"It could be one of the shrewdest moves of Bryan Murray's career, the acquisition of a top-six forward and left winger for Jason Spezza for next to nothing, a mere third-round draft pick.

Or it could be the repetition of a mistake the Columbus Blue Jackets made in 2008, when they couldn't resist the promise of offensive talent and made Nikita Filatov the sixth pick overall in the National Hockey League draft.

Whatever it turns out to be, Murray's acquisition of the Russian left-winger, a problem for the Blue Jackets since they drafted him, is a gamble.

What a way for new head coach Paul MacLean to start his career in Ottawa: with a player who might not be coachable.

After all, Filatov was unable to get along with two Blue Jackets coaches, Ken Hitchcock and Scott Arniel, or even Vladimir Plyushchev, the coach of Russia's team for the 2010 world junior hockey championship.

After naming Filatov captain of that team, Plyushchev stripped Filatov of that captaincy before Russia's final game because Filatov had criticized the team's coaches to the media.

Filatov had also been the team's captain for the 2009 championship in Ottawa.

"The main cause of our performance was my mistake in choosing the captain," Plyushchev said after the 2010 Russian team placed sixth. "We trusted Filatov with the captaincy, hoping that his experience would help him and his teammates be successful. Unfortunately, Filatov did not get it. He failed as a leader."

More significantly for the Senators, Filatov's play has hardly reflected his supposed skill."