iOttawa Senators News Conference

OTTAWA -

Bob Lawblaw, General Manager of the Ottawa Senators sat down today with Senators owner, Eugene Melnyk, to talk to the gathered Press about
a busy iNHL trade deadline day in Ottawa.  The Senators made a number of moves today, but none more significant than the trade that saw the
Tampa Bay Lightning acquire Chris Phillips for 18 year old defenseman Johnathan Macleod and a draft pick.  The owner and general manager spoke
about the move saying:

Lawblaw: "I'll let Eugene speak to this since he has had - um - he's known Chris for a long time, and I know this was hard for him and for all of us.
But I'd just like to say that Chris Phillips is an exceptional hockey player and a great leader, and all of my interactions with him including today have
been nothing except positive. He can be proud of what he's accomplished in his 18 seasons as an Ottawa Senator and we were privileged to have
him here for as long as we did.  Today was purely about maximizing our assets based on the circumstances we found ourselves in here.  I would have
loved to be in a position to fight for the cup this year, but we're not and so we needed to see what we could do to build towards a better year next year
and moving Chris was part of that. And now Chris has a chance to do something really special here. I wish him all the best."

Melnyk: "I... I remember Chris as a kid. Getting drafted. Joining the team as a 19 year old and playing a significant role at such a young age. Today was
a bittersweet day for me. Chris will be missed. It was tough losing Alfie a couple of years ago. Today is different; Alfie was different, but it's also the same.
There's a big piece missing.  But it's also sweet because I wanted Chris to have a chance to win what he's playing for all these years, and now he's got a
really good chance. I wish he would have had that chance here, and maybe I think he should have had that chance here - (awkward pause because basically
he just inferred that the GM/Coach did a bad job this year) but here we are. I'm going to be watching the Lighting this Spring and cheering Chris on.

In addition to the Phillips trade, the Senators also traded middle six forwards, Milan Michalek and Jannik Hansen, as well as Joe Vitale, John Mitchell, and
Patrick Wiercioch. Lawblaw spoke about these moves as well:

Lawblaw: "All of today's moves were motivated roughly by the same thing - as I said earlier, trying to get the most value out of players that we could send
to playoff contenders. The only exception would be the trade of Wiercioch to New Jersey.  That trade was motivated purely by the guilt of me making the
douche-y move of saying that I was trading Chris Phillips to them and then sending Phillips to one of their direct competitors. So that was a little different.
I was simply trying to expiate my guilt.

But again, with Milan and Patrick, these are players who have been with us for a number of years, and it wasn't easy to see them go, but this is just the
nature of the predicament we find ourselves in. Both of them, like Chris, have gone to teams that have a chance to make a run at the cup, so they've
gone to really good situations and we're happy for them.  As for Jannik, Joe, and John; they didn't have as much time here in Ottawa, but we thankful
for their contributions to this club.  On a side note, if iNHL Jannik was anything like real life Jannik, there is no way we would have traded him.  But sadly
things are what they are.  All in all, I'm happy with the business we accomplished today and in the long run, I am confident that we will have better days
here in Ottawa in the future."

Some in the media questioned today's decision to keep hold of the Sedins considering that the team has evidently gone into full rebuild mode with today's
moves. Lawblaw responded carefully:

Lawblaw: "Clearly we've let some talent go today, but I still don't think that we're incapable of winning more games than we lose. I look at our roster
and I still think we've got a chance every time we step on the ice.  And the Sedins are a part of that.  They're getting older, but they continue to produce
points. Along with Karlsson, they're our best players. Of course, just like any organization, we would like better draft picks rather than worse ones. But we're
competitors and we're going to compete to win every night."

Near the close of the press conference Lawblaw was asked if there was any pressure on him as a result of the team's failure to meet their stated goals. He responded
in a straight-forward fashion:

Lawblaw: "We're in this to win, and if we're not winning I need to shoulder a lot of that blame. We had - even maybe still have - a better team than our
record states, and we just couldn't piece it together in the way we should have. I'm disappointed as much as anyone.  So, if there is pressure, good.
There should be.  But that said, we've got a great management team here and supportive ownership and we're doing our best to move this club forwards.
I hope our efforts will be rewarded.  Beyond that, there's no use in speculating.

Thank you all for coming."