Seventeen years ago today, the Ottawa Senators recorded their first modern NHL victory and seventeen years later, we're still waiting for our first Stanley Cup celebration. That's not to say that the Senators haven't had the opportunity to win, they have. The Senators were the sports equivalent to the television series Seinfeld. It had a strong cast that regularly made minor personnel changes, had minor plot changes, nothing got resolved and the end was nowhere in sight. Like Seinfeld, Ottawa fielded some very seasons, and like the Seinfeld finale, their postseasons have never quite lived up to the hype. Even the recent Curb Your Enthusiasm Seinfeld reunion mirrors Ottawa's situation. Some of the key players are still here, but it's just not the same.
It was late September, and John Muckler sat in his bunker-like general manager's office at the then Corel Centre, talking hockey before an Ottawa Senators pre-season game. Outside, the sounds of the National Hockey League were cranking up for the first time in a year, as the NHL clambered out of hibernation. A reporter noted that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa's chief rival, did not appear to be set up for the post-lockout NHL.
"No," said Muckler, shaking his head. "No, they don't." ~ Arthur Bruce, The Financial Post
It was early October and Tim sat in his unfinished basement, talking about hockey before the Ottawa Senators home opener. Outside, the sound of his mother could be heard. The tone of her voiced cranked up so that it was audible enough to be heard. Quit your hibernation Tim, and get a real job. In an exchange of emails, a Senators blogger named Nichols noted that two years removed from the Muckler era, the Senators still had not fully recovered from the damage that their former GM had caused.
"No," said Tim, shaking his head. "No, they have not."
For a long time, I've argued that John Muckler was the primary reason why Ottawa struggled since making the Cup Finals in '07. Since Ottawa's playing Long Island, and I have absolutely no desire to over-hype a Karlsson versus Tavares meeting, I've decided to do some research and put my theory to the test. Was John Muckler as shitty of a GM as I remember?
There's an old adage in the NHL: GMs are like politicians, you never really see the consequences of their actions until three years after their term has expired. Perhaps it's indicative when the results of the John Muckler era were transparent after one.
I'll make no bones about this. When John Muckler was hired by the Ottawa Senators on June 12th, 2002, he was the beneficiary of a young and talented organization that had prided itself upon strong drafting and player development. Also renowned for playoff disappointment and a hamstrung budget, the hiring of Muckler was intended to the put the Senators over the top.
Actually, over the top is the perfect way to characterize the Muckler regime. In one of his first duties, Muckler was hands on in the painting the Stanley Cup on the wall of the dressing room. Word has it that it looked something like this...
"I've said many times over the past 10 years that this has been a very good, very competitive organization. Whether it was luck of the draw, bad luck on the ice or whatever, they haven't gone as far as some people thought they might. I'm glad we rewrote all that."~ John Muckler
Rewrote what? You didn't win anything! In case you're wondering that above quote was made before the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals had started. Good ol' Mucks, maybe too much Wild Turkey that night induced that comment. Truth is, the sports fans aren't like American Idol fans. Not many people always fondly remember those Stanley Cup finalists. (With the lone exception being when you want to rub the appearance in the face of Leafs fans. And may the 1990-1991 Minnesota North Stars rest in peace. Their uniforms are amongst the greatest of all time.)
The fact is, too many casual Sens fans give Muckler credit for getting the Senators to that 2007 Final. He said it himself, luck and a good draw has a lot to do with it. When a team like Ottawa has been as competitive as they have, it was only a matter of time before there's an opportunity to win a championship. (Remember, in the pre-lockout days, players were typically under contractual control until they reached the age of 31. So the ability to keep a team together was easier than it is now.)
When Muckler was handed the reigns to this team, it was like he was given a free lease on a sportscar. One that he treated like an '83 Chevette. And as the lease was passed on to Bryan Murray and the hood was finally lifted, the carmay have hada lot of the same parts. However, the machinery under the hood was corroded and in the motor had ceased. "But hey, it's still a sports car!"
When Bryan Murray took over the GM reigns from John Muckler, he not only inherited a Stanley Cup Finalist, he inherited a team that was inherently flawed.After years of poor drafting and neglecting the depth on the farm, a few bad personnel moves compounded the problem and the Senators window of opportunity had closed. Only we didn’t know it at the time.
