Feisty And Entertaining Senators Starting To Freefall

Vancouver 4 Ottawa 1

This is what Alanis Morissette meant by "irony".

On a night when Matt Carkner returned to the ice for the first time this season, the Senators and Canucks went at each other in a Bronx rules street brawl but Carkner himself didn't collect a single penalty minute.

I think that's irony. Perhaps it's a paradox or a coincidence or an anomaly. Whatever it was, the game was entertaining to say the least. If you wanted to say the most, it made grown men want to drive down to Kanata and rock the Canucks team bus posse style like they do in Philly and New York, even when the home team wins.

Sure, the Senators are in a bit of a freefall lately and can't seem to stay healthy, but Kanata fans definitely got a good Saturday night tilt to remember. The Canucks rolled into town as the biggest villains in the NHL thanks to their players making up for a distinct lack of toughness by becoming the most skilled divers and whiners in the league.

The Senators already had a problem with the Canucks because the last time they met on November 20, Jesse Winchester ended up on his back in the Vancouver bench thanks to an "aw shucks" Alex Burrows slyly opening the door at the right moment.

Chris Neil certainly had that on his mind as he proceeded to unleash hell on the Canucks in the first period, hitting everybody in white and green, getting his black and blue mug into Roberto Luongo's personal space (not much room there with all the illegal equipment) and making the CBC cameras follow him around like he was Sidney Crosby for a night.

Then Nick Foligno channeled a bit of his father's game and absolutely buried the bad luck plagued Cody Hodgson who was caught dipping his head down as Foligno came in for the hit. When Hodgson tried to get up, CBC commentator Gary Galley said he had "Bambi legs". It looked like a clean hit by Foligno because it was Hodgson who changed his position at the last second. But you didn't come here to have every hit analyzed to death. What matters is that Foligno delivered the hit, faced the consequences by fighting Dale Weise (and winning), and then didn't let that stop him from being physical the rest of the game. He got jobbed by the refs after hitting Ryan Kesler along the boards, getting a 2 and a 10 minute misconduct because Kesler sold the play like a good Canuck always does.

Foligno, along with Zack Smith, has been one of the biggest revelations of the Senators season thus far. Just like Smith, he's providing clutch scoring and showed tonight he can play it physical if he needs to. He's no longer the over-stickhandling giveaway machine he was last season. Sure, Foligno still sometimes plays the yo-yo out there but he's certainly not alone on the Senators in that regard.

Foligno has always had a character presence on this team but he seemed completely expendable because he just couldn't crack the top six. That era seems to be over. Even with natural centre Peter Regin coming back from injury and joining his line, Foligno stayed in the middle and took seven draws. He's having success at centre and it will be interesting to see if coach Paul MacLean keeps him there long-term.

Yet for all the fireworks, the reality is that the Senators aren't the same team with Sergei Gonchar and Filip Kuba out of the lineup. Even with them healthy, they can't seem to beat good teams but make hay against similar or weaker clubs. That's kept them afloat in the playoff race but leading up to Christmas they face the Boston Bruins, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the surprising Florida Panthers. They also face the Buffalo Sabres three times before New Years.

If Ottawa can't get their game together, they will be out of the playoff race a lot quicker than it seemed possible just last week when they were the toast of the town.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Chris Neil
2. Nick Foligno
3. Daniel Alfredsson

Tweet

Senators Winning But Da Costa Hurting Second Line

Coming home for a week off after racking up 7 out of a possible 8 points in their last 4 games on the road, the Ottawa Senators are starting to look like a team that have a strong playoff push in them after all.

They’ve held down that last playoff spot in the East, one point up on a trio of familiar teams - the free-falling Capitals, the Devils and Canadiens. The Leafs are just two points up on Ottawa, and the Senators are just three points back of the Flyers for the top spot in the East.

Not bad for a bunch of rookies, some aging vets and a first-year head coach condemned to spend almost all of November on the road going from East to West and back East with a healthy Sidney Crosby waiting for them at the end of the line.

With that being said, the next mind-numbing losing streak could be just around the corner. Even a minor slip could bring this team back down to earth. That’s not just an Ottawa problem. That’s the NHL. Even the best teams won’t have any breathing room until late January or early February.

For all of their recent success, the Senators have a growing problem right now and that’s with their second line of Stephane Da Costa, Nick Foligno and Daniel Alfredsson. Let’s not beat around the bush here. We’re talking about Da Costa.

The kid is clearly regressing and was pretty much invisible on the Western road swing, forcing coach Paul MacLean to finally sit him for an extended period last night against Vancouver because his line was clearly the most ineffective of the four. Da Costa was the only Senator other than the lightly used Zenon Konopka to play under 10 minutes. If that’s your second line centre, there’s big reason to worry. Luckily for Ottawa, their third and fourth lines are playing above their punching weight right now and the Spezza trio is still producing.

You may have noticed that Alfredsson had a lousy road trip, over handling the puck at times and not getting as many shots as he normally does. Last night in Vancouver, he put one shot on the net in just over 17 minutes of ice-time. Foligno has fared better but when he’s on his game, which is being physical and going to the net, it doesn’t really matter who his centre is. But for Alfredsson who likes to play give and go or get into open ice for one-timers, he needs a centre who is able to give him the puck and Da Costa just isn’t doing that right now.

When he’s not sitting on the bench looking gap-mouthed and stunned by the game going on around him, he’s skating around the perimeter of the action looking uncomfortable and uninvolved. That’s a far cry from the Da Costa who earlier in the season was willing to take hits to make plays and carry the puck over the blueline to set up in the zone. For the first time, Da Costa looks overmatched physically and struggling to make quick decisions.

People have been on him for losing so many faceoffs but that seems to be a hallmark of rookie centres. What’s more troubling is his lack of involvement in the other team’s zone, even when he’s making an honest effort defensively as he has all year.

Perhaps it’s time to give Da Costa a chance to get that confidence back in the minors. With Peter Regin still on the mend, the Senators need to change that second line up before it gets even staler.

You get the feeling they could use some size and maybe Zack Smith gets a chance to move up to play with Foligno and Alfie (I wonder if the Senators regret sending big Mika Zibanejad back to Sweden, where he has struggled). Or they could simply shift Foligno over to centre and promote a winger up to that line like Bobby Butler or Erik Condra. They could even split up that top line and try to get Milan Michalek or Colin Greening away from the other team’s top defenseman, but there’s probably not much impetus to break up a line that’s working so well together.

