History Repeats Itself As Sens Look Flat In Game One ... Plus Opening Night Game Notes



New York 4 Ottawa 2

It wasn’t pretty, kids.

Not for Senators fans, hockey fans or even the brain damaged. It actually takes some effort to find a lousy hockey game in the first round but we witnessed a classic fugazi on Thursday as the Senators bombed on Broadway opening night.

For those of us who have had the pleasure of seeing every single Senators playoff game in their relatively brief history, the flat performance in the first game of a series is old hat. We’ve seen it more times than we’ve seen the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld. The "lousy Sens playoff game" went into syndication years ago.

That’s the good news/bad news.

Just because Ottawa stunk doesn’t mean they’ll stink the rest of the series. This is just how they do things. They like to dip their toe into the pool while their opponent usually cannonballs naked into the deep end with two beers in their fists and a snorkel on upside down.

Yet, for this Senators edition, after the character-filled regular season they had, this was a weird one.

Ottawa’s first power-play was a true dud without a single shot on goal. Doesn’t seem like such a big deal early in a scoreless game but it was a missed opportunity to throw a little doubt into the Rangers psyche. Even if you don’t score, you can put a scare into your opponent by moving the puck around and getting shots through. Didn’t happen and Rangers captain Ryan Callahan scored the first goal of the series shortly after.

It was good work by CBC cameras to quickly cut to Erik Condra on the Sens bench after Callahan’s goal. The blood pouring out of Condra’s face suggested that the refs might have missed a penalty call just moments before the puck went in (replays showed it wasn’t illegal) but coach Paul MacLean looked on silently while Condra bled and the Rangers celebrated.

If this was the regular season, we would have seen MacLean mutter one of those wry “for f**k’s sakes” moustache ripplers and maybe wave a hand at the ice. Instead, MacLean kept his cool and it made you wonder if this was some kind of tactic, as if to say to the refs “Hey, you’re going to hear waves of hell coming from the Rangers bench every time you blow the whistle. You won’t hear a peep from us. Maybe remember that down the line here.”

Not a bad idea, especially when MacLean already has a reputation with the refs. Let John Tortorella bury himself with the zebras while you wait darkly in the shadows.

Turns out, the Senators could have used some emotion rather than trying to keep their heads cool.

At one point early in the game, Brian Boyle used Erik Karlsson’s face as a speedbag ala Marchand on Sedin last year and nobody really did anything about it. Clearly, the Rangers had the emotional edge in the first period and carried it through the game until letting up after they got a four goal lead. Tortorella even called a time-out with his squad up a goal in the second and absolutely gave it to his players. Again the cameras cut to the Senators bench while this was going on and all we saw were a few guys drinking water and the coaching staff staring blankly at the ice. Strange to say the least.

To be fair, the big story wasn’t the Senators coming out flat. It was the Rangers coming out with speed, grit and emotion and all their star players had a good night. Callahan was an animal in the first half of the game and the Senators had no answer.

Chris Neil threw his body around as expected but nobody followed his lead, with the exception of Colin Greening, and later, after it was a bit too late, the dazzling stickhandler Nick Foligno.

Zack Smith was a ghost for most of the night and only woke up when a Ranger hacked him near the benches on a change. Smith ended up being credited with 3 hits, all coming in the 3rd period. He had 0 shots and 0 blocked shots. It makes you wonder – how does a grinder not show up in the first game of the playoffs?

Star players can get shutdown offensively because their opponents game plan is based around it. Happens all the time, even to good teams. But grinders are always free to play hard and make hits. Smith had 17 shifts and didn’t make a difference on a single one of them. He’s had episodes like this throughout the regular season and was even made a healthy scratch at one point by MacLean to wake him up.

Lest it be thought I’m blaming Smith for the loss, most of the Senators had a flat game, although Daniel Alfredsson had jump most of the night and Craig Anderson played well early until the team fell apart in front of him with giveaways (and once behind him with Foligno’s unforgivable reverse play that got botched as badly as any I’ve ever seen).

Still, there’s reason for faith. The Senators got two pucks behind Henrik Lundqvist late in the game and that will at least take some pressure off going into Game Two. If they had gotten shutout on Thursday, their minds would have been in a cranked vice if they somehow got stoned by Lundqvist again in the first period on Saturday.

Instead, the Senators can tell themselves that they got the worst game out of their system right away and from now on it’s going to be playoff hockey the way every other team plays it in the NHL. Emotion can be a hindrance or it can be a positive. Usually, it’s not lacking in the playoffs, it’s just how you use it.

For some reason, the Senators miraculously looked like they had none at all for two periods, defying all the odds of science, culture and civilization.

My guess is they’ll get a little of that New York spirit after another day spent in Manhattan, brooding over their Game 1 flop in the spotlight.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Daniel Alfredsson
2. Jason Spezza
3. Chris Neil

NOTES

Started out Wednesday night watching the Flyers-Penguins game but was switching to Wings-Predators during breaks. Pretty soon I was glued to the much more exciting Western match-up. The Flyers game had a great start and wild finish, but it couldn't compare to the speed and flow of the Wings-Predators. Not even close. I might be crazy but I still think the Wings can win that series despite looking a lot older and slower than the Preds. But that's the thing - for everything Nashville threw at them, the Wings were still in a position to tie it up to the very end. It's brains versus brawn in that one. I'm still taking the brains.... Speaking of brains, Shea Weber brained Henrik Zetterberg with a force-feed into the glass that looked worse than it really was. Many thought it should be a suspension but the resulting fine seems appropriate enough. To me, it was over the edge but not enough to be suspended for. Weber was just introducing himself. Nothing wrong with a little "How do you do?" on occasion. If anything, Weber needs to play on the edge the whole series. He's got the size to defend himself. Might as well push the Wings around because if there's one weakness the Wings have, it's a lack of toughness. Exploit it....

