Hibernation Mode

Summer's here, which means Black Aces goes into semi-hibernation, wakes up during the draft  and dozes off until mid to late August.  But I'll be back with any major move made by the Senators, which should include a coach in the coming few weeks, and hopefully an interesting UFA signing or two come July 1^st.

As for the draft, I'm looking for GM Bryan Murray to make an aggressive move to grab Gabriel Landeskog (possibly in a trade with the Panthers who pick 3rd). The Swedish winger would be a perfect fit for this team, but if they stay at number 6, I happen to agree with the Hockey News who see them grabbing skilled centre Ryan Strome. But really, who the hell knows besides management and the scouts at the draft table itself.

How tough is it going to be on Robin Lehner if he carries his team to the AHL championship in the next week or so and realizes he's not going to get a chance to win the number one spot in Ottawa next season?  For sure, Craig Anderson is the Senators guy next year, but Lehner has been so good at times that he's really pushing management to get him back on the fast track to the big time. Probably won't happen, as they want to be careful with this guy. If they strike out with him, like so many goalies in the past, all this rebuilding may not mean a hell of a lot in the next five years.

As for the NHL playoffs, it's been a great ride so far, maybe not as good as last year's edition, but pretty close. It's been great to see ex-Senators like Chris Kelly and Zdeno Chara make a solid run for the Cup and I'd be happy to see them grab their chance while they have it. Funny how Kelly has been a much better pickup at the deadline for the Bruins than Tomas Kaberle. Still don't like the Kelly deal, but it's great to see him getting another chance to win it all after losing out with the Senators in 2007. But I don't know how they are going to stop the Canucks, who have won me over after thinking they were vastly overrated going into the post-season. I was plain wrong. They're nearly unstoppable.

And finally, congratulations to the folks in Winnipeg for getting their Jets back (if they're not named the Jets, someone will have truly blown it). But remember the fans in Atlanta. Getting a franchise ripped from your town is nothing to celebrate and Ottawa fans came very close to seeing that happen not too long ago. They may not have had a large following, but no doubt there was a core of true fans in that city and it's too bad ownership let them down in such a big way. But if the Thrashers had to move somewhere, there could be no better place than Winnipeg, who know only too well the pain of losing a team.

Welcome back to the club.

See you folks at the draft.

***

Not much Sens-Jets related content on the Tube, but here's a handful, including a lengthy two-parter showing plenty of game action of the two facing off back in the Civic Centre in 1995. I don't care what anyone says, the Civic Centre was a beauty place to watch an NHL game.

Sens Stun Devils 2-1 .... Game Notes

Isn't it strange how things work out. The Devils Brian Rolston (much like his team) was left for dead earlier in the season. He was put on waivers back in December but has clawed his way back and Jacques Lemaire, who coached Rolston for the 90's version of the Devils and also in Minnesota, has put him back among the top six and Rolston has become one of their most important players again. Rolston was once universally considered the NHL's most underrated player but once he started getting paid for it, he actually became overrated. Now he's back to being underrated. One thing he never lost was that cannon of a shot. He can absolutely rifle it. He also tied Jason Spezza for the most shifts among forwards tonight with 27.....

.....Did anyone see Bobby Butler accept that pass from Spezza about two minutes into the second? He collected it behind his back going full speed over the blueline and managed to get a shot on net. Incredible....Then about 3 minutes later Erik Condra outdoes Butler and scores the first goal of the game by doing a spinerama in front of the net and scoring off the rebound by smacking it in out of the air while falling to his knees. Are you kidding me?.....Fittingly, Condra got the game winner late in the third on a beauty feed from Spezza..... Am I wrong or has Chris Phillips gotten his game back ever since the contract was signed? He was the best defenseman on the ice tonight for either team....

…. Just guessing here, but I think Peter Regin will be back in form next season. He had a classic bout of the sophomore jinx, which is more of a mental roadblock than it is a physical one, but try telling that to his surgically repaired shoulder. Regin might also want to consider changing his number from 13 to anything else. Number 12 is free right now…. Had a dream I was hanging out with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger last night. Keith fell asleep and I asked Mick if he wanted to watch a Senators game. He frowned and walked out of the house. What does it all mean?......I always find it funny that fans constantly second guess general managers for picking a certain player in the Entry Draft every June. Like they think the GM should listen to them before they listen to their army of professional scouts who travel thousands of miles and rack up years of experience watching thousands of hockey games and go through endless meetings where every prospects strengths and weaknesses are analyzed to death. But no, listen to the dude who works at KFC and has never watched a junior game in his life. Essentially, isn’t the entire blogosphere a little like that too? Myself included. What did Chris Farley once say? “I can get a good look at a T-bone by sticking my head up a bull’s ass but I’d rather take the butcher’s word for it.”….

…..Over the years, you can’t really say the Senators have been hurt by injuries more than other teams, but for close to a calendar year, this team has been decimated by important players getting seriously hurt. Go back to the end of last season and you have Alex Kovalev, Filip Kuba, Milan Michalek, Pascal Leclaire, Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Peter Regin and now Matt Carkner going down with long-term injuries. And you also had Mike Fisher playing at about half-speed through most of this season with an “upper body injury” before he got traded to Nashville. No team could survive that and, obviously, the Senators were no exception. Having a healthy Brian Elliott didn’t help either…..

....The Senators should consider bringing in current Devil Johan Hedberg as a backup to Craig Anderson next season (presuming Anderson signs here). He had a couple of tough years with a bad Thrashers team but he's always been a reliable goalie for 30 games a year and seems to be well liked wherever he plays. He may end up staying in Jersey because he's been strong when Martin Brodeur's been hurt, but he would look good in a Senators uniform. As I've mentioned before, Mathieu Garon of Columbus would also make a good backup. Both are free agents this summer....I'm not saying Craig Anderson's new mask is ugly, but it looks like something Ricky from The Trailer Park Boys would design if he had the chance. But it didn't seem to hurt Anderson's game. He stopped 31 of 32 shots against a Devils team desperate to make the playoffs. Get this guy signed yesterday....Luckily for the Devils, the Sabres lost to the Penguins tonight.

Weekend Notes

How could anyone have guessed the Three Amigos – college grads Bobby Butler, Erik Condra and Colin Greening – could be this good? Of course, a lot of credit for the team's recent turnaround has to go to Craig Anderson, but those three college kids have provided the energy that's been lacking all season long.  All three have been unbelievable in their short time up here since Bryan Murray decided to remold the team, especially Butler. All this guy does is shoot the puck. Doesn't matter where he is, he just rifles it on net.I think the difference between college players and junior players is that, for the most part, you can predict how a guy from junior is going to compete (although who could have guessed Jeff Skinner would be this good so quickly). The college guys play so many fewer games that it's harder to get a good read on them. Sometimes a GM can hit a home run with a college grad and credit must be given to Murray and his coaching staff for constantly seeking out guys like Jesse Winchester and Butler on free agent deals…..How depressing were the swaths of empty seats in Atlanta on Thursday? Something seems to be really wrong for the Thrashers on the ice as well. All of that excitement a good first half brings seems to be gone and they didn’t show much urgency against the Senators even though they are life and death to make the playoffs. If they could somehow squeak in and upset their first round opponent, it could change everything for them off the ice as well. You’d be surprised how far the goodwill of just one playoff series win could do in a market used to losing……. But I have to say I love the blue seams in the rink glass at Phillips Arena. Maybe the Thrashers could take that idea with them when they move to Quebec City in a couple of years and call themselves the Nordiques…..