OR….

They could make that call to Bingo and retrieve the misanthropic Nikita Filatov and give him one last chance to show he can stick, even if his appearance will set off a bit of a controversy in town after he let it be known he’s ready to take his show to Russia.

I’m guessing GM Bryan Murray would much rather not make a trade at this point. The team is doing fine and the cure for that second line clearly resides with Peter Regin if he can get healthy and stay that way. They have some people on two-ways that can move up or down leagues and Murray has some option on forward and defense as well.

What’s important right now is they get someone to play with Alfie and get him going again. Otherwise they’re going to have a tough time winning when the top line goes through a cold stretch as they inevitably will.
Clearly, Da Costa is not getting the job done right now. It will be interesting to see what Murray and MacLean decide to do about it.

The Elephant In The Room Just Stirred

Some Ottawa Senators fans were probably still digesting their three bowls of Cap'n Crunch this morning when they saw a headline that said "Alfie: This Season Could Be My Last". You could actually hear the stomachs lurching across the capital.

In that article on Sportsnet.ca, Ian Mendes quotes Daniel Alfredsson as saying this could very well be his final year in the NHL and that the captain hasn’t completely closed the door on moving to another team if Ottawa can’t compete this season.

Time to panic, folks. Time to FU**ING PANIC.

Well, maybe not just yet. Remember, Alfie said pretty much the same thing last year when asked if he would ever consider moving to another team. At that time he also made it clear he wanted to stay and win a Stanley Cup in Ottawa. If anything, this is just a repeat of those same sentiments. No reason to return your brand new Heritage Alfredsson jersey you just bought on Saturday (although I wonder if Vancouver fans are itching to order their own Alfie versions come early March).

The fact that he told Mendes that this could very well be his last year is the real bit of news, although most of us can put two and two together after realizing his contract goes down to $1 million next season, a number that many suspect is an out-clause disguised as a salary. That’s not to suggest Alfie wouldn’t play for 1 million. He made most of his money up front in his last contract and if the Senators surprise some people by contending, and if #11 is healthy and putting up points, I think he’ll come back for an encore.

But fans can’t play dumb here. He’s giving direct hints now and a tough season in the capital may be all that’s needed to push him into his well-deserved golf years or into the arms of another welcoming organization.

Yet “fans playing dumb” may just be the thing to fear most in this situation.

And in dumb, I mean having a repeat of what the fans put Chris Phillips through last season when his contract was expiring. I would say a vast majority of post-game callers, anonymous experts on message boards and some bloggers were practically begging Phillips to waive his no-trade clause at the deadline so the Senators could get something in return for his suddenly unappreciated services. It became a vicious little campaign with all sorts of insults and exaggerated untruths being tossed around about loyal #4. Instead of fans being happy that Phillips wanted to stay in Ottawa, a lot of them seemed disappointed that he robbed them of their big trade at the deadline.

Now, I’m not saying the exact same thing will happen in Alfredsson’s situation – he’s much too beloved by even the most curmudgeonly fans (whose sole excitement in hockey seems to come from trades and their ugly, slightly cross-eyed cousin, the trade rumour) – but already the usual suspects will be contemplating just what they can get by selling the team’s heart and soul on the open market. If the team starts losing games, the speculation will get more intense and the campaign to unload the captain will be well underway. It will be unavoidable.

Which brings me to this point: If Alfredsson decides he wants to chase a Stanley Cup with another team by March, then he deserves the chance to do so. On the other hand, if he decides to ride it out with the Senators like the captain of the Titanic, let’s hope he’s given the respect and the opportunity to do so and that there isn’t a repeat of the Chris Phillips situation from last year.

Because that was a sorry, ugly little episode in Senators history you won’t see in any of those heartwarming 20th anniversary videos we’ll be watching all season long.

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.

***

Hey, follow me on Twitter here. I don't talk about my cats or what I ate for dinner.

Tough Guy Jitters

Ever since the moment Zenon Konopka signed with Ottawa yesterday, the chatter started on the blogs and the boards that this is somehow a sign from the Gods that either Chris Neil or Matt Carkner could soon find themselves on their way out of town.

Reading this stuff first thing in the morning is like accidentally spooning rat poison into your coffee instead of sugar, but hey, people are entitled to their conspiracies and never ending rumour obsession.

It's like people believe there is some secret rule where you can only have three roster spots for tough guys and one more in the boat means one has to go overboard. Not sure where this belief springs from, but it's rather condescending to guys like Neil, Carkner, Konopka and Zack Smith and presumes that all they can do is fight and take stupid penalties. Which, of course, is complete B.S.

Konopka's signing, to me anyways, is a sign that GM Bryan Murray and new coach Paul MacLean actually want guys like Neil, Smith and Carkner on the ice more this year, not less. Neil has evolved from a middle weight enforcer into a hell-on-wheels menace who crashes the net and leads by example. Smith is a Neil clone but with a little more upside and better wheels. Carkner is a prototypical 15 minute a night defensive defenseman who plays a simple game that coaches love and has the added bonus of being perhaps the scariest fighter in the NHL today. Why would the Senators feel any of these guys are expendable? It doesn't make sense. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and I'm sure you guys will let me know about it, but I just don't see it.

The Boston Bruins won a Stanley Cup with a team that was twice as tough as Ottawa will be this year. In that town, tough players with character are celebrated. In Ottawa, they are merely tolerated and treated like relics of an old-school style which has gone out of fashion by new-school fans who are extremely uncomfortable with on-ice violence. So why do NHL general managers keep signing tough players anyways? Why did the Islanders re-sign Trevor Gillies? It's not because they're stupid. It's because NHL general managers know that intimidation is still a big part of winning hockey games, even if some skittish fans wish it would go away.

That's not me pontificating. That's just the way it is. If it wasn't, the enforcer would be extinct. So would the pests like Sean Avery and Maxim Lapierre (who just signed a big deal in Vancouver, one of the least physical teams on the planet who let their star players get punched in the face repeatedly and did nothing about it).

Which brings me back around to the point of this article in the first place. Konopka's signing only gives room for guys like Neil and Carkner to play more. It doesn't threaten their role on the team.

Mind you, if a soft team like Vancouver offered Ottawa a top-six forward for someone like Neil or Carkner (highly unlikely, nee impossible), then Murray might take the bait. But these guys aren't leaving the team just because they signed someone else who actually knows how to body check.

