Letter to Season Ticket Holders In Wake of Fisher Trade
I just wanted to pass along this letter that was issued by the Ottawa Senators President Cyril Leeder in the wake of yesterday's trade. I've posted the content of the letter below and removed the season ticket holder's name from the letter...
Dear (insert season ticket holder's name here),
Today we announce that Mike Fisher had been traded to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a first-round draft choice for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and a conditional draft choice in 2012.
Mike has been a great player for us, both on and off the ice, and we thank him for everything he has done for our organization and our community.
We are all disappointed with the results from this season. A number of you have contacted us and asked us to take the necessary steps to get the team back to an elite level in the Eastern Conference. If we are serious about returning our team back to an elite level, we have to make difficult decisions. Moving Mike is certainly one of those difficult decisions and with the trade today, we are definitely looking ahead -- not back -- to the future of our team.
We do want you and other Senators fans to know that once we had determined that a trade for Mike would help our team in the future, we made extra efforts to move him to Nashville where his hockey career will be able to mesh with his personal life. We felt we owed that to Mike for all that he has done for our franchise and our community.
We invite you to view a video interview of Bryan Murray's comments regarding the trade and what it means regarding the direction of our hockey team.
Sincerely,
Cyril Leeder
T6S Take:
It's interesting to see that the organization discusses how they moved Fisher to a place where he wanted to be. Although it's a classy thing to do, the organization left itself susceptible to questioning as to whether or not there was a better hockey deal out there to be made.
This is the big problem here. Sending him to a contender is all the organization has to do to not be viewed as a bad guy, they shouldnt take into consideration his desires, its a business not a goddamn social club. His 4.2 million should compansate for not playing where he wants. a contender is good enough. another example of Murray getting to emotionally attached to his players
@S_Church One thing the Senators have tried to do over the last while is try to be an organization that players want to play for. Further very few contenders have the cap space to take his contract for nothing. What some people are forgetting here is Murray pulled of a trade involving a high paid player in which nothing came back. Those deals are insanely rare now and the cap space alone is an asset.
@CrooklynBanks Andy Strickland has said that Los Angeles put forth a better offer for Fisher. Probably safe to assume that LA offered a 1st rounder plus a prospect and not the extra pick that is contingent upon Nashville advancing in the playoffs.
