About an hour ago, and about 15 min before their arbitration meeting was to take place, the Sens and Vermette came to a 2-year agreement worth $2.525 in year one and $3 million in year two.
I haven’t heard if there is a no movement or no trade clause involved but I sincerely doubt it. Vermette got about 15-20% more than what Murray was prepared to pay but I still think it was a good deal for Ottawa as he would have received more from the arbitrator and we most likely would have had to trade him during the season or lose him for nothing next summer.
Vermette and Kelly (Signed July 1st) are both key penalty killers (some may say they are the best duo in the league) and his speed is exactly what a team needs in ‘the new NHL’. Many people forget, he has scored an average of 23 goals and 23 assists a year over the past three seasons with the Sens…my only problem with Vermette is the +/-…the last two seasons he’s a dismal +1 – not good enough on THIS team.
I expect Vermette to play a key role in our secondary scoring and penalty killing this year…who knows, you may even see him on the top PP unit.
One last question we need to ask is: Because the Senators play in Canada’s capital, which is officially bilingual, is it important for them to target and sign French-Canadian players? Or does it not matter? Personally it doesn’t bother me either way – I just want to see a winning team take the ice. Some people on the other hand want their team to represent their community (See: Montreal Canadiens)
Let us know your thoughts!
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