Some may see Carkner's job more threatened by incoming rookies like Jared Cowen and David Rundblad, but it's important to remember that just because us armchair coaches already have them penciled into the lineup doesn't mean they will actually make it. And if they do, it's more likely that Filip Kuba would be the casualty and not Carkner. If Kuba comes back and totally reverses his recent decline, then maybe Carkner ends  up sitting more often. I'm just not sure that's really in the cards. Even if Carkner is your seventh guy, it's a hell of a lot better than having Brian Lee as your black ace.

There are certainly guys in danger of losing their jobs this year, but to me their names are Kuba and Lee. I don't see Jesse Winchester or Peter Regin losing their spots just yet at the forward ranks. In fact, I'm picking Regin as the comeback player of the year. I stand by my view that Regin could be the next David Krejci. He had a sophomore slump. So have 500 other NHL players over the years.

But here we go again. It's early July and already people are panicking and ingesting rat poison.  There's a long time to go without hockey. Let's try and act like normal human beings for at least a few months.

Cameron Gets The Call... and more Vancouver Fallout

News that Dave Cameron has been hired (allegedly) to be Paul MacLean's assistant in Ottawa is sure to raise a few eyebrows, none more so than mine, which almost flew off my head when I first heard. 

There's a bit of a wink and a nudge (and possibly a blind horse) attached to this hiring if you've at all been following the Senators coaching search this summer. It is indeed strange that owner Eugene Melnyk's first choice to coach the Sens ends up with the consolation prize and, essentially, the title of "Coach In Waiting".

And before we get any further, there's no reason to cast aspersions on Cameron's qualifications. Everyone agrees he's a good coach and that he's likely ready to be in the NHL.

This is purely about optics here, and Melnyk somewhat poisoned the atmosphere when he seemingly hijacked the hiring process by publicly casting his vote for Cameron. Ultimately, GM Bryan Murray proved he makes the hockey decisions by hiring MacLean from the Red Wings organization, but this latest news is sure to crank up the gossip machine to full power.

Obviously MacLean approved this hiring, but did he feel pressure to accept Cameron from up above or was this a hire based only on merit? We may never know the answer, and it may not be important anyways.

It's important to remember that we are debating the finer points of assistant coaches here. The fact that this is big news probably means we are all insane or, as others would put it, "passionate". The truth likely lies somewhere in between.

The end result is that Ottawa is adding an intelligent and highly rated coach to their staff, even if the process was riddled with politics. This is Ottawa, after all.

***

A lot of ink has been spilled on the idea of the Canucks being "Canada's Team" during their failed Stanley Cup run, and ultimately the rejection of that team because they were just way too hard to like for anyone with a conscience, Canadian or not.  Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun described the Canucks as "soccer-style divers, finger biters and whiners", and you'd be hard pressed to find a better description out there, although I'd add "inexcusably cocky" to that list (see Roberto Luongo's comments on Tim Thomas if you have any doubts). It also didn't help that a solid core of their fans have proven to be raging psychotics, trashing their city, beating up innocent people, stabbing Bruins fans and leaving them to bleed in the streets like animals, throwing glass bottles at reporters, attacking homeless people, and then having the gall to get so mad and disgusted with themselves in the aftermath, with the whole world laughing at them, that the supposed "good samaritans" opposed to the riots have now called in death threats to that rich polo kid and his family after he confessed to trying to light a cop car on fire. So, it's a sin to riot in the streets but its okay to harass and threaten someone's life for doing so? It's all very civilized isn't it? Even Oakland Raiders fans are probably thinking "Woah, that's completely out of control".

Then you throw in the merciless and completely unfounded booing of Gary Bettman as he tried to present the Stanely Cup, believing that there was an NHL conspiracy to make sure they lost to the American-based Bruins, and a general manager who has never been seen to smile on camera, and you have the makings of the most hated team in the NHL since the New Jersey Devils of the mid to late 90's or perhaps as far back as the Philadelphia Flyers in the 70's. But the Devils were hated for being boring, the Flyers were hated for being too violent. The Canucks are hated for a whole cornucopia of sins, many of which have been deemed "un-Canadian" by the Canadian press, just like the cops in Vancouver trying to tell us that the rioters weren't Canucks or hockey fans, but "anarchists and criminals". Of course, that's a lie too outrageous to leave unchallenged.

Of course, there were "anarchists and criminals" rioting, but they were probably outnumbered 10-1 by everyday normal Canadian kids who love hockey as much as the next guy, but just decided that now was going to be their only opportunity to go completely insane and escape the consequences. To pretend that the thousands of rioters weren't hockey fans is just ignoring the problem, and setting yourself up for a repeat the next time the Canucks make a run, maybe as early as next season. Stop trying to blame everyone else, accept responsibility and make the necessary changes to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's what rational people do when they screw up big-time.

If I trashed my own house because my favourite team lost a hockey game and I tried to tell my wife that a bunch of criminals and anarchists ran in through the back door and burned everything, I'd get one of my wife's patented death stares and would probably wake up in the emergency room hours later in a body cast with divorce papers on the bedside table waiting to be signed when I recovered the use of my hands.

I don't really get the hand-wringing about another Canadian team failing to win the Stanley Cup either. If this was the Olympics or World Juniors, I could understand, but I don't see nationalism having any place in the NHL. This is a club-based league and there's nothing wrong with Canadian fans loving the Bruins or Rangers or Red Wings or whoever south of the border. A lot of fans inherit their love of teams from parents or for any other weird reason you can think of. I fell in love with the Red Wings because the first pack of hockey cards I ever opened had a Steve Yzerman rookie and my dad told me he was from Ottawa. Then I saw a picture of Ron Duguay and that hair of his and I knew the Wings were my kind of team. I didn't care that they were terrible during those years in the early to mid-80's. My old man loved the Hawks and there was no sense that I had to cheer for the Habs or the Leafs just because they were Canadian. Being forced to cheer for some random Canadian club still left in the playoffs is a cruel sort of pressure, especially when that team is full of "divers, whiners and finger biters".  And what if that team was the Toronto Maple Leafs? Do people really expect fans in Ottawa to cheer on the Leafs in the Stanley Cup Final? (Luckily, this scenario will never happen).

Rough Hangover In Vancouver

Do you get the feeling a riot would have broken out even if the Vancouver Canucks had won the Stanley Cup? You bet it would have.