..... Ryan Kesler truly embarrassed himself and his organization Wednesday night with at least two pathetic attempts to sell a penalty. The first was when he was tangled up with Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and shot back his head as if he had been butt-ended in the face. Not even close. The second, and even more embarrassing was his barrel-roll to the ice as he and Mike Richards battled for position. Kesler even threw his stick for good measure, like a sniper had put one between his ribs from the 3rd deck. Alain Vigneault shouldn't let his brats get away with that crap but Kesler isn't the only Canuck known for soccer-style dives and chronic whining. If the Canucks get swept in four games, it will still have taken too long. Seeing the Canucks lift the Stanley Cup in June should make any hockey fan outside of B.C. retch.... Okay, too far? I am a fan of the Sedins. And Kevin Bieksa. And Manny Malhotra. And Sami Salo. And Vancouver is a nice city. I lived there for a while back in the 90's but back then the face of the franchise was Trevor Linden whose biggest sin was drinking real milk instead of soy. Times have changed .....

…. So Tampa GM Steve Yzerman put the kibosh on Guy Boucher going back to the Montreal Canadiens organization to take over for sitting duck Randy Cunneyworth next season. It’s no surprise that Yzerman ended speculation right away on Boucher, who still has two years left on his contract to the Bolts. But it’s strange that some would assume Boucher would welcome going back to the Canadiens organization. In Tampa he has Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Martin St. Louis. In Montreal he’d have a goalie in Carey Price, but not much else. Tampa can turn around and win their division next year. If Montreal does, jaws will hit the floor....

.... I love how people have been disregarding Tomas Holmstrom of the Wings after he had a sub-par season and then he goes out and scores a big goal bulling his way to the net on the power-play in a maze of legs, arms and fists. Nobody since the 1970's has taken more horrific abuse in front of the cage than Holmstrom. Anybody who has had a laugh at Holmstrom's expense this season should put down their potato chips, stop tweeting, and go watch some highlights of the Wings Cup runs in 98, 02 and 08. The fact that he can walk, let alone skate, is a miracle of human endurance. Guy is a legend.

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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Chris Phillips Has A Classic Game As Sens Stop The Bleeding ... Plus Pop Shoppe Game Notes

Ottawa 4 Nashville 3

Playing in his 1000th game as an Ottawa Senator in front of his hometown fans and his huge extended family, Chris Phillips had the kind of night we only thought Daniel Alfredsson was capable of.

The Big Rig scored his first two goals of the season and more importantly had a big hand in stopping the Senators brutal seven game losing streak that has brought them right back down into the pack of teams fighting for that last playoff spot.

In accordance with his career, the media and fan hype in the week running up to this game was surprisingly low-key and overshadowed by bigger things on the boil. It wasn't until Phillips played in game 999 that the media really started swinging on it and even then, it wasn't nearly the same kind of glow that Alfreddson generated when he was nearing his 1000 game milestone.

And that's perfectly understandable. But it didn't stop Phillips from delivering an Alfie-type clutch performance that quickly evolved this game from a nice moment to one of those nights that will be remembered by the fans for a long time. When the team turns 30 years old, there will be videos of this night played on the scoreboard when they introduce Phillips alongside Alfie at centre ice. The two goals against Nashville have already entered the "permanent reel".

In a way, it was refreshing to see another player get a piece of the spotlight, especially a player who only a year ago was getting booed by some people for not waiving his no-trade clause because he wanted to be part of the rebuild of the only NHL team he's ever know. It's just one good night, but it's a little bit of vindication as well after a few tough years for everybody.

As anyone who has watched the Senators for the past decade or so already knows, Phillips has a knack for showing up big when it really matters. How many times have we seen him get into that distinctive chug-chug skating stride as he comes barrelling in over the blueline during overtime games looking for that one shot he knows the goalie isn’t expecting to come from his stick. He doesn’t do it very often during the regular season but he has an underrated hockey sense that allows him to jump up at just the right moment and nobody seems to know where the hell he came from until it’s too late.

Yet Phillips will always be remembered for being a steady defensive defenseman, a role that doesn't come with much glamour or praise from the fans. They sometimes don't see the 99 things he does right every night but always notice the one giveaway. But that's life for guys like Phillips.

He's played in the shadows of Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara and now Erik Karlsson.

But all you have to know about Chris Phillips is he's always the guy standing at the open door after a win and congratulating every single player as they come off the ice before he's the last one to step off it and follow his team down the runway.

That says something about the role he plays off the ice and thankfully he should be doing that very same thing for at least a few more seasons.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Chris Phillips
2. Jason Spezza
3. Milan Michalek

Honourable Mentions: Bobby Butler, Sergei Gonchar, Erik Karlsson, Chris Neil and Nick Foligno.

