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 Collapsing Down The Stretch.. Hungry Raccoons... Plus Painfully Etched Game Notes

St. Louis 3 Ottawa 1

Right about now seems as good a time as any to outright panic.

And why not? As an Ottawa Senators fan, you have every reason to start breathing heavily and climbing the walls.

As we’ve seen over the past few years, when things start to go south for the Ottawa Senators, it doesn’t seem to stop until they reach the outer gates of hell.

They can’t just have bad goaltending. They have to have goaltending so puerile that even Don Rickles would feel bad making fun of it.

They can’t just lose to their biggest rival across the province. No. They have to go out and get bulldozed on Hockey Night In Canada as they’ve done countless times against the Leafs, usually when just the opposite kind of game is vitally needed.

They can’t just lose two, maybe three games in a row. They must go on some kind of self-annihilating quest of nothing less than five games in the tank which wipes out whatever gains they made when they were playing like one of the best teams in the league.

There’s no middle ground, which is where most NHL teams call home, a comfortable place where you can drop a few games in a row without spinning into some kind of confidence destroying bender that blows the minds of even the most reasonable hockey analysts on the planet.

Coming this late into a season where Ottawa had only suffered one such abysmal plunge (back in October), a seven game losing streak would be a massive surprise if these weren’t the Ottawa Senators we all know and love.

Yet it’s not a funeral procession just yet. Shockingly, the Senators are still a playoff team after tonight’s loss with a two point lead on the Florida Panthers, who fell out of their third place spot as Southeast Division leaders, overtaken by the Washington Capitals.

Despite Craig Anderson’s weak goaltending tonight against the Blues, the Senators showed way more emotion and drive than they did against the Leafs on Saturday night. Usually, that’s the first sign a turnaround is on the way.

When teams get into these death spirals, they always seem to lose one or two games at the end that they deserved to win. It’s a bit like turning around a canoe with a turd for a paddle. You’ll get where you want to go but it’ll take three times the rowing.

Or something like that.

Let’s see how this group responds against the Nashville Predators on what should be a proud night for the franchise as they celebrate Chris Phillips being the second ever player to suit up in the red and black for 1000 games. If there’s a game the Senators have to win, even if half the team has to spend the night on IV’s because they gave too much blood, then it’s against the Predators on Thursday night.

If they don’t pull that one off, there’s no telling how bad this could get.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Daniel Alfredsson
2. Sergei Gonchar
3. Colin Greening

NOTES

Despite having a tough year down in Bingo, you have to wonder if GM Bryan Murray has at least pondered the idea of giving Robin Lehner a game or two if Anderson and Alex Auld’s troubles continue. Do you risk pissing off Anderson and possibly sending him further into a funk or do you gamble that a Lehner promotion will give Anderson some focus that may not be there with Auld as his nonthreatening backup? It’s a bit of a psychological game with the goaltending right now. A Lehner callup might signal to the players that management is panicking which could make things worse for everybody. Or, as these things sometimes do, it could work out that Lehner gives them a small charge and they ride him until the adrenalin wears off.... According to Jeremy Rutherford at STLtoday.com, David Perron of the Blues walked into a Hockey Life store in Ottawa on Monday night in an anonymous fashion and started ripping pucks at the net set up by the hockey stick racks, blowing the mind of the store clerk who apparently had no idea who he was.....

..... My wife, the wildlife lover, made me take a bowl of old cantaloupe slices out to the backyard during the game to throw into the bush “for the racoons”. The second my foot hit the icy back step I was flat on my back with exploded melon as far as the eye could see. My wife heard it, came to see what happened and proceeded to laugh her ass off. As I lay in the snow and water, I hear Dean Brown call the St. Louis Blues second goal from the living room. Meanwhile my neck and elbow are basically done for good. I hope those raccoons enjoy their f***ing cantaloupe tonight..... The Sportsnet cameras caught Craig Anderson applying some lip balm as he sat in the locker room before the game. The question is whether Andy is a cherry, strawberry or vanilla guy.….. Some old-school hockey in New York tonight as there were two separate fights right off the opening faceoff between the Rangers and Devils. Makes you wonder – if Glen Sather and Lou Lamoriello went toe-to-toe in the hallway, no blocking, just one of those hammer jobs, who do you think would win? I’ll take Sather in a close one. That cigar chomping bit gives him the edge over college man Lou….

..... Scary scene today on the Ottawa transitway when two buses collided. Anyone who takes the bus down the transitway probably at one point or another wondered when this would happen. For the most part, buses fly through there at up to 100 km hour with no barrier between lanes in case a driver made a mistake. I don't know all the details of how the accident happened but when you hear the roar of another bus hurtling just inches away past your window, you end up imagining a few really bad scenarios, much worse than the usual stuff like the guy sitting next to you falling asleep on your shoulder and breathing in your face, which happens to my brother almost every night after work..... The Islanders made a smart move by re-signing Frans Nielsen for four years at $11 million. I always thought Nielsen should have been a Red Wing with the style he plays. He might have even ended up there if he went to UFA this summer. Would have looked good in Ottawa too for the second or third line.....

.... Hearing about longtime Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff having three ribs broken during an accident in practice and Oilers boss Tom Renney getting beaned by a puck in the head may remind Senators fans of when assistant coach Ron Low collided with rookie Nick Foligno during a drill in 2007 and hit his head on the ice which caused a pretty serious injury. Most coaches just wear a track suit, a whistle and hockey gloves on the ice during practice which means at least one goes down hard every year or two. But don't expect them to start putting the gear on. Can you imagine a coach being taken seriously by players when he's wearing a helmet and visor out there? It's just not gonna happen..... It's funny, but even just ten years ago you could conceivably go on the internet and read most of the major papers and come away feeling like you had digested all the hockey news out there. Now, you could spend six hours on the web and only catch a quarter of the hockey commentary out there. It's mindblowing how many people are writing about the NHL today.....Down in Bingo, Francis Lessard has 132 PIM's in just 34 games. You don't meet too many guys named Francis anymore.....

..... All this losing must be nudging coach Paul MacLean out of Jack Adams Trophy territory. There's still time but the voters won't like this big scar in the middle of the schedule..... Leave it to Matt Carkner to come up with the best line of the day when he told TSN that he hoped he would get switched up front so he could try to run former teammate Brian Elliott..... Speaking of running St. Louis goaltenders, I can't help but think of the 1996 playoffs when Leaf Nick Kypreos ran Blues goalie Grant Fuhr and tore up the Hall of Famer's knee, putting him out for the rest of the season. There doesn't seem to be video of it anymore on You Tube but rest assured it was a vicious act on the part of Kypreos. Still, it didn't exactly work out for the Leafs. Jon Casey came in and finished off Toronto before falling to the Red Wings in the second round off the famous Steve Yzerman goal in double-overtime of Game 7. Simply, one of the best shots ever taken in an NHL game. Perfection. This goal also ended Wayne Gretzky's short stay in Missouri.

