GM Murray Has A Problem On His Hands – “Win Now” or “Win Later”

This Ottawa Senators team needs help. They’re not terrible, but they’re not very good either.

The smart move by GM Bryan Murray would be a patient one, not sacrificing any young players who’ll have a role on this team for years to come just to try and make the playoffs this season. But it’s a little more complicated than that.

Owner Eugene Melnyk would have been expecting the profits that come with one or two playoff series, and to take a step back this year after going to the post-season twice in a row will be seen as a failure for the organization. It will affect team revenues for this season and possibly dampen ticket sales for next. It was recently reported by Forbes that the Senators sit roughly in the middle of the pack for franchise value, and that value should continue to go up with NHL revenues rising year after year. But outside of shared TV revenue or possible expansion, that’s not money in Melnyk’s pocket unless he sells the team for that value. This team, as do a lot of NHL franchises, live or die with ticket sales. Still.

Hockey decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. The armchair hockey GM would keep building for the future but the real GM has an owner and a team president with one eye on the revenues and the other eye on mood of the ticket buying public. Luckily, Ottawa fans are fairly smart and realize not every year is going to be golden, but it’s not always the smart fans buying up the tickets.

A lot of people just like to go out on a Saturday night to the rink and be entertained and get a few beers into them. They don’t care that some Swedish kid is tearing it up in the juniors and will be on the team in two years. They’re not paying their money for that right now. They don’t like seeing low-scoring and hitless hockey. This is a great hockey market, but it’s not Toronto where people will flock to the rink to see any product put on the ice. It’s a delicate balance in this city and Bryan Murray is the one who has to manage it as best he can. The mandate is to win now and win later. That’s not always possible.

The seeds for Ottawa’s slow start were planted in the summer when Daniel Alfredsson and Sergei Gonchar departed, but even their lack of leadership and poise in tight games doesn’t explain everything that’s gone wrong so far this season.

A lot of guys played their hearts out last year because the team was decimated by injuries. Now that the stars have returned to health, some of those players who picked up the slack have fallen slack themselves, like Colin Greening, Milan Michalek, J.G. Pageau (now in the minors) and Patrick Wiercioch. Some guys are just not having career years like they did last season, most notably Craig Anderson. Stepping into the void has been Robin Lehner, but he’s also been inconsistent as well, alternating great games with mediocre ones.

It’s not like this team is going to miraculously turn this around to the point where they can storm into the playoffs, overtake the current 4 teams that stand in their way with everyone playing 3-point games. There’s also that historical stat that says teams out of the playoffs at Christmas (or even November 1st) tend to stay there. It’s going to take at least one team currently in the playoffs tanking fairly hard and probably an extended winning streak to power this team past everybody else. And then they’ll have to keep winning consistently just to stay there. It can happen, but it’s not likely at this point.

What Bryan Murray can at least do is try to bring in a defenseman who can move the puck out of the zone consistently (which is where they miss Gonchar the most) and skate on the power-play with Erik Karlsson, preferably someone who can’t walk away in just a year or two. It’s also important to keep what solid veterans they already have in Chris Neil and Chris Phillips. Their roles may be reduced in the coming years but it’s important to have these kinds of guys around, as demonstrated by the Alfredsson and Gonchar decisions. Having players who have won in the past is often overlooked by prospect junkies who are always pining for the next young player who will supposedly solve every problem. The fact is most teams win Stanley Cups with a mix of veterans, players in their prime and cheaper young players. It’s a balanced way to build and perfect for a market like Ottawa.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggested Ottawa is interested in defenseman Michael Del Zotto but remarked that the return would have to be Marc Methot. That makes zero sense for Ottawa. In fact, it’s a laughable notion. Del Zotto would be a nice pickup but it sounds like New York is trying to hit a home run on the deal. They may be swinging for a while on that one.

Anyone can take a quick look around the league and come up with a few players that might interest Murray if the price was right and who could conceivably be available. But then again, it always seems to be a player no had been talking about who ends up on the ticket, so sometimes this kind of speculation can be futile for the fans.

You can take a look at teams worse off than Ottawa and cherry pick defensmen that could help. Brian Campbell in Florida would be great in an Ottawa uniform but his salary wouldn’t even come close to working in Ottawa. Yet Dmitry Kulikov’s would, although there’s rumours he could head to the KHL after this year after a rough run in Florida.