…..Would it be bad luck for Anderson to switch masks? He’s still wearing the Avalanche colours with a couple of grisly looking “Abominable Snowmen” but apparently has a new one in the mail from the designer. If he plays for Ottawa next season, he should keep the monsters and just change their colours so they look like the Sensquatch that can be seen stalking around from time to time around town. The parallel indigenous monster in the Ottawa valley would be the politician, but images of Jason Kenney and John Baird would be much too scary for children….They were showing the 1996 playoff series between Detroit and St.Louis on the NHL Network the other day and the sight of Steve Yzerman blasting a perfect top corner slapshot past Jon Casey for the Game 7 overtime winner is still one of the best moments I’ve ever seen in hockey. Somehow, Detroit did not go on to win that season, despite having one of the best teams in NHL history (in the regular season anyway). In the next round they ran into Patrick Roy. End of story. It’s interesting to point out that Scotty Bowman went and got Mike Vernon after that, the only goalie to beat Roy in a Stanley Cup Final series when he did it in 89 for Calgary against Roy’s Canadiens. And as usual, Bowman was right. The Wings beat Roy in the West in 97 and went on to beat Eric Lindros and the Flyers for Steve Yzerman’s first Stanley Cup….. It was also strange to see Craig MacTavish of the Blues skating around without a helmet in that 96 Blues-Wings series. He would play one more season and was the last NHL player to go open dome. When you think about it, 1997 was not that long ago. In less than 15 years we went from that to a league where there is serious debate about making the head completely off limits to any contact. If they eventually take hitting and fighting out of the game, maybe players can go back to the helmetless era after all…

...Did Cyril Leeder really say it could be a couple more years until they replace the scoreboard at the Kanata rink? I find it hard to believe the Senators would host the All-Star Game, an important showcase for your franchise, with a scoreboard that everyone knows needs to be replaced. Maybe it’s harder to buy one than we think…..Chris Phillips has been a lot better lately and he might have played his best game of the season against Atlanta on Thursday night. He was a bull in his own end and fought with everything he had when the Sens were trapped in their own zone in the last minute with Chris Mason pulled for the extra attacker. He was still (in the words of Pierre McGuire) “sucking dirty pond water” when he was giving his customary glove taps to his teammates as they skated off the ice after the big win……. Brian Lee still holds the title of “Youngest Looking Senator” but Erik Condra is providing stiff competition. Let’s hope he looks that astonished and happy after every goal he scores….. Which makes me think of the least happiest looking people after a goal. Alexei Kovalev rarely broke a grin after a goal, making it look like it was the most natural thing in the world, like breathing. Joe Sakic never smiled much either, on or off the ice. But for every one of those guys, there are the likes of Chris Neil (his missing teeth make him look all the happier), Alex Ovechkin, and in the past, Mark Messier, whose whole face would disappear when he smiled. Was there anyone ever more joyful than Messier when Gary Bettman handed him the 1994 Stanley Cup in Madison Square Garden? If there was, I haven’t seen it……

….. Marek Svatos hasn’t gotten off to a great start in Ottawa but you can see flashes of why he once scored 30 goals in this league. He has little bursts of speed which can fool defensemen and some soft hands but it looks like something is missing right now. Maybe it’s just confidence, but he better find it before the season is out if he wants a contract offer from Ottawa. He’s certainly an intriguing player with lots of potential to help this team once he gets more settled. Svatos is in a good position with Ottawa because not many are expecting a lot out of him right now. With the emergence of the college kids, Svatos is almost the forgotten man here, but I’m sure management is watching him just as closely as the rookies to see if they could have a bargain on their hands. The jury is still out…..

Game Day Notes

The Senators have to like where this is going. The Leafs get a first and a third rounder for Kris Versteeg?

Wow. Great deal for the Leafs and the Flyers get a 24 year old forward who will help them for a while down the road. Good for both sides.

Now, Ottawa doesn't have a 24 year old forward with the pedigree of Versteeg to trade (and if they did, why would they want to trade him?), but it further sets the precedent of having to give away good draft picks for help at the deadline. If Versteeg is worth a first and a third, then Alexei Kovalev could be worth a 3rd rounder. Possibly more with the way he's been playing lately. Chris Phillips could fetch as high as a late first or second rounder if a serious bidding war develops for his services.

These early deals before the deadline not only break the ice, but they put further pressure on teams who haven't jumped in the pool yet and it gives them a blueprint for what it's going to take to ply away rentals.

I'm guessing Ottawa GM Bryan Murray is hearing his phone ring a lot more often this week than last......

......Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on franchise defenseman Chris Phillips. If you thought it was a big loss for the team and the community when Mike Fisher was sent to Nashville, how painful will it be to see Phillips (who is just as involved in charitable events around town) leave the team when he's currently just 81 games shy of becoming the second Senator to play 1000 in the red and black sweater?

It just doesn't seem right that the Sens probable lone veteran defenseman next year will be one of Sergei Gonchar or Filip Kuba, and not Phillips. Ugh. It's entirely possible that this defense core will be worse next season, even though it's hard to believe. Just because fans are excited about all the possible rookie blueliners coming next year, doesn't mean they are going to step in right away and play well. In fact, probably one or two will prove they don't even belong at the NHL level yet. If they do make it, they're going to need veteran guidance, as well as a minute muncher to take the pressure off of their games. If Kuba or the struggling Gonchar are the ones to play over twenty minutes a game next season, it could get ugly. Phillips should be the guy, and he should also be a Senator for life just like Alfie.

As for games played milestones, the next closest guy to Phillips (919 games) still on the team is Chris Neil (635) followed by Jason Spezza (500). Fisher finished with 675 games, just 14 shy of Radek Bonk's 689 tilts.

Creeping up on Bonk's totals seem to be a bad omen. Marian Hossa was shipped to Atlanta with 390 career Sens points, just 9 behind Bonk......

....Zenon Konopka, for all the chaos that usually surrounds him on the ice, is a big time leader off of it for the hapless New York Islanders. In fact, he's probably the best leader on that team since the days of Mike Peca  (with apologies to the classy Doug Weight and the respected Bill Guerin). Not afraid to speak his mind (as Mario Lemieux can attest), and completely fearless on the ice, ex-Ottawa 67 Konopka is an unrestricted free agent this summer currently making 600 grand. He'd be a perfect replacement for Jarkko Ruutu next season and would quickly become a fan favourite.

You have to wonder how closely he'll be watched tonight by Sens management.

Regin and Foligno's Lost Season

There are a lot of things going wrong for the Senators this season and blame can be placed in any number of areas, from a badly managed power-play, to the ultra-soft defense, to Pascal Leclaire's health to Alex Kovalev and Sergei Gonchar's inconsistent play. Take your pick.

Yet when you get right down to it, the struggles of Peter Regin and Nick Foligno have cost this team more than any of those other obvious problems and here's why.

Like most teams, the Senators have a group of known commodities whose point production have either remained steady or regressed slightly. Guys like Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher. Core guys who are going to perform most of the time. But what really puts teams into a good position is when two or three young guys have career years and evolve into a consistent scoring threat, usually playing against other teams weaker defensive players or just in the shadow of stars on their own team. Every team needs at least one or two of these guys or they're dead in the water.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, the players expected to have career years - Regin and Foligno - have struggled and there's no one there to fill the gap as far as goal-scoring is concerned. Regin has fallen to the fourth line in recent weeks and has a single goal to call his own all season, and no points in December.

Going into this season, the Senators were expecting both Regin and Foligno to score somewhere between 15 and 20 goals apiece, and with the addition of Gonchar to the defense core, scoring was going to be a strength of this team, as opposed to last season where Fisher led the team with a measly 25 goals.

Nearing the half-way point of the season, it's clear that both Regin and Foligno have failed to exceed expectations and that's why this team is more than likely to be on the outside looking in come playoff time in April.

Foligno has improved lately and is finally showing some scoring punch, with 5 points in 10 games but he still only has 3 goals on the season after struggling last year with just 9 goals. This was supposed to be his comeback season but in the early going, he got away from his strengths, which were driving to the net and playing physical along the boards. It looks like playing regularly with Fisher and Alfredsson has rejuvenated his game but is it too little too late?

Regin and Foligno make significantly less money than a lot of other players on this team who are struggling but that doesn't let them off the hook. Matt Cullen was let go and Bryan Murray chose to boost his defense in unrestricted free agency rather than bring in another big name forward. That's because Regin and Foligno were expected to take the next step in their careers.

