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.

The Heart Attack Kids

How's yer blood pressure, Ottawa fans?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Michalek will have many more nights to shine.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

L'Artiste Steals The Show

It was an unforgettable moment in a largely forgettable game.

With the Senators clinging to a 2-1 lead just over halfway through the 3rd period, former Hab fan favourite Alexei Kovalev found himself all alone in the slot with the puck and he buried it behind a helpless Carey Price.

At first there was just stunned silence, and a smattering of boos. Then, slowly, a cheer started to build throughout the building as a large contingent of Montreal fans stood to give the player they once so affectionately called "L'artiste" a standing ovation.

Sure, some were still booing and trying to drown out the spontaneous cheers (Kovalev had been booed throughout the game prior to the goal) but the cameras showed a large contingent of the crowd being swept up in the moment and standing for number 27. While CBC neglected to show us a shot of Montreal GM Bob Gainey, you can imagine the look that would have been on his face.

So while the Canadiens find themselves in a funk in front of perhaps the most intense set of fans in the NHL, the Ottawa Senators sail contentedly into a 4 day break before taking on the struggling Nashville Predators at home on Thursday.

And for that, they also have goalie Pascal Leclaire to thank, who made 27 saves, a lot of them at important times in the game.

Kovalev's linemates in Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher also played strong at times in a game that was mediocre if you were looking for end to end excitement.

Black Aces 3 Stars

1. Alex Kovalev
2. Pascal Leclaire
3. Daniel Alfredsson

NOTES

A must read article: Jack Todd's outright knifing of Brian Burke (and to a lesser extent, Bob Gainey).

"It's impossible to watch TSN or Hockey Night in Canada without getting overexposed to what the inimitable M. Strapp describes as Burke's "televangelist
hair," not to mention his Rush Limbaugh bluster.

Unfortunately, where the NFL had the good sense to tell Limbaugh to take a flying fandango at a rolling donut, Burke is still seen as some kind of hero. Maybe that's because he persuaded the league to waive the rules and allow his Ducks to run roughshod over the poor unsuspecting Ottawa Senators, who were naive enough to think the NHL would actually enforce its Brave New Rules in a Stanley Cup final."

..... It was great to see Brian McGrattan get the Gordie Howe hat-trick for the Flames the other night and even better to see Don Cherry show the highlights with the Rocky theme on Coaches Corner. How long before Cherry gives some love to Matt Carkner, a Cherry type player if there ever was one?......Speaking of Carkner, HNIC commentator Cassie Campbell intimated that the defenseman could be out of a roster spot once Filip Kuba gets healthy. Obviously, Cassie hasn't been watching the Senators games this year. Carkner isn't going anywhere. Otherwise, Cassie Campbell is one of the most likable commentators on HNIC. She just keeps getting better and better. Gary Galley is also a rising star on the legendary show. He's just so solid. Rookie Guy Carbonneau has some work to do. He didn't have much of a presence during the game and speaks too softly. He is very knowledgeable though, and provided some good insights as a former coach........ Bob Cole has made some legendary calls and can really capture the moment beautifully, as evidenced by his distinctive voice popping up on a large amount of historic highlights . But he seems to miss as many moments as he catches lately. A few great saves by Pascal Leclaire were met with total silence. On other less exciting plays, Cole was blowing the roof off. He failed to really gauge the crowd reaction during the Kovalev ovation and only seemed to notice about 30 seconds later when he remarked casually that "the crowd is cheering now". Still, Cole will be greatly missed when he moves on. As classy a personality as there is in broadcasting......

It's (very) early, but King Henrik Lundqvist has to be the current favourite to win the Vezina and Michael Del Zotto is making his case for the Calder. Even John Tortorella has the early lead for the Jack Adams. With Wade Redden playing better and Marian Gaborik staying healthy, the Rangers are in great shape right now. I guess it always helps when you get to play a team like the Leafs twice early in the schedule. The cigar chewing Glen Sather has taken a lot of heat over the years but his ability to move Scott Gomez and his mammoth contract was one of the most masterful moves in recent memory...... Mike Milbury might have been a bit of a gong show as a GM, but I like him as a personality on HNIC. He's gruff and looks like he might punch fellow commentators out at any moment, but it's also the right balance from the two other "nice guy" panellists on the Satellite Hotstove Segment.

Nicest moment of the night? After the Toronto - New York game, rookie Michael Del Zotto was interviewed and he mentioned that his ailing grandmother made it to the ACC to see her grandchild score a goal in his first hometown game in Toronto. As Del Zotto put it, if his Grandma was going to move for anything, it was to make it to the rink and that she would have to spend the next two days in bed recovering.

No, I'm not crying. There's just something in my eye.

Beatdown: Senators 7 Lightning 1

This was the game everyone was waiting for.

A good old fashioned beating of a visiting road team and the break out of the major piece of the Dany Heatley trade.

Milan Michalek finally showed the fans why Bryan Murray was willing to part with the valuable Heatley for the largely unknown West Coast winger who came with promises of speed and skill but had so far had a tough time finding chemistry with Jason Spezza.

Michalek basically made the power play problems of the Senators moot by going out and getting 2 shorthanded goals. If you can get them on the penalty kill, who needs a power play? But Michalek made good on the man advantage by finishing off the hat trick, the recipient of a jaw dropping, behind the back pass by Jason Spezza.

And as if the fans weren't pumped up enough, Matt Carkner then goes out and hands out an old-school behind the woodshed beating of notorious Senator headhunter Steve Downie just seconds later. The only person not smiling was Carkner's mother who sat in the stands with a look of motherly concern on her face, maybe not yet realizing that her son was turning into a folk hero amongst the Kanata faithful.

Nothing much, if anything was wrong with Ottawa's game tonight, except maybe a sloppy, uninspired start that soon turned around when Daniel Alfredsson stole a puck from Martin St.Louis and fed Alexei Kovalev in front of the net for the Senators first goal. Other highlights were Nick Foligno getting his first of the year and the (now expected) solid play of Pascal Leclaire.

You wouldn't be far off if you suggested that perhaps the Senators are starting to get an inkling of how good they can really be. They've had some good wins so far this season but it always looked like baby steps - good plays followed by strange mistakes and plenty of tightly clenched sticks. Yet somehow they got more breaks than they missed and had a winning record going into the game. With 7 goals and contributions from their star players for a change, the Senators seem like a team on the cusp of realizing their own strength.

Momentum is clearly with the suddenly resurgent Senators as they travel down the highway to Montreal for their next game on Saturday.

