Senators Roundtable - Nick Cousins Signing, Choosing an Identity, Moving to LeBreton Flats & More

Intro hey everybody welcome back to the Senator's round table I'm your host Jacob Billington joined by Paul Quinny and Dayton ryer as usual um it's been a while since the three of us have been together um it was I think four weeks ago three weeks ago that we did some trivia um there's been a little bit of senators news it's been um fairly quiet over this month in terms of the senator stuff but over the past week or so we've gotten quite a few things so uh first of Reaction to Senators Signing Nick Cousins all the Ottawa Senator signed Nick cousins to a one-year $800,000 deal um already I already have Brady kachuck and Ridley Greg of course and then they bring in David Pon and now they bring in Nick cousins this team is g to be tough to play against I'm Gonna Save my thoughts for the end see if either of you touch on it um D what are your quick thoughts on the um the signing I like cousins um like he's he's kind of the worst but I like him for the Senators if that makes sense um I yeah I think he will MH very well with uh at least what the team is kind of building around which is Brady kachu right um he doesn't take a ton of penalty minutes but he is physical he gets under guys skins um and that's someone that Ridley Greg has been described as right so I think you have a mentor now in Nick cousins and someone who would mesh well with this um with this core and I think yeah it's it's that this is a move that you make when you want to compete you don't add this kind of guy when it's still rebuilding and you're you know let's wait it out let's try to get some you know veterans to add some leadership and some skill no like he's a veteran yes but this guy makes you unbelievably tough to play against and that's a that's a competitive move so I think this is very clearly the Senators are aiming for the playoffs yeah I I agree Paul what are your thoughts well the only thing I'd add to what Dayton said is um you know if you look at the lineup uh projected lineup uh you know all four lines are going to have a veteran and three of those veterans have won Stanley Cups so I think that vodes well for the Senators um you know I was just thinking again uh sto said I'm going to add veteran presence to this team and wow did he ever I thought he might have stopped that uh piron but he kept going so good marks for Mr stos this summer in my humble opinion yeah I I strongly agree um we we talked about it a couple times before um that it's important to choose a direction when you have two Superstar Senators Have Finally Chosen a Direction For Their Identity players and Tim stel and Brady kachuck um you can make one of them fit in the system that fits the other player better um um I think you were kind of preaching that Dayton and so we have this is now a Brady kachuck team and there's a lot of players that play Brady kachuck game and Tim stutzel is going to fit in really well um and as the skill guy as the go-to skill guy on the team um when Pierre dorion couldn't pick whether he wanted to build a skill a fast skilled team or a tough and gritty team like Brady kachuck plays so um it's nice to see that Steve stos finally picked a direction do you have any additional thoughts on that no I completely agree with what you're saying there um you need to have a a clear goal and that will reflect in the dressing room I think for the longest time the Senators didn't have a great dressing room because they didn't know what they were they didn't have an identity because oh are they Brady kachu are they Tim scha are they somebody else nobody really wanted to make that choice but I think the team made that choice and then just waffled on it right they picked Brady Chuck fourth overall when he shouldn't have gone fourth overall according to projections now he probably goes higher than that right he was the perfect pick for the Senators at that time and he's supposed to be the face of the franchise Tim studa is fantastic definitely one of my favorite guys maybe ever on the Senators love him with the team he's I don't think somebody you build around I think you add him to make the team even better and I think last season might have shown that a little bit with the dip when the Senators weren't as competitive um that could be you know just some Growing Pains but I think I think this is a very clear you know step in a direction that you are building around Brady this is the team you want to build um and this is the culture that we want to establish and there won't be any more kind of waffling we have a clear Direction a clear identity and that's what the Senators needed I think to be a competitive team yeah let me go ahead go ahead Paul no I was just gonna say Let me throw a question out here then gentlemen um you know you got a team here that's building the image of Brady Chuck uh where's Norris fit into Does Norris Fit With the Long-Term Identity of the Senators? this thing on [Laughter] LTI yeah he's he's a bit more of a uh like a Tim schla build right he's a fast um skill player and you kind of got to wonder is that going to fit in long term for now it's great you know if he plays he makes the team better but does he have a long-term future with it especially as the team gets you know a bit more hard-nosed a bit more you know Scrappy a bit more