Goaltending Quickly Becoming An Issue In Ottawa.... What Else Is New?

Boston 5 Ottawa 2

The shots on goal total say it all here. Ottawa 49 - Boston 29.

This game came down to goaltending and as usual, Tim Thomas of the Bruins, who "likes the lighting" in the Kanata rink, dominated the Senators with 47 saves and a .959 save percentage.

On the other hand, Craig Anderson was dismal on Wednesday night and couldn't stop Patrice Bergeron on a breakaway when the Senators needed him to step up and bail them out on a tough play.

You could point to the fact that Ottawa was missing three of its better and more experienced players in Milan Michalek, Sergei Gonchar and Filip Kuba, but how much of a difference could they have made when Anderson was beat cleanly on multiple shots with no deflections?

Anderson has played in 28 games so far this season and he's had a sub .900 save percentage in 14 of those games. That's exactly half for those who didn't pass Grade 10.

But it's tough to bury Anderson when his defense is giving away pucks all night as they have throughout the season but he also hasn't made a habit of stealing games and unfortunately that's the type of goaltender Ottawa needs this year to make the playoffs.

Things won't get any easier with Pittsburgh rolling into Kanata on Friday. Last time Anderson faced the Penguins he gave up four goals on eight shots in just under ten minutes.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Jared Cowen (team high 27 minutes of solid play)
2. Daniel Alfredsson (responded to being put back on first line)
3. Jason Spezza (dangerous late in the game and 2 points)

NOTES

Only a veteran media guy like Darren Pang could actually appear nervous when getting introduced from between the benches at the start of the game. As he kept talking throughout the first period, my wife, who doesn't pay any attention to hockey whatsoever, gave me a strange look and asked if that was some teenage kid talking. Instead of trying to explain, I just said yes. That's no knock against Panger. Not many love the game more than that guy, plus he's a good Ottawa boy (as Don Cherry would say if he was fond of talking about good ol' Ottawa boys).....One of the reasons they put media guys between the benches is so we can hear things like Pang relating how the whole Ottawa bench visibly sagged and lowered their heads when Craig Anderson let in a softie to Rich Peverly in the first period. It would be interesting if the cameras panned to the benches after goals instead of going to the "goat cam" which focuses on the guy who made the mistake (although they tend to get it wrong almost 50% of the time).......How long until the Senators make a white counterpart to their new heritage uni's and those become the home and away set with the current red the "new" third jersey? I'd give it two more years....What's the deal with this logo anyways? They've used it on some merchandise but not on an actual jersey. And we can all be thankful for that. It's pretty terrible compared to the logo they were obviously trying to "modernize"....What is it about Twitter that brings out the Dwight Schrute in everyone?.....

.......It's amazing that people still seem so surprised and outraged that NHL players actually get concussions. The fact that two recent high profile players were injured by accidental collisions with teammates has just added to the confusion. If we could all pull our heads out of our asses for one minute and use some common sense, we'd quickly realize that hockey is a physical, athletic sport which requires the participants to hit each other in various ways to retrieve the puck. This will always lead to injuries, some of them serious. You can tweak the rules and the equipment but concussions are here to stay. At some point we should probably get over it and accept it as a normal outcome of sports. As Cam Cole noted in a widely read column today: "It may turn out that the NHL, in all its misguided, deceitful stubbornness, was accidentally right all along. Maybe concussions really are just the cost of doing business, and we — and they — had better get used to losing the best players, who have the puck the most and therefore are the most vulnerable. What can you do? It’s a kind of natural selection. Charles Darwin wrote about it." And we're just realizing this now? People need to get over their bogus "spectator guilt" and accept the game for what it is at the root level. The players accept it readily. So should the fans and the media......

.....With the Big Bad Bruins in town, that gives us a flimsy excuse to look at old Bruins hockey cards. This 54-55 Topps Milt Schmidt would make a pretty nice print to hang on your wall, don't you think?

Here's a few more:  57-58 Topps Johnny Bucyk, 33-34 O Pee-Chee Eddie Shore, 71-72 O Pee-Chee Phil Esposito, 73-74 O Pee-Chee Derek Sanderson, 79-80 O Pee-Chee Peter McNab , 33-34 O Pee-Chee Tiny Thompson, 81-82 O Pee-Chee Mike Milbury, 54-55 O Pee-Chee Fern Flaman, 71-72 O Pee-Chee Bobby Orr.....

.....Scary bout between Matt Carkner and Milan Lucic in the first period. Every time I see Lucic start throwing the hammers, I expect to see his opponent lying on the ice, even when it's a heavyweight like Carkner. I'll give the scrap to Lucic on punches landed but Carkner got the last laugh - literally. I wonder what he said to crack the linesman up as he was getting escorted away.....Ex-Senators goalie Brian Elliott is having a hell of a comeback season in St. Louis. Yet, like all goalies, Elliott will hit a tough patch and it will be interesting to see how he responds. He didn't handle those down times very well in Ottawa but when things were going well, he could look unbeatable. In a way, Elliott reminds me of a guy like Brian Boucher (now in the Carolina Hurricanes organization). When Boucher got hot, it was unbelievable what he could do in a limited stretch of games. Then he'd go into the tank in a spectacular way and have to build himself back up. Maybe Elliott's career will go in a different direction and this is just the start of a natural maturation process. Think of how amazing a story it would be if he won the Vezina trophy this June. Don't laugh, it could happen.

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Coaching Staff Set For Little Sweden

Looks like the Senators read my last post, dropped everything, called the PR staff back from the cottage, and decided to announce the official signings of Dave Cameron and Mark Reeds as the assistants to head coach Paul MacLean in Ottawa. When I lift a finger, people start running, as my seven loyal readers well know.

We already know the score with Dave Cameron, but Mark Reeds is a little less known in Ottawa unless you're a rabid follower of the Ontario Hockey League where Reeds coached the Owen Sound Attack for the last handful of years. He, like MacLean and Cameron, played in the NHL as well, spending most of his time with the St. Louis Blues and a short spell with the Hartford Whalers (and their farm team in Binghamton).

The Senators now have three main coaches with NHL playing experience, and you can also throw in some of the other assistants like Luke Richardson and Rick Wamsley in that category. The Senators have never had a coaching staff that has the potential to understand what these players are going through, which was one of the main complaints about Cory Clouston and his staff last season, where even nice guys like Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Phillips were said to be shaking their heads at the way the team was being run.