Their utter failure to even provide modest scoring totals has set this organization back a full year and put more pressure on older veterans like Alfredsson, Spezza and Kovalev to produce every night even though they always face the other teams best defensive players. It also doesn't help that Milan Michalek has struggled after coming off a major knee operation. That leaves Alfredsson as the lone winger on this team who is providing offense, and he's coming off one of the longest slumps of his career!

And people are shocked this team isn't going to make the playoffs?

There's room for Regin and Foligno to grow and be an important part of this team going forward, but this is already looking like a lost season for the pair.

NOTES

Looks like Mike Brodeur was wearing the Garth Snow inspired upper body armour and shoulder pads on the bench tonight against Washington. His shoulders were as high as his ears and he would also have trouble walking through a doorway with those things on. Those can't be legal..... Will Erik Karlsson be an All-Star as soon as next season when the game will be held in Ottawa? I'd put some money on it. In my mind, he's already this teams best player outside of Alfie...... Ever wonder what coach Cory Clouston would look like with a beard? Wait no longer.....

Most unintentionally hilarious moment of the night: Late in the first, Brian Elliott made a desperate, exciting save off of Mike Knuble in front of the net, which had Sportsnet colour commentator Denis Potvin enthusing "if you're a fan of the Senators, you have to be excited with the way they're playing hockey right now". Immediately the cameras went to the fans near the glass and it looked like they were watching the English Patient, all of them seated, unsmiling, with one old man sort of clapping half-heartedly with a sneer on his face.......Had to laugh at the Thrashers publicity campaign, where they had their mascot "Thrash" arrested on camera after he led police on an O.J. style car chase and "held in prison" until Atlanta fans snapped up 5000 tickets to upcoming games. Not bad, but it will never match National Lampoon's magazine cover in 1973 shown below when it comes to public extortion.

And finally, in case you missed it, Dale Weise hand an eventful first NHL game with the Rangers, having a fight and a goal he kicked in called back after video review. But the moment we'll all remember was this:

Thrashers Dim Sens Playoff Hopes With OT Victory

Essentially, one runs out of things to say with a team like the Ottawa Senators.

They played a spirited and competitive game against the bigger and stronger Atlanta Thrashers on Monday night and still lost in overtime, gaining a point but losing one to an opponent they are trying to catch in the standings, which really muddles the picture right now.

If they had lost to the Atlanta Thrashers in regulation, a lot of fingers would be pointed and speculation would start about imminent moves. But it would have been more cut and dried. People would be writing them off for the rest of the season, and with good reason.

Yet it's clear that this team has not quit on coach Cory Clouston. They threw everything they had at Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec and managed to score three goals, in a comeback no less, a rare feat for this team.

But it's not going to be enough in the end. Getting a point may have just postponed changes for another day or two, which still leaves this team without a direction. Are they bad enough to start making changes in order to improve next season or are they good enough to try and make a run for that eighth spot?

Most would pick the former option, but how do you rebuild with so many big contracts? That alone may give us the answer right there. The Senators are likely not going to be able to make any major moves before the trade deadline so all they have left to do is scratch and claw their way through each week living on the edge of a knife.

So how will the fans react? Locals are not used to watching a hopeless cause, even as bad as the Senators were under Craig Hartsburg or at times last season. Scotiabank Place is the only rink in Canada that is regularly filled to less than capacity. That problem is likely to grow worse as fairweather fans throw in the towel by Christmas.

A change in direction might spark some interest but it's also hard to clean out a coaching staff or replace a GM mid-season. From a hockey operations standpoint, there are games to be played every second night, scouting discussions, trade discussions, you name it.

The Senators built their team in the summer and now they are likely going to have to live with it until July, come hell or high water.

Spezza, Kovalev Combo Running The Show

With a dominating 5-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers, the Senators 4th in a row, this team is starting to look a lot like last year's streaky club - either down in the dumps or top of the mountain.

Now it's just a matter of how long this great run can continue.

The old saying is that whatever line Daniel Alfredsson is playing on is the Senators number one trio, but the Jason Spezza, Alex Kovalev and Peter Regin line has quickly become the team's best since it was put together when Spezza returned from a groin injury a handful of games ago.

Against the Thrashers, Kovalev looked at times like he did when he was tearing opponents apart as a Ranger, Penguin and Canadien in the prime of his career. You can just tell he trusts his knee again, knowing that he can outskate guys like he used to going east to west. With skilled players like Kovalev, the hands never leave, but the legs and the confidence can wane and likely that was Kovalev's problem early in the season, when it seemed everyone and their dog wanted this guy out of the picture for good.

Before this line had success, you couldn't be blamed for wondering if putting Spezza and Kovalev together would create a defensive nightmare. Yet, there's Spezza killing penalties regularly, there's Kovalev chasing pucks down and making smart defensive plays with his stick that not many people notice. Peter Regin is just feeling grateful for getting linemates like this and is skating as good as he was last season, strangely acting as the line's only north-south player and getting chances because of it. If he gets himself into position, neither Spezza or Kovalev will have any problems getting him the puck. The goals for Regin will come.

And once again, Brian Elliott quietly had a very good game, somehow not making the official 3 Stars list despite making 35 saves on 37 shots.

He'll have no problem making the Black Aces list, which is presented right here:

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Jason Spezza
2. Brian Elliott
3. Alex Kovalev

Honourable Mentions: Erik Karlsson, David Hale, Peter Regin, Sergei Gonchar and Chris Phillips

NOTES

Frankly, I’m a little surprised that the anti-shootout sentiment is starting to gain traction in league circles. Detroit GM Ken Holland’s idea of four minutes of 4 on 4 overtime, followed by four minutes of 3 on 3, and then the shootout, is being met with some acclaim by a lot of old school hockey people, (yet not fully embraced at the GM's meetings on Tuesday) The shootout remains one of the most popular aspects of the game among fans but a lot of the hockey elite, such as the broadcasters and the beat writers tend to complain about the shootout only slightly less than headshots, which they still remain obsessed with. Now that scoring is again on the wane in the NHL, the shootout sometimes makes all the difference to a fan when it comes getting their money's worth after shelling out hundreds of dollars for the whole family just to watch one single game. To me, they should have went with 5 shooters a side instead of 3 right from the get go. Right now, the shootout is over way too quickly and if one team scores right away, the other side is pretty much doomed. At least with 5 shooters, you use more of your players, lessening the complaint that the shootout goes against the team concept in hockey. Plus, it’s often the only time you get to see pure skill in the NHL. Most goals in regulation time are scored by shots directed from the point or garbage goals from the crease. To me, the shootout is an entertaining way to end a tie-game and the NHL should give its head a shake if it is really intent on trying to make it happen less…..


…. Here’s a thought: Maybe Nick Foligno isn’t meant to be a top six winger after all. Watching the guy play, it’s clear that his biggest strengths are consistent with those of other third and fourth liners around the league. He’s most effective when he’s going to the net and battling for the puck along the boards, not when he tries to stickhandle through defenseman like he often gets caught doing when playing with guys like Spezza. Foligno likes to stickhandle with the puck way out in front of his body, a little like Spezza, but he doesn’t have the same skills or hockey sense that Spezza does, so he often doesn’t protect it well enough and the rush goes to waste. With his size, he shouldn’t be carrying the puck any more than absolutely necessary. He should be grinding it out and getting garbage goals off rebounds, like the goal he helped to create against the Thrashers on Tuesday night. Just a thought…..Seeing the Thrashers without Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov just seems weird after all these years. In fact, I can barely even picture Kozlov as a Red Wing anymore where he had his best years. Almost as if every year played in an Atlanta uniform erases two good years in another sweater, although Kovalchuk may be thinking it's the other way around over in New Jersey….