Losing Game 7 probably fast-tracked the whole thing, but there would have been cars burning even if the bi-polar West Coast city had a reason to celebrate. Maybe it would have been worse, who knows?

According to the Sun, CNN is now calling Vancouver "Loser City", which is the kind of vicious headline we're used to seeing from Fox News, not CNN. Nasty business.

You just knew it was going to be a tough night for the Canucks when CBC reporter Scott Oake interviewed Henrik Sedin during the warm-ups and told the nervous looking Swede that the "only acceptable outcome to millions of Canadians" would be to win Game 7. What kind of a thing is that to say to someone who is about to play the biggest game of his life?

Now, I'm not saying I'm one of them, but you just know a lot of people are enjoying Vancouver's come-uppance after Roberto Luongo's public dissing of Tim Thomas, Henrik's lame Messier-style prediction, and the general cockiness of that team exhibited by players like Maxim Lapierre.

Then the city tears itself apart for the world to see.

I'm thinking the right team won the Stanley Cup last night.

Got A Match?

I don't remember a Stanley Cup final series as brain damaging as this one since 1994 when me and my brother Ben sat through that storied seven-game tilt between the Rangers and the Canucks, which to us was Mark Messier vs. Pavel Bure. The Moose was my guy, my brother was a Bure freak. I won, he lost, and I beat him mercilessly with a Sherwood as we watched CBC clips of police cars burning on Robson street all night long.

We've now all lived through the latest Canucks el foldo, although as I type, Peter Mansbridge is officially declaring a riot in Vancouver, which means "the game" isn't truly over, but the images I'm seeing look no scarier than last-call on Elgin Street during Shannon Tweed week in Ottawa a few years ago. I'm sure the folks in Montreal are watching right now and laughing at the rank amateurs sans balaclavas. They would have at least gutted Sainte Catherine street by now, except Club Super Sexe, and there wouldn't be any tolerance for a couple of fools calling themselves the "Green Men" doing handstands by the penalty box.We're talking total annihilation here.

But let's just say the Boston Bruins deserved to win this series, this Stanley Cup. Too much character, too much experience, too much grit, too much Mark Recchi and Brad Marchand (a perfect mix of Kris Draper and Claude Lemieux, two players who never crossed paths, right?).

Congratulations to the whole organization, and yes, that includes Jeremy Jacobs, the 746th richest man in the world, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, and the guy who really calls the shots in the NHL, not Gary Bettman, who, incidentally, was classlessly booed by pissed off Canucks fans when he went to present the Conn Smythe Trophy to Tim Thomas.

But that's a whole other rant, and whenever I say something nice about the Commish, all hell seems to break loose, and there's already enough hell breaking loose on Granville Street tonight. Let's bow out of that one for tonight.

Congratulations to ex-Senators Chris Kelly, Zdeno Chara and Shane Hnidy.

Congratulations to GM Peter Chiarelli who payed his dues in the Senators organization and quietly built a championship team while the press fawned over the Canucks all season long.

Congratulations to Ottawa boy Claude Julien who has been fired more often than Billy Martin but has never wavered from his "to hell with entertainment" system.

In the end, it doesn't matter who your favourite team is. Seeing the Stanley Cup being handed to the captain of any team is still the greatest moment in sports.

And it's tough to find a more deserving captain than the Big Z.

If Vancouver won, what would there be to write about anyways?

Anyways, they'll be back next year. And we can all look forward to another riot win or lose.

Ruutu's Final Act

With the expected news that well liked agitator had finally been traded - to the Ducks, where he'll fit in perfectly - it gives us our last chance to play these classics, starting with the radio call by Dave "The Voice" Schreiber and Gord Wilson of Ruutu's scrap with the Thrashers Jim Slater back in 2008. The fight was a beauty, but the call was even better.



Here's the video of the scrap with a slightly less exciting call. Ruutu may have been primarily an agitator, but he also backed it up by fighting and rarely lost a tussle when he did.



He was also a very willing participant in the Battle of Ontario, even though the rivalry had cooled a little by the time he came on board. Ruutu is an underrated hitter and here's the proof.



The timing for Ruutu's deal is a little tough for fans, with the annual Sens Skill Competition on Monday. Ever since Ruutu's been here, he's been the star of the show. Who could forget this classic with the wig and the puck on a string. Genius.



Ruutu is also the only Senator player to do something as awesome as this:



And finally, Ruutu had his own hilarious tribute song before he even got to Ottawa. If this gets in your head, you are doomed.



It was inevitable that Ruutu would get traded due to the poor state of the team and his UFA status, but the Finnish agitator was an important player on this team for the short time he was here, and provided a lot of bizarre entertainment for Sens fans.

He'll be missed.

Black Aces Vintage: Total Recall Edition

A few uniforms we'd like to see in the NHL again:

Vancouver Canucks 1978 - 1985: This one is crying out to be one of those retro jerseys used in a future Winter Classic or Heritage game. It's ugly, yes, but in that "so ugly it's good" kind of way. Mustard helmets are also rad.

New York Rangers 1976 - 1978:  These were brought in by GM John Ferguson Sr. and they were a big break from tradition and not very popular at the time. But these look pretty sharp in retrospect and would make a nice third jersey.

Minnesota North Stars 1967 - 1991: Either the Dallas Stars or the Minnesota Wild would do well to bring back a variant of one of these classic sweaters. The simplicity of the older model worn by Tim Young is my favourite but the Hartsburg era sweaters with the shoulder yokes are right up there.

Toronto Maple Leafs 1970 - 1992: The Leafs wore these uni's through their wilderness years in the 70's and 80's under infamous owner Harold Ballard and there are rumours the Leafs may be bringing these back as a third jersey.

Ottawa Senators 1995 - 1997: They wore the white ones up until 2007 but discontinued the classic black a decade earlier. These second-set uni's (the first sweaters were similar but not perfected yet) were classy and pre-cartoon era. These were also the last dark sweaters with a normal waist stripe. Sadly, it will probably take a lot longer for the organization to realize they had it right in the first place. How many more gimmick uniforms are we going to be subjected to?

***

Ottawa Senators Horrific Blast From The Past

If there is one photo that could dissuade anyone from going back to these jerseys, this would be the one. Radek Bonk had a very underrated Kentucky Waterfall going on back in his draft year. I wonder how much his rookie cards are worth nowadays?