Let's take a look at how the season-long BA 3 Stars are coming along:

Black Aces 3 Star Season Scorecard

1. Anderson – 46
2. Spezza – 35
3. Karlsson – 34
4. Alfredsson – 34
5. Michalek – 27
6. Neil – 20
7. Foligno – 16
8. Greening – 14
9. Cowen – 13
10. Gonchar – 13
11. Smith – 10
12. Turris – 8
13. Kuba – 5
14. Phillips – 4
15. Da Costa – 4
16. Condra – 3
17. Butler – 2
18. Winchester – 1
19. Carkner – 1

NOTES

It was a tough morning at the Team 1200 in Ottawa as on-air personalities Jim Jerome, Phil Melanson and Mike Sutherland were layed off as part of "corporate restructuring" at Bell Media (an almost Orwellian term that exists solely to make firing people sound nicer than it actually is). Also caught in the shitstorm was Michael Harris at CFRA, the only host on that station who was worth listening to on any given day. Lee Versage of Sportscall survived the cuts but lost his second co-host in a few years with Melanson being shown the door. Melanson's predecessor, Glenn Kulka was let go in late-2009 after a few entertaining years of getting completely outraged with the callers on a daily basis. Jerome, who is the son of a former House of Commons Speaker (James Jerome) seems to have taken a different route to fame than his father did. Some people didn't like Jim Jerome but I thought he was fairly amusing when he actually showed up. He's probably thankful he doesn't have to wake up around 4:00 Edmonton time to do a 6:00 Ottawa show anymore. For a guy who seems to like the odd pint or two, it's actually pretty impressive Jerome managed to call in from Edmonton most mornings. Jerome's refusal to take Pierre McGuire seriously was probably the best thing he did for that show, as well as his classic "Turkey Skin Luggage" tune that I've hummed in my fog-addled brain on more than one occasion against my will.....

..... Jason Spezza punched the glass so hard after he scored in the first period that he could have broken his hand, broken the glass, or punched a perfectly round hole through the glass and knocked out the unlucky fan on the other side. Nobody needed a goal more than that guy (except Bobby Butler). You could tell Spezza was angry and giving everything he had in the loss to the St. Louis Blues but was fighting his confidence all night long. Once he got that first one tonight, he was absolutely flying for the rest of the game. Can’t find much fault with Spezza’s performance this year….. Spezza opted for the lowered knee, downward fist pump for his second goal. The guy has a lot of moves….. Goaltenders continue to be unreasonably coddled by the league as Nick Foligno’s slight brush against Pekka Rinne’s glove somehow cost the winger two minutes for goalie interference late in the first period, even though Foligno wasn’t impeding Rinne from making a save or anything else for that matter. The “collision” might have ruffled Rinne’s sweater a little…..

.....Strange scene with the big rookie Jared Cowen tying up Alex Auld’s loose equipment during a stoppage in play. I guess there’s no task too menial they won’t make a rookie do nowadays. Pick up the pucks after practice. Buy dinners. Tie up a veteran’s loose jockstrap on live television….. Every time I turned the channel to watch the Leafs/Flyers game on TSN, Scott Hartnell was up to something no good. That guy is incredible this year. At one point he banged in a garbage goal and before he could celebrate, he and Dion Phaneuf dropped the gloves and went at it right outside James Reimer's crease. This guy is turning into a modern Eddie Shack…..



..... Chris Neil had a hell of a shift in the third when he had the whole Nashville team chasing him around the neutral and defensive zones while he hacked and whacked at the puck like a crazed lumberjack. The Preds ended up taking a penalty call because all they could do was hack and whack right back..... I don't really know what it is but lately I've rediscovered Family Feud and caught it right before the game tonight. One of the answers on the board to the question "Name something a man takes ten minutes to do" was - for real - "Pinch A Loaf". Apparently that is the most family friendly term they could come up with. It would have been even better if nobody had guessed it because at the end of every round, they reveal the unguessed answers one by one and the whole crowd repeats it out loud, but in this slow, dragging tone of voice. What I would have given to hear a whole studio audience moan the words "Pinch A Loaf".... Mike Fisher was pretty quiet in his return to Ottawa tonight despite playing over 17 minutes in the game. He didn't have a shot on net but typically finished +1 with 3 blocked shots and a handful of hits. Same old Mike....

.....It never gets old watching this Chris Phillips 2003 overtime goal against the Devils in the Eastern Conference final, if only to watch Zdeno Chara nearly kill five teammates with his now legendary celebration jump.



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Sens Forget What Got 'Em Here .... Plus Unpopped Popcorn Fuelled Game Notes

Toronto 5 Ottawa 0

Why is it when the bottom falls out for the Ottawa Senators, it always seems to be against the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Many people across the capital city on Sunday morning will be wondering how in the hell their Senators could have come out so emotionally flat in the Battle Of Ontario - something that has happened many times before - even while their comfortable playoff lead continues to get eaten away by hungrier teams below them in the standings.

There just doesn't seem to be much of an excuse for getting steamrolled by the hated Leafs in your own rink while failing to show even the slightest heartbeat until the embarrassing score on the scoreclock forced you to get angry enough to engage in a few hits.

The Senators became the league's surprise team partly because they had an emotional edge on other clubs in the first half of the season. They'd go and get kicked around in the first two periods like some kind of stray dog but keep scrapping through it until their legs outlasted their opponents in the third.

Frankly, the Senators are playing like a team that's lost their hunger and maybe felt like clinching the playoffs was just a coasted few weeks away from their All-Star break. They've gone from eating scraps in the alley to feasting on Alpo in front of the fireplace, even while the burglars rob the house blind.

Certainly the coaching staff is going to wake these guys up, either through the bag skate routine or with a garbage can or two hitting the walls in the dressing room, but once the tide turns against you, it can be hard to turn it around, even if you're heart is back in the right place. Six losses in a row has essentially wiped out the strong stretch they had in late December, early January which put them in the position to become lazy in the first place.

But that's just numbers. What's important is that the Senators have seemingly forgotten what it means to battle for goals and for a team that already gives up a lot in their own end, that's going to kill them if they can't get that bulldog mentality back.