Black Aces 3 Stars

1. Milan Michalek
2. Jarkko Ruutu
3. Jason Spezza

Honorable mentions: Too many to mention. But Chris Phillips (+4) and Daniel Alfredsson (3 assists) get the nod.

NOTES

Some fans have begun to question Clouston's wisdom in his defense pairings, and I get what they're talking about. Like one commenter mentioned on James Gordon's blog, if Clouston were to split up Phillips and Volchenkov, Ottawa could have one physical player and one offensive player on every pairing (with Kuba missing). Putting Karlsson with Campoli is like serving up a smorgasbord for opposing forwards. No one misses Kuba more than Karlsson right now. Who could have predicted Kuba would be such an important player? I'm guilty myself of underestimating his impact. In this case, I'm happy to be wrong..........

The "A-Train" Anton Volchenkov continued his "Rookie Reign Of Terror Tour" by crushing the much larger Victor Hedman in the 2nd period. Previous tour stops included Anton Stralman in Toronto and John Tavares of Long Island. He also did a number on sophomore Zach Bogosian of Atlanta. The hit also couldn't have come at a better time for TSN as the network had just done a feature on the Russian the night before showcasing his big hits. The only mystery is that commentator Ray Ferraro and others were predicting Volchenkov was going to start getting a reputation as a fierce open ice hitter. Starting? The A-Train has been cranking players since his first season way back in 2002-2003. In one rookie tournament game that year, Volchenkov delivered his first huge hit by catching a now forgotten Florida Panther with his head down behind the net. The player was knocked out cold and my brother Ben was sitting right at the glass looking down at the guy. He said the Panther was doing the doggie paddle while lying flat on his back, obviously in in la-la land.......

TSN struck gold a second time when Chris Cuthbert was telling the great story of Matt Carkner and how he made the NHL at 28 years old. Just as soon as Cuthbert was finished, Carkner ran over Stephane Veilleux. Ferraro said "On cue."...... I don't mean to toot my own horn, but Chris Phillips told Cuthbert that Carkner reminded him of Lance Pitlick. I said the very same thing just some days ago. Toot Toot....

Did anyone catch TSN's Bob McKenzie say that a doctor in the Czech Republic actually wanted to amputate Milan Michalek's leg because the winger's knee was so screwed up after multiple injuries and surgeries? Good lord...... Gotta agree with Ray Ferraro. I don't understand why pucks that are kicked along the ice into the net are not valid goals. I understand why you wouldn't want players drop-kicking pucks into the net, but an example like Miller's goal, with just the slightest intentional kicking motion are not about to open the door to guys making a living off of it. Skates and pucks are awkward partners and would always be a last option compared to a taped up, curved stick. How many similar goals are called back every year? 30? 50? The league thankfully got rid of the "toe in the crease" rule. Maybe it's time to revisit this one. But as McKenzie noted, the issue has been brought up many times in GM's meetings and a consensus to scrap it has never formed. I wouldn't hold my breath for that to change anytime soon....

Even though the Senators have fallen on hard times the past two seasons, they have maintained their streak of 11 straight winning record seasons. They barely kept the streak alive by finishing with a 36-35-0-11. Some would say those 11 OT losses should count in the loss column, but when you get a point for them, it's hard to call it a loss.

In keeping with this blog's fascination with uniforms and hockey fashion etiquette, I have to wonder - what happened to those old maroon and black uniforms that the lower level servers/ushers used to wear at the rink in Kanata? I don't know if they changed them last year or this year, but they're not half as cool now. Okay, I guess that's taking the uni obsession a little far....

Karlsson Still On Track

Ok. Back up with a temporary computer. Crisis averted.

Before the Tampa game, I just wanted to quickly address the latest scuttlebut going around concerning Erik Karlsson and (as some believe/wish) his suddenly eminent demotion to the AHL.

First off, Bryan Murray denied it and stood behind his rookie by saying that 10 games is not going to tell the story on Karlsson's year.

That's the right move as far as I'm concerned.

One, he's standing behind a player and defending him publicly, something that Murray rarely does (he's old school even though he was once considered too "new school" in the 80's).

Secondly, 5 games is not a fair slice to start dumping on the kid. He looks like a 19 year old rookie and is having some trouble getting used to the speed of the regular season, yes.

But you can tell that this guy is good enough to play in the NHL once he gets his head around it. After a couple of decent games, people are jumping on the Alex Picard bandwagon and clamouring for the call-up of Brian Lee.

Not going to happen (barring injuries, of course)

Murray has been around way too long to succumb to knee jerk reactions after only 5 games. When you believe in a player and decide to give him a chance, you give him a real good shot at it. If Karlsson is still struggling at 20 games, maybe then you have this discussion.

The upsides for Brian Lee and Alex Picard are not as big as Karlsson's right now, not even for this season.

Murray is not keeping Karlsson up just because he is his prized draft pick. He can see the obvious game breaking talent right there at the surface that is going to shine through once he gets more confident.

People didn't seem to be too worried about Karlsson when the Senators won 3 games in a row. Now, after losing one game to the Stanley Cup champions, they seem to want to make a change.

All players make mistakes, especially rookies. You have to live with a few even if the easiest thing to do would be to throw in the towel.

Karlsson will be better.

Bank on it.

No Tech

My computer whacked out for good yesterday and so there will be no game report on the loss to the Penguins. Hopefully I'll be back up by Thursday if I can swing a deal on a new desktop. Anyone know of any good deals? Mac or PC?

Same Story, Different Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All Guts, No Glory - Sens 3 Isles 2

Folks, the Senators are back.

Maybe not the Senators you've all become accustomed to in the high-octane 2000's, but instead, the edgy, hard-working and high spirited teams of 97 and 98 when they were fighting every game for respect... and a playoff spot.

On a night when it was clear that the high-end skill guys like Alex Kovalev, Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek were still trying to work the rust off, it was (again) the lesser known soldiers who forced coach Cory Clouston to play them more and more as the game went on.

It all started with the "Big Rig" Chris Phillips blasting Islander Tim Jackman down with a hard hit in the first period.

Then, Anton Volchenkov delivered John Tavares the cliche "Welcome to the NHL" moment when he absolutely crushed the rookie near the boards.

The tone was set.

Que up the Chris Neil - Peter Regin - Jonathan Cheechoo line. They not only got the Senators first goal, they dominated the game.

When Matt Carkner scored in the second period to give the team a 2 goal lead and after Pascal Leclaire absolutely stoned Tavares with a mind-bending pad save in the same time frame, it pushed the fans over into downright giddiness. They were actually giving Leclaire a standing ovation, but you got the sense that they were just releasing about 2 years of pent up energy and nervousness.

