Kids Say The Darndest Things

Remember the days when the Ottawa fans used to be a little hard on poor Antoine Vermette for missing so many golden scoring opportunities? I found this old gem in my pictures folder and decided to blow the dust off of it.

Even the coaching staff used to ride him hard, once pulling him off the ice at practice on trade deadline day just to get his heart racing a little.

If you took a straw poll, a lot of fans would love to have this guy back in Ottawa. One of the most natural, quickest skaters the Senators have ever known, and one of the most likeable personalities.

Smart move by Phoenix to rescue him from Columbus last year.

Sens Tread Water On UFA Day ... Methot Deal Looks Like A Winner

As July 1st rolled along into the afternoon, the Ottawa Senators began bleeding free agents, losing role players like Zenon Konopka (Minnesota), Matt Carkner (Long Island) and Filip Kuba (Florida) to big money deals that they couldn't or wouldn't match.

Coming back in much cheaper UFA deals were a couple of injury plagued, hard luck stories in winger Guillaume Latendresse and defenseman Mike Lundin.

The biggest deal of the day for the Senators was the trade of popular but inconsistent winger Nick Foligno for hard-hitting defensive defensman Marc Methot of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

All in all, it was a fairly cheap but exciting day at the shopping mall for Bryan Murray, but did the Ottawa Senators get any better?

No, they didn't. In fact, they got worse. Not terminably worse, but they lost a lot of character and toughness and only brought in one player - Methot - to balance out their losses in that area.

It's not all bad news, and depending on how you view the game, you may think the Senators vastly improved on July 1st just by subtraction alone.

Konopka didn't seem to hurt much because of the glut of young forward the Senators have. He was a rock in the playoffs with his faceoff ability and a willing fighter all season long, but he'll be more missed by reporters looking for a good quote and likely in the dressing room than he will be on the ice.

Filip Kuba was already a goner the second the Senators fell to the Rangers in the first round and the fact that he received 8 million over two years in Florida likely justifies the Senators moving on quickly. Kuba was never a fan favourite but he did have chemistry with Erik Karlsson and was a quiet contributor to the young Swede's Norris Trophy win in June.

Carkner leaving town hurt a little bit. The local boy who made good was strangely low-balled by the Senators with a one-year offer, basically pushing him into the marketplace where he got a surprising 3 yeard deal with the Islanders that had every one-note sarcastic blogger and tweeter in an uproar. I say good for Carkner. He deserves a break after fighting his whole professional career to make it to the big leagues. That deal sets his family up for a long time and gives him a place to play where he'll be properly appreciated.

Other than money, it's hard to think of what turned the Senators off of the popular defenseman. Maybe it was his knee - you'd have to think it was - because it's hard to believe the Murray's would turn their back on a player who they not only raised from the ashes of the AHL but who seemed to be a pivotal personality on the team. It's not a stretch to belive that Carkner would have singned a two-year deal for a paltry 1-1.5 million before he hit the open market. Instead the Islanders, who always have to overpay for free-agents to sign with their team, blew the market for Carkner wide open with a contract that Ottawa would never agree to.

I'm not saying Ottawa should have given Carkner 3 years at that price. But I'm saying Ottawa should have at least offered a reasonable 2 year deal for a defenseman that has always provided value well above his pedigree. Chances are the hometown boy would have jumped at a two-year deal and never looked back. Coulda, shoulda, woulda... it's history now. Losing Carkner won't derail the Senators rebuild. But it doesn't feel right all the same.

But let's look at the good news here, because Bryan Murray just didn't doze through the first day of free-agency.

The Good: Trading Foligno to Columbus for Marc Methot.

Doing a little research on the 27 year old defenseman, most people seem to agree Methot was an underrated player on a very bad team. He doesn't score goals or play the power-play like the departed Kuba, but he's dependable, large at 6'3" 227 pounds, and is known for a few devastating hip-checks he delivered to guys like Patrick Kane and Kris Versteeg. He's a better skater than Carkner, plus he's a local kid which brings a certain kind of marketing appeal for the suits at the Kanata rink.

Methot will likely be the 4th or 5th defenseman, either playing with Karlsson or on the last defensive pair with someone like Mark Borowiecki or the newly acquired Lundin. The fact that Methot is signed for three more seasons is a nice bonus as well, considering that Foligno needed a new deal.

Having to trade Foligno was a shock to some but if you'd been watching, you could have seen something like this coming a mile away. Foligno never truly found a role on the Senators and despite having good stats this past season, he was still shuffled around from line to line, often ending up on the fourth unit and being a spare part. It just never happened for Foligno and it wasn't surprising to see him part of a package to strengthen their weakened back end. There are just too many forward prospects in the organization and not enough defenseman. Someone had to be dealt and why not a player who clearly needs a fresh start? Foligno fit the bill perfectly and now Latendresse, Mark Stone, Mika Zibanejad or Jakob Silfverberg will get their chance to be a top-six winger.

The So-So: Signing Mike Lundin. He's cheap at 1 year. He's got some size and skating ability, but there doesn't seem to be any pizzaz there either on the ice or off. Team 1200 personality Shawn Simpson described Lundin in a nasty little tweet: "Lundin can give quality minutes. Smart D zone coverage. Ok size. No offense. Works hard, not hard. Zero personality." Whatever. Lundin doesn't need to be a clown juggling bowling pins for him to be an assett to this team. He just needs to be healthy and consistent, something he hasn't really been able to do in his NHL career so far.

The Bad/Ugly: Signing Guillaume Latendresse.

Okay, I don't really mean Ugly, but it fit with the theme, you know? Latendresse was called out by the Wild for being lazy and showing up to camp out of shape. He has some major injury issues, including a recent concussion. Right away the caution flags go up. But Murray didn't give away the farm for the troubled winger. The Wild chose not to give Latendresse a qualifying offer and Murray scooped him up for a one year, 1.2 million deal that's a big drop from his salary as a member of the Wild.

It's a risk that could pay off if Latendresse can recapture that magic he had as a rookie with the Habs and during his first spate of games in Minnesota where he was rifling pucks into the net every other night. He also needs to show up at camp like a brick shithouse to quiet any doubts about his fitness level. I'm guessing he does that seeing that this could be his last chance before finding himself a journeyman.

It was a long day for the Senators but not necessarily a great one. I really like the Methot deal and will watch like the rest of you how Latendresse and Lundin turn out.

One thing for sure is that Ottawa may be a little less fun to watch in the meantime. Guys like Carkner and Konopka provided a certain kind of entertainment and personality that made last year's team so likeable, even to outsiders. When Carkner pummelled Brian Boyle of the Rangers in retaliation for Karlsson getting his head caved in, the entire Senators team seemed to come together and would have won that series had it not been for a few unlucky bounces in Game 7.

Life goes on and that's the business of hockey. But those kinds of players give the fans and the team something that the stats could never really explain. The so called "intangibles" that moneyball stat-nerds can't seem to comprehend for the life of them.

Sens Hope Bishop Deal Mirrors Giguere Swap... Dull Devs Loss... Jobu Approved Game Notes

With seven games in the books as an Ottawa Senator, and with a respectable 3-2-2 record, Ben Bishop has settled in comfortably as option 1B for at least the rest of this season, even as his arrival seemingly coincided with the Senators entering a Twilight Zone of flat performances.

Option 1A remains Craig Anderson who is very close to returning from a freak Julia Child/Dan Aykroyd inspired kitchen accident, but if more of the unexpected happens, Coach Paul MacLean knows he can throw Bishop into the nets and his boys will have a chance to win hockey games.

Yet there was some anxiety for a few fans when GM Bryan Murray moved a 2013 second-round draft pick for the unproven behemoth, but they had good company in a few NHL GM's who were also chasing Bishop but didn't want to pay the asking price.

Here's the CBC’s Elliotte Friedman on Ottawa trading for Bishop: “Other teams (Toronto, Tampa Bay) didn't want to give up a second-rounder. But when the time comes to decide between him and Robin Lehner, you've got to figure the Senators get back that pick, if not something better.”