There’s something wrong in the hockey world when Brian Lee gets to stay with the NHL team and a guy like Zack Smith has to go back down to the minors. Sure, two different positions, but that one-way contract needlessly awarded to Lee has been nothing but a cap-eater. It’s almost as if he was a bought-out player, but instead of playing for another team or in some other league, he’s eating popcorn in one of your arena boxes every night. With David Hale and now Patrick Wiercioch in the system, ready to play (and in Hale's case, ready for full-time duty), it would be best for both the team and Lee if the young defenseman got a fresh start somewhere else. And soon. As for Smith, he hasn’t had the best start to the season, but he’s going to get his chance at a full-time spot next year when a few older free-agents depart the team. Until then, he only has to learn to compete the same on every shift and to get away from some of the penalties where he's just trying to show how tough he is by trying to explode guys. Once he learns to pick his spots, he's going to be a hell of a player.

Black Aces Ticket Contest - Senators vs. Thrashers Nov. 9

If you've been listening to sports radio in town, you may have heard Senators President Cyril Leeder saying recently that some of the seats with the lowest price point are going unsold at Scotiabank Place, tickets that cost as low as $15 (tax included).

So in an effort to increase fan awareness of these available seats, the Senators contacted Black Aces recently with some tickets for me to give away to a pair of lucky fans and that's just what we're going to do.

Up for grabs are two pairs of tickets in the Coca-Cola Zero Zone  for this Tuesday's (Nov.9) game against the Atlanta Thrashers.

All you have to do is email me the correct answer to this trivia question:

Who is the only Senators player in modern history to wear sweater number 19 in the regular season other than Jason Spezza and Alexei Yashin?

Enterprising fans will know where to find this info online.

The first two people to email me at jeremymilks@hotmail.com with the correct player will get a pair of tickets to the Thrashers game on Tuesday (7:30 pm puck drop) which you will be able to pick up at the "will-call" office at Scotiabank Place the night of the game. I'll let you know by email no later than Sunday night if you've won and announce the winners on Black Aces shortly after. Make sure to write your full name in your email so there's no confusion at the will-call window.

While we generally don't do promotions here at Black Aces, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. A couple of my readers get free tickets and the Senators get more butts in the seats. I've sat in the Coca-Cola Zero Zone once or twice in the past (sections 314, 315 and 316) and it's a good, inexpensive place to see a game, plus it's in the visitors end so you get to see the Senators coming at you 2 out of 3 periods.

Watch the blog for a couple more ticket giveaways in the coming month.

***

As for tonight's game against the Habs in Montreal, I picked the Senators to pull out a close one on the Citizen's Prediction Panel, even though I just recently wrote about the Senators having lost 11 of their last 12 Saturday games going back to last season, including all 4 so far this campaign.

They must be due, right? Maybe...

Feels Like The Playoffs

Everybody loves a mean and nasty Philly-Ottawa matchup, but nobody revels in it like that sick, twisted soul Anton Volchenkov. He's seemingly found a soul brother in Andy Sutton who joined the bruising Russian in waging an all out physical battle in a game that was as close to a playoff matchup as you can get in the regular season.

While it was no all-time classic like the March 2004 doozy that still holds the NHL record for the most penalty filled game in history, tonight's match was a sometimes vicious affair that ultimately ended up as a huge win for Ottawa as they have suddenly given themselves some much needed breathing room in their battle for a playoff spot. Combined with Atlanta's deflating loss to the Bruins, it will take a drastic turn of events for Ottawa to miss now.

It also happened to be Brian Elliott's second straight shutout, a statistic so unexpected that it's almost beyond comment.

Yet the game didn't feel like it was won between the pipes, but rather in the trenches.

In what was an incredible sequence of events in the second period, Erik Karlsson battled with Flyers agitator Daniel Carcillo in the corner and ended up taking a retaliation penalty. When Karlsson and Carcillo stood face to face after the whistle, Carcillo quite clearly asked Karlsson if he wanted to "go". There was no way Karlsson was going to get sucked into something as lopsided as that potential scrap, but as soon as that invitation was extended, Andy Sutton did the right thing by stepping in to show that Ottawa's skilled players were not going to be touched by someone like Carcillo.

8 times out of 10, the referees let something like that go, especially when they have already called a previous penalty on the play. Yet Sutton has had some bad luck with the refs lately and the Sens were down two men for a full two minutes. A lot of people will call that a stupid penalty on Sutton's part but I'd disagree.

Sure, Sutton took a chance by getting rough with Carcillo, but everytime you let another team intimidate your star players, you lose a little something that is hard to get back. While teams find it hard to kill off penalties that arise from someone being lazy, no doubt the Senators wanted to snuff this one for Sutton and Karlsson who went to the box for standing up to the Flyers.

There's a real difference there, and when a team survives that kind of situation, as the Senators ultimately did, everyone is boosted by that unified feeling. To put an exclamation point on it, as the crowd stood wildly applauding the great penalty kill against the Flyers, Sutton stormed out of the box and crushed Carcillo to the ice with a pulverizing hit in almost the exact same spot that Volchenkov caught Carcillo earlier in the game. The crowd nearly blew the tin roof off the joint.

Sutton was telling the Flyers, "the refs can put me away all night, but when I'm on the ice, I'm coming for you". That's a language perhaps the players on the benches understand a lot more clearly than the giddy fan in the stands.

To me, that was the turning point of the game. Of course, Alfredsson's quick goal to start the third period cemented the win and Elliott pushed aside 26 shots. But it was that team aspect, that very visible hunger by all the players to do whatever it takes to get those two points.

Despite what that post-Olympic losing streak hinted at, the Senators still have that gang mentality that will serve them well in the first round of the playoffs, no matter who they face.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Anton Volchenkov
2. Brian Elliott
3. Chris Phillips

Honourable mentions: Andy Sutton, Chris Kelly and Daniel Alfredsson.


Here's the season scorecard updated after tonight's game:

3 Points 1st Star
2 Points 2nd Star
1 Point 3rd Star

Alfredsson – 38
Elliott – 30
Spezza – 25
Kovalev – 25
Fisher – 21
Volchenkov – 18
Michalek – 16
Neil - 14
Phillips - 13
Leclaire – 11
Foligno – 10
Regin - 9
Karlsson - 8
Ruutu - 8
Shannon – 8
Brodeur - 8
Kelly – 5
Winchester - 5
Kuba – 5
Carkner – 3
Cullen - 2
Lee – 1
Donovan – 1
Cheechoo - 1


NOTES

Chris Campoli has actually been a very effective player since he returned from injury and once Filip Kuba is healthy, Campoli will give Cory Clouston a few things to ponder before making him a healthy scratch.

You could sit Matt Carkner (who had a great game against the Flyers) but, assuming that Clouston keeps the duo of Andy Sutton and Erik Karlsson together, a pairing of Kuba-Carkner seems like a better balance than a Kuba-Campoli one. While Carkner has pretty much been steady all year, Campoli's effectiveness sometimes takes a swan dive for a stretch of games.

If you look at the potential pairings this way - Phillips-Volchenkov; Sutton-Karlsson; Carkner-Kuba, you have your premier shutdown pair and a couple of tandems that can play at either end of the ice. If you put Campoli with Kuba, you essentially create an unbalanced pairing that theoretically would struggle in their own end. But if Campoli keeps playing well, he'll be awful hard to take out of the lineup.

Senators Foiled By Headshot Paranoia

Opening faceoff at an empty Phillips Arena was not exactly the shot in the arm the Senators needed after weakly capitulating to a their sad-sack rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

But who am I calling sad-sack?

Nobody is counting the losses anymore. The Senators are in a freefall where up is down and down is.... down. Forget statistics and line combinations and ice time. The Senators are beyond that now.

They may not have enough confidence left to tie their skates up, let alone win an NHL hockey game anytime soon.

Yes, that's me being melodramatic. But it's just the kind of mood that's kicking around these days.

How do they pick themselves up now after a game where they got behind 2-0 and 3-1 before battling back, only to get sideswiped by the headshot paranoia that has gripped the league so feverishly this season?

