Bryan Murray News

The big elephant in the room, at least in the Senators dressing room, is that this team is not good enough to win anything.

VOORHEES -- It's been nearly 18 months since Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray painted Ray Emery as a selfish and disruptive player who would need to change his lifestyle if he ever hoped to become a successful goaltender in the NHL.

Erik Karlsson's return to Scotiabank Place Sunday - with the Senators' management team and coaching staff looking over his shoulder - did not go the way he wanted.

Welcome to the next chapter in the controversial career of Ray Emery. After exhausting every opportunity to trade the problem goaltender, Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray placed Emery on waivers Friday.

Depending on who you talked to Thursday night, Senators winger Chris Neil is either: a) A good, hard-nosed player who hits with the best of them.

The H1N1 virus has hit home for the Ottawa Senators organization. Robin Lehner, the 18-year-old goaltender selected by the Senators in the second round of last summer's NHL entry draft and now playing for the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, has become the first confirmed OHL player diagnosed with the pandemic.

Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has filed a grievance demanding a refund of $4-million he payed out during the Dany Heatley trade debacle.

Erik Karlsson is over the initial shock of being demoted to the AHL. Now, the Senators rookie defenceman is willing to accept his assignment to Binghamton, and he's ready to work hard as he prepares to make his debut tonight against the Rochester Americans at the Broome County Memorial Arena.

The calendar has changed to November and as the nights grow longer, the Senators should have a chance to put some daylight between themselves and their pursuers for a playoff spot in the NHL.

It's not over. Far from it. That's the overriding message from the Ottawa Senators' dressing room.

The speed increase in the National Hockey League since the 2004-05 lockout has also led to to an increase in severe injuries, according to Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray.

BRUCE GARRIOCH: I could have sworn a week ago Bryan Murray said Karlsson wasn't going anywhere.

Is the romance between Ottawa and Alexei Kovalev already on the rocks? Just nine games into his first season as a Senator, the stress cracks were showing.

As an avid Senators fan, married to a hardcore Leafs nut, playoffs time in our house was always a source of stress.

Like most veteran hockey men, Bryan Murray has his war stories. Tellingly, the Ottawa Senators' general manager is just as likely to reminisce about the junior teams he coached in Pembroke and Rockland in the old Canadian Junior Hockey League as he is about his former NHL clubs.

Ottawa Senators coach and general manager Bryan Murray was so impressed with the play of rookie defenceman Brian Lee in his NHL debut in Tuesdaya s 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres, that he suggests he will be in the lineup a oefairly regularlya as the playoffs fast approach.

The Ottawa Senators' Jesse Winchester is squeezed by the Florida Panthers' Steven Reinprecht and Cory Stillman during a pre-season game in Ottawa.

OTTAWA? - A couple of the smartest passes lately have come off the stick of Ottawa Senators' centre Mike Fisher.

Now that GM Bryan Murray has signed defenceman Matt Carkner to a two-year extension, the Senators will work on locking up Volchenkov, who is in the final year of a contract that pays him an average of $2.5 million per season.

After seven seasons in the AHL, Matt Carkner finally became an NHL regular with the Senators this season.