Playing before them was a team that was giving it their all, awkward mistakes and all, and the fans were feeding off of it. Big time.

If this was last year, Martin Gerber would have let in that Tavares goal. The Senators would have been the ones picking themselves off the ice after a nasty hit at the blueline. The fans would have been waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

But tonight it seemed like they were finally expecting things to go right for a change.

And they were given that chance because Cory Clouston has changed the attitude and philosophy of the team.

Whoever is playing well is going to play a lot. And it was not just about the minutes. In fact, neither Neil, Cheechoo or Regin played more than 14 minutes, but it was the timing of their shifts. Clouston played them at important times in the game, when he needed a goal and when he needed to keep goals out.

Maybe it's that minor league mentality. Clouston comes from the AHL, a league filled with guys busting their asses to make it to the big show. That's the culture and Clouston seems to have brought that attitude to the NHL. He knows these types of players - guys like Neil, Carkner, Shean Donovan et al.

He trusts them just as much as he trusts the established NHL guys like Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher. Even skilled players who have put in their time in the minors like Regin and Ryan Shannon get Clouston's respect, and that's a big difference from the philosophies of past coaches like John Paddock and Craig Hartsburg who either played their established stars into the ground or adapted a passive system built on trying not to screw up.

Clouston's teams go for it, grinders and superstars alike.

And could it be more fitting than the team's ultimate grinder, Mike Fisher, to get that overtime goal?

Funny thing is, I think the fans were expecting the Senators to win once it got to overtime.

And that might be the most refreshing change of them all.

Black Aces 3 Stars

1. Chris Neil
2. Pascal Leclaire
3. Matt Carkner

Honourable mentions: Mike Fisher, Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Phillips.


Notes

Matt Carkner is starting to remind me of another Ottawa Senator from a long time ago who snuck up on everyone to become a fan favourite. And that player is Lance Pitlick. Remember him Sens fans? Carkner is bigger and more mobile than Pitlick ever was, but it's all in the attitude. Pitlick was a guy who toiled in the AHL with the Hershey Bears for a long time, on top of a full career at college. Pitlick was also a guy who kept it extremely simple - put pucks off the glass and put guys into the boards.

Not to be a Don Cherry sycophant or anything, but there's something about that rugged Canadian type of player that every Stanley Cup team seems to have one or two of. Ottawa has had a few of these guys up front (Fisher, Neil and even Alfie from "Moosejaw, Sweden") but it's been awhile since they've had one on the back end who can play over 15 minutes a game.

There's a danger in overhyping a player like Carkner, but in Ottawa, with his breed so rare, it's becoming a revelation to see what they've been missing......... Back in 1997, my old roomate Andy Sheath got a job at the Corel Centre and from downtown would take a bus as close as he could and then walk a ways through fields and snow. One day a pick-up truck stopped at the side of the road and waved him over. "Geez buddy, you must be freezing your balls off! Are you headed to the rink?" It was Lance Pitlick. When Andy (who was not a hockey fan) got home, he asked me if I've ever heard of a guy named Pitlick? "Umm...yah dude." Apparently Pitlick was on his way to practice at the time and didn't think twice about picking up some grubby looking guy freezing his balls off in the middle of winter. Now that's character......

If bench chatter is any indication, it looks like Carkner and rookie Erik Karlsson have hit it off. At least twice in the first two periods, the cameras centred on the two laughing it up and giving each other fist bumps. Then again, Carkner seems to be making everyone laugh. He had the trainer cracking up on the bench after his second period goal............

Alex Kovalev started slow again but by the 3rd period, he was starting to control the play. This guy is going to be a great player for this team, but you might have to wait while warms up first..... Alex Picard almost took Alfie's head off with an errant deflection in the 2nd period. Luckily the puck hit the captain in the shoulder and he didn't have to make a trip to the dentist like Milan Michalek did after the game in Toronto....... A guy who never gets enough respect, from myself as well, is Chris Phillips. The guy plays hard every single night and we just take it for granted now that he'll put in a solid, if unspectacular game. For a guy who goes up against the other teams best forwards every single night for the past 5 or 6 seasons, he makes very few mistakes. He's Ottawa's own version of Glen Wesley and should be a career Senator..... Speaking of contracts, let's hope Bryan Murray doesn't waste a second getting Volchenkov extended before this summer. Just give the guy what he needs and put it in the rear view mirror. He may not play for a long time due to his style of game, but he'll be your rock for 4 or 5 more years at the least......

Does anyone really care that Ilya Zubov has made a trade request? After Dany Heatley, does it even register on the Richter Scale? It will be tough for Binghamton, but not for anyone else..... A lot of missed calls on the night, most of the obstruction variety. The NHL has changed their Director of Officiating to Terry Gregson this season. You just hope that the standards don't start to slip. But then again, you got the sense that the refs were trying to atone for missing the puck hitting the mesh just before Regin scored the first goal of the game. It should have been disallowed and maybe they gave the Isles some leeway after that. But there's no excuse for letting Doug Weight hit Volchenkov from behind right in front of your eyes......

Got to say it: That was Jonathan Cheechoo's best game in a Senators jersey by far. He seems to be getting more involved at the front of the net and that's a great sign. That's where he's scored all his goals so far in his career. For such a likable character, you can only hope that he keeps going in the right direction. He has a chance to be a fan favourite down the line here.

Donovan Breaks The Spell

The star players can't do it for you all the time.

And tonight in Toronto, it was the role players who ignited a sluggish and disinterested team after a terrible first period which was hard to watch for all but the hardcore hockey fan.

Both Ottawa and Toronto looked afraid to make a mistake and the 1st period was a snorefest because of it with each team managing 8 shots that were barely noticed.

Then Anton Volchenkov crushed Leaf rookie Victor Stalberg at the Senators blueline. The Swede did not return and the hit seemed to take the wind completely out of the Leafs

The momentum led to Shean Donovan cutting down a puck from mid-air with an axe like swing where it dropped past Jonas Gustavsson - a garbage goal - but those are often the ones that change a game around.

Donovan, a guy who was a healthy scratch the first game and the first on the list of many who expected a player to be shipped out of town, did what he was supposed to do and crashed the net and caused chaos around "The Monster".

It worked.

With the bubble burst, Ottawa started to assert themselves and the Captain broke the game open by scoring on a rare penalty shot, taking the place of Milan Michalek who not only was fouled, but lost his two front teeth on the play and had to go to the room to get checked out.

Yet, the win was a strange one.

This is not the Senators team that forechecked aggressively and tried to skate other teams into the ground during the end of last season under Cory Clouston.