The score was 3-3 and the Senators had all the momentum. It was only a matter of time before they broke the game open. Then big Andy Sutton leveled Eric Boulton with a great bodycheck along the boards. That should have spurred the Senators on even more.

Unfortunately, the paranoia is so ratcheted up that the refs felt they had to call a penalty simply because Boulton was dazed after the hit. Never mind that it was clean. Never mind that Sutton hit Boulton in the chest and not the head. Never mind that players have been delivering these same exciting hits since the league was founded. It's just not cool to deliver big hits anymore, clean or not.

(The Associated Press is calling Sutton's hit a "cheap shot"! Clearly, the guy writing the copy, Paul Newberry, didn't bother to look at the hit on a replay. Why should he have to? In today's mindset, if it was a big hit, it just had to be a "cheap shot".)

Just like that, due to external issues beyond the Senators control, and beyond this specific game, the tide turned on a blown call, the Thrashers scored on the ensuing power-play and it was Goodnight Irene.

Now you know why the minority of us who aren't drinking the Kool-Aid regarding this sudden concern over hitting, keep warning that a rush to legislate a new standard without regard to consequences is going to slowly take big hits out of the game.

Sutton's hit was Exhibit Number Two. He got called on an almost identical hit against the Leafs. He got called because he's big and hits hard. Not because he hits dirty.

The Senators paid the price for that tonight.

Other than that, you can probably point to the usual suspects. Brian Elliott was mediocre, as he has been since the Olympic break, but Cory Clouston just doesn't believe in Pascal Leclaire, just like he doesn't believe in heart and soul winger Shean Donovan. Don't expect any changes in philosophy going forward from the coach.

But on a positive note, Ken Warren wrote an article today that could cheer even the most desperate of Sens fans. Despite this losing streak, the chances of the Sens missing the post-season are pretty slim.

While the Rangers would need 20 points from their final 12 games to hit 91 points, the Senators would only need to play .500 hockey -- 12 points in 12 games -- to hit that mark.

So think positive folks.

Everything is going to be all right.

Isn't it?

NOTES

Sure, the atmosphere inside the Atlanta rink is terrible, but I kind of like the blue dashers and the blue seams on the glass. I think it would be a cool idea if more teams did that in their own colours.......A quick check of the Thrashers website reveals they are advertising possible playoff tickets. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry..... Slava Kozlov is also one of the featured players on the side banners of the site. I seem to remember him asking for a trade before the deadline. You know times are tough in Atlanta when........ Not to kick them when they're down, but the slogan the Thrashers proudly display on their site is "That's The Hockey Way". Who wrote that elegant little passage of high literature?........

You know Chris Neil is in the game when he gets that evil little smile on his face. He gets that smile when he's in a fight too. Kind of creepy actually...... I used to really give it to Team 1200 morning host Lee Versage on this blog for being too negative and ripping players too harshly. But I have to admit I don't mind listening to the guy anymore. Since Glenn Kulka left the morning show, Versage is less prone to hyperbole and seems quite reasonable most of the time. While the chaotic nature of the Kulka era was somewhat entertaining in a train wreck sort of way, the current show is actually informative and much more listener friendly. People no longer get attacked on air when they call in and have an opinion different than the hosts. Good job, Versage. Count me in as part of the listening audience......

In honour of Steve "That Was A Dirty Hit" Lloyd's recurring hour-long segment devoted to the latest hockey violence on the Team 1200 pre-game show (even Lloydie acknowledged tonight that they spend way too much time on it!), I feel it's our obligation to turn against the stampeding herd of sheep by pointing out a great article by The Hockey News' Rory Boylen. He brings up a lot of the exact same points I did last week here, but he makes a much more eloquent and better argument than I can about this absurd hysteria we find ourselves in.

Here's just a few of his well-taken points:

The day after a star player is injured by a devastating bodycheck, there’s always calls for rule changes to fix the horrible injuries that plague the league. A bunch of alarmist sentiment blows up, as if it’s breaking news that getting hit in the head is not a good thing – or that hockey can be a potentially dangerous sport....

It’s not a simple fix. It’s easy to shout for changes and leap at the league when they don’t happen because those voices have absolutely no accountability when the rules don’t pan out perfectly and they just move on to the next crusade.......

You don’t think if players can’t hit guys who cut across the middle with their head down that hip checks won’t make a comeback? It won’t be long before knee injuries set in and that becomes a target.....

There are only about two or three devastating hits to the head, that aren’t already covered by the rulebook, per year that lead to extended injuries.....

Of course there is an element of danger at the NHL level. Just like there is an inherent danger every time a NASCAR driver hits the track or a UFC fighter enters the octagon, NHLers take on some form of risk when they step on the ice.....

It’s easy to call yourself progressive on one side or claim you’re standing up for the game’s integrity on the other, dismissing each other’s argument with your arms crossed and your chin in the air, unwilling to listen. And, hey, you’ll get attention that way because it will anger so many.

That was a rather long excerpt (and probably some sort of copyright violation) but his article is a rare argument to slow this whole process down and apply some more thought so we don't end up with unintended consequences. When this many people jump on a bandwagon so quickly, you just know that something is rotten in Denmark. It seems that this process is being driven by people who are frustrated that justice is not black and white in real life, and so they try to impose those impossible moral standards on a sport that has functioned extraordinarily well, more or less, for over a hundred years.

The hit on Marc Savard was vicious and clearly over the line. No one wants to see an athlete seriously injured, but there sure are a lot of people watching the Pittsburgh-Boston rematch tonight. Like it or not, you'd be hard pressed to find a rivalry that didn't start with or wasn't enhanced by some kind of vicious hit.

Detroit and Colorado started a feud for all times with Claude Lemieux's cowardly hit on Kris Draper from behind. The Senators and Leafs rivalry is plagued with borderline acts such as Tie Domi crushing both Martin Havlat and Magnus Arvedsson with open ice hits (both players had their heads down) and the now legendary Daniel Alfredsson hit on Darcy Tucker.

The Oilers and Flames battles of the 80's were so vicious that people are still in awe. Mark Messier and Joel Otto basically tried to kill each other every night and an elbow in the face was as common as a facewash is now.

If Gordie Howe were playing today, he and his legendary elbows would be vilified. Same as The Rocket, same as Ted Lindsay.

As Senators play-by-play man Dean Brown is fond of pointing out, there is already a penalty in the book called Intent to Injure. Refs can call it if they want to.

The railroading of a new rule with unknown consequences is simply a sham to quiet the outraged Canadian hockey media who know a juicy flank when they see one.

On a positive note, the league finally acted responsibly by handing the Ducks James Wisniewski an eight game suspension for what was essentially an "attempt to injure" Brent Seabrook.

This is a sure sign that Colin Campbell is starting to feel the heat after running his division like a gong-show for well over a decade now. On that we can all agree. Yet we can probably expect to see him in the same job ten years from now....

***

ALEX CHILTON 1950 - 2010 R.I.P.

The Heart Attack Kids

How's yer blood pressure, Ottawa fans?

For the second game in a row, the Kanata faithful were caught leaving the stands a little too early and failed to witness a mind-bending comeback. Except tonight, it was the visiting team giving everyone heart attacks.

Strangely, the result was the same. Another loss by Ottawa.

Strange is the key word here. It's like Halloween has showed up early.

Ottawa had no business getting a point against Nashville on Thursday but somehow made it happen.

Tonight, Ottawa had no business losing a point against Boston but somehow allowed it to happen.

And the reasons were eerily similar. On Thursday, Matt Carkner was given a penalty in overtime after hauling down a Nashville player who was breaking out of his zone.

Tonight, Anton Volchenkov did virtually the same thing except it was more of an innocent dive for the puck rather than a football tackle that was called for a penalty, allowing Boston to tie the game in the final minute.

It's too bad for Ottawa because they had played a near perfect game for the duration with players like Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek, Mike Fisher, Brian Elliott and Jason Spezza having excellent nights.