But that's ancient history now. Bryan Murray has done a stellar job getting some of the top prospective NHL coaches together in one staff, and it's going to pay off sooner rather than later I suspect. He's also got the most picks of any NHL team in tomorrow's draft (as they keep saying without realizing the shocking meaning of that number - 6 of the first 66 picks - 666 - the ultimate "goocher" number of all numbers).

Now if Murray could somehow convince the Panthers to swap picks and grab Gabriel Landeskog at number 3 (Gabriel - another biblical reference - something strange is brewing), and if the local press can stop trying to trade Jason Spezza every week, then the Senators are going into this season with nothing but positive vibes, a whip-smart coaching staff, and a team full of hungry kids fresh off an AHL championship.

Maybe they even convince a top-six forward like Ville Leino or Scottie Upshall to sign in July.

Not much to complain about right now, but I'm sure we'll find something.

As for the draft, I'll be watching just like the rest of you, clueless as to what will actually transpire, but everyone has their pet pick for the second round or later, and mine is Swedish hot-shot Joachim Nermark, who can score goals like a maniac. I'll take a shot in the dark and predict the Senators will grab Nermark on Saturday to complement their growing Swedish family. And if you've caught sight of that monstrously huge Ikea being built out by Pinecrest, guys like David Rundblad, Robin Lehner, Andre Petersson, Jakob Silfverberg, Marcus Sorenson and (hopefully) Landeskog should feel right at home here in Little Sweden by the River.

Weekend Notes

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

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

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

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

Elliott Should Start Looking Over His Shoulder

After another tough loss on the road, this time to the St.Louis Blues, it seems like a perfect time for the team to be idle and have a weekend off before starting another tough stretch where they will play four games in six days but at least three of them are at home.

Essentially, the Senators have to hit the reset button here. They got clobbered on the road this week and now find themselves under .500 again and out of a playoff position in the top 8. Yet, if they are the same sort of streaky team they were last season, they have a chance to get back into form with a couple of home wins, starting Monday against the Kings.

The goaltending has crashed and burned, with Brian Elliott playing so poorly of late that it begs the question: Does Pascal Leclaire get a chance to start an important game soon?

I'd bet that Elliott gets some more rope by Cory Clouston, because, let's face it, Elliott is Clouston's guy. 

It's just a hunch, but I'm guessing Clouston learned to trust Elliott in Bingo when the two were there together and he's just more comfortable with him. They both have the same demeanour, whereas Leclaire is loose and doesn't seem to get too uptight after bad performances (although his stick swinging tantrum in practice last week was rare moment of intensity). You got the sense that Leclaire started this season as the top guy because Bryan Murray and the rest of management expected it (or, dare we say, demanded it). That's purely speculation but it's likely close to the truth.

I wrote just last week that Leclaire is bound to get another shot, even though Elliott at the time was held in semi-deity status during his hot streak. And for a while, he was worth the hype. He was a rock. But Elliott has the tendency to go through real rough patches and he seems to be in one now. If Clouston allows it, Leclaire could have a chance to get that number one spot back if he steps up and plays lights out whenever, or if, he gets that opportunity.

It's interesting to wonder what this team would look like if Leclaire hadn't hurt himself early into the season. People were saying he was the Senators best player, but when the groin popped, some were saying his career was toast because he couldn't be trusted to stay healthy.

That's still the case. But when it comes to goalies, always expect the unexpected. Especially in Ottawa.

Something to watch.

Sens Look For Redemption In St.Louis

The toughest day the Senators surely will have to face this season is over.

Starting with an emotional ceremony in Ottawa for the Richardson family and then on into Carolina where they were trounced to perfection by the Hurricanes, Wednesday was a long one.

Now the Senators are sitting in Missouri, waiting for their chance to get back on the ice to do what they do best - play hockey. There's no insensitivity in getting back down to business. Often that's the best remedy anyways.

So the scene is set for a game that, at one glance, can mean so much to both teams, but at another angle, may mean very little to a group of shaken up players in that Senators locker room.

But you can bet this Ottawa team wants a win more badly than at anytime so far this season. They've lost 3 of their last 4 and have obviously lost momentum for a variety of reasons.

On the ice, the Fisher-Alfredsson-Michalek line is struggling big time even though Alfie scored his 8th of the year in the Hurricane wipeout. Mike Fisher is hurt and doesn't seem able to hit. Milan Michalek still isn't right somehow. The goaltending has come back to earth a little, with both goalies getting shelled in recent games. The defense has had their shares of troubles. In short, they've been a mess at times, but they've also come on strong, like they did in the second period against the Canes. If the Senators had played the whole game that way, it would have been 2 points in the bank, but they didn't have the legs in the end.

So who will be more desperate? The Blues have lost 5 straight games and have a couple of really good players in T.J. Oshie and David Perron on the injured list. Jaroslav Halak has struggled since opening the season looking like he was going to haunt Habs GM Pierre Gauthier until his dying days.

The safe bet is that the home team will come out on top in a game like this, and that's why I picked St. Louis in today's Citizen Prediction Panel. Yet there's that intangible the Senators have.

The Blues may want to win this game. The Senators may feel like have to, for whatever reason you want to name. But are their heads in the right place? Are their legs back under them? Will Alexei Kovalev get his 1000th career point against a team he has had very little success against over the years (13 points in 21 games, tied for his lowest total against any team, barring the expansion clubs)?

We'll all see for ourselves tonight.

***

Congratulations to Kevin for winning the Subway Savings pack we gave away in our last post. He's got four tickets to the upcoming Kings game on Monday. Thanks to everyone who sent in their answer to the trivia question. Shawn McEachern was the guy we were looking for.

***

Could we see a re-match here in tonight's game? Not sure if he is going to be in the lineup, but Cam Janssen is incredibly tough and durable for such a smallish fighter and he gives Matt Carkner all he can handle in this somewhat epic scrap from last season. But Carkner also has to weigh the fact he'd be off the ice for 5 minutes. Choices, choices.

Fan vs Athlete: The Lessons of Patrick Roy and Jason Spezza

I don't necessarily want to revisit the worn topic of Senators fans booing Jason Spezza, which boiled over to the point where a mutually agreed trade out of town became a very real possibility this past summer.

But there's more to this story than the local skirmish it caused. Something that goes to the heart of all spectator sports and the increasingly strained relationship between fans who feel entitled to express themselves freely (believing that money has bought them that imaginary right), and the athletes who feel entitled to work in an environment that's free from constant hostility (believing they've worked all their lives for that right as well).

