Written by Graeme Nichols | 13 April 2009

In the aftermath of the Senators season, there was a great article in the Ottawa Citizen outlining some interesting statistics. Here are some things that stuck out for me:

7: Number of points Mike Comrie had in 22 games after the Senators acquired him from the New York Islanders.

217: Number of goals the Senators scored this season. That's an average of 2.60 per game, eighth-lowest in the 30-team league.

1,456: Sum of the instances where Dany Heatley either called for a pass, took and extended shift or cast a look of disgust when a teammate couldn't feather him a pass so he could get his 40th goal against the Leafs on Saturday.

While the Citizen article makes for a good and quick read, the only number that matters this summer is Ottawa's cap hit. From what I can gather, there are two prevailing ideas for how to create some financial flexibility. One is to let go a slew complimentary players like Jason Smith, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil, Mike Comrie, Alexandre Picard, Christoph Schubert, et al and hope that their production can be replaced by cheaper alternatives. The second, more drastic alternative is to parlay Jason Spezza and his impending NTC into a package of young, cheap assets who can help now and in the future. (Apparently Brian Lawton is open to trade discussions involving Tampa's 1st rounder, credit Spector's Hockey.)

So Ottawa, discuss amongst yourselves. What do you do?

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