It's strange how much of a no-brainer this seems now, only weeks after the deal. You'd think a second-rounder would be a very reasonable price to pay for an NHL goalie but obviously some felt differently. I think some fans feel the accumulation of draft picks is more important than actually winning hockey games but it's surprising to hear some NHL GM's were that cautious. If Bishop were to be drafted this season, he’d be a late first-rounder or a second at worst.

Of course, pro and amateur scouting has a lot to do with successful trades but when it comes down to pushing the big red button on a transaction, the GM has to have the nerve to make the decision, knowing it could flop and make him look foolish in the eyes of some critics.

Goalies in particular seem hazardous to the sanity of GM's. You feel for guys like Bobby Clarke and Rejean Houle.

Yet there's a fairly recent example of second-rounder/goalie swap that worked out well for the team acquiring the warm body.

The Anaheim Ducks traded a second-round pick to Calgary for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, another big goalie (for the pre-Rinne era at least) back at the 2000 Entry Draft. Giguere led the Ducks to the Stanley Cup Final in 2003 where they lost to the Devils (Giguere won the Conn Smythe Trophy despite losing the series), and then finally won the Cup in 2007 against the Senators. That second-rounder traded away by the Ducks (and then later moved to Washington) became Matt Pettinger, a serviceable player but not a true difference maker like Giguere was for many years.

If you don't take any risks, you end up watching other team's parades.

***

New Jersey 1 Ottawa 0

This was another frustrating game for the Senators, who look like they've hit the wall after a long season of giving us entertaining hockey.

That's about 3 clunkers in a row and on Tuesday night the Senators were even without Jason Spezza who missed the game for undisclosed reasons, although it's been acknowledged he's had a tough week away from the rink

Whatever insight you could gain by breaking down the last week of plodding, low-scoring games might be misleading. The Senators look tired and frustrated on their own home ice but these kinds of spells hit most teams at some point in the season.

They remain 6 points up on idle Buffalo who seem to be the only team who could realistically pull the Senators kicking and screaming from the top eight. Ottawa's not going to catch the Devils for 6th and a Florida first-round matchup anymore, but they only need to tread water at .500 to reach their goal.

No reason to scream for the lifeguard just yet.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Ben Bishop (.971 SV%)
2. Chris Neil (9 hits, 4 shots)
3. Erik Karlsson (6 shots)

Honourable Mentions: Matt Gilroy

NOTES

Matt Gilroy – still tanned…. Daniel Alfredsson has been fairly cold for a while now, but I suspect the wise veteran has learned a few hard lessons over the years (thanks to Mark Bell) and is making sure he reaches the playoffs healthy so he can put it all on the line when it matters. He knows this could be his last chance at the post-season and I’m sure these final few games can’t go fast enough right now…... As I said on Twitter this weekend, the Senators have fallen flat way too many times against the Toronto Maple Leafs over the years to call it a coincidence. It’s more like an incurable neurosis that spans generations of players through a mysterious process that no one can seem to grasp. I propose a dressing stall in the Senators locker room be cleared to make room for the exact same altar of worship that Pedro Cerrano from Major League set up for Jobu. “Tis' very bad to steal Jobu’s rum. Tis' very bad.”



…. Another reason hockey is the best? One woman proposed marriage to another Saturday night on the ice in Kanata. And the Senators helped facilitate the moment, which was a classy move on their part. But what if Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been in attendance that night (as he sometimes is at Scotiabank Place)? Would he have sat on his hands and frowned (as his core far-right supporters would insist he do) or would he have applauded like the rest of the crowd who clearly enjoyed the moment? That would have been ten times more interesting than the game that night…. No surprise we hear the typical hand-wringing from pundits horrified that the Devils and Rangers started off their Monday night game with three “staged” fights off the opening faceoff. “O, the humanity! The barbarism!” Personally, as a fan of the game, I loved it. I wish more games would start that way. If Ottawa went out for the opening faceoff last Saturday night against the Leafs and immediately started a line-brawl, it would easily go down as one of the great Battle of Ontario games, no matter what happened the rest of the 59 minutes. Nothing wrong with a good yard-sale once in a while, especially between bitter rivals like the Devils and the Rangers. The players seem to enjoy it. That’s good enough for me…

....If rumours are true that Patrick Roy already has a deal in place to take over as Montreal coach this summer, the Habs have hit the jackpot. There will be a lot of doubters out there but Roy is a winner and he’ll find a way to win as an NHL bench boss as well. And as an ex-player who clashed with more than a few head coaches, he’ll understand what his players are going through and what it takes to survive in Montreal as an object of fanatical obsession. Now, what's Mark Messier doing lately…. Lots of hype about Alex Radulov and the Nashville Predators, but there does remain the very real possibility that Radulov doesn’t make much of an impact and the Preds lose to Detroit or someone else in the first round. The expectations have risen so quickly that a potential disappointment may not be far behind. We’ve seen this type of thing play out so many times in the first round. Ottawa fans know this reality all too well. Nothing against Radulov or the Preds at all, but it just seems too storybook right now....

.... Here's Mel Bridgman, the Ottawa Senators first GM, on the cover of the Devils 84-85 Media Guide (click for larger image). I'd love one of those old foam and mesh caps the kids are wearing.

..... Roy MacGregor, one of my favourite sportswriters,  has a little fun at Ottawa’s expense in Tuesday’s Globe by calling the capital city and Winnipeg “(t)he two lesser cities, of roughly equal size…” Oh Roy. Ottawa is the 4th largest census metropolitan area in Canada with a population of 1,236,324. Winnipeg is 8th with 730,018 people. But give Roy credit. He knows how to get an easy rise from us Bytowners, and that’s to call the city small and boring (in the same article he calls Ottawa fans “so librarian”). Hey, columnists have been doing it for a century. Roy’s just doing his small part. But here’s the catch - When you complain, like me, that someone is calling your town small, you’re basically confirming it by the act of complaining. I even trotted out the stats. How small-town and sad is that?.... Here's “Dobber” via Puck Daddy on the woes (and sudden emergence) of Columbus goalie Steve Mason, who recently switched to bigger pads, and what that could mean for a future crackdown on oversized goalie equipment: “Probably the worst goalie in the league from October through February, Mason has suddenly become one of the best. The reason? Bigger pads? If that truly is the case, then the NHL would have all the proof it needs to increase scoring. If bigger pads can turn a guy who was probably not fit to start in the ECHL into an NHL goalie with a 94% save percentage, then what would shrinking said pads do for league-wide offense?”

This is what NHL shooters used to face:

This is what they face now:

Sweet Lord.

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Boston Curse Over ... Lehner Emerges From Bingo Purgatory ... And Lotso Game Notes

Ottawa 1 Boston 0

Wasn’t it only a few days ago that some were saying Senators management had “soured” on cocky prospect goaltender Robin Lehner? That he had already been passed on the depth chart by newly acquired Ben Bishop? The fans were buzzing about the 6 foot 7 Bishop and his part in a future tandem with a healthy Craig Anderson going into the playoffs and into next season.

If this was the fashion world, Lehner was suddenly like a pair of MC Hammer parachute pants.

His quick fall from favour made sense on paper when you saw that one-year, one-way contract extension given to Bishop, or took just a cursory glance at Lehner’s poor numbers down in Bingo. Or if you heard the whispers about Lehner’s “poor attitude”, an allusion to the intense and driven young Swede not being happy about being in the AHL when he clearly believes he’s NHL ready. In fact, this guy thought he was ready at the start of last year.

All the conjecture in the world doesn’t mean much until the guy in question starts to play actual games, and Lehner, with two straight wins in the book, including Tuesday's incredible shutout of the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, has stormed back into favour with Ottawa fans. And I'm sure he's raised the eyebrows of GM Bryan Murray and coach Paul MacLean with his performance so far.

Against the Bruins, who Ottawa hadn't beaten in four tries coming into Tuesday's game, Lehner was the confident, aggressive goalie we've all heard about so much. On some saves, like a stunner he made in the third, he flashed the glove hand in the air and held it for a split second to let the Bruins know they'd been robbed. His body language bled intensity, whether it was between whistles or when the Bruins were tossing the puck around on the multiple power-plays they had late in the game.