What Is Clouston Thinking?

After yet another stunted offensive game by the Senators where they again managed only 19 shots and a few limited scoring chances in a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, you have to wonder what coach Cory Clouston is thinking by benching one of his best offensive defenseman for a second straight game.

Of course we're talking about Erik Karlsson who for some reason is the one feeling the wrath of the coach after the entire team went into a tailspin the previous week due to very understandable circumstances.

Not many people questioned the decision due to the fact that the Senators escaped with a win against the Kings despite struggling offensively for much of the game. Clouston didn't want to change things up for Wednesday night's tilt against the Stars but it backfired on him.

The Senators weren't getting scoring chances or shots because they didn't have the puck in the offensive zone. The reason for that is because they couldn't get there with the puck and they couldn't score on their few power-plays, two things that Karlsson is best at. Even his detractors would have to admit that.

Look at it this way -  going into the Dallas game, Karlsson was fifth in team scoring and second among rearguards with 11 points. He's tied with Sergei Gonchar for goals and tied for the team lead in game winning goals. He leads the defense in shots on goal and consistently gets the puck through the neutral zone.

Yet he was eating popcorn Wednesday night while the Senators trudged their way to 19 shots and one fluke goal by Ryan Shannon that was a softie let in by Andrew Raycroft.

It didn't make sense to sit him against L.A. and it made even less sense to sit him against Dallas. There was nothing so wrong with his game that couldn't be solved with a meeting and a stern reminder to stay away from bad penalties. Benching the kid was an overreaction.

In short, Clouston didn't ice the best possible team and the Senators looked haggard in a snoozer of a home loss.

So what's the reasoning here?

The Senators were flying on all cylinders but were put into upheaval by the tragedy that everyone already knows so much about. They had a hard week on the road and most, if not all, of the media and fans were very forgiving, realizing that the three straight losses were not indicative of what this team is usually capable of. In a sense, it was a mulligan week. It was time to move on.

But instead of keeping the course steady, Clouston scrambled the lines that were responsible for five wins in six games before the slump took hold. He split up the successful pairing of Jason Spezza with Alexei Kovalev and with Karlsson now sitting, has inexplicably put Sergei Gonchar back on the left side on the power-play even though that pairing with Karlsson on the left was working so well previously.

Doesn't make sense.

Surely, reason will prevail here and Karlsson will be inserted into the lineup for the game against the Penguins on Friday afternoon. If and when Karlsson doesn't work miracles and single-handedly win the game for the Sens, people will be on his case even more, especially if the very effective David Hale is the one who has to sit. Tough situation for the kid no matter how you look at it.

But you won't win a lot of games in the NHL if you're sitting one of your best weapons, no matter what kind of point you're trying to make by doing it.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars - Dallas 2 Ottawa 1

1. Pascal Leclaire
2. Ryan Shannon
3. Chris Campoli

NOTES

Watching Nick Foligno suffer through the early part of the season has been nothing but a downer for everyone, but, as always, Foligno is his own worst enemy.

Seeing the decisions he makes on the ice kind of lets you in on his mindset. It's clear that in his head he thinks he's a skilled top six forward but the evidence suggests otherwise. Breaking down the left side in the second period, Foligno had a chance to shoot the puck at Andrew Raycroft but instead decided to do a spinarama and try to feed the puck blindly to the slot. His feet and hands aren't the quickest and of course the gambit failed and a scoring chance was lost. This type of thing happens all the time to Nick. If he would have been thinking straight he would have snapped that shot away even though he was to the outside and taken a chance that someone would be there for the rebound.

In a strange way, Foligno skates and carries the puck a lot like Spezza, hunched over with the puck way out in front of him, but he just doesn't have the speed or the hands to make those creative plays. He should be grinding out a north/south groove in the ice towards the net at all times and the less he handles the puck the better. I don't know because I've never seen it up close, but it almost seems like Foligno's stick is way too long. Maybe it's just the impression I get because of his skating style, but a guy like him should borrow Ryan Shannon's stick for a game and keep that puck close to his feet instead of hanging it out there on a broken yo-yo string like he always does. If he wants to have a long career, he's going to have to completely change the way he plays. He should realize he doesn't have the foot speed to be a scoring winger and start playing a greasy type of game. The sooner the better.......

.....The NHL is getting it right big time by allowing cameras to follow the Oilers around this season for the TSN show Oil Change.  You can learn more about life in the NHL by watching a single show than you can watching years and years of hallway player interviews conducted by journalists content with asking questions no one cares to hear the answers to.  It’s also interesting to watch the show for Sens fans as they can get a glimpse of Ladislav Smid, a player that was part of a trade package headed to Ottawa before being nixed by Dany Heatley. He’s a big, steady player on the ice and a bit of a jokester off of it, having the kind of personality that would fit into any locker room. Even coach Tom Renney can’t help but laugh (most of the time) at “Laddy”.  And from what we hear, Smid was happy the trade was nixed because he likes life in Edmonton. Now that’s a player you want to keep around..…. If you believe these sorts of things, talk is that Dustin Penner is available at the right price (well, duh). Could Bryan Murray still have interest after not getting him in the ill-fated Heatley trade with Edmonton? It would be hard to fit his salary on the Senators unless they moved someone like Milan Michalek for him, who’s signed for two more years than Penner at a near identical salary. Not sure that would be a good trade for Ottawa but it's something to chew on….. Okay, geez, I'm always poking fun at hockey rumour blogs and their ilk, but can I start one of my own, just this once? How about Nick Foligno and Brian Lee for Andrew Cogliano? Ottawa could sure use some more speed in that lineup and you can almost see Foligno in an Oilers jersey if you squint a little.....

.....Prediction: Bryan Murray won’t find a taker for Brian Lee, will put him on waivers and watch him clear and wonder why he kept him on the NHL roster for so damn long for no damn reason…… Will anyone want Doug Weight at the trade deadline?  You just know Weight doesn’t want to end his career playing for the miserable Islanders. He’d be an interesting fit on either the Vancouver Canucks or San Jose Sharks as a part-time veteran role player. One of those guys like Dave Andreychuk with the Lightning, you know, “let’s win for Dougie” type of thing. It seems both the Sharks and the Canucks are so close but they need an emotional element to put them over the top. I’m not saying its Doug Weight who will do it, but they need more to motivate them than being called underachievers year after year. They need something or someone to rally around to push them over the top. Otherwise, it looks like Detroit is again the team to beat in the West, maybe in the whole NHL. Their rallying cry? One more Cup for Nick Lidstrom, Kris Draper and Chris Osgood before they retire.