When the Senators lost games in the first half of the season, they at least went down swinging and you rarely felt like they didn't leave it all on the ice. Now when they lose, there's a strange empty feeling where it seems like they didn't even give themselves a chance. It's not about working hard - that's a cliche that's used way too much - but it seems more like a mental fog has descended on these guys after revelling in all the great press they deserved up to this point. Now it's up to Paul MacLean and his staff to get these guys a little uglier again.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Spartacat (kept the kids from crying too hard)
2. Beer vendors (kept the kids from getting too drunk)
3. The stairs (allowed people to leave the building)

NOTES

The big black shield the Senators have in the walkway to the ice still looks a little strange when you catch it on TV. Almost like a huge piece of hash stuck to the concrete wall with a circle of laurel leaf foil stuck into it. The shield might have been put there as a sort of touchstone or good luck charm for the players to tap with their gloves on the way out to the ice but only one or two guys ever do. Just aesthetically, it looks kind of ugly but at least it’s original. It would be cool if all the players punched it once before hitting the ice because after time it would become a tradition and new players would be tapping the same shield that guys like Daniel Alfredsson did. Think if a team like the Habs had something similar. Imagine tapping the same shield that guys like Rocket Richard and Jean Beliveau did? Not saying the Senators legends will ever be on par with that but that’s the kind of tradition you can build with a little foresight. Or, maybe some arena attendant gets an order to tear it down this summer and throw it in the dumpster out back. These things can go either way…. People like to take shots at the CBC and Hockey Night In Canada, but the fact is nobody does hockey better than HNIC. The pre-game Inside Hockey segment with Elliotte Friedman before tonight’s game that featured the struggles of ex-Senator Brian McGrattan and Jordin Tootoo with alcohol was HNIC at its best. The entire Saturday night production is seamless and nobody can touch what they do. Not TSN. Not ESPN. Sportsnet wouldn’t be able to put together 5 minutes of HNIC quality work. Clearly, it’s not just tradition keeping HNIC relevant……

..... Did you ever notice that when a team gets a goal scored on them, the players on the bench for that team almost all automatically grab a water bottle and take a big drink? It's instinctual, I guess. That's their subconscious way of putting the goal behind them and resetting the brain. Goalies in the net seem to do that too. What would Carl Jung say about it? We all know what Sig Freud would say - the bottle is a phallus or something like that..... I wonder why Saturday night against the Leafs wasn’t a Heritage jersey night for the Senators? Instead they wore their road whites at home. If there’s one Senators sweater that needs to be retired it’s their underwhelming, already dated Reebok Edge-era whites. A new road jersey with a couple of normal horizontal stripes at the waist would be a welcome addition to the wardrobe…… Somehow, the Senators still have 5 more back-to-back sets of games this season…. I actually think Dion Phaneuf is now somewhat underrated. I’d take him on my team anyday…. If Jacques Martin hadn’t been shitcanned by Pierre Gauthier at the first sign of trouble, I truly believe the Canadiens would be right there with Washington and the Leafs fighting for a playoff spot with Ottawa. Martin-coached teams always seem to even out with that consistent approach the veteran bench boss takes year after year.….. Geez, the shot that Kyle Turris heeled on the fresh wet ice of the second period reminded me of when you’re playing pool with your buds at the bar and wind up for the break but completely whiff on the cue ball while everyone laughs so hard that beer comes spraying out their nose. I’ve done that like twenty times in my life, usually a few pints in at the Dominion Tavern in the Market….

....Only being 3 games from his 1000th in a Senators uniform, you’d think Chris Phillips would be getting a little more press than he actually is right now. Barring injury, the Big Rig will play the milestone game in Ottawa Thursday night against the Nashville Predators. He would have gotten it done at home tonight against the Leafs if he hadn’t missed two games to injury. Ottawa’s been lucky to have a guy like Phillips over the years. Like I said before, he’s their Glen Wesley. Always under appreciated but one of the foundation pieces of the entire organization. Hopefully he gets his due from the fans when the time comes….. Jason Spezza, with 212 goals going into Saturday's game against the Leafs, is closing in on another Alexei Yashin mark, being only 6 markers behind the former franchise centre and #19 jersey wearer, who had 218 goals in 504 games. Once Spezza does that, he’ll be ahead of Yashin in all the main statistical categories. Some people have been waiting a long time to see Yashin’s name slowly removed from the leaderboards. It’s just about done…. Why is it that when you finish eating a bowl of popcorn you feel like you have to eat a few of those unpopped ones? All they do is break your teeth and taste like wood. But still, we perservere....

.... Jaromir Jagr, with 1,637 points, is closing in on Joe Sakic for 8th in NHL all-time scoring, needing just 5 more to put him right behind his former mentor and teammate Mario Lemieux who sits 7th with 1,723. Passing Mario might be tough but if Jagr plays another year for a good Philly team, he’ll have an outside chance (he’d likely need two more seasons). Pens fans will be pissed…. Jared Cowen has had a couple of games he’d like to forget, especially on Friday night against the Islanders. Yet Bryan Murray well knows you have to live with those stretches, even with a rookie who’s been as solid as Cowen. It always seems like a rookie defenseman is allowed fewer mistakes than a rookie forward, but the fact we’re even talking about this reminds you of how little we’ve had to point out Cowen’s faults. That’s a pretty good sign. If anything, it would be nice to see Cowen step up a little more in the offensive zone like he was doing a bit more in the months before Christmas. It reminds me of how Chris Phillips seems to find that extra gear whenever a game goes into overtime. You’ll almost never see Phillips take a chance during regulation but he gets goal hungry when it really matters. Cowen has a bit of that in him and might have better hands than Phillips if he chose to use them more.....