pesty because I don't I don't see that in Norris unless I've been missing something no I don't see that Norris either but one thing that a lot of people Overlook is Norris's defensive game I I think that he's very underrated defensively um and he's a really good option at the second line Center if he's healthy in playing at the 35 goal strong two-way player that he was a couple years ago but with that being said you got Shane Pinto who might be able to fill that void um which makes Josh Norris Expendable and Pinto does play with a little bit more bite in his game than uh Josh Norris does so if you can find a way to kind of slide Shane Pinto into Josh Norris's spot and move on from him if it makes sense yeah I I think that you would like to have Shane pinto and $8 million over Josh Norris as the second line Center that's just my thoughts no I think I think you probably hit the nail on the head there that's Norris is great but is he eight million bucks great healthy we don't know like it yeah I don't know he just needs to stay healthy one thing that I see a lot of people saying is that with this Nick Are the Senators One of the Toughest Teams in the NHL Now? cousins signing this team is going to be the everybody's least favorite team to play against and I said I put I put this on Twitter I said it doesn't matter how physical and tough they are if they're not going to win games this team is not going to be the most hated team in the league if they're 23rd in the standings they need to Win Hockey games or else this all does not matter and that's been the issue with the Senators over the last few years they just haven't won hockey games uh for a few years to start the rebuild under DJ Smith it was this team is hard to play against uh every team was giving them Credit in the postgame every night um then the last few years that kind of fell apart the team lost their identity um because believe it or not like Josh Brown braen Coburn Eric Branson these guys were all part of the identity they sucked to play against they weren't good defensively that's why Ottawa lost many games but they were physical they were tough and all that kind of stuff and OT get away from that and it's very apparent that Pi dorion did not did not have a long-term plan uh and so I think it's all a moot point if AWA doesn't win any games and like you said Dayton the signing indicates that they're serious about contending you can be as serious as you want it's the players that do the work from now on no for sure it's uh the season is definitely going to be defined by and they win and I if they can't that's going to I think put a ton of pressure on Steve stof like we're going to have to ask maybe some very difficult questions if this team suddenly just can't win because these have been moves to win I think you could have got better players you know skill-wise for the prices that they paid but they didn't do that they went for you know role players guys who fit a very specific identity and a very specific you know type of Team you don't trade Jacob Chan for Nick Jensen unless you have a very clear idea of what you want and I think that was a good trade but I don't think you got a better player than Jacob chran if that makes sense yeah you're a better team with Nick Jensen than Jacob chran he's not the better player but you're a better team yeah same thing with David prawn right um he's a great player but you could have got someone I think maybe more skilled for the amount of money that you spent um I think same thing with cousins you maybe could have got somebody who was more skilled and I even threw an article out there you know what about Philip Zaden you he has more skill than Nick cousins but is he a better player on this team arguably not because cousins in here and Zaden is in Switzerland yeah that's a great Point Paul do you have anything else to add on the Nick cousins signing well you know I don't know when Are Playoffs the Expectation This Season? all this winning is uh going to happen uh Steve stos at a press conference this week never mentioned one time the playoffs so you know I know there's a lot of lofty expectations in Ottawa there there always is in September you know uh but um even he's not going out on Li Lim and predicting playoffs so uh you know I I I think that expectations need to be tempered you know uh despite all the additions they're going to be it's going to be a really tough uh thing for them to make the playoffs this year yeah you say that but I think it's playoffs or bust this year I think very good chance that Brady kachuck wants to go if they don't make the playoffs Claude jaru is not going to resign um like this team might have to go through another rebuild like we might be looking at another Buffalo saber situation here um where it's been so long and unsuccessful like you look at the Sabres they drafted so many good players like Sam Reinhardt Jack eel um a few other good players and they they didn't work for them so they had to redo it and go through it all again Ottawa might be in a similar position if they don't make the playoffs this year even if they're Five Points out it's just another year that you're done in the beginning of April they're not going to stand for it well as long as they're not done by the end of November that's been the case in the last years right yeah so well we shall see quickly you know I