Bryan Murray has to decide if this season is just an aberration in an otherwise smooth rebuild, or an indication that something is wrong with the structure. Because in order to really bring in an impact player for this season in hopes to make the playoffs, somebody important on the current roster is going to have to go the other way. Ottawa could deal Craig Anderson, possibly their biggest chip, but it’s not like the goalie market is thriving right now. Edmonton already signed Ilya Bryzgalov and Ryan Miller is out there as competition. Anderson is still this team’s number one goalie. You don’t trade those guys very often, nor would you want to unless the situation demanded it.

For Ottawa fans, you may just have to accept this is going to be a mediocre season and hope that improvement comes from within the organization. In fact, you may have no choice in the matter.

Black Aces Vintage: Alexei Yashin's First Hat-Trick

It was November 3, 1993 in Alexei Yashin's rookie season. It was the 11th game of the season and the Senators only had 2 wins at this point (and Sens fans think they suffer now?) but Yashin already had 6 goals and 4 assists. That was a surprise to many because Yashin wasn't yet the star of the team or the darling of the city. Breaking in the same year was first overall pick Alexandre Daigle, and before the Edmonton game he had matched Yashin's 6 goals and added 8 assists for the team scoring lead.

Then Yash took over. Here's some great footage from that game, including all three of Yashin's goals (he added two assists for a five point night). Yashin also added 4 assists two nights later in Winnipeg against the Jets and finished the year with 79 points. That included 10 more goals and 28 more points than the highly touted Daigle, and Yashin took over the Senators for the next 5 years as the team's superstar while Daigle faded badly and was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1998 for Vaclav Prospal and Pat Falloon.

This footage is notable because it's in relatively good shape, and there's not much out there of the early Senators years. Fascinating stuff if you ask me. Love the old CJOH logo as well.

Schaefer and Spezza Still Lay Claim To Sickest Goals In Senators History

Clarke MacArthur's ridiculous between the legs pass to set up Kyle Turris for a goal last night against Minnesota (above) had me trying to remember some of the nicest goals in Senators history. There can't any better than these two right? If you can think of one, let me know in the comments. I'm stumped.

Peter Schaefer against Dallas



Jason Spezza against Montreal



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Honorable Mention:

Jason Spezza against Vancouver



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Here's one suggested by a reader in the comments section and luckily I found a better looking video of it. Forgot all about this one but I remember watching it. Pretty ridiculous move.

Antoine Vermette against Tampa Bay



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Yet another beauty play by Spezza that was finished off by Kyle Turris, as suggested by a reader:

Jason Spezza/Kyle Turris against Winnipeg

Spitballing: Havlat - Michalek Trade Seems To Make Sense. But Is It Possible?

Just spitballing here, out of the confines of being accountable for it, as is a blogger’s prerogative (some would say responsibility), but with Don Brennan’s article today about Martin Havlat possibly being of interest to the Ottawa Senators, wouldn’t a deal to reunite Milan Michalek with the Sharks make a lot of sense for both sides?

Think of it this way: both teams, Ottawa and San Jose, would receive players they are already familiar with. Michalek spent parts of 5 seasons in the Bay Area under the eye of GM Doug Wilson, and played some of the best hockey of his career before coming to Ottawa in the Dany Heatley trade. From San Jose’s perspective, bringing back Michalek for a Stanley Cup run holds little risk but possibly a big reward. If it doesn’t work out, they get to walk away from Michalek and his bad knees in July. In sending Havlat to Ottawa, they also escape the final year of Havlat’s contract and a player they obviously don’t consider a core member, as according to Brennan, Havlat was playing on the third line recently and was made a healthy scratch for a game last week.

Michalek has certainly lost a gear and is struggling offensively, but he’s still a responsible, occasionally dynamic player who has no marks against his character, shown by playing through the pain of two wonky knees for many seasons now and never complaining or making excuses. If you’re San Jose, having soured on Havlat as one of your wingers, why not take the chance on a guy like Michalek, who they know a lot about. The risk is very low, and they even save a little bit of money on the deal for this year as far as the cap goes. Michalek’s cap hit is $4.3m compared to Havlat’s $5m for this year. It’s true that Michalek is owed $6m in actual dollars this year, but that won’t be a stumbling block for a wealthy Sharks franchise. They may value the little bit of cap room this deal could provide which could allow them to add another player at the deadline.