Remember when the Battle Of Ontario used to be like this?



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Senators Draft Legacy

Pavol Demitra

Occasionally I like to geek out on stats, in particular career stats for the Ottawa Senators. In a sense, we’re all somewhat lucky to watch a franchise in its early stages (although at 20 years old, the Senators have already moved out of Mom’s and are failing college right now), simply because we get to see players achieve all kinds of firsts for the organization, such as seeing Daniel Alfredsson being the first to play 1000 games in a Senators uniform with Chris Phillips gearing up to be the second.

Modern fans of the Habs, Leafs and other original six teams don’t get to do that. They learn about team legends through books or from an older uncle who gets blind drunk and blabs on endlessly about how much better the game was when he was a kid. Fans of the Senators get to see their team grow up before their eyes. We take players like Alfie and Phillips for granted right now but one day they’ll be the all-time standard to which other Senators will have to live up to, the same way that Red Wings players have to live up to Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio and Gordie Howe.

And as another rookie camp rolls around, there’s going to be a whole new batch of freshmen who may one day become cornerstones of this team. But for now, they’ll be the ones collecting the pucks after practice while the established vets are untying their skates and coming up with stupid nicknames for the new guys.

The Senators seemingly drafted well this past summer with the plethora of first and second round picks they had after dealing away half the team at the deadline. A lot of those players will play important roles for the Senators in the future while some will play important roles for other teams after trades or free agency, and some will simply fade from the NHL scene quicker than Petr Schastlivy (if they’re lucky - many picks don’t see a single game).

In a roundabout way this got me wondering how good the Senators have really drafted since their first try in 1992, not just taking into account how many games they played in Ottawa, but in the NHL in general. Games played in the NHL seems to me the most important stat you can find when you’re trying to quantify someone’s career. It puts defenseman and forwards on an even playing field and really, longevity is what it’s all about (but Bobby Orr may disagree with that).


Best Senators Draft Choices Based on NHL Games Played (500 games minimum)

1. Daniel Alfredsson – 1056 GP (1994 6th round)

2. Radek Bonk – 969 GP (1994 1st round)

3. Chris Phillips – 945 GP (1996 1st round)

4. Marian Hossa – 897 GP (1997 1st round)

5. Alexei Yashin – 850 GP (1992 1st round)

6. Pavol Demitra – 847 GP (1993 9th round)

7. Mike Fisher – 702 GP (1998 2nd round)

8. Sami Salo – 692 GP (1996 9th round)

9. Chris Neil – 659 GP (1998 6th round)

10. Martin Havlat – 621 GP (1999 1st round)

11. Bryan Berard – 619 GP (1995 1st round)

12. Alexandre Daigle – 616 GP (1993 1st round)

13. Andreas Dackell – 613 GP (1996 6th round)

14. Antoine Vermette – 540 GP (2000 2nd round)

15. Jason Spezza – 526 GP (2001 1st round)

16. Stan Neckar – 510 GP (1994 2nd round)


Now obviously this is not a completely reliable way to assess draft picks – Jason Spezza will end up being a much better draft pick than Andreas Dackell when all is said and done – but it gives you a good idea of the kind of legacy old scouting departments have left behind in Ottawa (particularly under the leadership of Marshall Johnston and John Ferguson). As you know, scouts don’t necessarily think in terms of how many games a player will wear a Senators uniform. It’s always about whether or not a kid will one day play in the NHL. Players move according to whim on the general managers part. Scouts are hired to find NHL players period.

And it looks like the Senators have done fairly well in that department. They’ve drafted a few legitimate stars like Alfredsson, Hossa, Spezza and, yes, Yashin. They’ve found their share of late round steals such as 9th rounder Pavol Demitra (pictured above, who as you all know, passed away today in that tragic crash in Russia along with ex-Sen Karel Rachunek, who played 371 games in the NHL and was drafted by Ottawa in the 9th round in 1997, another great pick.) Sami Salo is another 9th rounder and he’s still playing a big role in Vancouver despite mind boggling injuries that have plagued him since his days frightening goalies in Kanata.

Even Alexandre Daigle has a good showing here because 616 games is nothing to balk at, even though he’s widely regarded as a first overall bust. But the kid had a decent career if you take the notoriety out of the equation and now he’s got an NHL pension. You could do worse.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on this list is Radek Bonk who quietly had a very good run in the NHL as a second-line centre in the first part and as a checking line centre towards the end with Nashville and Montreal. As of last season he was still playing professionally in the Czech Republic.

With Bonk seemingly out of the NHL for good now, it looks like only two more players (after Alfie) drafted by Ottawa are a lock to play at least 1000 NHL games and that’s Phillips and Hossa. Fisher might play another 300 games but he’s highly prone to injury. Neil and Havlat have a shot if they can both stay healthy and relevant while Spezza will almost certainly make the milestone later in his career.

Perhaps Neil and Spezza will be numbers 3 and 4 to do it all in a Sens uniform.

It could happen.

***

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Weekend Notes

Hockey violence is apparently “hurting the game” and the NHL’s image, according to everyone with access to a microphone and a word processor, yet the NHL has never been so popular in both Canada and America. Ever. 