wrote a piece um talking about uh again they've got a really tough Schedule H you know it's going to be challenging uh for the first two months and I think we'll get a glimpse of just whether or not they're playoff bound uh within the first well eight weeks of the Season there was a a piece uh a graphic posted by I have no idea who I'd like to credit if I could um but it was talking about the most travel for each team and I believe Ottawa had the least amount of travel among all teams over the course of the season so which makes sense I mean they're fairly Central to the entire league but um yeah they they had the least amount of travel or very close to us well you know in the first uh October November I think they've only got one road trip uh three games out west easy games and then they come back uh most of the games are in the Eastern Time Zone and there's a to it unlike last year um you know it's going uh once every once every other day which uh I guess is the ideal schedule for an NHL team every other a game every other day so yeah it's definitely more favorable than it was last year all right uh moving off of all that um the playoffs and Nick cousins and whatnot um there's been some not really news but some updates about lebreton flats and the Senators moving to a downtown location um again not too much to build off of but uh the decision is going to have to be made by the end of this month and um I just want to know what your guys thoughts are Paul I know you wrote a piece about saying how Le Breton is not the answer um Dayton I'm not sure if I've heard your opinion on things um but Paul I'm gonna ask you first just like what are your whole Should the Senators Move to LeBreton Flats? thoughts on should Ottawa move to lebreton Flats does it make sense what do what do you think um ideally sure they should move downtown down that would be great but there's a whole bunch of things that um they've got to get over um and I I don't think uh I don't think Leeton plats is is the place you've got major issues um no parking down there uh access to that site via Road even if there were parking is very poor you don't have any major thorough fars uh I think the NCC is the national capital Commission you know who owns that property um you know they they expect the Senators to rely on the light rail system in Ottawa which is notorious bad that's as reliable as the Senators yeah I mean if you it I mean it's awful you know it stops working when it gets too hot in the summer and golly G I don't know who designed it but you know when it gets too cold in the winter uh it stops working so and what's Ottawa the second coldest capital in the world so uh major design flaw there but all of that to say you know if you're the Senators uh it's a nightmare you know if you had a big playoff game and and you know 20,000 of your fans are trying to get there and the and and the rail system didn't work uh that's that's just not on and then the other thing uh is they want an arena district uh kind of the same thing that Edmonton has but it doesn't look like there's any provision uh being made in terms of land for that to be constructed and you know you've got environmental considerations I think to use the property you'd have to there's massive amounts of money you'd have to spend to um remediate all the uh contaminated soil remove it and whatnot um and then I think the biggest kicker here is going to be money and again I don't blame the Senators one or all three levels of government are going to have to come together and they're going to have to give Mr an laau and the other owners of the team a whole pile of money uh I think it's about a billion dollars I think that's the go the price tag now uh for for a new uh Arena anywhere in the league um and I don't know how that's going to get done politically so I wouldn't hold my breath on uh downtown certainly not lebret and flats what makes me wonder too is the tone of um sir leader uh he's coming out making noises well you know there's still a long way to go or words to that effect uh We've made a little bit of progress there's still a lot of work to be done if this deal were close and it's got to be done in two weeks um I don't think he'd be saying he he wouldn't be saying much you know it would be uh in the bag and just cross the te's do the eyes but I I so I think I think they're far apart yeah I think that's a very good case of like Craig osters negotiating in the media trying to um get something to happen because it doesn't look like it is that's what it sounds like to me as well Paul um I'm not sure um how often you go to games but I'm in Nova Scotia Dayton since thekat youan um you're the only Ottawa native here um Is having the Senators in Kanata actually that bad? is Canada really that bad oh it's terrible trying to get out of the parking lot yes it is terrible getting out of the parking lot but is like you could do Renovations and changes to make the parking lot a better system but is from Ottawa to caneta really that bad of a situation no I mean I may have to go into a witness protection program if I say I'm about to say but you know come on Ottawa you're spoiled I mean when they when we talk traffic jams and commutes in Ottawa it's ridiculous it means 20 minutes go to any other major city uh in North America and you know you're talking an hour or more um it's not that bad of