Senators Rumblings: Colin White, Expansion Draft

It wasn’t the busiest week for Ottawa Senators speculation, but some still took place. Here’s a look at what’s being said, first from Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts:

23. Colin White is expected to make his professional debut Wednesday for AHL Binghamton. Let’s see where this goes once Ottawa clinches a playoff berth, but, the way I read into it, my bet is he gets an NHL game just before the regular season concludes. Another GM (and an agent after I mentioned it) joked that it was good to see White’s rep (Kent Hughes) and Ottawa boss (Pierre Dorion) smooth it out after the Alex Chiasson arbitration hearing. Apparently, that one was a real doozy.

First off, how did nobody notice that White and Chiasson have the same agent? I feel like someone should’ve been all over that. I’m happy to hear this, because I still believe White will be a better player come playoff time than Tom Pyatt or Chris Kelly, as examples.

Also yesterday, ESPN’s hockey writers did their own mock expansion drafts. Here’s who each insider had the Sens losing:

Scott Burnside - Marc Methot
Craig Custance - Alexandre Burrows
Pierre LeBrun - nobody (each insider only did 23/24 teams)
Joe McDonald - Marc Methot

Considering my own mock expansion draft had the Sens losing Chris Wideman, I’d be OK with this. I’d be pretty excited if Vegas took Burrows off our hands. He’s been fine so far, but two more years of a 35+ player is never great. I can’t see why Vegas would want him. As for Methot, he’s a serviceable defenceman and I could see the allure, I just think Wideman will be better for longer. Overall, this was a good reminder to me that my opinions on hockey players are not universal. Just because I tried to stay young and avoid toxic contracts doesn’t mean George McPhee will. Current NHL GMs tend to be more old-school in their thinking, and sometimes that means valuing experience and leadership and grit over skill. If McPhee thinks more like these guys than me, he may just pick Methot, which would hurt Ottawa’s d-corps, but probably not as much as losing Wideman at this point.

Friedman had one more Sens-related thought, this time about Melnyk’s new The Organ Project. As much as Melnyk’s opinions on hockey are often brash and angering (and sometimes flat-out wrong), he has tried to use his position for good at times. The fact that he’s trying hard after receiving an organ donation to make sure those less rich than him can too is good. Here, via Friedman, are his comments:

30. Two years ago, Eugene Melnyk’s life was saved by a liver transplant. As a thank you, Ottawa’s owner started The Organ Project, with the goal of shortening wait times for those in need of the same assistance. The organization will host its inaugural Gala this Friday in Toronto, a sold-out event.

“It’s tortuous for people to sit and wait for an organ, and it becomes a life-and-death situation,” Melnyk said last week. “To think that we have 4,500 people waiting in line in Canada, and up to one-third die, waiting in line…somebody has to do something about it and I plan to do it through The Organ Project. People should donate their organs when they’re done with them. You have no use for them. You’re going to be buried with something that saves other peoples’ lives. If you go to our website, theorganproject.net, it takes less than two minutes — two minutes! — to register.

"And always remember, you’re passing on a gift of life. You really are. The person that donated their liver to me was alive…That person’s walking around somewhere. I’ve never met them, don’t know whether it’s a female, male, it doesn’t matter. They saved my life. And I was literally days away — days away — from dying. So you’ve got to tell your family, you’ve got to register at theorganproject.net and it’s done. Forget about it, it’s over. You’ll walk away from this world giving something back, in a big, big way.”