It's extremely rare to hear an athlete admit that the reaction of the crowd has gotten to them. Modern athletes almost unanimously claim that booing fans don't bother them, that their inherent professionalism acts as a wall against any negativity thrown their way by the beer soaked inhabitants of the upper stands.

They almost always trot out the tired line that "fans pay good money so they have the right to do what they want".

But anyone with an ounce of logic can see the defense mechanism a mile away. Athletes are just as sensitive as the rest of us. Don't buy the line for a minute.

So do fans really have the right to say anything they want? How far does that extend?

The first relevant quote here is from Ken Dryden's famous book The Game:

I am a professional, paid to do my job no matter the circumstances. ... I do only what I can. And by buying a ticket, does a fan acquire a right that a fan in the street has not? Opportunity, yes; access, yes; but any greater right? Does he acquire license to abuse me any way he likes, to say what he won't say to anyone else, anywhere else? Is that what I'm paid for, like a lightning rod, to stand in the place of everyman and attract and purge the resentments from his life? Am I supposed to take it and feel nothing? Is that all part of the game?

Maybe, the author quoted below, Michel Roy, father of Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, puts it more plainly, but no less importantly:

There's a difference between criticizing an athlete's poor quality of play and vilifying the athlete. Some spectators, for whom hockey is a release, fail to make that distinction. They take revenge on a third party for frustrations they are suffering at the hands of a boss, a spouse, a teacher, a colleague, a friend.

The context of Roy's quote (taken from his excellent book, Winning: Nothing Else)  is from the 1995 trade of his son Patrick, from the Montreal Canadiens to the Colorado Avalanche. During that season, inexperienced coach Mario Tremblay seemingly had it out for Patrick from the beginning, which culminated in Tremblay embarrassing the goalie by not pulling him during a 9-1 drubbing at the hands of the powerhouse Scotty Bowman-led Red Wings (Tremblay also had a near hysterical hatred of Bowman from when he toiled under the legendary coach as a player for the Canadiens in the 70's). When Tremblay finally pulled Roy (and after the goalie had stood up to the jeers of the hostile fans by raising his arms after a routine save), all hell broke loose on the bench as the goalie marched up to Team President Ronald Corey and said he had just played his last game for Montreal.

The Montreal fans and the rookie GM Rejean Houle were all too happy to comply with Roy's impulsive wishes and the club even hired a public relations firm to skew the media message, making Roy out to be the bad guy, similar to what Peter Pocklington tried to accomplish with the Wayne Gretzky trade less than ten years earlier.

The fans, despite having watched Roy deliver two near-miracle Stanley Cups in ten seasons that were totally dominated by either the Oilers or the Penguins, had a love/hate relationship with the goaltender and opinion at the time was largely supportive of the trade, logic and loyalty be damned.

Of course, we all know how that turned out for the Habs and their fans (many of whom would be loathe to admit supporting the trade in a revisionist history lesson, much like Senators fans won't admit to wanting Daniel Alfredsson out of town during a slump early in the 2006-2007 season).

Roy went on to win a Stanley Cup that very season in Denver and added one more for good measure in 2001. The Habs meanwhile, never really recovered from the disastrous trade and the even more disastrous hirings of Houle and Tremblay (neither of whom had any experience in their jobs prior) to run the franchise. They are only now getting back their respect around the league after a Cinderella-like playoff run thanks to another red hot goalie, Jaroslav Halak, who they then turned around and traded to the Blues this summer. Oops.

The Montreal fans seemed to have learned their lesson and likely know what got away from them this time.

Perhaps down in Ottawa, the fans have pulled themselves back from the brink of running their best offensive player out of town, and maybe saving themselves ten years of grief looking for another one to replace him.

Murray Grabs Can't Miss Prospect At Draft

In the midst of taking all kinds of heat for his bizarre handling of the Jason Spezza "situation", Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray once again proved he's still got the goods when it comes to the draft and stocking the cupboards of his organization.

Admitting the forward he wanted was already taken by the time it was Ottawa's turn to pick in the 16th slot, Murray sent the pick to the Blues for last year's 17th overall pick, Swedish defenseman David Rundblad.

Great move, in my humble opinion.

Look at it this way: if Rundblad was available in this years draft, he would likely be a top-ten pick. In essence, Murray still got the best player available to him, even though he wasn't on anyone's radar.

Rundblad, from all accounts, is going to be a power-play guy, someone to complement fellow countryman Erik Karlsson, and has already established himself ahead of Patrick Wiercioch and possibly even Jared Cowan on the Sens depth chart for the future. Unfortunately, Sens fans will have to wait an extra year because he is going to stay in the Swedish Elite League for one more season.

The only downside is that this trade does nothing to help the Senators at forward, but that can be taken care of later, as the Senators still have too many wingers and not enough roster spots as it is. Funnily enough, according to Bruce Garrioch's article today, the Blues felt Rundblad was expendable because they already had so much blueline depth when it comes to offensive style rearguards. Now the Senators have that same problem, but to a much lesser extent.

Karlsson is already established so it will eventually fall to Rundblad and Wiercioch fighting each other for a roster spot in the coming years. Cowan is more of a Chris Phillips type so he'll be fighting other players, such as Matt Carkner for a place on the team.

Regardless, the Senators have a great squad of young defenseman who should be ready to go in two seasons time, and nearly all were brought in by Bryan Murray.

He may not be a fan favourite right now, but Murray still knows how to work a draft floor with the best of them.

Deadline Day For Volchenkov Looms...

A quick point of interest: Sam McCaig of Yahoo Sports ranks the top 50 unrestricted free agents this summer and (soon to be ex-Senator) Anton Volchenkov is 3rd on his list, just behind superstars Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrick Marleau. (As for the Sens other UFA's, Matt Cullen made the list but Andy Sutton did not - something I would disagree with.)

3. Anton Volchenkov, D, Ott – A shot-blocking, bodychecking, stay-at-home stud. No offense here, which brings his price down to $5-6 million, but few defensemen are more proficient in their own zone than Volchenkov.

Not to be a pessimist, but more and more it looks like the Senators are on the verge of making a huge mistake by letting the A-Train go to another team, quite possibly to a competitor in their own conference.

Here's a question to ponder: How did Bryan Murray not get this deal done a long time ago, when Volchenkov could have been done for well under 5 million? It's not like his penchant for sacrificing his body for the sake of the team only showed up in the past season. This sort of brinkmanship negotiating worked in the cases of Chris Kelly and Chris Neil, but will it work three times in a row?