Even after opening things up with a couple of goals, the Senators played it fairly safe, content with loading up the bodies in the neutral zone and waiting for the Leafs to make mistakes.

It worked against the seemingly hapless Leafs, but will it work against the Flyers or the Penguins or the Capitals?

Alex Kovalev showed flashes of his all-world skill towards the end of the game and looked almost dominant on a few plays. He made at least two cross ice passes that were barely believable, but his recipients couldn't cash in, including Nick Foligno who was sniffing around the net all night.

Jason Spezza is impressing with his newfound willingness to play meaningful defence - he was often the forward helping out behind his own net - but offensively he is struggling a little like his teammates.

Interestingly, Jonathan Cheechoo finally showed a pulse in the third period and actually crashed the net on one occasion. We all knew he wasn't a great skater, but did anyone really expect to see a guy who would be hard pressed to beat Jason Allison in a blueline to blueline sprint?

But it's two games, and Cheechoo is going to get all the opportunity in the world to get himself back into shape. It's clear that he is not physically right - whatever that implies. Something is just off with him right now. If he doesn't get going, how soon will it be until he finds himself in the press box watching Donovan skate in his place?

If anything, tonight demonstrated the value of a guy like Donovan. He can sit for five games. He can sit for 35 minutes. But when he's on the ice, he always makes something happen with his speed, grit, and heart.

It was a game that, despite the early schedule, meant a lot to whoever could win it.

Now the Senators can go into their home opener on Thursday with the press and fans off their backs but the Leafs are now entering the chaos zone where the coach plays egotistical games with the media, the young players are shell shocked and the fans believe the sky is falling after only 3 games.

But that's not Ottawa's problem any more.

Black Aces 3 Stars of the Game

1. Anton Volchenkov
2. Daniel Alfredsson
3. Shean Donovan

Honorable mentions go out to Pascal Leclaire (who makes it look easy), Jarkko Ruutu (a team high 3 shots - and a nasty cheap shot on Mike Komisarek) and Matt Carkner (who has replaced Jason Smith and Luke Richardson quite nicely).

Opening Night Shakes

There's no reason to sugarcoat it. The Ottawa Senators played a lousy game.

Looking like they were skating in 2 inches of mud, the Senators couldn't seem to get anything going in either the 1st or 3rd periods. And when they did get their chances in a fairly decent 2nd period, Henrik Lundqvist was outstanding for the New York Rangers.

There's lots of excuses if you want them. Starting on the road. A long layoff after their final pre-season game. New players still trying to find chemistry.

It doesn't matter. If there were butterflies, they should be gone now.

Pascal Leclaire was really good in goal despite the 5-2 score. He made some really difficult stops but had no chance on most of the others

Rookie Erik Karlsson looked like a rookie. It was obvious that he was very tight in the early going and was just trying not to make a mistake rather than play his usual high octane game.

And when you try not to make mistakes, you make them by the bushel.

His passes were so carefully placed that they had no zip on them and he occasionally got his signals crossed in his own end, in one instance leading directly to a goal by Brandon Dubinsky in the 1st period.

But he made up for that mistake by backchecking ferociously and stopping a breakaway by Artem Anisimov in the 2nd and seemed to snap out of his trance late in the 3rd by making some nice passes to forwards going at full speed.

He'll be better once he realizes he's an NHL player and stops being so starstruck.

Matt Carkner really impressed by playing exactly the same way he did in the pre-season. He looked like a veteran out there and even had two really good offensive chances early in the game by choosing to take two hard shots which Lundqvist had to stop with some difficulty. Carkner then went on to fight Donald Brashear late in the 3rd after jawing with the Ranger enforcer all game and did well in the scrap.

Otherwise, there wasn't much to see other than a hockey squad looking to uptight to really play their hustle and puck pursuit game the way they meant to.

Next up, Toronto.

NOTES

THEY FIXED THE SOCKS!!!!!!

It seems the Ottawa Senators are intent on spoiling us all of a sudden. First, they bring back the Senators theme song at the start of games. Now.... they fixed their freaking ugly socks.

BEFORE

NOW

Finally.

I'm not sure what the Senators were thinking with that previous design but they are now back in the fashion good books. I haven't had a chance to see if Calgary or Tampa Bay have also done the same thing with their similar looking socks.

One thing I do know about Calgary, their retro uni's look fantastic. It seems like the tide is finally turning from the dark and dreary 90's when bright colours died off in the NHL. With Philly, Calgary and Edmonton rehashing their 70's and 80's style jerseys, the NHL is starting to "pop" on television once again. Dark and subtle tones don't look good on television. Bright, classic colours with clean, straight stripes do.

It's just too bad Theo Fleury isn't around to put that bright orange jersey on again.

***

The conventional wisdom that always gets spouted on sports talk radio shows is that the NHL is a sub-par league, struggling financially, marketing inept, and run by a commissioner who doesn't know what he is doing.

As is the case with most cliches that talking heads can spout to their audience without actually having to do any research, that "conventional wisdom" is dead wrong. In fact, Gary Bettman is being hailed as a genius among all sports owners, not just NHL owners, first for breaking the players union during the recent lockout (David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail recently said the union has degenerated into a "laughingstock") and for winning big over renegade poacher Jim Ballsillie.

People point to sore spots such as the Coyotes mess and the lack of a truly national television deal in the United States, but in essence, the league has never been doing better, both on and off the ice.

Globe and Mail business writer Brian Milner sees an NHL that is thriving in a global recession.

"...as the league embarks on its 92nd season, indicators point to a sport that is more than holding its own in the increasingly fierce battle for the shrinking entertainment buck.

League revenue stands at a record high. Ticket sales are holding steady even as prices rise in some markets, and star players are drawing big crowds. The sport is enjoying a resurgence in some old hockey towns such as Chicago and Boston, while the Montreal Canadiens sold this year for a record price. Television ratings are picking up. "

He notes that some Southern teams are still struggling but the core of the league remains strong, protecting it from what was once thought to be an inevitable implosion.

For many, especially elitist Canadian hockey snobs who believe the league should be a tiny, regional operation not much bigger than the CFL, Gary Bettman can never be given credit for anything.

But in truth, Bettman is now revered in the sports ownership world, along with his associate Bill Daly, the deputy commisioner. Beating Ballsillie means that a legal court has affirmed the right of professional sports leagues to determine, to a large extent, where they can operate their own franchises.

If, as a Canadian hockey fan, you feel that Bettman has insulted Canada by not allowing the Coyotes to move to Hamilton, just think of how much more protected the existing Canadian franchises are from someone coming in and trying to move them to the United States.