Sens Streak Comes Crashing Down To Earth

The Senators four game winning streak came to a sudden, brutal end with the Vancouver Canucks exploding in the third period to rack up a 6-2 road win on Remembrance Day in the capital.

In short, the Senators got beaten by Roberto Luongo, who was absolutely outstanding and kept his team in the game during a giveaway filled first period. The home side should have had 2 or 3 goals by the end of the second but went in to the third down 2-1 and quickly fell apart.

This is one the Senators just need to forget about. They played well for two periods in front of a shaky but battling Pascal Leclaire who was making his first appearance in a while and if not for the goalie at the other end, the Sens would have been in command of the lead early on.

Sometimes a goalie beats you and there's not much you can do about it.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, the next goalie they face is Tim Thomas in Boston on Saturday night, a guy who could write a War and Peace sized tome on the topic of Senators domination.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Peter Regin
2. Jason Spezza
3. Alex Kovalev

NOTES

What's wrong with Mike Fisher? He looks like he's nursing an injury because he was somewhat invisible Thursday night, and with Milan Michalek struggling to overcome that nagging knee problem, that line is not really competing like they should. Fisher is obviously best when he's skating over other players and causing total mayhem on the forecheck, but we haven't seen that from him in a little while now. Fish was minus 3 on the night with 1 shot on goal. Obviously, not a great night for him.....

Just saying: Toronto Brian Burke is so headstrong and stubborn that he probably won’t fire coach Ron Wilson, even if the Leafs don’t win a game from now until Christmas. This is a guy that simply doesn’t like to back down in public– even if it gets in the way of success (see the Tomas Kaberle situation). But the thought of Boston getting another top 3 overall pick thanks to the Phil Kessel trade may make Burke desperate enough to eat some crow over Wilson and do the right thing. The Leafs simply can’t give the Bruins the opportunity to rub it in their faces once again or they risk becoming a laughingstock.….

...Speaking of laughingstocks, everyone’s having a great time laughing at the Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk, especially after that botched shootout attempt against the Sabres on Wednesday night. Kovalchuk is certainly not worth the monstrous contract handed out by Lou Lamoriello, but that shouldn’t disguise the fact that he’s still one of the most dynamic players in the NHL and turned down a similar big contract from the Atlanta Thrashers because he wanted to play for a winner. He's certainly not as bad a player or a guy as some people want to make him out to be. It hasn’t turned out well for Kovy and the Devils in the very early going, but it’s not like he’s going to turn into a 15 goal scorer. In time, he’ll be back near the top of the scoring list and the Devils will once again be a good team, if not this year, then next. But it looks like John MacLean won’t be the guy to guide them. It’s the “assistant coach syndrome”, which also struck assistant-turned head coaches John Paddock, Tony Granato, and others (MacLean did spend a year coaching the Devils AHL affiliate before being named head coach but was an assistant for years with the big team and inherited most of the same players). History keeps inflicting this painful lesson on general managers who are trying to do a good thing by promoting from within. More often than not, it doesn’t really work…

...It’s nice to see Peter Schaefer back in an NHL uniform after a disastrous stint with the Boston Bruins a few seasons ago. While he didn't get to play against his old team on Thursday night, to this day, he’s still the best Ottawa Senator I've ever seen with a puck along the boards playing keep-away. Jesse Winchester is pretty good at that particular skill as well, but Schaefer was just unbelievable. Too bad he wasn’t able to translate that possession time into more offense when he was here. Once in a while though, he would score a beauty like this one…..Every time I watch Roberto Luongo play, I'm always struck by how quickly he turns and whines to the refs every time he gets slightly touched in his net. Maybe that's just his competitive side coming out, but this is also the same guy who threatened to retire if the NHL ever made the nets bigger, even though the idea was only proposed as a worst-case scenario because goalies like Luongo were fighting tooth and nail against reductions in equipment size. Just one look at Luongo's shoulder pads tells you that goalies are still allowed to wear oversized gear that makes a mockery of the game. As I've said many, many times before, you could reduce the catching gloves by half the size and still have adequate protection there. The gloves goalies wear are a complete joke and need to be addressed, even if it makes Luongo take his gear and pout all the way home.....As of press time, no Senators fans were attacked by Rick Rypien. Stay tuned for further information....

Strange but true: On my Tuesday post I wrote this in defense of the shootout:

"To me, they should have went with 5 shooters a side instead of 3 right from the get go. Right now, the shootout is over way too quickly and if one team scores right away, the other side is pretty much doomed. At least with 5 shooters, you use more of your players, lessening the complaint that the shootout goes against the team concept in hockey."

On Wednesday, Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated wrote this in defense of the shootout:

"The problem never has been the shootout. The problem is that NHL 2.0 didn't go far enough with them. Only three shooters per side? Big mistake. Often, you hardly find your rhythm as a fan because the shootout is over so quickly. The league should have instituted a five-per-side format, like a major soccer final. If nothing else, a five-round shootout would have been a partial antidote to the argument that individual competitions are determining the outcome of a team game by involving a mere one sixth of the 18 skaters."

Yes, I'm suing.

I recommend reading the whole article because Farber makes some great points about the shootout and why the NHL should be out there celebrating it, not discussing ways to make it occur less often.

Uni Perfection

If you missed it last night, check out Jonathan Quick sporting the L.A. Kings vintage uniform as well as the vintage style brown pads (apparently in tribute to Rogie Vachon). Amazing.

The Kings need to find a way to make those their regular jerseys, or at least their regular third, but this time with names on the back, as they went without nameplates just like in the old days. Quite frankly, these blow away the Kings current sweaters. It's not even close. Here's a few more pics. The 'Nucks vintage uni's were great as well (too bad the actual game was a bit of a drag).

Shannon Re-Signs...

Another great signing by Bryan Murray.

Ryan Shannon came to Ottawa on a 2 way deal after failing to make his mark in the Canucks organization and has since become an underrated part of the Senators squad.

Simply put, the guy can flat out skate.

For another year at only 625 grand, Shannon has become one of those indispensable depth players who make an impact on the ice and not on the balance sheet. You can't stress enough the importance of having cheap role players like this in a salary cap system. He may be small and somewhat susceptible to injury, but he may be more valuable to the Senators than half the players who make more money than he does simply by the combination of his skill set and minimal salary.