The ratings are breaking new records on both sides of the border. The salary cap has gone up every year since it was instituted because revenues keep going up. Everyone involved is getting rich, with the exception of a few southern-based organizations having ownership problems. Both the owners and the players have a CBA that dictates exactly how much money each side makes and the playoff races are the most exciting among all 4 major leagues, not to mention the playoffs themselves. Yet, there is no league in the world which goes through so much needless and boring self-analysis than the NHL. The game is better than it's been for the last 25 years but people can't help focusing on what's wrong with it, rather than what makes it such a great sport.

The fact that the NHL is fast, physical and somewhat dangerous is what makes it great in the first place. The masses clamoring for a "culture change" seem to forget that they already won the biggest battle, and that was to get the league to install Rule 48 banning blindside hits to the head. It's only been in place for less than a full season and already people pretend like it's always been there, and that the NHL has done nothing to curb concussions. Nothing could be further from the truth. That was a landmark rule change and it's impact can not yet be properly assessed.

Any further legislation made in a panic is not the right way to conduct business. But if the pressure becomes unrelenting, change will become inevitable and everyone will have to live with the consequences, even if it means the game itself becomes worse. It's too bad. Suddenly, hockey has turned into an intellectual and moral debate and nothing could be more boring. Have you listened to the Team 1200 lately in Ottawa? The Senators don't even exist anymore. It's 24/7 headshots and how the NHL is a "bush league". We hear interviews with lawyers and doctors. Journalists who have never written a hockey article in their life are suddenly experts on the NHL and have no qualms telling Gary Bettman how to run the league. NHL hockey used to be an escape from politics and other serious issues, a way to unwind and enjoy a Saturday night. Nothing wrong with that. Now it's just a huge drag like everything else. What a shame …..

.....Bettman easily delivered the most cutthroat line of the year when he subtly threatened Air Canada that NHL clubs could, at any time, stop using their charter services in response to the Montreal-based company sending out a ridiculous letter to the commissioner threatening to pull their sponsorship dollars. I’m guessing the executives will now crawl back to their desks with their tail between their legs as most opponents end up doing when going against Bettman. Love him or hate him, he never loses. He crushed the NHLPA so badly that its very existence was in doubt only a few years ago. You think he’s going to blink when a sponsor, who is apparently getting a sweetheart deal on the naming rights for the Maple Leafs rink, sends a reactionary letter trying to tell the league how to conduct their business? I’m sure they had a good laugh about that one in New York. That’s why it’s no surprise Bettman received a five year extension back in November. He's not going anywhere folks.....

..... Oh no. Poor Brian Elliott. The Avalanche got destroyed by the Ducks last night and Elliott let in six goals. His save percentage on the night was .818. Since joining the Avs, Elliott is sporting a bloated 4.40 GAA, an .875 save percentage and an 0-4 record in 5 games (he was yanked in one game which gave him a no-decision). What happened to this kid anyways? Both Cory Clouston and Bryan Murray mentioned that Elliott was under a lot of "pressure" when he was forced to carry the load in Ottawa, but it looks like that pressure has only increased in Denver. If you think about it, how tough would it be to get traded to a team where the only thing anybody knows about you is that you couldn't get the job done for your last team and now you have to go in and save the day for your new team. To make things worse, the goalie you got traded for has turned into the China wall and people are saying the Senators stole Craig Anderson from the Avs. There is a very real possibility the Avs don't offer Elliott a qualifying offer this summer to retain his rights. Where Elliott could go from there would be anybody's guess.....

..... Incredible debut for new Senators goalie Curtis McElhinney (say that 5 times fast) against the Lightning last night to give the Sens four straight road wins. I've wasted a bit of virtual ink saying the Senators need to go after an experienced back-up to Anderson next season, like Johan Hedberg or Mathieu Garon, but maybe McElhinney could make a good case for himself down the stretch. If the Senators could get goaltending like this next season, the playoffs are definitely possible..... Don't look now but Marek Svatos had 5 shots on net last night. He's starting to look better but needs to start getting on the scoresheet. If he could ever get comfortable, this guy could be a steal for Murray..... I know, I know, Brian Lee is playing well. Now let's see him do it from the start of training camp to the end of a season. I'm still skeptical..... Chris Campoli is +5 since joining the Blackhawks and has 2 assists in 5 games..... Jarkko Ruutu has 27 hits in 9 games for the Ducks since the trade but only 8 PIMs. I'm thinking he's enjoying life under Randy Carlyle a lot more than Cory Clouston....

....Speaking of Clouston, interesting piece from the Sun's Don Brennan today where he criticises Clouston for not giving Erik Condra and Erik Karlsson a chance to complete hat-tricks against the Devils and the Panthers this week by keeping them nailed to the bench with the opposition net empty. He even got a league executive saying, “(Clouston) just has blinders on,” said a league executive...“He just doesn’t notice.” It's a good point, but Clouston insulates himself from criticism by winning lately, and he deserves credit for that. You can get away with being "unliked" by your players if you win, but the act gets very old when the losses pile up. The odds caught up to coaches like Mike Keenan and Ken Hitchcock eventually. At the same time, nice coaches don't last long if they don't win either. Craig Ramsay in Atlanta is having a tough go at the moment and may not be back if the Thrashers miss the playoffs. Maybe you need to be somewhere in the middle to have lasting power, like Barry Trotz in Nashville and Lindy Ruff in Buffalo. Then again, neither of those guys have Cup rings. I guess it helps to have good players, no?....Not that he would have been available anyways, but Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma's new contract extension snuffed out the 0.01 percent chance he could have ended up behind the bench in Ottawa next season. Everybody I know who watched HBO's 24/7 series immediately recognized how good of a coach he really is. The Pens have hardly missed a beat after losing both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Probably doesn't hurt that they absolutely stole James Neal and Matt Niskanen from Dallas for Alex Goligoski.....