Small market fans in Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary should be sending thank you notes to the commish, not hate mail.

"Other NHL governors also declined to speak, or rather gloat, publicly. But several had plenty to say anonymously.

“I don't care if our share is $5-million [for the legal costs and the Coyotes' losses this season],” one said. “I'll send a thank-you note along with the cheque.”

Another owner said he “will gladly pay the bills,” because “this could have set a very dangerous precedent for all sports franchises.”

-Globe and Mail

Rookies and Veterans In The Melting Pot

All the buzz in town is about Bryan Murray’s comments that some veterans better step up their game in training camp or else risk losing their jobs to rookies.

It’s a typical and usually successful GM move to try and light a fire under some players but that type of thing always backfires in a market like Ottawa where certain influential radio hosts and columnists take it as a green light to go on a negative feeding frenzy, and the latest guy pegged to be “run out of town” is Chris Kelly.

To hear the Over The Edgers, you’d think the Senators were in the midst of a horrible December slump and that Chris Kelly was missing practices and getting into road rage incidents with attention seeking senior citizens with personalized license plates.

Except it’s training camp.

What are we talking about? Training camp? “Practice? We talkin’ about practice?”

It seems that no matter what Kelly does this year, he is going to get thrown under the bus for daring to have a contract over 2 million dollars and not score 50 goals.

Presumably, Jesse Winchester can do what Kelly does at a fraction of the price, but that doesn’t take into account how popular Kelly is among his teammates and the excellent contributions he can bring to the team once the games start to mean something. Kelly is a proven veteran and deserves some respect. He was part of the most successful team in the history of the franchise who brought Stanley Cup final action back to the capital.

To rip a guy for having an underwhelming training camp is fine but don’t infer that he has lost his value because of that. We are supposed to judge players on their contributions during real games and not get obsessed with who showed up to an optional skate or who was the first guy off the ice at practice, like the Ottawa media seems to be stuck on.

But the Senators are at a point where they have way too many forwards and three players knocking on the door. Those players are, of course, defenseman Erik Karlsson, Matt Carkner and forward Peter Regin.

All 3 deserve a spot on the Senators roster, ahead of the likes of Brian Lee, Christoph Schubert, Zack Smith and Alex Picard and not just because of their training camp performance. They deserve to be there because they all supply a certain need on the team.

Karlsson is obvious. If he doesn’t make the squad, something is truly rotten in Denmark.

Regin has been coming on for two years now and is a complete player who seems to fit well as a centre on the Mike Fisher line, giving the Senators 3 skilled centres who can all score points.

If there is any justice and common sense in the world, Carkner will be the 6th defenseman. That would give a perfect balance to the top six – 3 defensive defenseman and 3 offensive defenseman.

I’m a believer in Brian Lee but the Senators need Carkner more than Lee right now because Karlsson, Chris Campoli and Filip Kuba already fill the offensive role.

Add in the fact that Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov, as big and tough as they are, will never be accused of having a mean streak. Carkner has a doozy and Ottawa hasn’t seen that since Zdeno Chara left town.

The solution?

Send Lee to the minors because you can (due to his two-way contract). He will have a chance to play in the future and it won’t hurt him. The AHL is a hell of a league.

Waive (or if you can, trade) Christoph Schubert. He needs a fresh start with a team that will allow him to be a defenseman.

Picard? That’s a tough one. He is too good to try and sneak through waivers. Injuries will come and the team will be glad to have someone like Picard in the stable. Yet, with the team fully healthy, what does he provide that Campoli, Kuba and Karlsson can’t? Not much.

But if you deal both Picard and Schubert, you deplete your depth.

Do you keep two extra defenseman? In a cap world, that doesn’t make sense.

Sadly, this probably means that Carkner will be sent to the AHL.

While Winchester is out with an injury to start the season, that allows Murray to at least delay a decision on where Shean Donovan and Kelly fit. Nobody wants to see Donovan go anywhere but the only way to avoid that is to move someone else out.

Rumblings and strange chatter that Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu are in danger can only be described as mystifying. Neil was unfairly lumped in with those veterans who were having mediocre camps by some but he has gone out and done his job perfectly on the ice – defending teammates and being a presence along the boards.

Ruutu is being paid next to nothing and there are very few players in the league as good as he is in the pest role. Taking away physical, heart and soul players is not the solution in Ottawa. If anything, the Senators could use more sandpaper, not less.

***

Have to point out an interesting article penned by the blog Blood Red Army who points out the evolving negativity of the mainstream media towards the only franchise in town. Some very good points:

"Honestly, what is it with the sports media in Ottawa? We are exactly nine days into training camp and I am already sick to death of the negativity being spewed towards the Ottawa Senator players.

Last night during the Team 1200’s pre-game show, Ottawa Sun journalist Bruce Garrioch and ex-NHL'er Mike Eastwood completely ripped Jonathan Cheechoo apart. This is a player who landed in Ottawa one week ago, and has yet to play a single meaningful game here. We all know he’s coming off a very disappointing season and has been on a downward slide since the 2005/06 season, but does that really give people the green light to drag his name through the mud? According to these guys, he’s been just awful and is totally out of shape. The fact that we were told he spent all summer working out and getting ready for the season was supposedly a total lie. And apparently he misses every single shot on net during practice, too.

Why?! What is the point in that? Give the guy a chance to get into the swing of things. At the very least, don’t write him off before the season even starts!"

Peter Regin Trumps Zack Smith In Battle Of Rookies

Going into training camp, there were two young rookies who were going to get every opportunity to make the Ottawa Senators. Erik Karlsson was the smallish but highly skilled 19 year old and Zack Smith was the gritty and tenacious 21 year old who was ready to take the next step after a short apprenticeship in the AHL.

Why am I talking in the past sense? Because, maybe, just maybe, the decisions on these two players have already been made.

Karlsson is now a lock to make the NHL right away. He has probably surpassed expectations and is already the most skilled blueliner the Senators have under contract. There is no doubt that he has already bumped Chris Campoli from his spot with Filip Kuba on the number one power play. He can skate effortlessly, make sick tape to tape passes at nearly every opportunity and has a heavy shot from the point. And so far, his size has proven to be a minor issue in his own zone. He's too crafty to be caught in a vulnerable position on the boards.

On the other hand, Smith has had a relatively quiet camp - not bad, but not great. The Senators clearly covet his toughness but the faster and more skilled Peter Regin is just too good not to keep at this point. It's crystal clear that Regin is NHL calibre now and could end up being one of those surprises that helps teams get over the top. Remember when David Krejci came out of nowhere in Boston last year? A line of Mike Fisher, Nick Foligno and Regin looked particularly dangerous against Montreal on Saturday night and may be kept together, giving the Senators 3 lines that can score.

