The Senators got their rebuild off to an excellent start today, dealing Mike Fisher to Nashville in exchange for a first-round pick in 2011 and a conditional pick in 2012. Usually this would be FanShot material, but I wanted to take a quick second to analyze the deal.

And this is what I'm getting - Nashville just had to give up a very large asset (the first-rounder) in exchange for a 30-year-old who has never cracked 60 points, and who has only 14 goals this year. Fisher is certainly top-six material on most teams, but he's not that great. Also, he's not a rental, which is good, but he's under contract through 2013 at over $4M per year on the cap, which isn't good. He's a nice add for a team looking for top-six help, but by no means is he an ideal one.

The larger point here, in my opinion, is that this probably sets the market for any top-six forwards we might consider going after. Take, for example, Penner. He's two years younger, and under contract until 2012 at virtually the same rate as Fisher. More important, he's a better producer than Fisher - he cracked 30 goals last year, and figures to do so again this year. While that's not a huge difference, it does make Penner more valuable overall than Fisher, it would seem. Does it make sense for us to deal a first-rounder + for Penner right now? I'm not sure, but I'd lean away from that deal, especially if Crosby's absence is as extended as we fear it might be.

Thoughts?