I wouldn't describe Lehner's style as smooth in any way. It's more knife-like. When he changes position, he cuts instead of glides. When he catches a puck, he seems to stab it right out of the air. His head darts in every direction and he seems to stare holes into people, even his own defenseman.

Clearly, this is a kid who realizes the importance of these games for both his status in the organization and for the team trying to clinch a playoff spot.

It's only been two games and a few soft goals can change all this, but with Anderson down for a few more weeks at least, Lehner seems like the safest bet to win games in the short term.

But then we hear that Bishop had a big game down in Bingo at the same time, making 41 saves in a 5-1 win over St. John's.

These are problems some teams would beg for if given the chance.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Robin Lehner
2. Erik Karlsson
3. Filip Kuba

Honourable Mentions: Kyle Turris, Chris Phillips, Sergei Gonchar, Chris Neil and Milan Michalek.

NOTES

With Matt Gilroy wearing number 97 (in honour of his late-brother), he not only becomes the first Senator to wear that number in a regular season game, he has the highest sweater number in Senators history. He beats out Stan Neckar who was the previous holder with number 94. Chances are Gilroy will remain the holder of that distinction forever unless someone takes 98 one day. We're damn sure no one is going to use 99…. It was almost strange to see Kyle Turris smiling and laughing for the Sportsnet cameras while getting ready in the locker room before the game. The guy is all business on the ice and rarely breaks character. Maybe it was the more light-hearted Zenon Konopka slinging a few jokes while tying up his skates next to him. Or maybe it’s the fact that Turris is no longer “the new guy”. That distinction now belongs to Matt Gilroy, but with the long locks and crooked grin, Gilroy seems like a character who could easily fit into any dressing room. The guy just looks like a hockey player. Brian Lee, while not a reflection of how he played, looked a little like the nice college kid who tries to sell you a laptop at Best Buy…..But just like Lee, Gilroy is one of those mouthguard chewers. There’s no grosser habit in the NHL nowadays (although Dany Heatley’s constant hoarking and spitting isn’t good for the stomach either)…. It’s nice of Sportsnet to flash the team lines at the start of the game, but they’re not much use if you happen to blink….. Not so nice of Sportsnet to accidentally switch to the Toronto/Florida game for 30 seconds while the Senators/Bruins were still in action late in the second. I wonder how that plays out in the control room? An intern reaches across the console for another donut and inadvertently flips a switch without anyone noticing?....

.... Remember the days when the Boston Bruins were terrible? When they had to trade Ray Bourque and Joe Thornton and fire about 30 coaches in 10 years. Seems like a lifetime ago. It's amazing the kind of turnaround a new GM can give an organization. Peter Chiarelli, an import from the Ottawa Senators, has done an amazing job re-building the Bruins..... Which brings us to Scott Howson. Not sure how he survives the disaster he’s ushered into Columbus. I’m not even sure how he survives day to day in his job, knowing that everything he touches turns yellow like sour piss. Putting a dull knife into the back of Rick Nash by revealing the once loyal franchise player finally asked for mercy and a ticket out of town will probably be the last significant thing Howson does as a Blue Jacket. It must be the most inept and bewildering performance as a GM since John Ferguson Jr. nearly sunk the Maple Leafs franchise back to Harold Ballard levels of incompetence. If Nash did ask for a trade, and there’s no reason to disbelieve Howson – he’s not that cunning to straight up lie to the press – then you can at least say he did it the right way. He didn’t go to the press when a trade didn’t happen right away. Through the whole ordeal, Nash made it clear that he enjoyed his time as a Blue Jacket and appreciated the fans. That’s about all you can ask for. The guy has had the patience of a monk while the Jackets wasted his talents for eight and a half seasons. Most sane men would have begged for release a few years ago but Nash, like Jarome Iginla and Daniel Alfredsson, stayed positive through the tough times and even went on a summer recruiting trip with Howson to Jeff Carter’s house to convince the pouting ex-Flyers winger that Columbus was a great place to play. Clearly, Carter wasn’t fully convinced. Even Nash could see that another rebuild was coming after they fell face first right out of the gate and there was a real possibility he wouldn’t see the playoffs for another three or four years. Now, thanks to Howson’s bitter and spiteful press conference after he couldn’t pull off a trade he’s had months to complete, Nash has to play out the string this season in an organization now openly hostile to him. While it’s not yet Eric Lindros vs. Bobby Clarke (Howson could only dream of having the Machiavellian streak Clarke once possessed), this is still headed to a place nobody could believe just months ago. Will Nash be stripped of his captaincy? Lose his parking spot? Have to pay for his muffins in the players lounge? More importantly, will he be booed by the Ohio fans? ….

…. It must have been nice for Gilroy to watch a very young Robin Lehner make 3 beauty saves to start the game after almost a full season watching a very old Dwayne Roloson letting beach balls roll slowly through his legs…. For those who thought Gilroy would be replacing Chris Phillips on the second power-play, they may have been surprised to see the Big Rig out there all night. It makes sense. He’s been great there lately, but as Denis Potvin said on the broadcast, it’s probably because Gilroy hasn’t had time to learn the power-play system MacLean uses. But don't be too surprised if Phillips keeps his spot after all.....  Daniel Alfredsson continued his quest for the Lady Byng Trophy by politely handing Tim Thomas back his goalie stick just seconds after Erik Karlsson hammered home a power-play goal with Alfie as the screen.... Brad Marchand really wanted a piece of Alfredsson near the start of the third when the captain gave him a little cross-check at the side of the Senators net. Good thing he was held back because Marchand had one of those “here comes a suspension” looks on his face. The young Marchand would probably be surprised to know Alfredsson has a bit more fight in him than a Sedin. I can’t remember them all but I do know Alfie fought both Darius Kasparitis and Doug Gilmour. He might have had to forgo the Lady Byng chase if Marchand had broken free there….

… The Bruins Adam McQuaid was an absolute wrecking ball out there in the first period. First he bulldozed Konopka with a tough hit along the boards that truly stung the Senators tough guy, and then he put Jim O’Brien flat on his back at centre ice during a rush. It's not really fair the Bruins have both him and Zdeno Chara. Now they have Greg Zanon. Man, that's a tough, tough blueline... Yet another sickening pass by Erik Karlsson in the last minute of the first period to send Milan Michalek in for a great chance that the winger blasted over the net. Karlsson makes it look easy because it probably is easy for him.... The devastating but unarguably clean hit Chris Neil delivered to Johnny Boychuk last Saturday night was truly a thing of beauty. The force of the hit was scary but awe-inspiring in its videogame-esque quality. Unfortunately Boychuck was concussed on the play but Neil couldn’t have approached it any different. It’s strange how Neil is considered a “pest” by some. Not even close. He plays the game tough but clean, and he’s having a hell of a year. He also accepted Chara's request to fight and handled himself well despite taking a couple hard shots. He even had the big man at his mercy but didn't pull the trigger. That's why there's a lot of respect for how he plays the game. It’s not hard to imagine Neil reaching the 1000 game mark in a Senators uniform. He’s currently sitting at 715 games, 4th all-time on the Senators but only has one more year on his contract before becoming a UFA. Unless he regresses badly next season, expect Bryan Murray to get his name on another contract at some point.

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Karlsson's Epic Season Just Got More Epic... Get Serious About "Goon" ... And More Napkin Scribbled Game Notes

Ottawa 4 Washington 2

Erik Karlsson scares me.

Did you see that slap-pass off the boards from deep in his own end, straight onto Milan Michalek's stick in the first period? When Michalek stormed in and scored that highlight reel goal (probably the prettiest of the season for any Senator), I was still squinting in disbelief at my television, trying to process how Karlsson made that play look so easy and natural, like flipping on the light switch and whistling 'Strangers In The Night'.

To me, Karlsson's slap-pass makes David Rundblad's now famous lob-pass earlier in the season look like some kind of amateur play you might see a drunk beer-leaguer make in Cornwall on a Thursday night. A lucky bounce.

Karlsson's pass was no Hail Mary effort. It was fast, precise and sickening to watch for even hardened viewers of the game.