Regin is a complete player and, unfortunately for Smith, his time is now. Still young and on a two-way contract, it looks like Smith could use another year in the AHL to get more assertive.

So where is that toughness going to come from if not from Zack Smith? If there's one thing the Senators haven't lacked this pre-season, it's toughness. Heart and soul Senator Chris Neil destroyed Nick Tarnasky of Florida while Matt Carkner and Jeremy Yablonski have gotten into multiple scraps - and won every single one of them.

With Yablonski only likely to see spot duty this season in the NHL (and even that is a longshot), the logical candidate is Carkner.

As discussed on the Team 1200 pre-game show, Carkner looks like he may have played his way into Christoph Schubert's job as a "swing man" (Schubert is likely to be put on waivers before the season starts). Carkner is exactly the type of player the Senators need now and have always needed. A tough as nails defenseman who plays the game simple and mean.

He can play forward if needed to but Carkner may get a spot on the blueline as it is now. The pairings could work like this:

Phillips -Volchenkov
Kuba-Karlsson
Campoli - Carkner

Spare: Alex Picard

Or if Picard, who has had a good training camp so far, gets that last top 6 position, Carkner can be one of those guys who plays every other night and fill a valuable role on the team, either at forward or defense.

Just listen to his last name.

Carkner.

You can't help but be reminded of Terry Carkner, Matt's older cousin who played for a long time in the league with teams like the Flyers and the Red Wings while racking up over 100 PIM's nearly every season.

As they say, it takes different ingredients to "bake a cake" and guys like Chris Neil, Jarkko Ruutu, Shean Donovan and Matt Carkner compliment skilled players like Alex Kovalev and Jason Spezza.

Ottawa has never been mean enough, except maybe just after the lockout when they had Zdeno Chara, Brian McGrattan and Vaclav Varada along with Neil and Ray Emery. Only Neil remains from that ornery group but the Senators have a chance now to compete in a tough Eastern Conference that boasts the Chris Pronger led Flyers and the Brian Burke assembled Maple Leafs.

So even if Peter Regin makes the team at the expense of Zack Smith, the Senators have a good character guy in Matt Carkner to keep the opposition honest.

Sore Thumbs

I am a grown man who has disturbingly become addicted to a video game. And that game is EA Sports NHL10. Blogging? Forget it. Human contact? What's that?

Has anyone ever tried the Be A Pro Mode, where you take a shift and then sit on the bench like a real player? Probably the funnest thing I have ever done outside of accidentally kicking Henry Rollins while being hoisted aloft at a Rollins Band show in Ottawa in the early 90's.




Black Aces will return once I get just a few more games in....

Heatley Traded...And The Lessons Learned

The inevitable has arrived and Dany Heatley has been granted his wish by being sent to the San Jose Sharks today (along with a 5th round pick) for wingers Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a 2nd round pick.

In short, a fantastic trade for Ottawa GM Bryan Murray, even if he was forced in the end to accept Cheechoo, a player he did not want in the deal by most accounts.

The real centrepiece for Ottawa is certainly Michalek, a player I mentioned as being a must in any trade involving San Jose (though Ottawa did not get Logan Couture as I had hoped they would).

The breakdown on Michalek is very good: The 24 year old is signed for the next 5 seasons at a very reasonable cap hit of 4.33 million. Considering his once heralded status as an elite prospect (he was picked 6th overall in 2003) and his obvious skills and power-forward size, getting Michalek is a very good return for the petulant and unhappy superstar that Heatley had become in Ottawa.

Michalek has yet to hit 30 goals in the NHL and his career high so far has been a modest 66 points in his breakout year of 2007. Yet the consensus is that Michalek will one day be a 30-35 goal scorer. He is also very fast for a player of his size and by most accounts has a great attitude and a desire to excel. The Sportsnet scouting report calls him a "low maintenance" player who is "polished at both ends of the ice".

Certainly more was expected of Michalek in San Jose but, as often happens, young players can sometimes be slower to develop and may not get optimal ice-time on squads stacked with veteran star players. The situation in San Jose over Michalek's career has certainly been like that, with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau leading the way and a young gun in Devin Setoguchi nipping at his heels. In a way, Michalek was a bit of a "tweener" and might find himself a better fit on the Senators, who have always needed a power forward since their inception into the league.

The options for Michalek, a natural left-winger, are endless. He would look equally at home with Jason Spezza (Michalek spent some time with Thornton on the wing two seasons ago) or as a complimentary big-body on a line with Mike Fisher. One nice stat is Michalek's 6 game-winning goals last year, matching his power-play total.

After some serious knee injuries early on in his career, Michalek has been fairly healthy and durable recently, playing no fewer than 77 games the past four seasons.

Jonathan Cheechoo on the other hand, is coming in as a once dynamic goal scorer (56 goals in the year after the lockout) but has seen his totals and role on the Sharks plummet ever since. Since his breakout season, Cheechoo's goal totals have dropped consecutively in 3 straight seasons - 37 to 23 to a lowly 12.

The former Rocket Richard winner lost his spot on a line with Thornton and was a minus 3 with the President's Trophy winners last year. His skating and defensive acumen have always been criticised but his skills are too good to totally write off just yet.

It's obvious that Murray, after having a face-to-face meeting with the disgruntled Heatley yesterday, decided to accept a player he didn't want in order to get Heatley out of the organization. Murray told the Ottawa Sun "I did spend some time with him yesterday. When I looked him in the eye I knew I had to trade him"

Heatley didn't want to be here anymore and the weekend was turning into a complete circus with reporters in a complete frenzy over the situation. What once looked like an unpalatable player in Cheechoo just a week ago now seemed like the only solution to the entire mess. Even if Cheechoo turns out to be a bust, the Senators are only stuck with him for the next two seasons at a cap hit of 3 million. It's a risk, but a mid-priced one worth taking.

On the money side, the trade is essentially a wash. Heatley's 7.5 cap hit goes out, Michalek's and Cheechoo's cap hit of 7.33 million comes in. The Senators save some pocket change and get rid of an albatross that was becoming heavier by the day.

But now what?

For Ottawa, the staggering number of NHL ready forwards they already have increases by one.

The following are locks to play barring a trade:

1. Alfredsson
2. Spezza
3. Kovalev
4. Michalek
5. Cheechoo
6. Fisher
7. Kelly
8. Neil
9. Ruutu
10. Foligno
11. Winchester
12. Shannon

The following will essentially be fighting for the healthy scratch position:

13. Donovan
14. Smith
15. Regin
16. Schubert
17. Zubov
18. Bass

So what and who is going to give?