....I have a guest article up at Local Tourist Ottawa, a great site you should check out if interested in all things Ottawa. The piece is a general history of the Senators and geared towards maybe a more casual fan than may normally check out Black Aces (meaning I don't expect any emails telling me what an a-hole I am from their readers, like I get from time to time with mine!). Thanks for the invite, Jessey.....

....And lastly, how fun is it to watch this group of young Senators night in and night out? And don't tell me these guys are only playing good because there's no pressure. Guys like Bobby Butler and Erik Condra are trying to make this team for next season. There's no bigger pressure than trying to establish yourself in the NHL. The way they are performing is exceptional and should be giving guys like Nick Foligno and Peter Regin a few incentives to come into camp next year ready to fight for their jobs.

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.

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.

Quote

"I think Nashville plays a system that is going to be perfect for my game," he said. "It's intense and hard working. It's all about team, and that's what I love and look forward to. I can fit that mould really well and I'm excited about that.

"It's a more aggressive style of play than we have played in Ottawa. That's why they've being successful so far, and I can add to that."
-Ottawa Citizen

Is this a bit of a backhand to Cory Clouston and his passive defensive system by Mike Fisher on his way out the door?

Couldn't be. Could it?

***

The Senators should cut ties with Brian Elliott this summer.

He's played so poorly this season that you have to wonder about his value as an asset to this organization anymore. The Senators don't have to give him a qualifying offer this summer when he becomes a restricted free-agent and could use that money towards bringing in at least two unrestricted goalies this summer.

Unless Robin Lehner becomes a miracle man, my guess is he'll be starting in Bingo next season as the number one guy to get experience. That means the Senators have a chance to completely revamp their NHL goaltending this summer by signing a true number one and an experienced back-up.

There is so much baggage with Elliott now that it's best for both sides to start fresh.

Fisher Traded

The somewhat unexpected (but inevitable) trade of Mike Fisher to Nashville today officially signaled the end of the old guard in Ottawa and painfully ripped open the doors to a full rebuild in the capital.

A first round pick that will be in the middle of the round and a conditional pick doesn't seem to be a home-run type return for a guy like Fisher, but it should be considered fair and GM Bryan Murray got a strong asset in return for one of his biggest trade pieces (I find the sentiment that Nashville "overpaid" for Fisher completely false – anything less than a first rounder for Fisher would have been a complete steal).  And now it looks like there's going to be a lot more moves on the way, but none more bigger than this one.

You also have to consider the cap space this trade creates as part of the return for Fisher. They save 4.2 million for each of the next two seasons and that's quite significant when you add that to the space created by the likes of Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Phillips, Alex Kovalev, Pascal Leclaire and Ryan Shannon, all of whom will be UFA's.

They may need the savings when the disappointing renewals for season tickets start coming in this summer.

It wasn't exactly a strong farewell performance for Fisher this year but he's been battling a rib injury all season long and hasn't been able to hit or play his normal power forward game. But you don't have to go too far back to remember Fisher physically imposing his will on other teams and scoring big goals with that underrated laser beam of his.

For those of us who have watched this Senators team for a long time, it's going to be more than strange to see the Senators without number 12. Many thought he was the heir apparent to Daniel Alfredsson as team captain but it's also interesting to point out that Alfie publicly stated just days ago that Jason Spezza should be in line for the "C" when he finally hangs them up. That's probably just a strange coincidence but maybe this deal has been in the works for longer than we know.

Maybe time will tell that Murray traded Fisher at exactly the right time. Power forwards tend to regress in their 30's, and with Fisher now past his 20's, perhaps the Senators have already used up his best years. The two places where Fisher will be missed most are in the playoffs and in the community. The playoffs are a pipedream so that doesn't really matter anymore, but Fisher was a very visible presence in this town and probably the most popular Senator of all-time next to Alfredsson, as well as the most charitable.

But is this not a Hollywood ending for Fish? Trading for Carrie Underwood's husband in Nashville is probably the most genius marketing move in the NHL since they held a lottery for Sidney Crosby or when Mark Messier returned to New York in 2000. It's almost too perfect to believe. (uh oh).

So who's next? The obvious one is Chris Phillips but does Fisher's best friend on the team, Chris Neil, now feel less attached to the future here as a result of this trade? Maybe he wants a taste of the playoffs this season as well. But, as always, you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

There are a lot of good players on this team having bad years.  If Phillips leaves and doesn't come back next season, who is going to step in and play his 25 minutes a night? Do you give those minutes to a rookie? Don't think so. The Senators would have to go out and sign a veteran, and with the free agent market looking thin this summer, who better to sign than Phillips himself as veteran mentor to all the young defenseman who are going to be in the lineup next season?

Chris Neil bleeds black and red and is a team leader in that locker room. Losing him would be just as tough as losing Anton Volchenkov last summer.

But with the Fisher trade, it looks as though Bryan Murray has finally thrown in the towel on this core group and that means no one is really safe.

One wonders if Murray can turn around and use this Nashville first-rounder in a package with Phillips to get that Boston-owned Toronto first-rounder.

Hey, one can dream.

Senators Logo: Ranked 26 Out Of 30 - THN

In case anyone missed the Hockey News recent ranking of NHL Logo's, you can visit that link here.

Perhaps surprising to some (and not to others), the Senators are in the bottom 5 of the league wide rankings, just ahead of the Ducks, the Hurricanes, the Sabres and the Lightning.

That's a pretty vicious beatdown.

Personally, I'm not sure how the Avalanche, the Predators, the Thrashers or the Canucks ranked ahead of the Centurion but alas...