How much will Murray have to pay another player to replace Volchenkov? 3.5 million? 4 million? It's a sad thing to ponder losing your best defenseman and toughest player over what will likely turn out to be 1 million dollars or less in salary difference.

Sad indeed. But Murray has pulled deals out of the fire before. Maybe he can do it again and keep this Senators team on the right path to a possible resurgence in the Eastern Conference. Without Volchenkov, nobody is going to be worrying about Ottawa's defense core outside of Erik Karlsson.

The countdown to Draft Day and July 1st gets shorter.....

But just to get things started, the Habs trade Jaroslav Halak to the Blues for a couple of prospects. Wow.

On the surface, this looks like a horrible deal for Montreal and a steal for the Blues who were already way overstocked with average prospects picked during Jarmo Kekalainen's scouting tenure.

Does Carey Price have the kind of mental toughness to survive life as an icon on Saint Catherine street? So far, he has only shown that the local fans have gotten into his head and made him miserable at times. With all that baggage, he now has to replace a modern folk hero in Halak who carried the Habs all the way to the Conference finals on his back.

Bob Gainey believed in Carey Price and now Pierre (The Ghost) Gauthier does as well. It should be an interesting year down the highway.

Defenseman On The Way - Who's It Going To Be?

Despite Black Aces arguing against any major moves, Bryan Murray went out and made a pretty good one by picking up Matt Cullen from the Hurricanes for the inconsistent, error prone Alex Picard and a draft pick.

While it puzzles me as to what Murray can do with such an ungainly group of forwards once Nick Foligno gets healthy, Cullen is just one more building block for this suddenly upstart team heading into the playoffs.

But dealing Picard also left the defense thinned out and Murray even called his shot by saying he was going to have to trade to fix his top six. Unless Brian Lee is the answer (and he likely isn't), Murray needs to grab at least one experienced NHL defenseman at the deadline.

Who's going to be the player vaulting from a non-playoff team (and probably a warmer climate) to the slushy, bleary city of Ottawa where at least the hockey is reason enough to crawl out of bed in the morning?

Chances are, it's going to be an upcoming unrestricted free agent as Murray doesn't want to tie up money that could be going to Anton Volchenkov and he also needs to keep some roster space for the likes of Jared Cowan and Patrick Wiercioch next season in case they can make the same step that rookie Erik Karlsson made this year.

But someone is going to be on their way to Ottawa by March 3. Ken Warren of the Citizen outlined his picks here so I thought I'd make a list of my own.

Let's try and narrow it down with these possible candidates:

Aaron Ward - Carolina

He fits the bill. He's been to four Stanley Cup finals as member of the Red Wings and the Hurricanes and he's a defense first guy who is capable of playing over 15 minutes a game. Ward has bounced around the league quite a bit the past five seasons but that's because he's a useful defenseman with size and experience. He's also a free-agent. At a pro-rated 2.5 million salary, Ward is a good bet to be on the move, either to Ottawa or elsewhere.

Dennis Seidenberg - Florida

Already the subject of Ottawa rumours, Seidenberg is younger than Ward but only has 19 playoff games under his belt. He makes nearly the same dough as Ward but might be harder to pry loose as no one in the Florida organization is ready to give up on the playoff chase just yet. Seidenberg logs heavy minutes on the Panther blueline and it may take Brian Lee to shake him loose. He's also a free-agent at seasons end.

Milan Jurcina - Columbus

The Jackets may be ready to start retooling in a tough Western Conference where they are roughly ten points behind the cutoff. They might as well be twenty behind. Jurcina is a beast at 6'4", 240 pounds and is a plus player on the weak Jackets. He's going to be much sought after this deadline as he adds instant muscle to any lineup. He won't give you any offence but that's not what Ottawa needs right now anyways.

Joe Corvo - Carolina

Just kidding.

Jason Strudwick - Edmonton

Strudwick is an old horse in the NHL now (he's only 34 but he seems to have been around forever hasn't he?), but his size (6'4", 225) is still an attractive asset and he could be quite useful during the long playoff grind if any of the other more desired names land elsewhere. He's a UFA who will be looking for one last contract before heading to Europe or cottage country for good. Strudwick has only had a cup of coffee in the playoffs and it would be interesting to see what he could do for Ottawa. This move is one to watch for, if you ask me.

Andy Sutton - NY Islanders

Kingston boy Andy Sutton would fit nicely on any blueline as he has monster size and a modest ability to contribute points. Like Jurcina and Seidenberg, he'll be much sought after. Sutton has only 4 playoff games but, like Hal Gill, that seems to be the type of format where he would excel the most. I thought Sutton would have been a nice addition to the Sens a few years back when he signed on with the Islanders. Now Murray has a chance to make that a reality. Again, someone like Brian Lee may have to go the other way to beat out other teams making offers.

Freddy Meyer - NY Islanders

Meyer would be a step down from Sutton but he could work the power-play in a pinch. He would be strictly depth and probably not able to unseat anyone on the Sens blueline as it stands now (Campoli's injury notwithstanding).

Darryl Sydor - St.Louis

It seems unlikely that the Blues would move Sydor with a playoff spot in their grasp (and having won 3 in a row before the break) but they might make the move if the right offer came along. Not much more needs to be said about Sydor - he's been to the Stanley Cup final five times and won twice. The Senators could do a lot worse.

Notes From The Dog Days...

The Hockey News hasn’t exactly been kind to the Senators this summer.

In their annual ranking NHL uniforms, THN pegged the Senators duds 29th out of 30 teams, just ahead of the infamous “Buffaslug” (aka Donald Trump’s lettuce).

They did not account for 3rd jerseys in their process but even if they did, the Senators might have actually slipped a spot because the Sabres have the nicest 3rd uni’s in the league (the throwbacks with the original Sabre crest).

Always a hot topic around Bytown – probably because the organization changes the sweaters every few years it seems – the uniforms will not be changing this season (including their terrible sock design with the weird angles at the back) despite some hope that the Senators might opt to put the original “O” crest back on their 3rd jerseys instead of the stylized “SENS” font they currently sport.

But stranger things have happened. The organization brought back the Senators theme song to its original spot in the opening lineup after a short but intense campaign led by many blogs around town (including Black Aces). The Senators might be induced to change their look if a similar campaign is started – and by all accounts, it has.

Personally, I’d rather see the team switch back to their original 2-D logo on their red and white sweaters before bringing back the “O” but I’m game for both ideas. The Senators seem to want to cater exclusively to kids in their designs – which is smart in a way – but it leaves the people who actually dish out the dollars for tickets and merchandise having to wear a cartoonish sweater that nobody really loves. Not like Habs or Leaf fans who don’t have to feel childish in their hometown jerseys.