From Ottawa’s perspective, it’s a little more risky, but the reward could be bigger. First off, as is often the Senators big concern, they save a little money on Havlat for this year, getting out from under Michalek’s $6m real-money ticket for the slightly more affordable $5m salary of Havlat, whose cap hit and salary are the same (next season Havlat's salary is $6m in cash, $5m in cap hit according to Cap Geek). I don’t see any scenario where Ottawa re-signs Michalek this summer. He’s certainly in the mix to be moved.

Of course, Ottawa would be on the hook for Havlat next year at $5m, but if he works out as a real top-six player, that’s money well spent. They will have to replace Michalek next year anyways and the money they would pay for that replacement will end up being in the same ballpark as Havlat’s $5m.

The fact that Ottawa knows Havlat well, not to mention the speed and skill he can bring might makes this deal something they can digest easier. Brennan points out that Havlat has a no-trade clause but you’d think he’d be happy to get out of San Jose at this point, and Ottawa would be a homecoming tour. Outside of Erik Karlsson, it’s hard to remember a single player who could lift fans out of their seats faster than Havlat in his days with the Senators. He’s banged up after years of injuries but the speed and hands are still there. Maybe a trip back to where it all started would reignite his passion, the only thing that seems to be lacking.

Right now, Ottawa has to do something. Jason Spezza is on an island with Michalek and Cory Conacher, and Conacher seems to be going through the dreaded sophomore slump. They need to find somebody Spezza can play with consistently and produce to his levels. The match may not be perfect, as Havlat likes to have the puck just as much as Spezza does, but this move could open up coach Paul MacLean to switching some pieces around on the Kyle Turris line, possibly even reuniting Bobby Ryan with Spezza, a pairing that was never really given a fair chance to succeed in the early going.

There are plenty who will tell you this Ottawa team’s biggest weakness is in their own end, and I won’t disagree. But that doesn’t mean you quit trying to improve elsewhere if you have the chance.

Of course, this is all just pure speculation, and there’s no guarantee Doug Wilson is dying to reacquire Michalek, but it just seems like a natural fit to an outsider looking in. Both teams could truly benefit from this deal, and the risk for both sides is fairly minimal. Ottawa could have a $5m deal they can’t move, but what if Havlat comes in and starts scoring goals and blowing by defenders on the rush?

That’s a risk/reward scenario Ottawa GM Bryan Murray should consider if he hasn’t already.

And in the meantime, we’ll keep daydreaming while the season begins to slip away for this roller-coaster Senators team that nobody can get a handle on anymore.

Senators Could Use A Little Shakeup At The Quarter Pole

I like to think that Black Aces is occasionally a calm oasis amongst the raging inferno of opinion out there on the Ottawa Senators. A place where Jason Spezza can put his feet up and not get hit in the head from flying beer cans. A place of sober second thought, like the Senate on Parliament Hill, without Mike Duffy throwing those very beer cans (most of them already empty).

That’s not the case today.

Today is a day where I think it might be fun to see a little hell break loose around this team. A day where I finally think some changes should be made to this inconsistent, sloppy Ottawa Senators team that played one of their worst, uninspired games of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, falling 5-0 to the lowest scoring team in the NHL in front of another less than capacity – and bored to tears - crowd in Kanata.

It was rough to watch. Much like it’s been rough all season long, win or lose. It’s not like there’s been many real gems over the course of the first 18 games which is almost a quarter of the season. I get that this team is coming off a 3 game winning streak and a 5-game streak where they earned at least a point. Panicking now seems like a useless tactic, and in fact it is. But making a decisive move is not panicking. It’s proactive.

This just feels like a team begging for a trade. Not a major one with any of their core players, but something that will jar the room a little bit and make some guys feel less safe than they do. I’d guess GM Bryan Murray has been talking trade with a lot of GM’s after seeing the terrible October they had. I’m also sure he felt he could back off a little with the recent wins but every GM has something on the backburner that they might be able use when they decide the time is right.

Trades seem to transpire from months of off and on talks. Maybe Murray feels like taking a risk after watching this team long enough to know this is pretty much it. The Senators are what they are. Major improvement in their own zone defensively seems like a wish that may never come true. More speed, puck-possession and hitting from their forwards is not going to happen with the wingers they have now. Colin Greening, who management was hoping would turn into a real power-forward, is playing more like ex-Senator softie Colin Forbes than the guy we saw in the playoffs. Cory Conacher has the spirit but not the size. Milan Michalek is a shadow out there.

