Foreshadowing: the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later.

Roll back to September 28 and one of the first television interviews with Bryan Murray on the eve of the start of the season. Asked whether the Senators were Stanley Cup contenders, Murray would only commit to "trying to get the team to the playoffs in a comfortable position". He defined the team that he had as a "good building project with good veterans".



Let's face it: Murray knew. Even back then, Murray knew that making the playoffs would be difficult with what he had. I'm unsure of why that is, I'm unsure of what he saw, but he knew. Perhaps it was the coaching, perhaps the  fact that the players weren't buying into the system, I don't know, and perhaps none of us outisde the Sens organization ever will.

I stand by my earlier statement this year that Murray wanted to shuffle the team a lot earlier, but was probably overruled by the "dollars and cents" people who wanted to put spectator butts in the seats by keeping a well-known formation together. It took the worst season of the century, and a hue and cry from the fans for the back office boys to finally realize that Murray needed carte blanche to clean house and turn the Sens back into a winning team. And he has. Since the trade deadline, the Sens are a .667 team. No way is it good enough to get to the playoffs this year, but a consistent record like that over a whole season...

The Senators obtaining the NHL All-Star game was a likely turning point. So was pressure from the press. One gave the sales people the opportunity to renew season tickets with promise of access to the All-Star game, the other promised low attendances if the team didn't start winning at any cost.

I don't blame Murray for the woes suffered by the Sens. I still believe he was told to prop up a popular formation with the fans with whatever signing he could get away with. That way lie the signings of Pascal Leclaire, Alex Kovalev and Sergei Gonchar. Two of three are gone, and Gonchar will has two more seasons to find a niche.

I rather like to look at what he has done at the draft and with scouting, which can be evaluate with the new arrivals on the Senators team, as well as in Binghamton. The B-Sens were a redoutable force in the AHL until Murray started to pull the trigger on some trades. Since then, the B-Sens roster has been a merry-go-round of call-ups which has bolstered Ottawa but sunk Binghamton. Murray understands that talent needs to be developed and not bought (unlike John Muckler). On that side, Murray has been stellar.

It takes five years for a General Manager to leave his mark on a team and for his vision to be realized through trades, acquisitions and drafts. That means he has one more year for us to see what team Murray really had in mind when he came on board. I say let's give him the shot and wait one more year.

GO SENS GO!!