Maybe new team president Cyril Leeder will have more of a traditional bent than his predecessor, Roy Mlakar, who came to Ottawa from L.A. where selling hockey pre and post Gretzky was like selling ketchup popsicles to women in white gloves (to quote David Spade in “Tommy Boy”). Mlakar's time in L.A. was during the peak of the Gretzky era and he took that aggressive vigor into the Ottawa market and did a great job selling the team during the troubled Rod Bryden years. But recently, under the Eugene Melnyk and Mlakar combo, the organization seemed to opt more for gimmicky marketing and ill-conceived promotions. Who can forget the disaster of the actor dressed up like a Roman warrior at centre ice bumbling through his embarrassing speech with a loose helmet and a faulty microphone?

Leeder has been in Ottawa since the Bruce Firestone days and hopefully will realize that the fans are crying out for more traditional, adult-friendly uniforms and approaches. The kids will still love the Senators without a cartoon character on the front of the sweater. I guarantee it.

But sticking to the Hockey News angle, they also pegged the Senators to finish 9th in the Eastern Conference, just out of a playoff spot. And who can blame them really?

With the Dany Heatley situation unresolved and the team currently over the cap limit, no one really knows if this group of players will come together and regain their elite status in the league.
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I think they’ll be in the 4 – 7th place range, especially if they can keep Heatley in the lineup, because not many teams will be able to score as many goals as the Senators if the lineup stays basically the same.

Think of it: Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, Alexei Kovalev and Jason Spezza all being available for your power-play.

The idea is almost sickening in its lethal possibilities. In the East, only Washington and Pittsburgh would be able to offer up similar firepower.

When (or if) Heatley leaves, the team will be worse, at least in the short-term.

And that’s without making any sort of allusion to his character. From a hockey standpoint, the Senators will miss Heatley. It’s hard to dispute that unless Murray pulls off a miracle trade that brings in another elite sniper.

But I don’t want to talk about number 15 anymore than you want to read about it. Until something happens, who cares?

***

Kind of amusing how loved Jason Spezza is right now when only 2 or 3 months ago, most of the fan base wanted him traded.

It’s strange how it works.

Heatley becomes the devil, so that must mean Spezza is a saint. Yet Spezza is still the same player and guy he was when everyone picked on him, save for a wedding ring.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m happy for the turnaround in sentiment. You’d be hard pressed to find a blog that defended Spezza more vigorously than Black Aces the last two seasons. It’s nice that fans are starting to realize they have a superstar player in their midst. But he hasn’t even scored a point this summer, has he?

The same schism happened with Ray Emery and Martin Gerber.

Emery was so hated that it made people love Martin Gerber – for no apparent reason other than the fact that he wasn’t Ray Emery. Yet he was still the same old Martin Gerber on the ice, letting in weak goals and looking like Hardy Astrom the longer his Senators career continued.

You could even say the same thing happened with Daniel Alfredsson and Alexei Yashin.

Alfie was well liked but it wasn’t until Yashin sulked off to Russia that Alfie became “Alfie” to the fans. They still wanted to trade him right before the 2007 playoff run but that's Ottawa fans for you.

So what’s the lesson?

There’s nothing like a good enemy within to rally fans around the team.

***

Notes:

A second-act I’m looking forward to? Jarkko Ruutu’s second season in Bytown. His style of game is so much better when his team is actually winning more games than they're losing. Ruutu and players of his ilk are more effective when they seem to be gloating and become harder to ignore. Too many coaches tell their players to stop reacting to pests when they have the lead……..First prediction of the new season: Brian Lee has a great year and cements a spot on the team permanently, making Alex Picard expendable (if he already isn't) ….. Second prediction: When Brendan Bell hangs up the skates for good, he’ll be hired as a radio personality in Ottawa covering hockey. The kid is really well-spoken, smart and perfectly comfortable in all interviews I’ve heard. Good luck with the Blues, Brendan……



The Senators should retire Frank “King” Clancy’s number for 4 very legitimate reasons:

One, he deserves it. The King was a superstar player in Ottawa for many years and is an NHL legend in the Hall of Fame. He was also the first player to play every position in one game, including goal when Clint Benedict actually had to serve his two minute penalty because the rule book didn't allow a substitution when a goalie was penalized.

Two, it would create more of a link to the Senators history and tradition, never a bad thing, even if critics will say the new franchise has no connection to the old dynastic one. But too late. Former teammate Frank Finnigan’s number has already been retired by the modern team so that argument doesn’t really wash.

Thirdly, it will piss off the Leafs who became Clancy’s adopted team once he was traded. The Leafs don’t retire numbers as a matter of club policy. Instead they "honour" them but keep the number in circulation. What better way to steal a little thunder from Ottawa’s biggest (and now extremely tough) rivals from across the province. Might as well get in the first shot in the Brian Burke era.



Lastly, maybe it will break the curse. When Clancy was traded to the Leafs in 1930, some say the Senators hexed themselves and it’s hard to argue when you look at the modern Senators series record against the Leafs in the playoffs: 0 wins – 4 losses.

In all of my research done in the past two hours, including reference books and the internet, I cannot figure out what number Clancy wore while he was with the Senators. He wore lucky number 7 with Toronto and I'd bet he wore the same in Ottawa.

I'm sure someone out there knows and can fill us in.

Senators Miss For First Time Since 96

With the uninspired loss tonight against the playoff hungry Panthers, the Senators are now officially eliminated from the post-season for the first time since 1996.

Just to bring you back to that era:

Jean Chretien was the Prime Minister Of Canada.

Jacques Martin was still rocking a moustache.

Patrick Roy had just been traded to Colorado.

Steve Yzerman's leadership abilities were being called into question.

Tiger Woods was just about to turn professional.

Wayne Gretzky was a St.Louis Blue.

Daniel Alfredsson was a rookie.

Wade Redden had yet to play a game for Ottawa.

Steve Duchesne was already the best defenseman in Senators history after only 62 games (with apologies to Norm Maciver)

Nick Foligno was 8 years old when the Stanley Cup was won by the Colorado Avalanche. His dad, Mike, had only been retired for two years.

***

Here's a prediction: If Ottawa fans didn't like Andrej Meszaros, they aren't going to like Chris Campoli. Their games are pretty similar but Campoli doesn't have the physical element that Meszaros brought to the table. Good luck, Chris, but the Ottawa faithful are going to eat you alive a year or two from now.....

