s blockbuster, meaning for Dany Heatley, Ottawa received Milan Michalek, Sutton and Cheechoo.
Meanwhile, Sutton was jumping for joy at news of the trade. He knows some of the Senators — he played one year with Jarkko Ruutu at Michigan Tech, skated several summers with Matt Carkner, and worked with conditioning coach Chris Schwarz in New York. As well, in his 11-season career, he has also played for San Jose, Minnesota and Atlanta — none of which were very good at the time.
“I’m ecstatic. It’s an unbelievable opportunity,” Sutton, who will wear No. 5 and be at practice Wednesday, said from the Island. “The first thing I said to Bryan is to thank him so much for the opportunity. Being an older player and getting the chance to play on such a great team, and have the chance to win the Stanley Cup, is a dream come true.”
A couple of months ago, mention of Ottawa winning the Cup would have been considered silly talk. It probably still is, but by trading two second-round picks the Senators were not behaving like a team that would be content to win a post-season series or two.
“We’ve sent the message to the players now that we care, we want to win, we’re going to help you in any way we can, and this is the way we can help them,” said Murray.
How much will be determined in the spring.
STARTS AND STOPS
You figured Senator owner Eugene Melnyk would take the opportunity of the Olympic break to buy and install a real NHL videoboard at SBP for the team’s faithful fans? You figured wrong. The same terribly outdated piece of junk still hangs over centre ice ... Senators GM Bryan Murray says he was talking to Islanders counterpart Garth Snow about D Andy Sutton for a few days, and that Snow spoke with other GMs but came back to Ottawa’s offer.“I guess I owe him something, or vice-versa,” said Murray. If past Senators-Islanders trades are any indication, Murray will owe Snow something.
THINGS I THINK I THINK
What’s 37 feet, 5 inches tall and weights 1,322 pounds? Ottawa’s defence, once Sutton joins the team for Thursday’s game in Carolina. That’s an average size of 6-foot-3, 220 pounds WITH the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Erik Karlsson in the lineup. That’s big ... Ottawa fans took delight in Chris Neil ramming Sean Avery into the boards, then Brian Lee following up with a sloppy second hit on the Ranger pest.
BUTT ENDS
Former Kanata resident Wade Redden now lives in a Central Park condo and has A-Rod and Denzel Washington as neighbours. Yup, he’s now living in obscurity.