One solution could be to trade Chris Kelly and let Jesse Winchester assume his role on the club. Winchester is tougher than Kelly and is quickly getting better although Kelly is well liked in the room and is a great penalty-killer. Murray wasn't happy having to give Kelly over 2 million a season and that price tag will make him equally harder to move.

Another factor is that prospects Zack Smith and Peter Regin are both probably ready to make the NHL. Organizations don't like to let their prospects stagnate in the minors and generally try to move out dead wood to make room on their roster for cheap young players. Both Smith and Regin (and possibly Cody Bass) fit that bill but who is the dead wood?

Shean Donovan is certainly not dead wood and plays a great veteran role on the team as a tireless worker and a speedy fourth liner. He deserves better than to be sitting or put on the waiver wire. Getting rid of Jarkko Ruutu is not going to happen because he plays a singular and important role on the team as an agitator and a physical presence, something the Sens need more of, hence their enthusiasm for Smith.

Can Murray turn around and deal Cheechoo to another team desperate for offense? It's possible but not likely anytime before teams submit their final cap-payrolls to the league at the start of October. Barring a fantastic training camp, Cheechoo is unlikely to land that coveted spot on Spezza's wing. Kovalev, Michalek, Alfredsson and Foligno will all give him stiff competition.

Cheechoo may get some good time on the Senators second power-play unit, a spot that Heatley was very unhappy to be in. He might also be a good fit with Fisher on a third or second line.

As for Heatley's departure, no one is going to shed a tear, let alone myself. Yet, I don't feel the wrath for Heatley was warranted to the degree that it got to. It's a common occurrence for NHL players to complain about ice-time and ask for trades. Just ask Senator defenseman Chris Campoli who did both in Long Island just last year. Yet no one is calling into question his values.

Regardless, it is best for both sides that this situation has now been resolved and perhaps the Senators community, both fans and media, can put down their pitchforks and start supporting the team in a more positive manner.

The notion that the Heatley situation was affecting ticket sales, an opinion not rejected by new team president Cyril Leeder, is probably true but not in the way you think.

For the longest time, the fans and media have been quick to jump on a very negative bandwagon and make pariahs out of certain players for reasons that are shaky at best. In turn, the Senators organization has not taken actions to defend their own players and thus, the product that they are trying to sell to the public is devalued. The players are the product and need to be promoted and protected, just like any other asset.

People barely recognize the charitable work these "millionaire" athletes do for the community and are instead judged by their lifestyles and any innuendo that can be attached to them.

Certain radio programs on the Team 1200 spend countless amounts of capital personally attacking these same players, eroding the very product that the station paid handsomely for to broadcast the games and attract sponsors. Yet the Senators sit on their hands and let the rot set in. Maybe the Senators do complain or even threaten to opt out of their agreement with the station, but it doesn't seem to be working if that is the case.

If Leeder can do anything better than his predecessor Roy Mlakar, he can get out in front of negative stories and try to better protect the product he is trying to sell to ticket buyers. If he is complaining about no one buying tickets, maybe it's because they have a negative view of what you are selling to them, regardless of how the team is doing on the ice.

By and large, NHL players are great guys and the Senators need to do a way better job of telling people about this and using their considerable influence to impart that to their media partners.

People will gladly pay money to watch entertaining hockey played by respectable members of the community. They won't pay money to watch "spoiled athletes" who only care about money and "party" their careers away. It doesn't matter that this type of athlete barely exists in the NHL, let alone in Ottawa. If the public perceives them this way, they won't support the team.

After all these brutal, painful lessons - Daigle, Yashin, Emery, Redden, Heatley - perhaps now the Senators and their fans can get on with what is really important - winning hockey games and keeping the organization healthy and vibrant in the capital of Canada.

First Salvo In Battle Of Ontario - Rookie Edition

It wasn't a heated playoff game in April between the two provincial rivals - in fact you couldn't get more removed than a rookie game - but it must have been satisfying all the same for Senators fans to see their temporary squad roll over the outclassed Leafs 7-1 in Kitchener tonight.

And while many of the big names performed really well - goalie Robin Lehner being the best example - some other lesser known players finished off the tournament with an exclamation point.

As I noted after the first rookie game against Pittsburgh, Erik Condra really caught my eye, but tonight he grabbed everyone's attention with his inspired, gritty play and his "Gordie Howe Plus" hat-trick - 2 goals, 1 assist and a fight. It's hard to say if Condra will be able to put up a lot of points at the pro level but he will definitely be a leader and an agitator. Because of his age and enthusiasm, Condra should be a really good AHL player this season for Bingo, perhaps filling a role vacated by Zack Smith, should he make the big squad.

Another player who had a great game was camp try-out Brandon Svendsen, who last played for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL after finishing a four year run at Bowling Green University where he was an assistant captain. Svendsen (who was born in Minnesota, not Sweden) can really skate and drove to the net all night despite being one of the smaller players in camp. He may get some consideration for Bingo and comes with a reputation as a good penalty-killer from his time in college.

Mike Hoffman really impressed again and makes you wonder how he slipped to the Senators in the 5th round, especially after scoring 52 goals last year in the Quebec league. His determined drive to the net during a play in the 2nd period forced the Leafs to take a penalty and the Senators exploded for 5 goals soon after that. If Senators fans are still upset that Antoine Vermette was traded, don't worry. Hoffman will be his replacement in 2 or 3 years. If you really want to wish for the moon, Hoffman could even end up a player like Simon Gagne or Mike Cammalleri. That's pushing it, but it's not out of the question. He'd have to get a lot stronger but his skills and skating are not in question.

I didn't talk about Kyle Wharton after the Pittsburgh game, but that might be because he's hard to notice. And that's a good thing. He seems really solid in a Chris Phillips kind of way and he even got tossed when he delivered a crushing elbow to John Kurtz. On the play, Wharton had just gotten rid of the puck in his own zone when Kurtz came steamrolling in from the point long after the puck was gone - at least 2 steamboats. Wharton pushed back but his elbow caught Kurtz right on the button and the Leaf went down with his face hitting the ice flush and bouncing off in a sickening fashion. Kurtz skated off on his own but the cameras showed him trying to turn into the wrong room before a trainer pushed him in the right direction. He was in Disneyland for a while there.

Other Senators who had good games were Shea Guthrie (an Almonte, Ontario native and former Islander draft pick who is here on a try-out), Erik Karlsson (no surprise), Craig Schira and, of course, goalie Robin Lehner.