Yet after two losses in a row (overtime losses mind you), it's hard to get down on the Senators. Despite a few bizarre moments, this team is moving forward playing some inspired, emotional hockey and have a new star in town with the new Mach 9, Milan Michalek.

Nothing for nothing, but Michalek is starting to remind me of a young Marian Hossa when he was patrolling ice for the Senators in the early part of the decade. You can just see Michalek starting to blossom into the gamebreaker that he was predicted to be.

His goal tonight should have stood as the game winner, but it was fitting that the "Wrecking Ball" Mark Recchi got Boston into a position to tie it up in his 1500th game.

Michalek will have many more nights to shine.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Milan Michalek
2. Daniel Alfredsson
3. Mike Fisher

Honorable mentions: Jason Spezza, Brian Elliott and Chris Neil.

Fearless. That's the only way to describe Milan Michalek's drive to the net in the first period. Mark Stuart drove Michalek into Tim Thomas and the collision was very, very scary. There was only two ways that play could have ended up - with Michalek scoring a breathtaking goal or with Michalek going head first into Thomas. Lesser players could have hedged their bets by not cutting to the inside to avoid injury. The new "Mach 9" doesn't have the word "hedge" in his vocabulary.......

A question that has been nagging at me for many years now: Who is that woman in the stands at every Senators home game which the cameras go to after the Senators score? You know - she has blond hair and is often seen high-fiving her kid next to her.They go to her so often right after the goals that she has become the team's unofficial 2nd mascot. If she is not the biggest Senators fan in the rink every game, I don't who is. In fact, along with the Senators theme song, the image of her jumping up and down in the stands has become a team tradition...... Matt Carkner is such a good dude that even the guys he fights have a laugh with him in the penalty boxes afterwards. That was the case after the scrap with Shawn Thornton, who gave Carkner his toughest scrap of the year. In fact, I'd give the nod to Thornton in that one.......There would no smiles from Steve Begin after he tangled with Chris Neil. Begin took a single punch and hit the ice. As Georges Laraque once said of Neil, pound for pound, he's one of the toughest players in the league. And under Cory Clouston, the first coach to believe in him since Bryan Murray was permanently on the bench, Neil is back to being the force he was in 2007. Give Murray credit. When everyone was ready to throw Neil under the bus, Murray saw his true value and now he gets to reap the rewards......

The HNIC cameras caught Mike Fisher and the Big Z having a friendly conversation in the hallways before the game. Then Fisher took a run at him in the 1st period without making much of a dent.......Erik Karlsson isn't making the big plays that everyone may have expected after a stellar training camp, but at least he is starting to make important small ones. He still makes mistakes like his giveaway on the powerplay in the 2nd period, but his overall decision making seems to be getting better and more natural as the games start to pile up..........

B's coach Claude Julien let the Boston Herald know that he respects the job Cory Clouston and the Senators have done to get back into contention this season:

"(Clouston)’s come in and taken a hard-nosed approach. It’s my way or else,” Julien said. “Dany Heatley didn’t want to buy in, so they decided, ‘Hey, we’re not changing coaches this time, we’ll go with the players who want to play it (Clouston’s) way.’ With the way guys have bought in, you’re seeing what’s come out of that. With their whole approach to the game, they’re a lot grittier than they have ever been.”.....

Ottawa native Todd White is off to a bad start with the Thrashers this season. In 7 games he has 1 assist and is a minus 5. But there is hope. He was placed back on the "Little White Russian" line with Bryan Little and Slava Kozlov, who together had a lot of success last season. You have to wonder if someday White ends his career in a Senators uniform. It would be a nice end to a surprisingly productive career. What's helped the little guy along the way? As former Senator teammate Jason York said on the Team 1200, it's his "huge butt".........

There was a great feature on the revamped Vancouver Canucks dressing room prior to the start of the game on HNIC. They made the room smaller and circular so the players have a more intimate setting to interact in. They also made it so that the players have to go through the lounge area in order to get out of the building, probably making it harder to leave without having a few laughs with the guys after the game. I find little psychological touches like that really interesting and rarely covered by the media. So how about the Ottawa Senators in this regard? One thing to note is how the organization has painted everything red, gold and black in the arena, including the hallways and the fitness room. The dressing room itself is largely red and black. A quick perusal of the main tenets of colour psychology tells us that reds, along with yellows (gold) and oranges seem to ignite passion and emotion (and aid digestion!). Black on the other hand can invoke a lethargic or depressing emotion and drain emotional energy but it is also associated with self-discipline. It must be strange for the players to walk into the arena in the middle of a cold, dark winter morning and be surrounded by red and black everywhere they look. The Canucks room is a cool and light blue and the lounge area is bright and clean. So what does it all mean? Well, I have no idea. Probably nothing. But one thing I will never understand is why teams put a massive logo on the dressing room floor and then ban the players from stepping on it. But again, that's an area for the sports psychologists. The professional life of an athlete is a series of tests both off and on the playing surface. Why should the dressing room be any different?.........

Same Story, Different Night

So, like many of you, I did not get to see the Senators - Thrashers tilt last night and therefore I won't try to comment on it too specifically, other than to say that it looks like you can take my last post from the win over the Islanders and apply it here.

You can even take Anton Volchenkov's hit on John Tavares and substitute second year youngster Zach Bogosian. Other than that, things unfolded in much the way they did the game before - big plays from unheralded players on the third and fourth lines like Chris Neil (1 goal, 2 shots on goal, +1), Jarkko Ruutu (1 goal, 2 shots on goal, +1) and Shean Donovan (1 assist, +1).

You also had a couple of guys who haven't made an impact so far come through with big games. Brian Elliott made 28 saves for his first win and Alex Picard had 2 assists and was a +2.

Just from looking at the stats sheet you can tell that the Mike Fisher, Alex Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson line had a good night and we can probably expect them to stay together for at least a few more games.

Probably the best news to come from this game was that the rink was sold out after the embarrassing fact of the home opener being significantly shy.

That's a hard concept to wrap your brain around, especially when all those supposedly "weak hockey markets" in the South mostly managed to have better attendance than the Senators did on their opening nights.

To me, that's more an end result of two years of constant negative imaging from certain segments of the media who exploited minor to medium issues into catastrophic character assassinations, poisoning the atmosphere around this team to the point that fans were openly talking about boycotting games until the "scumbags" were traded etc.

I've talked about this before ad nauseum but the Senators themselves didn't do a good job of protecting their players in the media and getting ahead of negative stories.

Now, when a home opener doesn't sell out, everyone is left scratching their heads.

It's collateral damage from two years of negative stories that the team let fester in the public's mind.

But as long as they keep winning, the fans will come back and certain radio hosts and columnists will be forced to talk about some of the positives, hopefully erasing some of the damage they've done in the past.

Anyways, happy Thanksgiving and don't drink and drive.

Ferraro on Heater...Wishing for Couture...Donovan On Way Out?

Some pretty intense but supportive words from TV personality and ex-NHL star Ray Ferraro on Dany Heatley, courtesy of L.A. Kings blogger Matthew Barry. Ferraro played with Heatley in Atlanta:

“First of all, not only have I been in the (dressing) room, I’ve roomed with Dany. I know him really well and the people that are talking that he’s toxic don’t know (expletive)! They don’t know anything about him …

There’s all kinds of rumors about Dany off the ice. … Everybody does whatever research they do but I’ve known Dany for over ten years now. He had to mature. Absolutely he did and he’d be the first guy to tell you that he had to mature. …He had a terrible year last year because he wasn’t in shape. He signed a 50 million dollar contract in the summer and he kind of went on the “Summer of Dany” I called it. He had a lot of fun and he was going to ballgames and he was a half a
step out of shape when he got to camp and so he had a terrible year….

If Dany has to go back to Ottawa I’m sure he’s going to have to have a meeting with the guys. He’s going to have to mend the fence. But once the fence is mended and game one starts, he’ll be fine.”