If somebody could or should get moved, I’d look to the wings. Not that teams would be beating down Murray’s door for these guys, but you can idly fantasize that some of them could be packaged for a fast, physical winger like Wayne Simmonds or somebody with a similar skill set to play with Spezza. I know, Milks, keep dreaming.

I also keep wondering when MacLean comes around to trying Bobby Ryan with Spezza again, a pairing that never really got a chance after being broken up when Spezza was struggling early with a groin injury and the team wasn’t scoring. Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur are playing so well that they could afford to use a different winger there and maybe spread the offense around a little. But right now, that line seems sacrosanct while all the others get the blender treatment.

Jason Spezza has performed well considering he’s been saddled with the hardest struggling wingers on the team. You could say Spezza isn’t making the likes of Michalek, Greening and Conacher any better either, but those same players struggled just as bad playing with Zack Smith or Derek Grant.

To me, they don’t need to do anything about their one true strength, which is goaltending. Craig Anderson got lit up last night but it had more to do with the near catatonic team in front of him than it did with the quality of his play. Paul MacLean is no doubt feeling the heat by making the decision to switch out the hot hand of Robin Lehner, but that’s a decision a lot of hockey people would have made. Most nights, you’re going to get elite goaltending from either Lehner or Anderson.

Instead, it’s everything from the net on out that needs a jolt.

The defense pairings are constantly in flux because no one is playing well enough to for MacLean to keep them together. Jared Cowen, a player I wrote about just last week needing time and patience, is regressing even further and may need to be scratched to let it really sink in. You can see him thinking out there – should I jump up in the play?... should I hold the blueline or fall back?... should I hit this guy along the boards or cut off his passing avenues?

It would seem to be an easy decision, but if you sit Cowen that means you have to play Patrick Wiercioch more minutes and that could be even uglier with the passive way he’s performing. It’s a domino effect and one they may not like.

Again, this all seems like an overreaction when put in the context of their recent success, but anyone who’s watched hockey for more than a few years can see this team isn’t as good as they looked on paper coming into the season. When vets and youngsters struggle alike for close to 20 games, it’s time to shake things up a little.

Whether that’s a trade (which I think is appropriate right now – easier said than done) or a surprising scratch or minor-league demotion, this team could use the sense of urgency those kind of moves can create.

I just get the feeling something is around the corner. We’ll wait and see.

Lehnsanity Breaks Loose, But Anderson Still The Rock Of This Senators Team.. And Other Notes

Robin Lehner played a hell of a game last night against the Montreal Canadiens, and in the process has seemingly converted the entire city of Ottawa into believers.

He’s getting closer and closer to being ready as a guy who can be a number-one goalie in this league, and his legions of fans on Twitter have already proclaimed him to be so after a couple of wins.

Just don’t forget, Sens fans, that you’re lucky enough to have an established, in-his-prime elite goaltender in Craig Anderson. Remember that guy? Yesterday’s news, right?

There’s no doubt Lehner has earned the opportunity to play more games this season and loosen Anderson’s hold on the spot, but one month doesn’t undo all that Anderson has done and can do for this Senators team if they want to make the playoffs.

I totally get the instant fandomonium over Lehner. He’s young and he doesn’t have any baggage that comes with being a veteran like Anderson. He’s the new shiny toy. And he’s really, really good.

But so is Craig Anderson. In fact, he’s better. And he’s consistent.

There will come a day when Anderson is moved to make way for Lehner, this team’s future franchise goalie, but it may not happen this season.

Ian Mendes already wrote the only detailed piece you need to read on this subject, so I won't labor the point, but here’s a little reminder of what Craig Anderson can do, in case you forgot so easily after Lehner’s first two wins of the season.










