Written by Graeme Nichols | 23 June 2009

Just to add to what Tim was saying this morning, when enforcers reach UFA, they should be put down like a sick dog. Sure, it's not fun. You've built some strong memories and you've had good times. While dogs are busy barking and scaring Jehovah Witnesses away from your door, pugilists like Neil have been busy intimidating visiting opponents whenever they'd come into SBP. Anyways, the time has come and we as fans should move on and get a new dog. Besides, who doesn't like a new puppy? (Well, except for cat people but they want fighting out of the game anyways.)

Get the Bell Out of Town

While preparing to hit the road for Montreal and the NHL draft, I'm hearing a couple of things regarding Brendan Bell's status with the Senators.

For one, that the team wants to re-sign the Ottawa blue liner, but is trying to figure out a way to dump blue liners Jason Smith and Alexandre Picard, first.

Secondly, that because he did not receive a qualifying offer from the Senators Monday, Bell will be available to all as an unrestricted free agent.

No doubt his first priority is to remain in his hometown. ~ Don Brennan, OTP

If I were to assume (read: too lazy and it's Brendan Bell, so I don't really care that much) that a qualifying offer precludes the Senators from offering Bell a two-way contract, I'm a little bit skeptical of Ottawa's interest. If they were genuinely interested, they'd sign him and worry about shedding bodies later. However, by not tendering Bell an offer, he's unrestricted and open to negotiate with other teams. If the interest is genuine, management obviously doesn't think too highly of Bell since it's assumed that he'll still be available once either or both of Smith and Picard are gone.

Mendes Clears The Air

Alright, so over the past few days, there's been a lot of confusion over this bonus that's owed to Dany Heatley on July 1st. In an effort to resolve this issue for you readers, I've corresponded with Ian and here's the clarification:

It's not a bonus, but just the way the contract was structured. So during the course of the 09-10 season, his salary will be $4 million, since he received the first $4 million on July 1st. That is my understanding of it.

In other words, it's just the front-loaded portion of his upcoming season's salary that's due on July 1st.

Spezza on block, too?

Buried at the bottom of today's Allen Panzeri piece was this nugget of past-tense information that some may find very intriguing.

Jason Spezza's name always appears at the top of the list when trade rumours start.

So it's no surprise that it's out there again. At least one media outlet in the United States, the Boston Globe, said over the weekend that Murray was already looking to trade Spezza before Heatley's trade request fell into his lap. The newspaper cited an NHL general manager as the source of that information.

If the rumour were true, it could mean a major reshaping of the Senators, but it might be too difficult for Murray to dump two long and expensive contracts.

Spezza is under contract until 2014-15 at an average salary-cap hit of $7 million. ~ Allen Panzeri, The Ottawa Citizen

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