Ferraro’s statement, while not absolving Heatley for having a bad year, seems to follow the pattern of every teammate or ex-teammate who all categorically claim Heater is a good guy in the dressing room and a good person. So why the massive schism of opinion between Heatley's teammates and the media (which represents the fans)?

If last off-season was the "Summer of Dany" ala George Castanza, what would you call this summer?

I don't care what anyone says - Alexei Yashin was worse. Much, much worse.

***

If there is a deal to be had for Heatley in San Jose, you’d have to hope that Bryan Murray is insisting on Milan Michalek and Logan Couture in any deal. While that sort of trade would put San Jose over the cap, it might be worth it for them to find some savings elsewhere to bring on-board a 50 goal scorer.

Michalek scored only 23 goals last year and figures to max out somewhere in the mid-30’s (and that's not a bad thing). Heatley would be a big upgrade on that left wing for a team that is going for the Cup right now. Couture would be hard to give up but that’s the price you have to pay for 50 goal scorers.

For the Senators, Michalek is ideal because he is signed long-term for a reasonable salary (5 years with a 4.3 million cap hit) and will be a solid, if not spectacular offensive player with the upside of a speedy power forward. Couture could be Ottawa’s number one centre in 5 years when Jason Spezza may be long gone.

The deal seems fair (even if it puts San Jose in temporary cap-trouble) but rarely are deals as easy to pull off as they are on paper.

***

Suddenly, the Tampa Bay Lightning look like a threat again. With the additions of Victor Hedman, Alex Tanguay and Mattias Ohlund, and a full season under coach Rick Tocchet, the Lightning could be a top 5 team in the conference despite their ongoing ownership saga.

Another thing they have going for them? Lecavalier is only 29 years old.

It’s hard to believe he’s that young but you could say his best years could still be ahead of him. And most of those years will be with a blossoming Steve Stamkos. Their power-play could be deadly. The additions of Ohlund and Hedman will also allow the much (but unfairly) maligned Andrej Meszaros to play more of a supportive role rather than play almost 25 minutes a night like he did last season. And Mesz is only 23 as well. The future looks bright.

The one negative I saw over the summer was the deal that saw Evgeny Artyukhin go to Anaheim for Drew Miller. That is an absolute steal for the Ducks as Artyukhin is one of the most feared hitters in the game today. Miller is a decent two-way player but Artyukhin is one of a kind, even if his offense is not very lethal. I think the deal was a big mistake for the Bolts – but not enough to derail their comeback season.

***

Not to jump the gun, but the Senators have a very good opportunity to get off to a quick start in the early going of October.

The first four teams they face are the Rangers, the Leafs, the Islanders and the Thrashers.

Sure, the Rangers have Marian Gaborik and his groin for at least one game, the Leafs are now the toughest team in the league, the Islanders have, well, a 19 year old John Tavares and the Thrashers actually have a legitimately good defense core this year. But the Senators should be frothing at the mouth to win some games early on after the two brutal seasons and off-seasons they have had to endure recently. With so many people with something to prove (Spezza, Heatley, Kovalev, Leclaire, Shannon, Kelly, Campoli and Lee), a quick start seems to be in the cards.

***

With Bryan Murray's "fan conference-call" today, he expressed quite a bit of confidence in players such as Zach Smith and Peter Regin.

I hate to say it, but it looks like Shean Donovan is going to find it even harder to get into the lineup this season and could even find himself on waivers right before the season along with Christoph Schubert and Alex Picard.

I'm a huge fan of Donovan, as many of you probably are as well, but there are simply too many forwards on the Senators right now. I don't get the sense that Donovan is one of Cory Clouston's "guys" and that players like Smith and Regin will get first shot at those third and fourth line minutes.

For Donovan's sake, I hope I'm wrong. I think he still has a lot of experience, speed and grit to offer the Senators.

Hunting Season Begins Anew

The character assassination of Jason Spezza continued unabated today on the typically obnoxious Over The Edge radio show after a month of silence on the subject.

The reason for the renewed bile spewing from the blathering duo of Kulka and Versage came from Bryan Murray's comments that the Senators best players had to be better.

No shit.

But like they always do, the Over The Edger's take any open door they see and pry it wide open in their attempt to run the amiable but young superstar out of town for strange reasons that can only stem from personal dislike.

Because if they were strictly talking from a hockey perspective, trading Jason Spezza is a moronic notion.

You have zero chance of winning without a true offensive number one center. There's no argument against that. Nobody is going to trade their current number one center to Ottawa for Spezza simply because they already have one on their roster. Those teams, like Ottawa, are looking for a goalie, a defenseman or a winger. Ottawa might be able to trade Spezza for a good power-play defenseman but who is going to be their top center? If you think Mike Fisher or Mike Comrie can fill the same role, you're dreaming.

Yesterday, the Over The Edger's had nothing to say about Spezza because the team has been going good under coach Cory Clouston's new system and the Big 3 are turning things around as well. But today, now that Murray singled out his best players in what was simply a general statement that was already obvious, the defamation game is back on for the bumbling duo. In the course of two sentences, Spezza is now enemy number one again.

All because these clowns don't have any better material for their pathetic radio show.

It's funny because I was never even that big a fan of Jason Spezza but listening to the constant garbage being bandied about which is full of untruths and cliché assumptions has brought me to his side wholeheartedly.

People with as little hockey knowledge as Kulka and Versage just grab some obvious subjects and beat it to death as a replacement for real insight into the game and the team. Their take today was that Todd White could do a better job as the Senators number one center simply because he has more points than Spezza.

The problem with their argument is that it exists in a vacuum. They don't take into account any other factors, such as the coaching change. Every player under Craig Hartsburg was underachieving, including Spezza. Now that Clouston is in charge, the whole team is playing at their normal expected levels, including Spezza.

Rational thinking would lead us to conclude that this trend will carry over to next season, meaning a big season out of the Big 3, including Spezza.

Yet rational thinking is not the forte of the Over The Edger's. Nothing will get in the way of their prolonged campaign to run Spezza out of town. Dany Heatley is not far behind.

I have no problems with people criticizing Spezza, because he does need to be better.

I have problems with intentional campaigns to discredit player's reputations based on nothing more than a lack of hockey knowledge, a treasure trove of worn out clichés and personal animosity.

Spezza Going Nowhere

Alas, sanity still reigns in Ottawa.

Bryan Murray poured cold water on the year-long Jason Spezza trade rumours today by saying that he won't move the centre, who's no-trade clause becomes effective July 1st.

This should be interpreted as good news, though some will surely be disappointed that a blockbuster isn't around the corner.

Even if Murray wanted to dump his franchise player, he wouldn't be able to get proper value for him in almost any scenario imagined.

No team is going to trade Ottawa their number one centre for Jason Spezza. If they have a number one centre, they have no need for Spezza anyways, so Murray would have to settle for quantity over quality. He might get a good second line centre and some prospects or he could maybe get a number one defenseman.

But then the Senators would be a team without an elite centre, guaranteeing a further erosion in the standings and you've just replaced one problem with another.

No matter how good Boston is doing this year, they made a poor trade when they sent Joe Thornton to San Jose for a handful of lesser players, most of whom now play elsewhere with little fanfare.

It was simply good luck for Boston that John Muckler let Zdeno Chara walk for nothing, and that Don Waddell did the same with Marc Savard, combined with some good drafting that allowed them to get over the Thornton mistake.

There would probably be no similar golden road for the Senators were they to trade Spezza. In order to replace him, they would have to draft a number one centre and let him develop for five years. These types of players rarely hit free agency because most GM's are locking them up to long contracts, similar to what Spezza signed here in Ottawa. The chances of a Marc Savard type player hitting free agency is slim to none.

The fact is, Ottawa made its choice to build their team around Spezza and it's too late to back out now unless you decide to rebuild from scratch.

If you trade Spezza, then you have to get rid of Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson as well because you would be carrying those huge contracts on a team that has no chance to win.