And don't forget for a moment that Murray probably feels somewhat proud of plucking this guy from obscurity and wants him to remain wearing a Senators sweater for the foreseeable future as a subtle reminder that, yes, he knows what he's doing.

Not that Shannon makes a habit of scoring mind-blowing goals like this, but this shootout goal sure is fun to watch one more time.



Now, to get a pen in Anton Volchenkov's hand...

Murray Snookers Alfie..... Sens Keep Winning Against All Odds

I'm not sure why Bryan Murray felt he needed to make a statement regarding Daniel Alfredsson playing in the Olympics.

By doing so, he seemed to imply that the captain could be hurting his own team by suiting up for Team Sweden.

But so is every other player taking part in the Olympics. Injuries will certainly occur in the tournament, just like what happened to the Senators with Dominik Hasek in 2006.

So why is Murray singling out Alfredsson when he already knows that the captain would not risk going into the tournament already injured?

Alfredsson has earned the respect of his teammates and coaches throughout his career and it should be taken for granted that he will do what's right in this situation.

By going to the media, Murray is making it look like he doesn't trust the captain to do what's in the best interests of the Ottawa Senators. It's a pointless exercise and all it does is create a perception problem and add unnecessary pressure on Alfredsson. All Murray had to do was have a private chat with the captain that would have resolved the situation in two minutes.

Instead he went straight to the media and put the spotlight on Alfie.

And for what?

Murray can sometimes be commended for his honesty, but he all too often opens the cupboard door to the media and they can't help but feast.

What if Alfredsson fully heals his shoulder and then goes into the Olympics and injures his knee?

A freak injury that could happen to any player will now be analysed in the context of Murray's recent statement and the captain will be made to look selfish for wanting to play for his own country, something that every player should have the right to do and not be questioned about.

It's bad enough the captain gets booed in his own building. He doesn't need to get the gears from his own GM.

I just don't see why Murray had to say a damn thing at all.

***

Ottawa 4 Montreal 2

Freaking huge win by Ottawa in a loud and rowdy building in Kanata tonight. The guts and gumption that these Senators are showing is unrivaled in recent team history and coach Cory Clouston has his club playing their hearts out almost every night despite having a plethora of injury excuses ready for them.

Coming back from a 2-0 deficit with a large vocal majority of the fans cheering on the Canadiens is the stuff that playoff teams are made of.

Pascal Leclaire struggled off the bat but then shut the door and made some incredible saves to keep the Senators on life support until they got going late in the 1st on Peter Regin's goal.

There was almost a major let-down in this game when it appeared that Mike Fisher scored the go-ahead goal with Chris Neil parked in the crease. Unfortunately for Ottawa, referee Kerry Fraser made a brutal call, claiming that Neil made contact with Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak (which he didn't) but then changed his interpretation to Neil being "too deep in the crease". It seems they make this stuff up as they go but the Senators managed to keep their cool (despite their recent valid gripes about officiating) and Neil actually got the goal back a few minutes later by going right back to the crease to bang in a floating puck past Halak. Even that goal went to review but the Senators were not going to be denied on this one.

Had that second goal been called back, bedlam would have broken out on the Senators bench and in the 50/50 stands.

Alexei Kovalev continued his resurgence as of late and was the best player on the ice tonight even though it didn't translate into any points. It finally looks as though Kovalev is finding his form after a very tough first half of the season.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Alex Kovalev
2. Chris Neil
3. Pascal Leclaire

Honourable mentions: Ryan Shannon, Peter Regin and Chris Campoli (it seems as though his recent benching and stint as a forward has sharpened Campoli's determination and he has been much better of late).

NOTES

It's tough for Senators fans to complain about the vocal Montreal fans sounding like a majority and turning a home game into a road game at Scotiabank Place. If Sens fans aren't buying the tickets, there's tens of thousands of Habs and Leafs fans who are willing to pony up for them......

Canucks forward Mikael Samuelsson wasn't happy with being left off the Swedish Olympic team:

"I pretty much have one comment and maybe I'll regret it," Samuelsson told the Vancouver Sun. "But they can go [expletive] themselves. That's what I really think."

Wow..........

It seemed inevitable that the Caps would trade their captain Chris Clark. The core of that team is centred on some highly skilled guys and Clark was simply not on the ice enough to be that go-to guy that the captain needs to be. In effect, this trade finally allows this to be Alex Ovechkin's team, whether he gets the "C" or not.

Road Cure For Sens Woes

How many of you were thinking: "Here we go again" when Bryan McCabe scored to cut the Ottawa lead to 4-3?

One player wasn't buying it. Daniel Alfredsson.

Soon after the McCabe goal, the captain got on the ice and dominated for over a minute in the Panthers zone and capped off the shift with a big hit. That was the captain's way of saying: "There ain't going to be no comeback. Not tonight."

After that shift, there were no major miscues and Brian Elliott finished off what an ailing Pascal Leclaire started by making some timely saves in the 3rd period to finish off the near-Leaf bad Florida Panthers.

In essence it was an uneventful game - just the kind of game Ottawa needed. Filip Kuba stepped back into the lineup and got two assists without breaking a sweat. Clearly he's an important piece of this team without too many people seeming to notice in the past. One of his assists came on the power-play when Mike Fisher tipped in his point shot and his presence certainly bodes well for that unit going forward.

Now we wait and see if coach Clory Clouston can avoid making any more unnecessary lineup changes like he did the last time the Senators were on a winning streak. Shean Donovan may have played some scant minutes (and showed up for a good fight with the much younger Kenndal McArdle) but he's becoming a good luck charm for the team as well as a vital piece of that fourth line. Intangibles, intangibles....

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Daniel Alfredsson
2. Brian Elliott
3. Filip Kuba

NOTES

Bryan McCabe - Does that guy score in every single game he plays against Ottawa, or does it just feel that way?......Tomas Vokoun just hasn't been that good since joining the Panthers from his "glory days" in Nashville. I should know because I've been stuck with him in pools the last couple of seasons. His save percentage has been pretty good in Florida but his team just hasn't been able to score. When he was with Nashville, he seemed to come out of nowhere and exceed expectations. Now that he's a known entity, he simply seems underwhelming...... Jarkko Ruutu is quietly having a really good season. And so we won't jinx it by talking about it too much....