commute um the other thing too though is is uh uh in January I try to avoid games because you have to walk in from the back 40 and by the time you get into the arena you're suffering from hypothermia so you know it it's not pleasant but given all the Alternatives uh you know it's it's not bad and and I know the people in gatau they're trying to pry them away from the Montreal Canadians and they'll say well you know the people in Gat know is going to Canada is too far uh to which I would ask what and Montreal's closer I mean come on that's that's a three-hour Drive don't give me that but um well and so I I went up in October uh last year for home opener and it was my first time actually driving through the city to get to the game and it wasn't that bad like it's from the what is it from downtown Ottawa or what they whatever they call Downtown it's about half an hour to get to the rink that's not that's not bad like from anywhere in Edmonton you're probably half an hour from the rink with traffic and everything um or in Fort Lauderdale um well in Sunrise I know that the rink um Amir Bank Arena is not in a great place either um but you're not right there if they could develop more around Canada um like there's not much there there's like what an Ultramar across the street from The Ring um couple shops and everything but if they could develop more and have more of like a an event District kind of like you were talking about with Edmonton it would be great like it's just there's just nothing to do in Canada well yeah but you know in defense of Canada uh and by way of full disclosure that's where I live but fair enough they um well that would come out people would track that down but you know uh objectively uh Canada is the high-tech Center uh it's probably one of the biggest high-tech centers in all of Canada the income is here the companies are here these are the people these are the company that buy the boxes and can afford to pay the ticket prices um why would you want to leave a market like that to go downtown um because I don't think you're going to replace it uh civil servants um the Civil Service I should not civil servants the Civil Service General they don't buy boxes you know it's uh not in the budget but the companies in Canada do so you you you alienate them at your perel yeah if they could build um I don't know what the the zoning is like over there but if they could build like some good clubs and bars and um some good restaurants right close to the ring like I think it would be good and so my experience there was I spent the day in Ottawa um and then drove out to Canada didn't mind at all mind you my perception was a bit skewed after driving 16 hours to get to Ottawa um so a half hour probably like nothing um and then I was I left the game and I went to iron prior to stay with some family and it was a fine experience outside of just getting out of the parking lot like we were in the parking lot for almost an hour trying to get out it was it was horrible but that can be fixed somehow I'm not an engineer or architect or whatever but I like I didn't mind the location at all and I've been kind of sitting on that for the last years is it really that bad no it's it's um but you know like I say massive hurdles to moving out of out of uh the West End out of Canada to to go downtown the cost of construction building a new Arena and like I say no NHL owner of which I am aware uh builds a new ring on their own nickel government step up like so give me one example of an NHL owner that's built his own Rank and you know I can tell you there's a whole lot of people in Ottawa these aren't my words but uh saying look we're not giving billionaire owners money to build a rink so a bunch of kids can shoot rubber pucks around I mean it's not going to fly politically so yeah I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon so uh anytime you want to come to jakc to Canada Jacob you can stay at my place and we can take an Uber perfect um Dayton have you been to Canada have you been to the ring no I've never been able to get out there I've been to Ottawa twice but it's been probably decades since I've been out there was uh some some fun family trips um a lot of what you guys are saying though does kind of strike a cord from some of the Arenas I've been able to visit on my WHL Journey so for those who don't know I'm trying to see all 22 WHL Arenas uh I've seen five so far because the WHL is annoyingly spread apart uh it's way more spread out than than the oh or the qmjhl you can just go see those all over it's not that hard um whereas in Saskatchewan I'd have to go drive to Seattle to see a game uh anyways I was at you know of course the Saskatoon Arena they have an arena that is outside of the city pretty much um getting out of the Arena when the game is done even in a WHL Market takes forever not an hour forever but you're basically waiting there until everyone else leaves and so I just hang out and watch for the three stars and wait till everyone else okay you can go yeah good cool um it's not popular people don't like driving out there even though it's hardly a drive there is plans to set up a Downtown Arena and make one of those districts um parking is going to be a nightmare like you guys mentioned but I mean Calgary has a Downtown Arena essentially right and I was there in March I believe it was not hard to find