It's too bad the Ottawa organization doesn't understand what every fan already knows:

The original 2-D logo has always been the best and will always be the best.

You could put a cartoon pile of steaming dog shit on the front of an Ottawa jersey and people will still buy tickets and merchandise. So why the need to experiment with something that was already working?

The 3-D logo introduced back in the late 90's was cool for about two weeks, then it just became creepy. The new redesign is much better but it's still awkward looking and not befitting a franchise that once existed in the NHL's formative years ... and dominated.

For proof, just click here and visit the NHL's home page. The 30 team logo's lined up along the top border are miniaturized and the Senators logo is completely indecipherable. Why? Because it's way too complicated and not pleasingly shaped. Virtually every other team logo in that lineup conveys that simple idea that needs to be expressed: ... identity.

Ottawa's does not.

So why not stick with the classy and now historic 2-D logo?

That boat has probably sailed but you can still hope that Roy Mlakar takes note of these types of things.

Emery On Waivers

The process for officially buying out Ray Emery is underway. According to TSN, Emery, along with Dan Cloutier of the Los Angeles Kings have been put on waivers.

With St. Louis acquiring Chris Mason from Nashville, Emery's possible destinations have just been narrowed.

Some team is going to hit a home run with this guy. It just won't be the Senators.

.

Barring a trade or unexpected signing, the team is now in the shaky hands of Martin Gerber.

.

Uh oh.

Around The League ... Redden To Florida?... More Avery ... Chelios Calls Pred Fans Hillbilly's!

Jacques Martin has announced that he's going to stay in Florida as their general manager. He also noted that his main objective is to grab a puck-moving offensive defenseman to help out the Panthers. Does Martin's long relationship with soon to be unrestricted free agent Wade Redden come into play here? Highly doubtful that Redden will sign with a non-playoff team but stranger things have happened. Redden had his best years under Martin.

***

The Colorado-Minnesota series is getting extremely nasty and even the reporters covering the games are getting pissy. Woody Paige from the Denver Post sounds like he might start throwing his fists around if the Wild don't simmer down and play nice:

"After being humiliated in the first period and being completely out of it in the second period, the Wild turned feral — brutishly trying to "send a message." ....

The Avs were solidly on their game, and the Wild had no game, no skates, no effort Tuesday night, so the Minnesota players went Daniel Day-Lewis on the Avalanche. There must be blood; there must be fights; there must be stupidity; there must be ejections; there MUST be suspensions.

The Wild players' mothers had to be really proud of them. That was not pretty. And coach Jacques Lemaire should have been ashamed. That was not nice."

***

There is still a large buzz surrounding free-agent prospect Fabian Brunnstrom and now that Vancouver canned GM Dave Nonis, the Red Wings feel that they might have a shot at signing him after being rebuffed in favour of the Canucks earlier. The problem is that he wants 2 million and a guarantee of top-six minutes on the roster. Now he's starting to get some criticism as James Mirtle reports in the Globe and Mail:

"He was brilliant during the regular season, but had a really bad playoff with Färjestad," said one Swedish reporter. "[$2-million] sounds a bit much, doesn't it? I mean, he did play in the Swedish Division 1 — which actually means the third division, after Elitserien and Allsvenskan — last year. And I don't think he will make the roster for the national team in the world championships."

***

Larry Brooks of the NY Post thinks the league went overboard in its reaction to Sean Avery's circus act against the Devils:

"The demonizing of Avery in the wake of his creative shenanigans is completely out of line. What shrine, exactly, did he desecrate? What player's leg did he step on with his skate blade? What player did he send flying face-first into the boards on an icing touch-up?"

TSN actually compiled a Top Ten of Sean Avery moments. I don't care what anyone says - this guy is just as entertaining as Alex Ovechkin.




***

Chris Chelios has a penchant for saying some insane things, like the time he threatened Gary Bettman's family during the 1995 lockout. This is sort of pales in comparison but Chelios is still not making any new friends. Here he describes Nashville fans:

"Yeah, they're hillbillyish. ... I don't know what to say, hillbilly or country."

"They are a very emotional crowd, exciting crowd, loud, so it's actually a fun place to play on the road."

TSN personality Pierre McGuire has been telling anyone who will listen that Detroit might be in trouble against Nashville because he doesn't believe Dominik Hasek is playing good right now. Others in the media are starting to notice . Never seen so much concern over a team that is actually leading their series.

Bonkie Struggling With Preds

Ex-Ottawa Senator Radek Bonk is having a tough time in Nashville this year, where coach Barry Trotz calls him "Mr. Overtime" because he only seems to score in the extra period.

"Bonkie" has only one goal in 27 games and none in his past 19. He also has three assists in his last 14 games.

Bonk's career high in points came when he was a Senator in 2001-2002, scoring 25 goals and adding 45 assists for 70 points. Those were the good old days when Bonk played with a young Marian Hossa on Ottawa's first line.

The closest he ever got to his career high was 60 points in 99-00 and since 2002, Bonks numbers have absolutely plummeted.

02-03 Senators: 70 GP - 54 points.

03-04 Senators: 66 GP - 44 points.

05-06 Montreal: 61 GP - 21 points.

06-07 Montreal: 74 GP - 23 points.

Bonk has 21 points in 51 games so far this year so his numbers should go up into the 30 point range.

Not that impressive for a 3rd overall pick.

Trivia: Bonk used to slam multiple cans of Coke as a ritual before every game when he was in his early days with the Senators. It didn't help much. He netted 3 goals in his rookie year.