It was 50 years ago on November 1st when Montreal goalie Jacques Plante took a shot directly to the face courtesy of Andy Bathgate, prompting the legend to don that famous hockey mask which has now become standard protection for today's goaltenders. Yada, yada, yada, but when did goalie masks get so ugly? I would say that across the board, most NHL goalie masks are completely indecipherable from one another when seen on TV or from the stands in the arena. The reason? Most goalies hire specialists who fill the mask with so much detail and busy artwork that they can only be appreciated from up close. In the 70's and 80's, when "mask artists" didn't really exist, goalies tended to opt for solid colours, stripes, or simplistic but edgy designs such as Gerry Cheevers famous "stitch" mask or Gilles Gratton's "lion" mask. Today's masks look bad on TV and that's a shame. Part of the problem is the modern structure of masks doesn't leave much room for big, bold designs due to the standard face cage. But the limited space on the top and sides of the masks just screams out for simplicity rather than obscure cartoon characters. For my money, nothing beats the classic Grant Fuhr mask. Simple, colourful and memorable.......

I couldn't be more tired of the endless exhortations from some quarters demanding the NHL do something about "hits to the head". The fact is that the NHL already has stringent rules in place for players who target another players head. What these people really want to do is to punish players who deliver "incidental" contact to the head. The only way to do that would be to outlaw hitting in the NHL. No player can always deliver a perfectly safe hit. It's a tough game and sometimes heads get knocked around. Mike Richards' hit on David Booth was clearly legal (he did not leave his feet like some people erroneously tried to claim). Same as the big hit on Jonathan Toews from Willie Mitchell. These players are paid a lot of money and they all have a choice whether or not to play hockey for a living. They know what they are getting into. Sometimes big hits happen and sometimes players get hurt from those hits. For all the hits that happen every night in the NHL, how many really go wrong and result in an injury the likes of which Booth suffered? There's only a handful every single year, yet some critics act like it's a nightly occurrence. Huge hits are an integral part of the NHL. Let's not confuse those with deliberate hits to the head (which are even rarer!).

Cherry Takes Another Shot At Senators From The Bully Pulpit

Lots of little storms brewing in Senators land. Here's my take on a few:

Cherry Attacks Senators Players...Again

Immediately following Saturday's loss to the Bruins, Don Cherry called out Chris Neil and Matt Carkner for "hotdogging" and showboating after their fights in Scotiabank Place. He claimed that this was the reason that Boston summoned the emotion to fight back and win the game.

You have to wonder why Cherry is calling out the two Senators for actions that virtually all the enforcers around the league do in their home rinks. It's a league wide trend for a guy to wave his arms in an attempt to pump up the home crowd after a scrap. It's been going on at least since the lockout ended and is rarely meant, or seen, as a deliberate gesture to embarrass the visiting team.

Yet there was Cherry singling out a couple of Senators for ridicule on national television. This is just one in a long line of insults hurled the Senators way by the self-described Maple Leaf fan.

Once it was the Senators use of exercise bikes after games to get rid of lactic acid in their muscles. Never mind that all teams practice that now as just common sense. Cherry revisited this again on Saturday night by showing the Canucks players on the bikes and then proceeded to call them "sucks" at least twice to an amused Ron Maclean.

It was also last season that Cherry singled out Mike Fisher for having the audacity to wear a toque into the rink along with his game day suit in the middle of winter. He showed footage of Fisher with the toque and called the Senators a bunch of "bums". It's a wonder he didn't follow it up by saying "Listen kids, never wear a toque in the winter cuz' you'll look bad. Remember, it's all about how you look, not how you feel. And when I do drink beer, I like to drink Dos Equis."

Cherry is a guy who will always says what he thinks and I respect him for that. But isn't it time he just comes out and says he dislikes the Senators as an organization and get it over with rather than foolishly attempting to embarrass them on national television over and over again with petty grievances that the players then have to answer questions about again and again?

Just once, I'd love to hear Bryan Murray stand up for his team and tell Cherry to take a flying
f!*k at a rolling donut.

Rumours of Karlsson Getting Sent Down

With Filip Kuba seemingly ready to return from injury, and Karlsson about to hit the 10 game mark on Wednesday in Sunrise, the organization has been mum on whether or not Karlsson still fits into their plans for this season.

In fact, if you heard Cory Clouston's interview on the Team 1200 Monday afternoon, he suspiciously sounded like a coach who already knew the rookie would be on his way to the AHL, without saying so on the record.

I've argued for keeping Karlsson up in the NHL and I haven't changed my stance on that. It seems to me that Karlsson has suffered more by playing with the largely ineffective Chris Campoli than he has by his own play. He's still getting used to the NHL but he also hasn't been the reason Ottawa has lost any games. Campoli on the other hand has been largely invisible all season but is probably going to get the benefit of the doubt because of what he has done in the past for the New York Islanders. Alex Picard has played better of late once he got the solid Carkner as a partner. Karlsson, meanwhile, hasn't had the benefit of a defensive presence on his pairing since Kuba went down.

A lot of it will come down to politics in the end. Sending Campoli down is not an option because of his one way contract. It's also similar to how politics is playing a role in why Shean Donovan is sitting and Jonathan Cheechoo is playing.

There is no chance in hell that anyone could agree that Cheechoo has deserved his roster spot more than Donovan. Yet Cheechoo is going to get the call every game because his salary says he needs to be on the ice.

If you take stats out of the equation, you have to look at how effective each player is at his specific role. Donovan is expected to create energy on every shift, even if that means playing under 10 minutes and sometimes not at all late in games. Clearly, Donovan has met or even surpassed those expectations.

Cheechoo is expected to provide offense playing with Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek. Obviously he's not fulfilling his role, even if his linemates are having individual success. The painful truth is that Cheechoo just can't skate at an NHL level. Perhaps he just needs a break and that will get the goals coming. That's probably the only rationale you can use to keep him in the lineup, especially when Nick Foligno is playing behind him on the 3rd line and is more than capable of filling that role. Ryan Shannon can do the same.

In Karlsson's case, I'd be surprised to see him get demoted if only for the fact that Murray came out last week and said that 10 games would not be the benchmark for the rookie. I'm not sure why he would change his mind now, especially after a strong game on Saturday where the rookie looked very good at times.

Yet if Karlsson does get sent down, we can probably expect to see him again due to the compressed schedule coming up and the injuries it will undoubtedly cause.