Following the 2007 Cup Finals, fans expected a perennial contender.But without any young talent that was ready to crack the lineup, management was forced to resign its core because there were no other in-house alternatives.
Even though it’s not really problematic to sign one’s elite talent to long-term deals, it’s counter intuitive to sign replaceable veterans to inflated, long-term deals making them completely untradeable in the process. Without young, NHL-ready talent, Ottawa’s veterans could print their own tickets and bleeding heart fans applauded the moves because they’d hate to see one of their own homegrown guys go.
And that's the problem right now. Too many fans are using revisionist views of the Senators to evaluate Bryan Murray's tenure for the past two seasons. Where once stood a Cup Finalist, is now a team that whose sole aspiration is to get back into the playoffs. "Lynch Murray! Bring back Mucks! The Murray regime moves slower than the pacing of a Wayne Scanlan column!"
Using some resources, I've pieced together John Muckler's transaction history. Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we? (Note to readers: If you're reading this for the first time, you may want to put a bucket or pail by your side to throw up into. You've been warned.)
John was hired in June of 2002, and with his hire, he brought in this bravado that he'd help put this team over the hump. Six months later, he made his mark by trading Josef Boumedienne to the Washington Capitals for Dean Melanson. After a few more months of watching the Senators get pushed around by their opponents, Muckler established himself by acquiring shitty, gritty players who he had connections to. Vaclav Varada for Jakub Klepis. (As an aside, I was completely disappointed with how shitty Varada was as a player and agitator. For a guy who had hands of cement, he should have inflicted more damage with his fists than he did.)
In retrospect, it was a banner year in Ottawa when the organization dealt for Bob Wren and Rob Ray on February 10th. Fortunately, any err in judgment was atoned for the next day when he sent Tim Gleason to Los Angeles for Bryan Smolinski. Even though Gleason has turned into a quick defenceman who can log big minutes and who ideally would have been a great candidate to replace Chris Phillips, I don't necessarily blame Muckler for moving him. If you're not familiar, Muckler and Gleason couldn't agree to terms on an entry-level contract because Gleason wanted Volchenkov-like salary. I'll hang this one on Rod Bryden's frugal regime and on Gleason for having the nerve to ask for $900k per year. Unacceptable.
On the heels of another playoff disappointment, Muckler reacted swiftly. He finally rid the organization of Mathieu Chouinard when he failed to qualify him as a restricted free agent. And who could possibly forget the three-way deal that netted Petr Smrek and sent Chris Bala to Minnesota and Chris Murphy to Nashville?
Denis Hamel was acquired for future considerations. I've always wondered what it must feel like to be dealt for something that's likely to be nothing. I don't know what I'd do if Bloguin was listening to offers for my wares. "Hey Bloguin, I'll take The 6th Sens off your hands, but only for future considerations. Maybe you'll get lucky and get another traffic generating rumours site like Sens Chirp. Or maybe you'll wind up with a Sens site that's updated as frequently as Kevin Lee's. Them's the breaks."
Magnus Arvedsson was also allowed to leave for Vancouver as a free agent without much fanfare. I feel like if this happened last summer, there would have been an outcry of public support for him. Like he was Chris Kelly or something.
In January of 2004, Ottawa acquired Brad Tapper for Daniel Corso. The city yawned. One month later, Muckler dealt an enigmatic Russian named Alexei KovalevPetr Schastlivy to Anaheim for Todd Simpson. The next month, Mucker feels compelled to add Peter Bondra because a skilled team like Ottawa could never have enough perimeter scoring. Going the other way were Brooks Laich and a 2nd round pick (Chris Durand).
In March of 2004, Shane Hnidy is dealt for a third rounder (Peter Regin) and a package of Karl Rachunek and Alexandre Giroux fetch Greg DeVries.
After another playoff collapse to the Leafs, Jacques Martin is fired and Patrick Lalime is dealt to St. Louis for a third rounder (Vitali Aneykeyenko). To fill the goaltending void, John Muckler reaches back into the Buffalo well and pulls out Dominik Hasek from the bargain bin. The League locks out the players and nothing matters for over a year.
