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Sorry for the lack of updates for the past two days, figuring out the finer details of this podcasting business has kept me relatively busy. Anyways, the good news is that the recording and editing process is done, I'm just waiting on the Bloguin web designers to provide me with the proper access to upload and create a feed for the audio file so that I can distribute it to you guys. I'm still hoping to have it uploaded today, but I'm really at the whim of my superiors.
I digress. For those who haven't heard, Erik Karlsson has been recalled by the Ottawa Senators and Brian Lee has been demoted. Here's the official press release from the Ottawa Senators:
OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators today recalled defenceman Erik Karlsson from the club’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, and re-assigned defenceman Brian Lee to the AHL team.
Karlsson, assigned to Binghamton on Oct. 27, recorded 11 assists, 22 penalty minutes and was even in plus-minus over the team’s last 12 games. He recorded assists in seven of 12 games, had three multi-point games, including a team-high three assists in his team’s 7-0 win over the Adirondack Phantoms on Thursday, Nov. 26.
The 19-year-old native of Landsbro, Sweden, made his National Hockey League debut on Oct. 3 in the Senators’ 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers and earned his first NHL point (an assist) in that contest. Karlsson appeared in nine Senators regular-season games, recording three assists and six penalty minutes.
Lee, recalled on Oct. 27 after starting the season with B-Sens, has played in Ottawa’s last 13 games, recording two goals, an assist, six penalty minutes and a -1 rating.
In nine AHL games with Binghamton this season, the 22-year-old native of Moorhead, Minn., has one goal, three assists and 19 penalty minutes.
The return of Karlsson is interesting for a number of reasons with the most important being that if Karlsson plays one more game that will give him ten games at the NHL level on the year. In other words, his entry level deal will kick in and regardless of how many more games he plays, one year will come off of his contract. On the other hand, although I haven't really had an opportunity to watch the last two games in detail, I was never really under the impression that Brian Lee was playing that poorly.
I realize that the Senators currently reside in first place in the Northeast Division and are a legitimate threat to make the playoffs but is the upgrade from Brian Lee to Erik Karlsson enough to justify burning a year off of Karlsson's contract?
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See, if we don't burn a year off Karlsson's rookie contract now, then we could very possibly have Special K, Weiroch (sp?) and Cowen ALL up for RFA at the same time. If they all pan out like we hope they will, then that could be a very tough position for BM to be in, assuming of course that he's still BM the GM at that point. We'd face a situation not unlike the one that Chicago is currently dealing with, in that three top players are all due a pay raise at the same time. Let's not forget that we still have quite a few guys signed through those years, and cap management for those years should already be playing on BM's mind... especially if he signs the Russian Android to an extension, which he should. In my own personal opinion, this is actually a good move by BM. In three years, we'll be saying what a genius he was in 2009 to make a move like that.
Not only that, but this could mean that there is someone interested in Lee. If BM knows that an offer is coming (from CHI, perhaps) then it would make sense to get Karlsson up with the big club to get back into the swing of things.
And let's face it - Lee hasn't been bad with Ottawa this year, but he hasn't exactly lit it up, either.
Anyway, GO SENS GO!