Love him or hate him, Spezza is going to be dishing pucks for the Senators for a long time.

A Glimmer Of Light - Ottawa 3 Atlanta 2

Is it possible?

I'm not talking about the Ottawa Senators making the playoffs...yet.

I'm talking about the Senators beating Montreal at home on Saturday night.

If they could somehow find a way to win that game, then maybe you have something. Maybe a glimmer of hope.

Maybe some renewed confidence and a chance to surprise some teams such as Washington who will drag their tired bones into Ottawa next Wednesday after playing the Islanders the day before.

Maybe Ottawa even finds a way to beat those same Caps, bringing them to the All-Star break on an 8 point streak....

Anyways, back to reality.

The Senators have now won two games in a row over two struggling teams and that's a start. If anything, the positive vibes are fortifying for the soul right now.

Jason Spezza is back and so is Dean McAmmond. Chris Phillips has his "Big Rig" strut back and Antoine Vermette is winning faceoffs like his very existence depended on it. And that goal by Alfie? Vintage.

I don't know if it's because they hit rock bottom so hard that all the pressure is suddenly off or if Craig Hartsburg has suddenly found his voice in that locker room. But something is different.

Brian Elliott has somehow provided a spark for this team but he looked like a bit of a mess tonight. Starting back to back games is tough for a rookie and Elliott was deep in his net and giving out rebounds that rivalled the great king Martin Gerber. The important thing is that he got the win but, as Pierre McGuire pointed out on TSN, he's going to need some major work on fundamentals with goalie coach Eli Wilson.

But that's fine. Ottawa has Alex Auld and he's probably due for a good stretch of games here and that will allow Elliott to feel his way into the league. Elliott seems to have a knack for making the big save at the right time just out of pure athletic ability and as long as you have that, fundamentals can be taught along the way. Remember, Ray Emery was similarly rough around the edges but managed to get technically better as he went along, all the way to the Cup final.

Now if we could just convince the Senators music/sound guy to play the E.T. quote "Elliott" after every big save (as my friend suggested), we might just have a fan favourite on our hands here.

Notes

Sure would like to know what Jesse Winchester and Colby Armstrong were talking about after giving each other a few spirited shoves late in the first period. Someone must have told a good joke because they both cracked up laughing. Maybe it was something like this:



Armstrong has always been known as a bit of a ham, not to mention Sidney Crosby's best friend when the two were teammates in Pittsburgh. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ray Shero make a pitch to get Armstrong back in the fold after dealing him in the Marian Hossa trade last season. That might put Sid The Kid in a better mood. He's been crabby as hell all season ......... Georges Laraque had been doing a great, very readable blog on Sportsnet this season until the Habs brass told him to shut it down. Laraques does a good job explaining the Habs decision but it still seems too harsh and narrow-minded in an age where access to players has improved dramatically across the league. Ten years ago, interviewing players in the middle of the game on the bench would have been unthinkable - old school coaches would have been choke slamming journalists left, right and centre. Now the media can follow players to just about anywhere, short of the crapper. Laraque's final blog is well worth the read. He tells a great Mark Messier story (and also claims the Moose is his all-time favourite player, something me and Laraque share in common) and says that, "pound for pound", Chris Neil is one of the toughest players in the league. Smart guy, that Georges.

Speaking of jokes, veteran referee Dan Marouelli had Daniel Alfredsson laughing just prior to the opening faceoff and in the second period, Pierre McGuire informed the TSN viewing audience that Atlanta behemoth Boris Valabik told the Ottawa bench that he would "slash the lips off" of the next Senator who said anything. Memo to Boris: Jarkko Ruutu can still bite without his lips........ I have to agree with Don Brennan who recently wondered why Brendan Bell has been taken out of the lineup in favour of Christoph Schubert. Bell looked impressive recently, jumping deep into the offensive zone trying to create offense. Schubert might be a tad better in his own zone but right now, Hartsburg should be thinking offense.........I'll make a bold prediction here: Brendan Bell will one day find work in the local hockey media. He's a good interview and smarter than his meagre NHL experience indicates..... Chris Phillips was the "Monster of the Game" according to TSN's McGuire. But if you were a regular listener to Over The Edge on the Team 1200, you'd be convinced he's a piece of garbage, much like the rest of the players...... I keep saying it but Bryan Murray has got to get Chris Neil under contract for the next 3 or 4 years. If the Senators lose this guy, the lose their heart.

Playoff Hopes Crushed.... More Trade Rumours... And The Return Of Whitey?

There's only one word to describe that loss for the Senators and that word is "heartbreaking".

If they win that game, they'd be bragging about two straight on the road and be only 3 points behind the Leafs with all sorts of optimism heading into New Jersey on Sunday.

It started out looking like it would be a big night for the Senators. They were hitting the Leafs ... no... they were crushing them into the boards in the first period and crashing the net like the goal hungry team they should be.

The big line was humming and Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson were really trying to win this one early.

The it went tits up.

Two 5 on 3's were unsuccessful and Martin Gerber let in a brutally soft goal late in the third period to Jason Blake (what a shocker).

That was enough.

With the loss, I think it might be safe to say that Ottawa is not going to storm back and make the playoffs.

Some will be calling for a massive rebuild but I think that's the wrong angle here. Ottawa has two young superstars in their prime and a captain who just signed a new contract to finish his career in town.

No, the massive rebuild has to take place on defence.

But will Bryan Murray get the chance to fix his mistakes that he made last summer?

***

When did Brian Lee suddenly become a real NHL player?

Lee was excellent tonight and I counted at least 3 great breakout passes to wingers on the fly through the neutral zone.

It's amazing that you end up noticing plays that are taken for granted by most NHL teams but a clean breakout pass on Ottawa is like a good Ben Affleck movie. They're few and far between.

Maybe Craig Hartsburg should get over his bizarre infatuation with the ineffective Alex Picard (who was absolutely brutal tonight, especially on the power play) and replace him with Lee on the first power-play unit.

Picard is a sorry replacement for Andre Meszaros and even when you count Filip Kuba in that trade, I still say it was a big mistake by Murray (as I pointed out at the time). Meszaros is going to be solid and skilled NHL player for years to come, long after Kuba leaves for free agency this summer (and he will) and when Picard is playing in the minors.

***

Trade Rumour One

Interesting bit on HNIC's Hotstove:

Ottawa was linked to Atlanta as the Thrashers are looking for some forward depth and have skilled D-man Mathieu Schneider playing third fiddle to Tobias Enstrom and Ron Hainsey.

Schneider would be a good fit for Ottawa in the short term as he's unrestricted this summer. He could be used as an asset to trade at the deadline, especially if Ottawa is far out of the playoff race by then. But you'd have to get more than Schneider if you were to trade Antoine Vermette, the likely bait here. I never thought I'd say this but Todd White would look good in an Ottawa uniform again.

He's signed for the next two seasons at around 2.5 million which is cheaper than Vermette but with much, much more production. White's salary is also ideal money for a second line centre in today's NHL. White had great chemistry with Daniel Alfredsson back in the day and if you can get him in the Ottawa lineup, you magically have a second line that can score.

Plus, Whitey's from Ottawa and was once a fan favourite here during the Jacques Martin years. You grab him and you stop worrying about that second line for at least two years.

Trade Rumour Two

Not to stir up anymore "Vermette to Florida" rumours but the Panthers are really shallow at centre right now and have taken to using Nathan Horton there as an emergency replacement.

"Stephen Weiss missed Friday's afternoon practice because of an apparent virus. DeBoer said he hopes Weiss will be able to play Saturday. If he doesn't, Nathan Horton goes back to center. Horton worked with David Booth and Richard Zednik on Friday. With Kamil Kreps (shoulder) injured and Shawn Matthias back in the minors, Florida is hurting for centers.

''We're going to have to [play Horton at center] because we don't have a lot of options with Kreps out,'' DeBoer said. ``With Weiss out, we'll have to use him in the middle.''

-Miami Herald