The kid made everything look effortless tonight and if this is just a hint of what he's capable of, how is anyone going to stop him once he hits his prime in five or six years? Right now, he's running on 90% skill and 10% experience. When that experience quota starts to fill up, he's going to be even more lethal. Now before I start growing hair in weird places and morphing into Eugene Melnyk, I'm not making any predictions that Karlsson will be "one of the greatest defensemen of all-time". No need to. He's already one of the best in the game right now and I don't think Ottawa fans even realize what kind of player they have here.

But enough of the hyperbole. The season's too long to tolerate some hack blogger going on and on about some kind of split-second play that seemed to scare him more than it impressed him.

It's like that story I've told before where Wayne Gretzky made some ridiculously unfathomable play in an Oilers practice in the early 80's that made the once bustling rink go quiet in real depression because guys like Mark Messier and Kevin Lowe couldn't believe what they had just seen. It ruined their day.

But there I go again. The Melnyk disease has gotten to me. Names like Gretzky and Messier slip out uncontrollably.

I better get on to another topic before I threaten everyone's sanity and say something really embarrassing.

***

So, how about those Washington Capitals?

Remember the fun old days in Washington? When Bruce Boudreau just opened the bench doors and let his players play the game they way it's supposed to be played? With speed, passion, skill and a few laughs along the way? Sure, the Caps had some playoff disappointments playing that wide open style but that had just as much to do with having a group of young guys than it was their system. Those losses created such a shit storm of criticism that the team seemingly had no choice but to stop the on-ice party and "get serious".

Only problem was the new style didn't fit the personnel. Alex Ovechkin reminds me a lot of the old Jaromir Jagr. He's a guy who needs the latitude to do what he does best or it just doesn't work for him or the team he plays for. Same goes for players like Mike Green and Alex Semin. These guys are born to freewheel but Boudreau was forced to try and tame them or lose his job (he lost it anyways) and now Dale Hunter looks like he's just come in and pulled the reins tighter. He might have to leave in the summer.

The body language on the Caps is depressing. To a man, they know they're capable of running teams out of the rink, or at least used to be, but management wasn't brave enough to stick to what made them great in the first place, and that was the run and gun style that maximizes Ovechkin's game. That's probably an over-simplification of what ails the Caps, but as a general take, I think it's pretty close.

It's strange, because they're only a handful of wins away from overtaking the Panthers for first in the Southeast and third in the East, but back to back tank jobs against Carolina and Ottawa makes you think they're farther away than anyone can imagine.

If you're going to lose (and there are 29 losers every single year), you might as well go out playing the style you do best. The Caps haven't just lost their identity. They actually might be close to the point where they have to tear half the team down. It seems insane, but....

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Erik Karlsson
2. Milan Michalek
3. Craig Anderson

Honourable Mentions: Kyle Turris, Nick Foligno, Chris Phillips and Chris Neil.

NOTES

TSN analyst Mike Johnson was speaking over a video of Alex Ovechkin on his phone walking into the Kanata rink this morning when Johnson hinted that Ovi might have only been pretending to take a call to avoid having to make eye contact with anybody. Wow. Ovi is getting torched every day now. Guy can’t even talk to his girlfriend without someone saying he’s dogging it….. For some reason, this reminds me of ex-Islanders GM Mike Milbury who, upon trading for Alexei Yashin from Ottawa in 2001, came to the defence of his new acquisition by telling the press that "Mother Teresa would have a bad reputation in Ottawa. You can't go down the street and so much as sneeze without something going wrong." For some more classic hockey quotes, check out this string of posts I did a few years back.....  Sportsnet was showing a program called “Marathon Highlights” tonight. I clicked on it and guess what I saw? A bunch of people running down a road. And it was an hour long show. Riveting stuff….. Erik Karlsson had the great TSN play-by-play man Chris Cuthbert hitting some vocal high notes in the first period. Cuthbert and Johnson had just finished marvelling about Karlsson’s stats this season when “the kid” started a give and go in the neutral zone and then led the rush to the net for a close scoring chance. Cuthbert barely had time to catch his breath before Karlsson laced a perfect shot between Tomas Vokoun’s legs for the first goal of the game, which made Cuthbert bark out “The Kid does it again!!” Listening to Cuthbert call a hockey game is to listen to the best there is…. Not to be outdone on the Team 1200 radio broadcast, Dean Brown called the second period Chris Phillips goal by screaming “Number Four, Bobby Orr!!”....

..... A few chaps seem to have a chip on their shoulder about a new hockey movie called “Goon”, presumably because the title and the advertising campaign seems to “glorify” the violent, nasty side of hockey (some of the ads got pulled because of an unrelated sexual innuendo - no surprise there). But what some completely fail to recognize is that comedy has no responsibility to be politically correct or universally sensitive, nor should it ever attempt to be. It’s a movie. It’s not real life. Relax. Some people take the game so seriously they fail to realize that nobody outside of their little insular world could give two shits about what they think is funny or not. The movie might be great or it might be moronic (I have no idea and I don’t really care) but I can guarantee it wasn’t made for people who want to find some kind of deeper meaning or political statement. Neither was Animal House, Slapshot, Happy Gilmour, Dumb and Dumber or Caddyshack. (Even Adam Proteau of The Hockey News, perhaps the most hardline anti-fighting voice out there, realizes the movie is just entertainment and gives it a good review.) ......

.... It wasn't funny seeing Mathieu Perrault score a goal off his face and go down in pain in the third period, but it was pretty funny watching Karlsson look over hopefully at the ref, as if there might be some arcane rule where a goal couldn't go in off someone's grill. No luck Erik.….. With all this talk about Rick Nash and Jeff Carter being on the trading block, wouldn’t it be mind-blowing to see both of them go in the same deal? How about a mega-swap with L.A. that sees Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Bernier and Jack Johnson going the other way? There’s my big contribution to the invented rumour mill…. Strange. According to Cap Geek, the L.A. Kings don’t have a single roster player with a No-Trade clause. Start carving guys….. Douglas Murray of the Sharks “fracturing” his Adams apple has to be the most painful sounding injury of the season….. Let’s all give Sens prospect André Petersson a mulligan for his “Binghamton sucks” comments to a Swedish newspaper. All NHL prospects don’t want to be in the AHL and most of them probably feel they deserve to be plying their trade for a big city NHL team. The fact they are stuck in small cities off the glory trail probably fuels some natural snobbery, especially in young guys like Petersson. They all say the same things to each other in private but Petersson made the mistake of doing it publicly. It’s happened to players before and it will happen again. It doesn’t make him a punk. It makes him young, and after this mini public relations disaster, he’ll be a little older and wiser with his words. Plus, if Erik Karlsson vouches for him, that sort of closes the case, doesn’t it?.....

…. A book I highly recommend you find a way to read is Al Strachan’s “I Am Not Making This Up” which was just published in 2010. It’s purely an anecdotal collection which makes for an easy read on the bus or on the go somewhere and Strachan is one of the last old-school iconoclasts of the hockey journalism gig. The guy seemingly can’t go a page or two without clawing into Bettman and the NHL head office but he has the utmost respect for the actual players, an attribute that seems to be missing in today’s breed of writers who grew up in an era that demonized the players as “greedy” and now feel no need to challenge that theory for the public. Anyhoo, here’s Strach relating one of these stories and it involves the barely English-speaking Valeri Zelepukin of the early 90’s New Jersey Devils and head coach Jacques Lemaire:

“One day, when the Devils were going through a bad stretch, Lemaire gathered the players in the dressing room and started laying down the law… ‘We’ve not been playing well,’ he said, ‘and if we keep on playing like this, you know what’s going to happen, don’t you?”

He looked at the team. There was total silence. Heads were down. Then Zelepukin gingerly raised his hand.

“Coach get fired?”

***

I’m off to Toronto this weekend for a wedding, so there likely won’t be a post until Trade Deadline day on Monday after the weekend games against the Bruins and Islanders. See you then folks. I'll try not to drink too many beers but Hogtown may drive me to unseen levels.

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Sens Rack Another Comeback .... Plus Pulitzer Worthy Game Notes

Ottawa 3 Buffalo 2 (OT)

Talk about a bizarre sequence of events.