Fast forward to 2005. The lock out ends. Hasek still wants to play. Hossa needs a new contract. Hossa and Muckler agree on a new deal. Three hours later, Hossa is dealt with Greg DeVries to Atlanta for Dany Heatley. Heatley is labelled by all as a power forward. Four months later, Senators fans call bullshit on the power forward label but love his Brett Hull'esque goalscoring ability. Another thing that Sens fans are loving, the Filip Novak acquisition. Tits! (I'd mention how Ottawa won the draft lottery by being awarded a top 10 pick...but John Muckler blew that pick on Brian Lee and it's been discussed ad nauseum. Google it, you'll see what I mean.)
Season ends in February when Hasek tweaks muscle at Olympics. Ottawa fans learn the word abductor adductor but rely upon old favorites like "Shitty cockballs!" and "That fucking Czech! Prioritize!" when referencing this event. But it's okay, Muckler fixes the issue by relying on Emery and making two minor moves -- claiming Mike Morrison off of waivers and trading a second rounder and Brandon Bochenski to Chicago for Tyler Arnason. Arnason's acquisition hits a climax when I bump into him after Ottawa eliminated Tampa in the first round of the playoffs. An obviously intoxicated Arnason was stumbling around the parking lot outside The Centrum's Baton Rouge and for whatever reason, I yelled "Hey Arnason. You're AWESOME."
That offseason, Ottawa opts to retain Wade Redden instead of Zdeno Chara in a move that's still hotly debated. In order to replace Chara, Muckler signs Joe Corvo. Apparently, he had a great plus minus in LA. (Note to self: When a trivial stat like +/- is used as the reason why it's a great signing, don't buy the hype. Interestingly, LA figured this out when they signed Tom Preissing as a Free Agent one year later.)
Editor's Note: This was originally where I intended to mention Gerber in the piece. But I forgot. I know, an egregious oversight on my part. Maybe I was too focused on all the other positive things that Muckler had been doing at the time.
If losing Hasek, Chara wasn't enough, Muckler continued to purge the roster of Czechs by trading Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski to the Blackhawks in three-way deal that involved the Sharks. Ottawa received Josh Hennessey, Michal Barinka, Tom Preissing and a second rounder (Patrick Wiercioch). In retrospect, the trade actually works out to be Havlat and Gleason for that package. It's one thing to give up a talent like Havlat, it's another to give up arguably the two biggest talents in that trade. What's that old spiel that some teams give at a trade deadline? "Sometimes, it's not the moves you make. It's the moves you don't make." Well, that's a deal I wish Ottawa never made.
Thankfully, Muckler atoned for the Havlat deal by signing Dean McAmmond and Serge Payer during the free agency period. It also helped that he was able to parlay another disgruntled Russian -- Alexei Kaigorodov -- into Mike Comrie.
Matt Koalska for Tomas Malec? Yawn. Lawrence Nycholat for Andy Hedlund? Yawn. Oleg Saprykin for a second rounder (Jared Staal)? Arrrgggg!
Here's a look at Muckler's entry draft record:
Editor's Note #2: I went easy on Mucker here and didn't include that 2007 Draft because Muckler was fired and replaced Murray before the draft began. But because Murray took over at the 24th hour, Muckler's scouting department was still in place and Murray based his selections upon the work done by Muckler's guys. Did I mention that Ottawa only had four picks from that draft? Enough said.
2002
1st round: Jakub Klepis
2nd round: Alexei Kaigorodov
3rd round: Arttu Luttinen
4th round: Scott Dobben; Johan Bjork
5th round: Brock Hooton
8th round: Josef Vavra
9th round: Vitaly Atyushov
2003
1st round: Patrick Eaves
2nd round: Igor Mirnov
3rd round: Phillipe Seydoux
4th round: Mattias Karlsson
5th round: Tim Cook
6th round: Sergei Gimayev
7th round: Will Colbert
8th round: Ossi Louhivaara
9th round: Brian Elliott
2004
1st round: Andrej Meszaros
2nd round: Kirill Lyamin
3rd round: Shawn Weller; Peter Regin; Jeff Glass
4th round: Alexander Nikulin
5th round: Jim McKenzie; Roman Wick
7th round: Joe Cooper
8th: Matt McIllvane
9th: John Wikner
2005
1st round: Anze Kopitar; MarcStaal; Brian Lee
3rd round: Vitali Anikeyenko
4th round: Cody Bass; Ilya Zubov; Janne Kolehmainen;
You posted this because I made fun of you about your hockey pool team didn't you? Didn't you!?