you know just a parking spot and then we just walked to the earring it was very easy I mean you get outside a little bit and sure during the winter not so fun but in March the weather was beautiful nice walk didn't have to go through too many crowds um so I don't know if it's a massive issue and it does seem to be that you know that uh that transition of at one point it was moving all the Arenas outside of the city center now we're bringing them back in um and those that are outside of it are struggling so one that is definitely you know it's hurt by its location is the Medicine Hat Tigers they decided in 2015 I believe to build an arena basically five minutes once you leave the city limits it is it is not in Medicine Hat um I think even like technically it's not in Medicine Hat but it's a beautiful Arena you know all of the state-of-the-art stuff and it's annoying to get to and then trying to get out you have one Highway that's all clogged up because that's the only exit that you have the parking lot it's huge but it's designed really poorly and that it's tough to get out of that too so they have you know some some significant issues that they very recently put in you know one of the problems in Ottawa is is um you know the downtown Corp has been decimated and that's because uh civil servants are not working they're working from home for the most part and you can fire a cannon down most streets in downtown Ottawa and you wouldn't hit a bar that's open uh there's boarded up restaurants and bars uh everywhere I mean that's what the city this the mayor is that's the value he's placing on trying to get the sener move down town it would be a way to reinvigorate the central Corp but you know I don't think that's going to change I I think civil servants working from home the majority of their time is is uh that's going to be permanent so um you know I I don't know that there would be bars and restaurants for people to go to downtown certainly um you know the number of what are there 40 41 games that's it uh that the sener is playing and I don't think that number of games would be big enough to support a you know a a Renaissance of bars and restaurants that closed during the pandemic so well then I just think one of the biggest pieces of feedback you hear from players um and I believe I believe it was Nick Jensen that said it he's like I've never even seen Ottawa because we don't go to Ottawa to play games like I've never been in the city of Ottawa um and that's one of the issues that some players have but again if you get more of a like I don't know if you remember the plan that um the coyotes owner um I'm blanking on his name um Maro yes um Melo the plan that he had was to build a big event Plaza um and while it was very farfetched and he didn't have the money to do it um and I'm not I'm not talking about the water parks that he was talking about but like just all the event stuff like have have a good place for concerts like out concerts um have just have a couple venues there and have the bars and the the clubs and the whatever that players can enjoy stuff while they're in Ottawa while they make the trip to Canada there's just nothing for them to do and you kind of have to um tend to the players needs in a in a sense while obviously looking for the fans the fans would enjoy the uh an outdoor venue and maybe some sports plexes and bars and whatever it might be you just need to make make it more of an appealing location around the rink I know the rink needs upgrades on its own which an has done a good job of doing since he arrived so I'm told uh but you just need to improve the area around it and that's not Michael ll's job but it should be the city of well I don't know how that really works if the city of Ottawa would build out there probably not because it's not technically in their city but um some sort of partnership between Municipal and provincial and the team working something out well we're going to see put it this way bring Stanley Cup to Ottawa and there will be plenty of people only too happy to uh enjoy the uh amenities of Canada they'll be having uh tailgate parties out in the 75 Acres that surround the uh um the the uh Canada Canadian tire place and I don't think you'll hear very many complaints about people having to go all the way to Canada 30 minutes to uh you hear anything about am Bank Arina in Florida after they just won the cop not a word nobody minds and you know that's the other thing I hear criticism or or the the the argument is well can you imagine what would happen to ticket sales they'll go through the roof if the senators were located downtown no I've I've seen the Senators I've followed them from the beginning and when they put a good product on the ice that place is sold out actually let me take that back they don't even have to put a good product on the ice last year they they had record crowds um so that argument that they'd be doing better financially by being downtown is uh bunch of hogwash frankly in my humble opin yeah all right well that'll wrap things up for today um thanks everybody for checking it out um Paul Dayton thanks for joining me as always um nice to be back and I think we're going to be back regularly now season's about to get started training camp and rookie camps and all that fun stuff so um we'll see you next time on the next episode of the Senators Round Table