The Senators battle back in the third period to tie the Sabres on a shot from forward Peter Regin who is hanging back at the point to cover for one of his defenseman. Then in overtime, Jason Spezza gets tossed from a faceoff and Regin steps in before being waved off from his own bench (likely because of his surgically repaired shoulder). So defenseman Erik Karlsson, of all people, steps into the circle and takes the draw. On the same shift, Karlsson collects the puck deep in the Sabres end and throws it to the front of the net where another defenseman, rookie Jared Cowen, slams it past Ryan Miller for the win.

It was a bit like a twist ending from a decent Twilight Zone episode, possibly spurred on by the strangeness of seeing Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff instigate a fight with hulking Colin Greening after Ryan Miller got a softie bump behind the net in the final seconds of the third. It was the right thing for Ehroff to do, given the history in Buffalo with the Milan Lucic nightmare, but Greening cut him open pretty good with a shot straight to the visor before they both went down in a heap.

Not a bad way to end a divisional hockey game - a good scrap, a goalie dive, and a couple of defenseman hooking up for a down-low overtime winning goal.

Oh, and judging by that crazed pileup after the OT goal, Cowen seems to be a much loved player in that dressing room. The only guy who didn't deliver a facewash to Cowen was Paul MacLean but maybe he got Cowen with a shaving cream pie in the hallway afterwards. Or just turned the fire extinguisher on him.

With that clutch win for Ottawa in the books, they temporarily booted Washington out of 8th place (pending games yet to finish on Tuesday night) and now sit just one point behind the Sabres for 7th in the East.

A few downer moments for Ottawa were the giveaways that led directly to the two Sabres goals and if you've been watching closely, you can tell that David Rundblad is pretty close to a date in Binghamton, maybe as early as one of Sergei Gonchar or Filip Kuba getting healthy. Rundblad's stick seems like it's made of meatloaf when he's trying to get out of his own zone and he's not exactly creating many chances anymore like he was earlier in the year.

Never thought I'd say this, but right now Rundblad is making Brian Lee look like Doug Harvey back there.

Milan Michalek also left the game after colliding with Karlsson at the blueline. Maybe a shoulder?

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Erik Karlsson (team high 27 minutes)
2. Jared Cowen (26 minutes, overtime winner)
3. Jason Spezza (slick 2 assists)

Honourable Mentions: Colin Greening, Craig Anderson, Peter Regin, Chris Phillips.


NOTES

Good to see two players doing what they do best in the first three minutes. Jason Spezza making a shifty pass behind his back to a winger and Zenon Konopka winning a vicious scrap he probably had no business winning from a purely physical standpoint. Konopka took some heavy shots from Cody McCormick but somehow was the one left standing at the end of it. But from the look of Konopka in the box afterwards, he wasn't any prettier because of it (but he still looked better than assistant coach Mark Reeds who took a puck in the face during a recent practice and had the full racoon mask on behind the bench)...Did you ever want to know exactly how they make NHL ice? Wonder no more. I didn't realize the white and the lines were painted on different layers....Funny moment in the third when Daniel Alfredsson was ready to go off the ice so he slowly flipped the puck into the Sabres corner for Kaspars Daugavins to go chase down. It was just like a guy playing fetch with his dog in the park. Sure enough, Daugavins put his head down and went after it with his tongue hanging out (well....)......Hard to believe just how far Daugavins has come since last season. Somehow he played his way up the depth chart, pushing guys like Bobby Butler and Nikita Filatov down along the way. I mean, Butler was a lock going into this season. Not any more. Daugavins hadn't been as good lately but he was more like himself tonight. And by more like himself, I mean "sticky". The guy is always stuck to something. The boards, the puck, the other team's defenseman, his own teammates. He always seems to be in a crowd shuffling his feet but pucks seem to hit him, deaden, and fall to the ice in front of his stick. If some guys are slick and freewheeling, Daugavins is a bit like a piece of gum stuck under someone's shoe. And that's what makes him so effective. If he ever develops a mean streak, he could really be something....

......Both Zenon Konopka and Paul Gaustad are known as two great faceoff guys. Wouldn't that be a strange trend if tough guys across the league all of a sudden got great at draws as a way to get more ice time or even stay in the league? It's hard to imagine a guy like Bob Probert ever taking important faceoffs near the end of games..... Mika Zibanejad and Nikita Filatov both played 9 games, but Zibanejad had twice as many shots on net. Both had one point but Filatov was +1 while Zibanejad was -3. What does this say? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Or maybe just that neither was ready to play in the NHL full-time....Prior to tonight's game, Erik Karlsson was just one point behind both Norm MacIver and Karel Rachunek on the Senators all-time scoring list with 96 points (Edit: He got that point tonight). But I'm guessing Karlsson would rather break MacIver's single-season Senators record of 63 points in a season. He's still 38 37 points back....

.....Per Puck Daddy, when Nikita Filatov was asked by Sovetsky Sport about his relationship with GM Bryan Murray and coach Paul MacLean, he replied "No, there was a good relationship with both the coach and the general manager. I can't complain. I can only blame myself." It may be easy to jump to conclusions about Filatov's attitude if you go on hearsay and past problems in Columbus, but all he's done this year is say the right things and he certainly didn't burn any bridges on his way out of Ottawa. My humble opinion is that we've seen the last of Filatov, at least in Ottawa, but it's not like he won't be welcome if he wants to come back and try again.....Not so interestingly, Filatov is tied with another once highly touted Russian hockey player on the Sens all-time scoring list with one point. And that player is Alexei Kaigorodov who pulled off the single point in only six games as opposed to Filatov's nine. That must burn.....This is not a shot at Winnipeg, but Antti Miettinen thinking he was going to Tampa Bay but ending up in Winnipeg is going to really mess with what he and his family were planning to pack....Chris Phillips is on the home stretch to his 1000th game by playing in his 976th tonight in Buffalo. If all goes well and he stays healthy, he'll play the big game on Hockey Night In Canada at home against Toronto on Febuary 4th. No bigger stage than that for the "Big Rig".

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Filatov Gets The Boot In Ottawa

Let’s just say there was plenty of warning signals for those who could get past the initial excitement of the Senators adding a former highly touted first round pick for a mere third rounder.

Back in the summer, word leaked out that Nikita Filatov was claiming he was promised top-six minutes by GM Bryan Murray. Uh oh.

Not only did that “promise” go unfulfilled, but Nikita Filatov was back on a plane today to Russia to finish the year in the KHL and it’s not even Christmas yet.

So where did it all go wrong?

Some would say it went wrong all the way back in Columbus where Filatov cemented his reputation (fair or not) as a petulant, offense-only winger who wouldn’t take coaching instructions. Optimists said it sounded like a hundred other prospects who eventually turned their games and attitudes around to have long careers. Pessimists rejoiced in the leaked “Filly don’t do rebounds” story that surfaced not long ago and it seemed the entire fanbase was at odds with one another over whether Filatov wasn’t being given a chance to succeed under Paul MacLean and those who felt he had to earn his chance by playing in the AHL or with spot duty on the bottom two lines.

Today we know which side will be thumping their chests.

But even with Filatov gone, many questions remain. He may not be done in Ottawa just yet. The Senators “assigned” him to the KHL which indicates they retain his rights. All the Senators have to do is submit a qualifying offer in the summer and we could potentially see the circus return next September (as long as a new CBA is hammered out in the meantime).

Fans are also left wondering what would have happened had MacLean given Filatov just a few more games in the lineup to so he could get that one goal that might spark a return of confidence. With Filatov’s stay cut so abruptly, it may feel to some like an experiment that never had a chance to play out properly.

Filatov played a total of 9 games spread out over a couple of months: 3 games in October but the first two were on back to back nights to open the season and the last was at the end of the month. He played 5 games in November, again with the first 3 at the beginning of the month and 2 at the end. His final game was against Dallas on December 1 where he had his only minus game of the 9 total. His highest ice-time total in those 9 games was 15:07 on November 27 against Carolina (where he was +1) and his lowest TOI was only two nights later against Winnipeg at 3:30 which was artificially low because he took a skate boot to the face and had to leave the game. But Filatov also posted individual game ice-times 5:16, 6:34, 7:18 and 8:51 in four consecutive games from October 30-November 5 that weren’t affected by injury.