Why did you have to bring up all these terrible memories
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... written by phajda , October 08, 2009
ugh, thank god you warned me about getting a bucket. i wish muckler's track record was more common knowledge. tired of listening to the murray bashers.
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... written by MasterOfPuppets , October 08, 2009
Because the Sens pitched another stinker tonight. Holy fuck when are we gonna see the team that had the winning record to close last season? There's flashes of it but Christ in a game they should have had handily - they scored a goal on a play that should have been whistled dead, then a squeaker that barely got in, to get the worst lead in hockey, only to skull fuck it by not sitting Okposo on his arse or Spezza falling on his stick to block the second shot, and then letting Weight dance in and dish a little pass to who the fuck is Matt Moulson?
At least Fisher had a the bones to actually score a legit no fucken around goal and get the two points in a game that should have been a 2-1 loss. I don't mind having Lady Luck but let's not burn all our horseshoes now. You need those for playoffs or to get you in the playoffs. These games shouldn't be nailbiters. But hey? whose got more points than Kovalev or Spezza? Mr. Knuckles, Matt Carkner WTF?
At least Cheechoo looked like he was doing something tonight. Maybe Neil and Regin aren't bad linemates for his style after all.
Woah.
I shouldn't complain about wins, because there a gonna be ones that get away. But it'd be nice to see the team click, and playing a confident brand of hockey with only a few gaffs.
Really, this waiting for the third period to start to play is for the birds.
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... written by Joshua M , October 09, 2009
Mucks did sign Phillips and Volchenkov to their currently awesome deals and never bowed the public pressure in the fall of '06 when our team had to have emergency media conference calls to deal Alfie for Craig Conroy.
Those are about the only good things I will say about his tenure here. Also the Heatley for Hossa move was underhanded, but it was a clear W for a team with a cap problem. Also the likeable Peter Chiarelli was the fellow who negotiated with the Hossa camp while Muckler worked the phones with Mr. Waddell.
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... written by Joshua M , October 09, 2009
Also this blog fails to mention the Martin Gerber signing. That was an epic fail.
Great research and good writing. Thought you should know that the link to the trade history blog is faulty and needs fixing.
Good job though. Murray has had quite the time digging the team out of Muckler's hole.
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... written by Greg in Carleton Place , October 14, 2009
I miss Muckler, winning a playoff game every now and then was nice. Making the playoffs was better.
Muckler wasn't perfect but it's Murray's team now, it's Murray's roster now. Time to let Muckler go and focus on the man in charge, Bryan Murray, and the results he brings.
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... written by LaForge , December 09, 2009
We didn't take Mason or Ward because we had Emery. Regardless of how things played out, it'd've been unwise to burn a selection on what we already had. Also Saprykin and Preissing directly contributed to the run to the final. That's valuable. That Muckler gave something substantial in order to acquire those two players is not, and was not, lost on him. You can't make Yashin-to-NYI fleecings your minimum standard of what constitutes a good trade.
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... written by trentmccleary , December 13, 2009
Above... I wouldn't absolve any of our GM's for not selecting goalies simply because we have Emery around. He might've never made the NHL and our GM's only chose Emery, Elliott, Glass and Daniels this decade before we got Lehner this summer. With our awful history of developing goalies, that's not good enough.
"Editor's Note #2: I went easy on Mucker here and didn't include that 2007 Draft because Muckler was fired and replaced Murray before the draft began. But because Murray took over at the 24th hour, Muckler's scouting department was still in place and Murray based his selections upon the work done by Muckler's guys. Did I mention that Ottawa only had four picks from that draft? Enough said."
The same can be said of Dudley/Muckler for the 2002 draft. Only one draft can be chosen to criticize Muckler, not both 02 and 07. Ottawa had 7 picks that draft, Murray traded three (5th, 7th, 7th) to TB for a 2008 4th rounder.
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... written by GelatinousMutantCoconut , December 25, 2009
So essentially, this could've been our line-up going into the Stanley Cup Finals in 07:
I included the non-trade of Havlat and Phillips for Luongo. Also, Loui Eriksson was selected 4 places after Patrick Eaves in 2003.
I know it's highly conjecture to "What If", I tried to be as consistent as possible, erasing all of Muckler's trades and free agent signings, even the Heatley deal. I only included first round picks, I'm sure in the later rounds better picks could've been made as well.
Do you think this would have made a difference against the Ducks?
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 
Why did you have to bring up all these terrible memories