An excerpt from Hockeybuzz.com (Kevin Lee):
Jason Williams has signed for 3 years at 1.9 million per season. The deal should be announced Saturday morning as per two sources.
With the imminent announcement of Williams being signed, Antoine Vermette has asked to be traded. He wants a long term deal and I believe Sens GM Bryan Murray is not willing to give Vermette what he wants. Could Ottawa be focussing on a Chris Neil/Vermette and draft pick package that would see the Sens land Jay Bouwmeester? Regardless if this deal goes down or Neil gets moved separately, Ottawa is trying to add another defensemen and they want to unload Neil.
Ottawa is in heavy talks with Chicago about Neil. Cam Barker is the Sens target. A draft pick would be part of the package along with Neil going to Chicago for Barker. Barker is entering the final year of his contract and will be an RFA at the end of the 2008-09 season. Again, I have been given parts of this trade from more than two sources but can’t get anything confirmed as of the wee hours of the morning but wanted to post a quick update.
Habster:
This could be an intereseting deal if this report is correct. I think Jason Williams is a very useful player who can produce offense from the second or third line. He was having a great season last year (36 points in 43 games ) with the Blackhawks until he was injured. He is a solid playmaking center who could help give the Senators another offensive line beyond the Heatley/ Spezza/Alfredsson line.
The fact Bryan Murray is allegedly willing to part with Chris Neil for a defenseman, tells you that Murray isn’t totally convinced he has enough depth on the blueline for the upcoming season. Losing another player with toughness (McGratton was traded to Phoenix) who can contribute with a solid two way game like Neil would be hard to recuperate from……..time will tell.