Looking at those ice-times, you can see why many people feel he didn’t get a proper look. But some will point to the fact that in 9 games, Filatov ended up with a single assist and that came in his first game. And this is on a team where many third and fourth liners are contributing on the scoresheet as well as playing a complete defensive game in limited ice-time, neither of which Filatov can claim to have done.

In the end, it looks like this saga came down to one thing: Paul MacLean felt Ottawa had a better chance to win with Filatov out of the lineup instead of in it. That’s pretty much all there is to say. Perhaps there were issues with his work habits in practice or maybe some other intangible thing that fans don’t see in games. So much goes on behind closed doors that fans are left to speculate on scraps of information that may be misinterpreted without the whole context behind them.

Quite likely, and this is just an educated guess, Paul MacLean has no time for incomplete players. Look at the system in Detroit that he came from. All of their offensive guys played the game both ways. Then look at Ottawa and notice that David Rundblad has been scratched from time to time because of his weak defensive play, despite the fact that he can create offense. Filatov, despite skating well on the backcheck in the games he did play, didn’t seem to be contributing in either area.

While we may not have heard the last of Filatov in Ottawa (although I suspect we have), it will be a debate that goes on for some time, but in the end it’s just that – debate.

Paul MacLean and Bryan Murray have the final word in all these things and they spoke rather clearly today with the departure of Filatov.

Sens Not Alone In Arena Fails

Yes, the antiquated and barely functioning scoreboard clock at Scotiabank Place is a local eyesore, but remember, it could always be worse. It could look like this:

This is what the scoreboard inside the Marine Midland Arena (now the First Niagara Centre, home of the Buffalo Sabres) looked like on November 16, 1996 after it fell from the rafters not long after the Sabres had finished practice for the day. Luckily no one was killed.

Cries for a new scoreboard have reached fever pitch in Ottawa, especially with the All-Star game in the building this year and early problems with the clock which has crapped out in at least two home games so far. It was basically inoperable for much of the third period in last night's game against Columbus and rink announcer Stuntman Stu had to keep announcing how much time was left. Yet the Senators organization refuse to say if and when a new one will be purchased and installed, leaving them open to all the wisecracks they deserve.

If they have concrete plans to replace it, why not just tell the fans that? They'll be much more patient and understanding if they know a new one is on the way. Right now, it's a closely guarded secret and I can't fathom why.

Meanwhile, fans grasp at made-up rumours and columnists take pot shots at the organization. It's a relatively small issue that is getting blown out of proportion and the team let it get that way by being more secretive than the people in charge of the Winnipeg Jets, who operate that club more like a cult than a pro sports franchise.

But at least the Senators eschew gimmicks like oil derrick's, which got stuck dangling over the Edmonton Oilers bench during a game last week and hung there during game action.

Oilers defenseman Ryan Whitney talked to Postmedia reporter Joanne Ireland and said "That was like a scene out of a movie. Like Final Destination."

Luckily for the Senators, they have also never had a mascot set himself on fire in front of thousands of horrified children. So they have that going for them.



Also, this has never happened:



Can anyone remember other arena/stadium mishaps? Let us know.

Andrew Ladd's Postcard Home

Ottawa 4 Winnipeg 1

OK, everyone. Back on the bandwagon. There's lots of room and we have eggrolls.

As Denis Potvin said at the end of the game, during the players-only meeting immediately after the Flyers debacle on Tuesday, the most vocal guys in the room were Daniel Alfredsson, Chris Phillips and Jason Spezza, and then they went out and clearly led this team to a rare victory in the early going here.

It may not be Mark Messier in 1994 (here goes Milks with his Messier crap again), or even Mark Messier back in the 80's when he grabbed Reijo Ruotsalainen in the dressing room and threatened to send him back to Finland in a pine box if he didn't start working harder.

But it was good enough for October in Ottawa when the Sens badly needed a win to get the entire city off their backs for at least 24 hours of rare peace.

Craig Anderson looked like the confident goalie who pulled this team out of the basement last season when he came over from Colorado. He made 35 saves and was only beaten from the point on a double deflection that was shot by Dustin Byfuglien.

To say the Senators needed this win was a bit of an understatement. They were getting absolutely buried for two days on all the usual media outlets, being accused of blaming each other instead of taking responsibility and other such nonsense. Sounds like the entire team took responsibility in that meeting and it showed against the Jets.

Coach Paul MacLean had the whole team going and the ice times reflect that. Only Jesse Winchester, Stephane Da Costa and Peter Regin played less than 10 minutes and that's because Regin hurt his shoulder (yes, the bad one) and Winchester was playing his first game of the year after only a handful of practices taking body contact (thought he looked good as well).

Da Costa, despite getting some time on the first power-play unit, suddenly seems like he may be the odd man out if the Senators decide to keep Mika Zibanejad after the 9 game threshold. Da Costa can dangle as good as anyone on this team but he's been shrinking a little the past few games and you can almost smell a demotion coming. Regin's injury, if it's serious, may give him a reprieve but there are still too many bodies kicking around the roster and Nikita Filatov is going to have to get a chance to come up soon as well.

But if you don't like the weather... wait 5 minutes. We could be singing a different tune come Saturday. The stock of guys like Da Costa, Zibanejad and David Rundblad seem to fluctuate shift by shift because there have been so few games to really evaluate them. The most important thing to watch for is seeing if they are improving every game.

Zibanejad and Rundblad have both been getting better (especially Rundblad), but Da Costa might be regressing.

Now watch Da Costa rack a hat-trick against Columbus.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Craig Anderson
2. Milan Michalek
3. Jason Spezza

Honourable Mentions: Chris Phillips, Erik Karlsson, Colin Greening and Daniel Alfredsson.

NOTES

Anne Murray was in the Kanata rink tonight, wearing the Senators heritage jersey. It's not exactly on par with the great Neil Young wearing the Jets jersey as he was pictured recently, but what is? ....Colin Greening is going to be scary good in a year or two when he really gets a proper feel for the league. It's actually strange to see a power forward on the Senators. This guy should have been a Bruin. Luckily for Ottawa fans, he's going to find a home here in town for a long time.... What will the Senators do in 5 years for their 25th anniversary? Will we get another retro jersey, maybe with the original 2-D logo? Have you ever seen a grown man beg?.... I thought it would bother me, but I don't mind the player numbers on the front of the helmet..... Don't look now, but Chris Phillips is playing pretty damn good. Played 22 minutes in a shutdown role and got more physical as the game ramped up. The old cliche - when you don't hear his name a lot, he's playing solid..... Haven't seen much of the Jets this season other than their first game, but Alexander Burmistrov is a lot of fun to watch. Sometimes there's nothing better in hockey than to watch a player who can really skate like that. Still, he's no Sergei Fedorov....They should make Canadian postcards with that image of Andrew Ladd sitting on the bench late in the 3rd with a bloody, swollen, broken nose and a tube stuck up one nostril. That's just as great to watch as a perfect skating stride. Anyone remember Oilers captain Jason Smith getting stitched up while standing in the hallway just behind the bench in the playoffs? Hockey is the only sport in the world where you'll see that kind of dedication (Some still think Curt Schilling put that blood on his sock himself. Not me, Sox fans, not me.).

….It’s time to pull out that old chestnut, “The 2006-2007 Senators started real slowly and look how good they did by the end of the year”. Same thing could happen right? Guys? Anybody?.... At this time last season, the Sens had a terrible record of 1-4-1 but then went on to win 8 of their next 11 games, including a 4 game winning streak in early November. The year they went to the final they were 2-4-0 by October 20 and went on a 5 game losing streak from Oct. 28 to Nov. 8, the last loss being against the Atlanta Thrashers, now your Winnipeg Jets….