Shaun Van Allen is a man of few words, an interesting characteristic for a TV color man, which Vanner has been doing off and on for Sportsnet during the Senators games with Dean Brown. But in a way, it's kind of refreshing, even if it takes Brown off his guard occasionally. There was a moment before the opening faceoff when Brown cued up Vanner but the ex-Senator took about 5 seconds to sum up what he wanted to say and the dead air clearly caught Brown by surprise. Some guys would take that opportunity to go on and on about the useless "Keys Of The Game" but Vanner is more like Hemingway - direct and blunt......

I know that Chris Kelly has been wearing 22 for a long time now, but I can't help but think of Van Allen whenever I see that number on a Senators jersey. I'm getting old I guess....

For the record, in my previous post I mentioned that the emergence of Nick Foligno and Ryan Shannon might convince Bryan Murray that he should be spending whatever money he has on his blueline, and I mentioned Jay Bouwmeester as a possibility.

I actually don't think that's a likely scenario but it won't just be a money issue. If Bouwmeester wants to sign with Ottawa, Murray will have no second thoughts about moving money around to accomodate him.

Players like Bouwmeester are rare and Murray would probably have no trouble parting with any combination of Chris Campoli, Mike Comrie, Chris Kelly, Alex Picard, Alex Auld or Jason Smith to make room.

That being said, I don't see Ottawa having a better chance than anyone else of signing Jay other than Florida......

The last time Ottawa switched coaches in mid-season (with someone who wasn't the GM at the time) was during the 95-96 season when Jacques Martin took over for Dave Allison (who took over for Rick Bowness just a month or two earlier).

Just like Cory Clouston, Martin instituted a whole new system and the team began to turn things around. It didn't get them into the playoffs in 96 but they made it the next year. Is history about to repeat itself next season?.........If there's a broken stick during play, Jarkko Ruutu is the guy you want to have on the ice. During a 5 minute span late in the second period, Anton Volchenkov broke his stick and Ruutu didn't hesitate for a second in handing over his lumber (both are left-handed shots). Then a few plays later, Ruutu broke his own stick but dove headfirst into the slot to take away a great scoring chance from a Florida forward. It's been a disappointing year for a lot of Senators but I think Ruutu has been great all season long......

Chris Neil passed Alexei Yashin on the all-time Senators games played list with his 505th contest tonight........Dude, I paid $384 dollars to a dentist today, for what amounted to 45 minutes of plain old cleaning. Is it me, or is the dental industry completely out of control? Someday soon, dentists will start buying NHL teams (see how I linked a petty personal complaint to hockey to make it perfectly relevant on a hockey blog....).......$384 dollars? Total madness I tell you. But that's still not as crazy as the premier episode of the Osbournes Reloaded that I casually witnessed tonight. Ozzy is now the host of a variety show in front of a live studio audience. I will call it now - this will go down as the worst show in the history of broadcast television - next to the NHL Awards of course (see kids, I tie it all in....)

***

A big salute goes out to Brian Kilrea, whose coaching career came to a stunning end tonight when the Ottawa 67's lost to the Niagara Ice Dogs in overtime of Game 7.

If I was brave enough, I'd post an Anne Murray song for you.

But I'm not that brave....

Starting To Roll

Has the Pascal Leclaire acquisition put a burr under the saddle of rookie goalie Brian Elliott?

You'd have to think so with the way he's been playing since the trade. Tonight he stopped 25 of 26 Leafs shots and a handful of them were lightning quick glove saves. More telling perhaps was the fact that a lot of shots were hitting him square in the crest which is more a sign of good positioning than the Leafs faulty aim.

On a night that should have been all about the return of Martin Gerber, Elliott let it be known that he plans to stick around for next year and give both Alex Auld and Leclaire a competition for that number one spot.

Overall, it was an entertaining game that had a strange twist (literally) at the end when Leafs coach Ron Wilson asked for a measurement on Jason Spezza's banana shaped blade, which turned out to be a good gamble on Wilson's part.

Unfortunately for the Leafs and their legions of Alfie booing fans, they couldn't get a puck by Elliott on the ensuing power-play and the rink went home divided in emotion.

If anyone had the chance to catch the pre-game show on the Team 1200, guys like Bruce Garrioch and Mike Eastwood were going apeshit over Wilson's decision not to start Gerber and I have to agree with them.

The decision seems to be made more out of spite rather than strategy and that's Wilson's m.o. all the way. It would have made for a bigger draw on television and possibly in the stands if Gerber got a chance to get revenge against Bryan Murray and the Senators but Wilson is not in the entertainment business. He's in the "taking the piss out of the media" biz and he does a good job of it.

The Leafs don't play in Ottawa again this season and with them probably goes the last chance for Gerber to play against his old team with which he went through an ugly, prolonged divorce.

***

This will be the first year since 1991-92 that no Ontario team will be in the playoffs. In that 15 season span, the Senators made the playoffs 11 times (straight) and the Leafs 10 times. The Senators won 8 playoff rounds and the Leafs won 11 (4 of those against Ottawa), including 4 trips to the Conference finals.

While the Senators did make a Stanley Cup final, the Leafs can claim to be legitimately more successful than Ottawa in the big picture.

Probably not what Senators fans want to hear, but them's are the facts.

***

Antoine Vermette is wearing number 50 for the Columbus Blue Jackets. His old number 20 is already being worn by Kristian Huselius. The only other ex-Senator on Columbus nowadays is Mike Commodore who probably couldn't get out of town fast enough after the gong show that he walked into last year. Current Jacket Michael Peca should have been a Senator at one point but that's a discussion for another day......After Ian White opened the scoring by beating Brian Elliott through the 5-hole, he found himself back on the bench while Martin Gerber leaned over and said something to him. It must have been funny because White cracked up. Maybe a bitter Gerbs said "I told you he sucked"...... No matter how you slice it, when Cliff Fletcher traded Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo to St. Louis for Lee Stempniak, he left a huge steamer on the welcome mat for Brian Burke. Colaiacovo has actually put up an almost injury free season and he is the top scoring defenseman on the Blues while Steen is averaging over 15 minutes a game. Stempniak has played okay but he only has 8 goals since coming to the Leafs and that's a huge disappointment. I know the Leafs were more than patient with Colaiacovo while he struggled through a series of injuries but if they had only held on for just a little longer....

