Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

[Jasmine]

The Ottawa Senators have not ruled out the possibility of loaning forward Curtis Lazar to Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, general manager Bryan Murray said he will have a discussion with the 19-year-old Lazar in the coming weeks, and will then make a determination on the best course of action.

"Before I would do anything, I would talk to him and see his desire and then we'd talk to the coaches. But yeah, I'm open-minded. I have a great deal of respect for that junior tournament and how it helps kids," Murray said on Wednesday morning.

...

"They tell me that if he goes, he could be their captain or certainly be one of their leaders,” Murray said. “And he has that personality that he would be that. He would be a very important player on their team and maybe that's the boost that would really shoot him into the second half.”

http://www.tsn.ca/mendes-sens-lazar-sti ... s-1.145009

[Josh]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

I think it's a good idea. That said, how long is the tournament? How many Sens games would he miss?

[Alfie11]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

I think he's done all he has to do playing against boys. I'd rather him continue his development playing against men.

With that being said, it's a tough decision. Captaining the team and such.

[matchesmalone]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

Any time you get a chance to captain Canada to a potential gold medal, that's a huge experience, which would further add to his already very impressive big game pedigree. I would let him go for sure. Last year Nashville and Carolina let Forsberg and Lindholm go play for Sweden, but because they were such obvious locks to be on the team they were able to skip camp and pre-tournament. Since Lazar is obviously our captain if made available, he wouldn't have to go until just before Christmas, and so would only miss about two weeks. Condra and Greening are solid players; the Sens would be fine without him for a couple weeks

[Alfie11]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

Murray said he'd be going for just the tournament and none of the exhibition. Assuming there will be injuries around that time, because it's likely, who would the Sens call up for the ~5 games? Pageau?

[Matt the Aussie]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

Yeah probably Pageau...he's ok with a handful of minutes.

[Alfie11]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

I actually still have hope for Pageau. He's had his ups and downs but he has potential. The management had a lot of hope for him when he was drafted and he made an impact a lot earlier than anyone expected but he's had some setbacks.

[thedaigle1]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

I actually still have hope for Pageau. He's had his ups and downs but he has potential. The management had a lot of hope for him when he was drafted and he made an impact a lot earlier than anyone expected but he's had some setbacks.

I don't think management has given up on him. He's tearing it up in Bingo from what I hear.

[Alfie11]

Re: Should Lazar play in the Junior tournament?

I actually still have hope for Pageau. He's had his ups and downs but he has potential. The management had a lot of hope for him when he was drafted and he made an impact a lot earlier than anyone expected but he's had some setbacks.

I don't think management has given up on him. He's tearing it up in Bingo from what I hear.

Well, he's taken a step back this year in terms of points per game. Last year he put up 20 goals and 44 points in 46 games. This year he has 5 goals and 13 points in 18 games. It's still early, though, and one great game could turn that completely around.

He probably wasn't even going to be considered for an NHL job until next training camp. But he played solid during that regular season call-up and then had that one amazing playoff game. I think it hiked up everyone's expectations, when it reality it was an outlier from his development path.