… Is Zdeno Chara’s old number 3 retired in Ottawa? The only player to wear it after the Big Z departed in 2006 is the long forgotten Lawrence Nycholat for 3 games back in 2008. If Mark Borowiecki makes the team next season, he should snag it. Or else maybe big Eric Gryba will…. Who will be the first player to claim #12 after Mike Fisher’s departure? It’s a damn good number. Here’s a trivia question: Which player has worn the highest jersey number in team history? Answer will be buried somewhere below.….Olli Jokinen of the Flames says he now has a personal “mental coach” who he calls before every game to help him prepare, as reported by Steve MacFarlane of the Calgary Sun. I’m not making fun of it, because I’m sure in 10 years every team will have a full-time “mental coach” (as opposed to mental coaches like Mike Keenan and John Tortorella), but can’t you just picture poor old Olli on the phone to a guy sitting at a desk reading a newspaper who is distractedly muttering “Yes, Olli, you can do it. Just go to a happy place, Olli. Just tap it in. Just..tap…it …in.”….

…Is this the year the Blue Jackets finally give up on Steve Mason? Maybe they need to get him Olli’s mental coach. Or maybe they should just fit the management team out for straight jackets. At some point the team will have to trade Rick Nash just out of common human decency. Or maybe they should just move across state to become the second incarnation of the Cleveland Barons. Every pro league needs a Cleveland….Trivia Answer: Stan Neckar, who wore #94 for a couple years in the mid-90’s. The next two highest numbers are Mika Zibanejad, currently wearing  #93 and Alexandre Daigle who wore #91 (Daigle switched to #9 in 1998 when GM Pierre Gauthier decided that high numbers were no longer allowed in Ottawa because it set individuals off from the team. Mike Comrie was the first player to have a number over 70 after Daigle and that wasn’t until 2007. Nicky Foligno and Jarkko Ruutu soon followed suit with #71 and #73 respectively)...

…Just when I write something that says the Hockey News needs to diversify their editorial outlook - i.e. a writer who actually likes the more physical aspect of hockey - the latest issue features an article by Ryan Kennedy who goes on unashamedly about his love of fighting in the NHL. So I was proven wrong right away on that one. Figures. I happen to agree with Kennedy, and believe that fans shouldn’t be ashamed to let people know they like fighting in the NHL. That’s the game we grew up with, and it’s still a part of the game today. You may not be with the majority on the issue anymore (and you will get castigated for it in the NHL’s modern McCarthy era), but it doesn’t mean you’re wrong. Enjoy it while it lasts…..

....Shane Hnidy, who is now doing radio work for the Jets after winning a Stanley Cup with Boston last year, is just the latest ex-Senator to find a job with the media upon retiring. He joins Jason York, Shaun Van Allen, Shean Donovan and Todd White, all of whom cover the Senators in various capacities. Ron Tugnutt also did a little work with Hockey Night In Canada a few years ago. One ex-Senator who we will likely never see doing media work? I'll put my money on ex-coach Jacques Martin. Wouldn't be surprised if way, way down the road we see Nick Foligno stepping behind a microphone.....Can't deny it. The Jets uniforms are incredible. I didn't like the logo when it was first revealed but it's grown on me, and to see it on the uniforms gives it a whole new dimension. I wouldn't say they're top 5 in the league, but they might be in the top 10. Just imagine how wild it will be in a few years when the Jets inevitably cash in on the old Jets look and reveal some kind of new heritage jersey like the Senators did this year. Fans will lose their freaking minds and empty their bank accounts. The Jets are just sitting on a goldmine and they know it. No need to mine it so quickly. When regular jersey sales lag, drop the heritage sweater and count the dollars.

Let The Kids Play ... And More On Brian Lee's Resurrection

A few quick notes on the second to last pre-season game for the Senators:

You couldn't say just two games ago that Mika Zibanejad was a lock to make this team. You can't really say it now either, but we're getting closer. Two games, two sickening highlight reel goals (tonight he batted one out of mid-air), and some big bodychecks have put Zibanejad in a good spot with just one game to go until the hard decisions get made. It probably helped his cause that Peter Regin left against the Leafs with what looked like a hurt shoulder. While Regin (who looked great in camp) can't seem to get any luck, Zibanejad doesn't need any. He already chews his mouthpiece like an NHLer and he's getting pretty good at the fly-by high fives at the bench after goals. Now he needs to work on actually winning a faceoff, but that will come in good time. He may or may not be this year's Jeff Skinner, but it's undeniable that Zibanejad is fun to watch and he doesn't look overwhelmed so far. He sometimes looks like a rookie, but then again he sometimes looks like Peter Forsberg if you've had a couple of beers and a shot of Drambuie. The Senators might as well roll with him to see what else he can do.....

...... In fact, why not play all the kids for at least the first couple weeks of the season? So far in camp, it's the kids who have provided most of the fun moments, from Jared Cowen (who's a lock anyways) to Zibanejad to David Rundblad (as stunned as he looks at certain moments). The Sens are well under the cap so they can afford to carry the max amount of players for a stretch of time. It will mean some vets will sit and they won't be happy with that, but it will also keep the level of competition high within that locker room and bring out the beast in everybody. Don't ask me which vets will sit - Nick Foligno actually looked pretty good tonight - but injuries may very well dictate in the end anyways.....

....... I've been hard on poor Brian Lee in this space the last couple of seasons, and for good reason I might add. But good play is good play, and Lee has been much better ever since getting out of Cory Clouston's doghouse late last season and into training camp under Paul MacLean (as I'm reminded regularly by readers and co-workers). I still don't buy this "shutdown defenseman" talk, simply because Lee has not shown he can be physical enough to really play that role the way it should be done, but he's starting to show he can be a dependable player because he could always skate well and he's making pretty good decisions with the puck. He also has some untapped offensive ability that he showed when he first caught on in Ottawa. Maybe I'm dead wrong and he does earn a regular role this year. If Lee and Rundblad keep getting better, Matt Carkner and Filip Kuba could lose some games, but Carkner would only be made expendable if Jared Cowen turns into this team's crease clearer on the blueline. They need sandpaper and size back there, preferably in more than one player, and that's something that Lee and Kuba won't be able to provide. Injuries may end up deciding who starts the year in the top six, but, begrudgingly, I have to give respect to Lee who is turning into quite a feel-good story after almost being left at the curb last year. I hope he pulls it off, but label me still skeptical for now........

....... Of the three college kids who signed their first one-way contracts this summer - Bobby Butler, Colin Greening and Erik Condra - only Butler has failed to show up so far in these exhibition games. Condra had at least one really good game and has been consistent in the others. Greening is getting better after a slow start, but Butler has been pretty much invisible so far. He was better tonight while playing with Jason Spezza, the centre who helped him to so much success last year, but Butler needs to get going. In case he hasn't noticed, the Sens have way too many forwards who could play in the NHL. He's one of them, but he needs to show the coaching staff he's got his hands working.......

........ Again, let me point out another indicative Nikita Filatov play. The guy opens the third period with a great scoring chance which James Reimer saves off his shoulder and Filatov ends up deep in the offensive zone as the puck begins to go the other way. By the time the puck is back in the Sens zone, Filatov has beaten every other Sens forward back across the blueline backchecking. For all the that's happened in the past, Filatov has showed up to play in Ottawa and he's not taking any shortcuts. Stephen Harper should lock up Bryan Murray in one of his new "super prisons" for absolutely stealing this kid from poor befuddled Scott Howson......

....... Sens management has been effusive in their praise for defenseman Mark Borowiecki and his future as a shutdown blueliner for this team in the next few years. That enthusiasm reminds me of how they were once very high on Zack Smith before he broke through and became a regular forward. Seeing how steady Smith was last year and now in camp where he is tearing it up, that could bode well for "Borocop" in a couple of years. Maybe even some games this year if injuries take their toll. You can already feel the rumblings from management that they have another steal in prospect Mark Stone as well. And then there's Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The Murray's just love those mid to late round guys who end up making them look smart. Who wouldn't?.......

..... Really like the 20th Anniversary logo at centre ice this year at the Kanata barn - much slicker than the too large, dark blotch of the 3-D with the red line through it from past seasons - but I imagine that they will be installing the All-Star game logo at some point in mid-season. Here's a question: Do arena staff just cut out the centre portion of ice, repaint the logo and then re-make the ice in just that one spot? Do they just drop the patch of ice they cut out back in there and patch it up? For some reason, that kind of thing keeps me up at nights......

