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Monday, October 25, 1999
Sens wise to lock up Juneau
One's loss (10 weeks) has to be the other's gain ($4.4 million US) as the Senators hope to maintain the pace they have set at the beginning of their most crucial season ever.
Surely the Senators reconsidered their insistence on quibbling over a couple of weeks salary for Juneau -- the only stumbling block in the deal was their reluctance to pay him until he was in "game" shape -- when they found out Alfredsson would miss the next 21/2 months with torn knee ligaments.
The Senators placed significant value on the offensive contributions they felt Juneau could make and now, minus their captain and potential 30-goal scorer for a long stretch of the season, getting his name on a contract was a must.
At $1.8 million, Juneau is not overpriced. His speed and playmaking abilities should make him a nice fit in Ottawa.
At $2.6 million -- the salary he'd reportedly be due next season -- Juneau might be a little rich for the Senators blood.
But if they decide so, the 31-year-old might be tradable over the summer.
Of course, the Senators might not be able to afford dealing Juneau either.
Given Alfredsson's horrible luck, there's no guarantee they won't be in the same position next year.
SECOND THOUGHTS: The burden of their horrible record could be affecting the Buffalo Sabres more than people know. Witnesses near the Sabres bench Saturday night at the Corel Centre insist they heard the players bickering and arguing heatedly with each other during the loss to the Senators ... About Russian national team coach Vladimir Yurzinov, Alexei Yashin (a.k.a. His Selfishness) told the Sun: "He's the best at what he does in the world." Guess H.S. wasn't overly impressed with Jacques Martin's coach of the year award, which he received last spring for the job he did in the best league in the world ... In this space prior to the start of the NFL season it was written that Jeff George would turn out to be the Comeback Quarterback of the Year. It obviously takes the Minnesota Vikings awhile to read press clippings from Canada.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM: After a Darius Kasparaitis hit that knocked him out cold, Chicago Blackhawks rookie J.P. Dumont could only speak French when he regained consciousness. The Parti Quebecois must be wondering how it can hire Kasparaitis ... Despite signs at the concession booths that indicate otherwise, Ogden Entertainment Corp. no longer sells shelled peanuts at the Civic Centre. This is nothing short of a travesty. How can you watch a sporting event without shelled peanuts? ... The opinion from this corner is that Alfredsson is not a "china doll," but somebody must have a voodoo doll of him. He's not at all soft, but he must have ticked off a witch doctor at some point ... Hockey Night in Canada's The Blue Pick-Up Cup is a cool idea, but teams are lopsided when one has Curtis Joseph as its goalie and the other is backed by Tyrone Garner ... Let's have an OHL pool. I'll take three guys with Ottawa connections: 67's Mark Bell and Dan Tessier, plus locally grown Belleville Bulls centre Justin Papineau. You can have any other 10 players ... Unbelievable -- if the Over/Under in yesterday's Chicago Bears-Tampa Bay Bucs game had been 9.5, you would have lost had you selected the only obvious option.
AROUND THE HORN: We know the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season starts early, but the fact Hull Olympiques forward Michael Ryder already had 18 goals with more than a week left in October just doesn't seem right .... The defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos have had to deal with the retirement of John Elway and the injury to Terrell Davis, but neither played defence, did they? ... You've probably heard it before, but it can never be said that Juneau is no rocket scientist. Fact is he studied to become one.
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