Poor Vermette. Unless he finds himself a Senator later on in his career, he fell just 5 points short of passing Alexandre Daigle for 14th in all-time team scoring. Now it looks like Daigle is firmly cemented in the top 15 for awhile as the next Senator nearest him is Chris Neil with only 130 points to Daigle's 172......Bryan Murray has already said that he'd like to add another scoring forward for next season but maybe he already has one under his nose. Ryan Shannon has been an absolute revelation late in the season playing on the second line. With his speed and skill, it's not inconceivable that he can get 20 goals and 50 points in a full season with the team. It's scary to think that Murray may not have even given Shannon a chance if Cory Clouston had not gotten in his ear about bringing him up to the NHL. I get the feeling that Murray might have thought Shannon was too small for the NHL after he got hurt in a collision earlier this year but so far, Shannon has proven his critics wrong. Shannon, who currently makes a trifle 605,000, is a restricted free agent after this season and he will probably sign for just around 1 million or less on a short term deal and that could turn out to be one hell of a bargain for Ottawa. The only fly in the ointment could be the fate of Clouston after this season. Murray hasn't made any commitment to the rookie coach and if a new guy is brought in, that could change the odds for Shannon. My guess is that Clouston is as good as hired for next year anyways.......

Peter Regin is only the 2nd player to wear number 43 with the Senators. The first? The long forgotten Serge Payer. If Regin sticks with the team, and it looks like he will, he should grab Vermette's vacant number 20. Forty three is a bad looking number.....Tonight was Dany Heatley's 300th game as a Senator putting him only one game behind, yup, you guessed it, Alex Daigle...... As he displayed in the 1st period, Christoph Schubert has an absolute cannon from the point. Too bad he can't hit the net with it...... If you don't know much about recent Senator's signee Craig Schira, you might be impressed with his +44 rating with the WHL's Vancouver Giants. He'll turn pro next year with the Binghamton Senators. Now that Schira's in the bag, can Murray pull off a miracle and beat 29 other teams to unsigned Boston University defenseman Matt Gilroy? He is a contender for the Hobey Baker award this year, and according to The Hockey News print edition, Gilroy turned down 24 seperate NHL offers just last year. The number of offers is sure to rise and Murray is probably front and centre...... There must have been some awkwardness when Gerber was traded to the Leafs. Their goaltending coach is Corey Hirsch and he was in a bit of a nasty public feud with Gerbs during the last NHL lockout. Read all about it here....

It was nice to see Ottawa fans show some class and give referee Stephane Auger a hand after getting up from a nasty looking spill when his left leg buckled under him in the corner. But I guess you'd have to give the Toronto fans credit too. They made up half the audience.

At least Senators fans seemed to make a better effort at shutting up the boo's that rained down on Alfie every time he touched the puck. It probably felt pretty good for number 11 when he cranked home the tying goal in the midst of all those loud jeers. It might just be the last he ever scores against Curtis Joseph as the veteran Senator killer is due to retire after this season ends.

One For The Road

A late game in St. Louis doesn't leave us much time to go through it all but a few players really stood out in what was a morale boosting road win against the tenacious Blues.

The obvious two are Brian Elliott and Mike Fisher, both of whom were the best players on the ice for either team. Fisher played over 20 minutes and had 7 shots on goal to go along with his +2 rating and 2 goals.

Elliott was near perfect and was making huge stops late in the 2nd and 3rd periods and seems to have gotten over his earlier jitters which were causing him to give out some ugly rebounds. The puck was hitting him in the chest all night and you just got the feeling watching him that there weren't going to be any soft goals. It's hard to describe a goalie as "intense" because they stand around in one area all night with a mask covering their faces but Elliott just seemed so much more focused and aggressive tonight than he was against the Devils earlier in the week.

Other standouts were Dany Heatley who had 5 shots and Jason Smith, who drew back into the lineup in place of Alex Picard.

As I said in an earlier post, I've been disappointed in Picard all year and was wondering when he was going to be pulled out of the lineup. Then I seemed to be the only one who thought he had a pretty good game against the Devils while most columnists were pointing him out specifically for his soft play that night. So he finally gets yanked and the Senators didn't seem to miss him all that much.

Smith just played his usual gritty but understated game and Hartsburg would be foolish to take him out of the lineup going forward here. This is a guy you need on the ice every night.

And of course, rookie Peter Regin scored the game winner in stunning fashion late in the 3rd period and he keeps getting more interesting to watch every game. When Shean Donovan comes back from his injury, Jesse Winchester could be the next guy to sit if the Senators decide they want to keep Regin around for the foreseeable future. I think he merits at least another week or two to see what else he can do.

Tomorrow night will be a tough one in Columbus but there is some hope for Ottawa because the Jackets are plagued with injuries right now. Alex Auld is scheduled to start and it would be a perfect time for him to step up with a big game and take some pressure off the rookie Elliott.

A Bunch Of Baloney

The worst sports talk show in Ottawa radio history continued unabated today when Glenn Kulka, host of Over The Edge, teed off on Eugene Melnyk and his “controversial” remarks concerning “blowing up” the Senators.

First off, if you are offended by Melnyk’s “bomb” remarks, then you are way too sensitive and politically correct by a mile. How do you function day to day when such a tepid, everyday common remark offends your sense of moral conduct?

Everyone knows that Melnyk didn’t literally mean for fans to “blow themselves up”. If you do think that, then you are a cretin.

And if that phrase is so toxic, then why don’t we start getting up in arms when broadcasters use the exact same term (which they do almost nightly)?

In fact, Melnyk was merely responding to a question by a reporter who used that exact same phrase!!!!!! Maybe we should fire the reporter as well?

You hear all the time about bad teams having to “blow themselves up” in order to rebuild. Where’s the sense of outrage when journalists say that?

The reason no one gets angry about it is because the majority of us have functioning brains and can tell that it is just a harmless turn of phrase.

Yet, there was Glenn Kulka going off the rails with feigned disgust at Melnyk’s words.

But what’s the real story here?

Could it be that Kulka, perhaps the most vocal member of the local media in support of Jeff Hunt’s bid to bring back a CFL franchise, is just expressing sour grapes towards Melnyk who is trying to bring in a soccer franchise, widely seen as being the biggest obstacle to Hunt’s CFL bid?

I do not pretend to have insight into Kulka’s thought processes but this is Psychology 101 stuff. His invective was so sharp against Melnyk that if you just arrived on earth and listened to him tear apart the Senators owner, you’d be ready to take up arms and drive Melnyk out of Ottawa as some kind of scourge.

Oh sorry. Have I offended anyone by saying “take up arms”?

So if we can no longer use the phrase “blow up” because the country is at war, can we use the word “gun”, or even the very word “war”? Can we call a hockey game a “battle” or is that being disrespectful? Maybe we should not even have hockey anymore until the war is over.

That way we can be sure not to offend sensitive and politically correct souls like Glenn Kulka’s and Team 1200 callers like "Sleepy Jeff".