Regin Has A Statement Game

The first pre-season tilt is in the books and the interest in this game seemed to be on par with a mid-season Battle Of Ontario. Fans in Ottawa without NHL Centre Ice scrambled to find the game streaming on the internet and even went so far as to register with Leafs TV online using Toronto postal codes they don't actually live in to pass the security screening process. As usual, watching Senators pre-season hockey requires basic computer hacking skills or $150 cable bills.

Despite the rabid interest, the results of these games are still basically meaningless. What everyone tunes in to see is individual performances from rookies and vets alike, gauging everyone's chances and prematurely trashing them at the same time.

So if we are to look at individual performances against the Leafs, a few names stand out on the Sens side, and the first, to me, is undoubtedly Peter Regin. Playing on a line with Nikita Filatov (who also impressed with his speed and drive to the net), Regin looked like a man truly fighting for his job in front of a new coach who will have no inclination to do any favours for Regin just because the winger turned heads a couple of years ago in the playoffs.

Since that Pittsburgh series in 2010, Regin has been lost due to various circumstances, mostly just poor play which at times seemed unexplainable.

But tonight, Regin hounded the puck all over the ice, created chances with Filatov, backchecked like a madman and skated his ass off at all other moments.

All the hype coming into camp was on Mika Zibanejad and Stephane Da Costa possibly costing Regin his job. Now he's back in the equation big time. If Regin plays with the same intensity the rest of camp, how in the hell is MacLean going to ignore him?

Jared Cowen also made a huge statement tonight with a couple of goals, a fight and a physical presence, especially in middle stages of the game when the Sens were at their best. During a pre-game interview with Gord Wilson on the Team 1200, coach Paul MacLean tried his best not to say Jared Cowen had been too "casual" during the rookie tourney, but he basically did anyways. Cowen seemed just a little pedestrian to start tonight but looked authoritative in his scrap and when he converted a nice behind the net pass from Nikita Filatov. If Cowen is truly ready, and I think he is, the mistakes will decrease as he gets over the initial nerves of early camp. But who's kidding who? Cowen already has a roster spot reserved for him. Tonight just reinforced that notion.

Erik Karlsson looked dominant at times with the puck and he is primed to have a huge offensive season. No surprise there.

Colin Greening obviously didn't lose anything over the summer and he used his big body to create havoc every time he went into the corner and along the boards for the puck. You get the feeling he's too good to stay on any fourth line for too long. He might end up being one of those "plug and play" types. When a line needs some energy or a fresh look, put Greening out with them and let him work the game to death for a while.

Mika Zibanejad looked great in the first half and faded a little, but he already has the look of a pro and it must be somewhat better than 50/50 that he gets to stay in Ottawa this year. He may be too good already to pass up.

David Rundblad sometimes looked great and sometimes like he was watching instead of skating. Yet when he had the puck, he was making things happen and he has that NHL style patience with the puck on the blueline that tells you he's pretty much ready to run a power-play, even if it's the second unit. He could learn the game better in the NHL than the AHL where power-plays tend to be more scrambly and less structured.

Milan Michalek was skating well and looked healthy. Coach says he's fine after blocking a shot and going down in pain during the 3rd.

As for the negatives, it's probably unfair to dump on guys after one pre-season game. Patrick Wiercioch didn't help his status much against the Leafs but it's unlikely he's really challenging for a spot anyways with Cowen and Rundblad clearly ahead of him.

Both goalies, Alex Auld and Robin Lehner, were just okay, if typically pre-season rusty. Nothing to read into.

Hey, hockey's back. Time for a beer.

NOTES

Leafs play-by-play legend Joe Bowen is in mid-season form already, calling David Rundblad "Runbald" or "Rumball", not sure which. Even Don Cherry would wince at that one....Like I said in a tweet earlier today, I have faith the Senators won't subject the fanbase to a Nickelback "goal song", no matter the results from a good intentioned Facebook poll. The problem with good intentions is that they often pave the path to Hell, and if Senators fans have to listen to Nickelback all year (undoubtedly the lamest band in a world stock full of lame bands), then we will all live in Hades and swim in the lake of fire for eternity. The funny thing is that Leaf fans have caught on to what's happening and are currently voting en masse in favour of Nickelback as some kind of cruel joke. Have to admit that's pretty goddamn clever.… ......Filatov is wearing #21 in camp (Zenon Konopka, the vet is wearing Filatov's Columbus #28) and unfortunately there hasn't been much star power behind the sweater #21 in Sens history. Bryan Smolinkski (2003-2006) wore it while he was here, as did the long forgotten but highly skilled Andreas Johansson (1999). Fan faves Steve Martins (02-03 - his second stint in Ottawa) and Dennis Vial (94-98) wore it as well....

.....Has there ever been a new NHL jersey or logo that hasn’t been leaked days, if not weeks, before the club wanted to unveil it? I know, I know, the Jets kept their jerseys under wraps (though the logo was leaked) but the Jets are so intrinsically secretive that they make the tight-lipped Harper government look like the Wiki Leaks organization. But thanks to websites like Icethetics and Uni Watch, the once underground obsession about sports uni’s has gone mainstream, and like anything else considered news, people crave scoops and early insider info. And we’ve been getting it for years now with grainy cell phone photos and 3rd generation photocopied templates of official designs. This is really a marketing department’s worst nightmare because they always strive to make a maximum impact with a highly publicized release date that creates suspense and hype along the way. These leaks really let the air out the tires because only a small portion of any fan base follows the blogs that release these images, but the blogs do a great job of blowing up the story to the point where a mainstream paper like the Ottawa Sun is forced to go with it or else look like they are oblivious to the story. Then the image that gets out to everybody is a poor photo with bad colour. The image of the Sens uni that got taken at that Sabres Store doesn’t truly show the “Heritage White” colour the way it should and now instead of fans getting a proper look at the sweater through the team website, they’re all seeing it for the first time in a technically poor manner. Now I’m not complaining. I want to see them as soon as possible like anyone else. Perhaps clubs should stop trying to be so secretive and push up their dates so they control the process and not some security guard who happened to spot a prototype sitting on the back of an office chair and decided to be Carl Bernstein or Bob Woodward for a day. Hockey fans are starved for hockey news in the summer. Conventional wisdom says no one pays attention in June, July and August because of vacations etc. But a well-timed jersey release at that time also wouldn’t be competing with training camp stories and would ensure a lot of attention. They could have even sold a couple thousand by now……. Classy move by the Senators to have bilingual shoulder patches on their vintage uni's. It's a misconception that most francophones in this bilingual town are still Habs fans......

….. Just the fact Drew Doughty is actually holding out during training camp reminds you how rare it is under the current CBA. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, there were always multiple cases of high profile players sitting out every training camp, often well into the season. How many times did Keith Tkachuk have a contract dispute that cause him to miss time? I’m guessing at least three. Then there was Alexei Yashin, Sergei Fedorov, Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Allison, Rob Blake, Pavel Bure, John LeClair and many, many others. Doughty’s case is not considered normal operating procedure anymore, and that’s something we can all be thankful for….. And yes, Kyle Turris doesn't count.....John Michael Liles will prove to be a smart pickup by Brian Burke and the Leafs.......Hard to believe the NHL Awards show didn’t win an Emmy last night. A crushing blow, but they will stumble on, and try to be just a little more awkward next year.……It could very well end up being the most expensive rookie dinner in Senators history this year. With so many first year guys bound to make the team, the vets will spare no expense on the champagne and brandy…..If Mika Zibanejad is destined to be one of the rookies this year, he will be only the fourth “Mika” in history to play in the NHL alongside Mika Alatalo (Phoenix), Mika Noronen (Buffalo) and Mika Pyorala (Philadelphia). I always thought Mika was just a shortened nickname version of Mikael in Sweden but Zibanejad is listed only as Mika in any official team document I’ve seen. Perhaps someone versed in the particulars of Swedish names can fill us in. Also, what about Miikka Kiprusoff? As usual, I’m confused…..

Till next time...