He was even better tonight against the Leafs than he was against the Penguins last Monday. In two games he's let in one goal and made excellent stops all the way. He is inevitably going to end up in the Soo in the OHL this year, and be a bright spot on a bad team. But he should be in the main training camp where he'll get a chance to turn some more heads.

With Jared Cowan, Lehner and Hoffman, the 2009 draft may go down in history as one of the Senators best. And that's not including 2nd round pick Jakob Silfverberg who is also highly touted but still in Europe.

On the Leafs side, you have to appreciate the game 7th overall pick Nazem Kadri played tonight. He seemed like the only Leaf who was embarrassed and started throwing his body around even though he's not known as a physical player. If anything, Kadri woke the Senators back up after a sluggish start to the 3rd period, but it's easy to see why the Senators coveted the London Knight at the draft - and why Brian Burke made sure to get him before Ottawa got the chance.

New 67's Sweaters

Every team in the CHL is switching over to the Reebok Edge uniform style and the 67's have a couple of new designs they'll wear this year. Hate to say it but the 67's sweaters put the Senators cartoonish duds to shame.

Just swap out the 67's logo with the Senators original 2-D logo (or the current "O" shoulder patch) and you'd have a winner. That black 67's sweater is one of the nicest in hockey, let alone the juniors.

You can check out every new CHL sweater here.

Sens Rookies and Old Hasek Stories...

A couple of quick notes on the Ottawa Senators 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the annual rookie tournament which was shown on Rogers locally tonight:

- Right off the start, rookie goalie and 2009 draft pick, Robin Lehner (46th overall) looked really good and made some highlight reel saves throughout the game. It's probably no surprise to some as Lehner was the number one ranked European goalie going into the draft and his father is a renowned goalie coach who instructed Ranger superstar Henrik Lundqvist early on in his career.

It was strange, but Lehner looked dominant and about as close to an NHL goalie that a rookie from Sweden could look like in these circumstances. You really noticed his quick legs as he made multiple stops by shooting out his pads in that butterfly style and his rebound control was almost perfect.

It's only one game in a rookie tournament, but Lehner couldn't have gotten off to a better start in an Ottawa uniform. He's going to stay in North America this season and play for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL.

- Erik Karlsson was the other star of the night and was silky smooth as expected, scoring a nice goal from the point on a laser beam shot. He's a great skater and looked calm and cool at all times.

-Others who impressed were Mike Hoffman, a speedy forward who scored 52 goals in the Q last year. Bryan Murray snagged him with his fifth pick (130th overall) and that may end up being a steal if Hoffman develops as hoped. A lot of you might wonder how a guy who scored over 50 goals in Major Junior could drop to the 5th round but the wide-open QMJHL is notorious for players putting up wild offensive numbers but then falling back once they face professional competition. Hoffman is a little small (175 pounds on draft day) but he has wheels and hands that should take him far.

Peter Regin looked great in the 1st period and then kind of disappeared until the late going of the 3rd. He looks like an NHL player to me, more so than Zack Smith who didn't really do much except get into a nasty scrap at the end of the game. He looks a little like a Cody Bass clone but I'd have to see him in more games to really get a take on his game. Bryan Murray and the organization are really high on him so that says a lot for his chances. He wore the captains "C" on the ice tonight.

Geoff Kinrade and Craig Schira looked solid on defence and Erik Condra really stood out for me out front tonight. His name was mentioned every time he was on the ice and he seemed "pesky" for lack of a better term. The product of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey program, Condra will surely make the Bingo Senators this year and hopefully make an impression there. I really like his game and hope he makes some noise this year.

- Not much in the negative vein except that Jim O'Brien continues to underwhelm. I'm just not sure what O'Brien really does well and he was invisible most of the night. He did have a great year with Seattle in the WHL last year and will get a chance to play more games with Bingo this season. But it's hard to believe that O'Brien was a 1st round pick (29th overall) back in 2007. Maybe I'm wrong about O'Brien and he ends up being a good checking forward in the NHL someday. We'll wait and see.

The entertaining game ended with a series of scraps, one of which left try-out prospect Brett Parnham dazed and confused at centre ice. He had to be helped off the ice by teammates after getting cranked pretty good by a Penguin player whose name I now forget. Parnham ended up with 50 goals for Oshawa last season and played 7 games for Rochester in the AHL. He could end up as an over-ager with the Generals again this season.

For those who are interested, Rogers is showing the Senators first real exhibition game next Tuesday against the Florida Panthers. It will be interesting to see who survives rookie camp to make the main camp which starts this weekend.

***

Just flipping through some old Hockey News yearbooks and came across this hilarious piece about Dominik Hasek from the 98-99 edition. Hasek was then just coming off two consecutive MVP trophies, four Vezina's in five years and an Olympic gold medal in Nagano. He was also about to lead the very ordinary Buffalo Sabres to the Stanley Cup final, only to lose on a controversial goal by Brett Hull of the Dallas Stars. In other words, Hasek was by far the best player in the NHL at that point. Yet....

"Sure he's quirky. A few years ago, during one team huddle at center ice, someone noticed Hasek down on all fours in the corner of the rink. His gloves were off. "So it was like 'What the hell is this guy doing?' " remembered Rob Ray. They yelled to him. "Dom, what are you doing?" " I'm playing chess," came the reply. Apparently, he was melting out squares of the chessboard with the body heat of his fingertip. Hasek denies the story. "They thought I'm playing chess, " he said, "but I was playing with the snow on the ice because it was a boring practice."

I love Hasek, man, I love him...

Bring Back The Red, White and Black

I've went on and on about how the Senators uniforms are only "okay" and I won't bore you with more meaningless whining on the subject (I don't hate the current uniforms, but they are completely disposable and already dated looking). But my brother pointed out this vintage sweater to me on EBay and it makes me nostalgic for the classic threads the Senators used to wear.

I mean, just look at this amazing sweater. I have no idea why the organization ever discontinued it. It's perfect, yet sadly forgotten.

They have an intimdation factor too. Wasn't it celebrity Leaf fan Mike Myers who said that part of the reason he hated the Senators was that their black uniforms made them look like the Empire out of Star Wars?

And the classic logo. Proud and traditional, and not with a put-on menace and cartoon like feel which the current logo certainly has in spades.




My dream scenario? They go back to this black sweater (and it's white counterpart) with the original logo, and they use the current red one as a 3rd jersey.

Everyone wins, right?

Or am I on my own here? Maybe some of you think the old sweaters are ugly. But then I'd have to question your taste...