ChrisStewart I've heard the rumours for a very long time now.

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ChrisStewart
I've heard the rumours for a very long time now.

  Apparently Ottawa is very interested in Chris Stewart https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Filip_Chlapik_Pillow_Cover-148. I don't like it. I could theoretically stomach it if we had a bad contract going out with his coming in https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Austin_Watson_Hoodie-70, but I don't think he'd do very good things for this hockey team. He puts up underwhelming possession numbers and they get even worse when you look at context. From 2011-14, he has the highest percentage of offensive zone starts and lowest percentage of defensive zone starts of anyone on Buffalo's roster. When you look at his stats from that time period, 49% corsi for, goals for, shots for and fenwick for- it's not terrible.But when you consider his teammate's average rates in comparisonin each of those categories Filip Chlapik Hoodie, things start to look pretty bad. His teammates averaged 55% goals for, 53% shots for, 54% Fenwick, and 53% Corsi.Berglund was his most common line-mate over the last three seasons. They put up a 49% corsi for rate when they were on the ice together. When they were apart, Stewart's corsi% stayed at 49%, Berglund's jumped to 53.3%. His next most common partner was Shattenkirk and together they put up a very respectable 52% CF. Apart, Stewart's possession numbers drop to 47% and Shattenkirk's jump to 56%. To put it simply, he's a huge drag on his teammates.Now, in past years I might have looked at Stewart and felt like we could carry him. We've generally been a strong possession team, and an extra player who can put the biscuit in the basket https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Filip_Gustavsson_Hoodie-76, throw some big hits, and drop the gloves once in a while could be valuable and very appealing to a lot of Sens fans. The issue is, we are kind of really struggling in the possession game this year, and Stewart is far from being the answer to that problem. Also, Condra, Neil, Stone Chiasson and Ryan all play right wing, and if Zibanejad switches to the wing, it would likely be on the right side as well. If Stewart is supposed to be the "top 6 power forward" Murray and co. are always talking about acquiring, who gets bumped? Even if players are moved to their off wing, we have too many established top 9 wingers to accommodate him.Now for the really scary part. "The Senators like Chris Stewart, but Sabres GM Tim Murray overvalues him. Dreger thinks a while ago Tim may have asked Bryan for Curtis Lazar". Yikes. Or this gem from The Hockey Writers: "For the Ottawa Senators, packaging the Greening-Condra-Wiercioch trio in return for Stewart would create the roster space needed for Methot's return while securing the services of a skilled power forward who has potted 15 or more goals seven times in his nine-year career https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Logan_Brown_T_shirt-249." Clearly packaging two of our best possession players, three of the five players on the entire team with positive possession stats for a perennial 15 goal scorer is the answer to our problems. The guy is having an off year to be sure, but his career numbers aren't great and this season he's not scoring, and his stats look like this, SF- 39%, GF-32% Brandon Fortunato Pillow Cover, CF- 38%.I could handle acquiring Stewart if it meant we had, say, Greening's contract off the books and he bumped Neil from the line-up. I could handle losing the likes of Condra or Wiercioch if the right pieces were coming back the other way. But to look at losing either or both of those players for a guy like Stewart... that would compromise my faith in this organization on a fundamental and lasting level.

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