Ottawa Senators

Is Schubert next to go?

Ottawa will have until the end of training camp to pair down their roster to the 21 man norm, and as of right now, the numbers just do not add up.

The acquisition of both Kuba and Picard instantly puts Schuberts role into question.  It can be reasonably expected that both Kuba and Picard will be on the roster, if still present after training camp, as both have one way deals, and have proven to be legitimate NHL’ers.  So where does this leave Schubert?  He is a defenseman by development, but has played a 4th line power forechecker role for the past 2 seasons.  Many believed this would be the year he makes the move back to the blue line, but with Picard, this has now been cast into doubt.  Serious doubt.  With neither Picard or Schubert likely to be put down to the AHL (as this would be too costly, and a complete waste of a bonafide NHL resource), this means somebody has to go.  But with Schubert, it moves beyond examining the defensive ranks, because he is also a forward.  This means, if Schubert remains in the forward ranks, a forward (or 2) will have to go.  But, on the bottom 6, only Bass and Foligno have 2 way deals, and at their salary cap hit to performance ratio, they’re unlikely to be sent down.  Oh the plot thickens.

But, what if Schubert were to be traded?  This would solve the log jam at defense and in the bottom six, and Schubert could probably garner a pretty decent return.  He’s young, cheap, big, aggressive, fast, has a huge shot, and plays a flexible role on the roster.   But these are all good reason to keep him too.  But this also sounds an awful lot like Picard, minus the role flexibility.  With Neil, Fisher, Ruutu, Bass, Kelly, and Donnovan, this team is not lacking in players willing to aggressively forecheck.

The other wild card in all of this is the “character” attribute.  Schubert has been clear in his desire to play on the blue line, will he constructively accept another year on the 4th line?  As well, and I hate to say it, but there have been some off ice issues with Schuberts behaviour.  This is public knowledge, I’m not speaking out of school, or basing this on “rumours”.  Lastly, Schubert and Mesz were best buddies, and maybe Mesz’s departure will harden an already frustrated Schubert against his team.  Now, that’s a total baseless speculation, and should not be taken as anything but WILD speculation, because I would never want to cast judgement on a player in the absence of any proof, but the POSSIBILITY does exist.  IF….IF, this is truly possible to happen, Schuberts time on the Sens could very well be coming to an end.

Either way, somebody has to go.