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.... The attendance issues for the Senators are embarrassing to the organization and the city, but it probably shouldn’t come as a massive surprise. Some people will dismiss it and point to a larger season-ticket base this season, but I think Daniel Alfredsson leaving is one of the main reasons we're not seeing bigger walk-up crowds. Not just the fact he left, but the doom and gloom it created, along with Eugene Melnyk crying poor and having tantrums on Toronto radio and in the local press. It suddenly created this negativity about the brand that wasn’t there before and the Senators and Melnyk only have themselves to blame for bungling what should have been an easy deal. Sure, endless highway construction and a poor start to the season tends to dampen enthusiasm, but losing Alfie was a public relations nightmare. He WAS the team. A verifiable hero to loyal fans. He was the one marketing tool that was foolproof and the only Senator that non-hockey fans in this city could instantly recognize. Suddenly, the Kanata rink is just not a “cool” place to be anymore. There’s a stink about it and the air still hasn’t cleared. Don’t be so quick to dismiss that intangible romanticism fans have with their team and the players they can call their own. It’s a delicate illusion, but when it’s working, it loosens people’s wallets because they buy into the mythology. When you mess with it, people snap back to reality a little and start thinking of all those responsibilities they need to cover before spending their money on expensive hockey tickets to a team they don’t fully connect with anymore. That being said, it won’t take long to get it back if Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza start leading this team to more wins and create a buzz around town again. But it just won’t be the same for all those thousands of people who spent $200+ dollars on an Alfie jersey and now have to watch him playing for another team.

....So what do the Senators do now on defence? Mark Borowiecki has been more than solid in his first three games and put an exclamation point on it by scoring his first NHL goal against the Canadiens. There’s no way he’s coming out of the lineup, but you have two guys sitting every night in Patrick Wiercioch and Joe Corvo. It’s not a great spot for Wiercioch who needs to be playing and developing, but he’s been too soft in his own end and isn’t making up for it at the other end of the ice. I can see MacLean’s thinking by playing Borowiecki and Eric Gryba in an effort to get this team meaner in its own zone, but last night against the Canadiens, the Senators were still hemmed in and running around without the puck. It was only Lehner that kept the game tied until Ottawa got their offense going in the second period. Gryba in particular struggled moving the puck and I’m guessing he gets yanked for one of Corvo or Wiercioch against Florida on Saturday afternoon. That still doesn’t solve the situation of having too many bodies. The one guy who can go back down without waivers, Borowiecki, is playing too well right now. Yet trading Wiercioch doesn’t make sense either. Giving up on a young defenseman who can score goals is sacrilege in the NHL, but moving Corvo, who’s been fine this season, depletes your depth. Not sure what the solution is, but at some point there’s going to be injuries on the blueline (there always is) and this situation will seem like a blessing.

Cowen Just Needs Time And Patience... Wiercioch More Of An Unknown

Jared Cowen is feeling the heat in this early, miserable, god forsaken Senators season that’s spanned a month but feels like two thanks to a marathon exhibition schedule and crowded training camp that may or may not have contributed to a sloppy disorganized start when the real games began.

In Cowen’s case, it’s starting to look like he hurt himself by missing most of camp sitting in Saskatchewan waiting for his agent to make a deal with GM Bryan Murray on a new contract, and that’s on top of missing almost all of last season with hip surgery.

When you look at it this way, it’s no wonder the guy is struggling. At 22 years old, Cowen really only has one full 82 game season behind him. He just recently passed the 100 game mark and that’s not much when you’re talking about a young defenseman who’s still developing. Not everyone can win a Norris Trophy at 21 years old like Erik Karlsson, who’s more a freak of nature than an athlete.

Maybe, just maybe, the short-term expectations for Jared Cowen from the fans and management was a bit too high. And now they’re both paying for it.

The decision to trade Sergei Gonchar was both financial and hockey related. There was no way they could pay both Daniel Alfredsson and Gonchar and stay within the much publicized “internal budget”. Turns out the Senators lost both players, one purposely and one through a misguided attempt to go cheap on their captain and franchise player. But let’s not get into that again today, at least for humanitarian reasons.

The Senators thought Patrick Wiercioch and Cowen would emerge to take over those important minutes from Gonchar and everything would be smooth sailing, give or take a few rocky moments that all teams experience with young defensemen. Given Murray’s financial constraints, it was a logical move, supplemented by bringing in Joe Corvo as insurance.

Cue the October disaster.

Both Wiercioch and Cowen have been dying out there for the past month, with a new record of shots against threatening to be surpassed almost every night. Wiercioch has been in and out of coach Paul MacLean’s doghouse along with Eric Gryba, another young defenseman going through problems of his own, although expectations for him are a lot less than the team’s other young defensemen.

MacLean has tried everything to get these guys on track. He’s switched their partners and sides of the ice. He’s played them together. He’s bag skated the team and rested them. They recalled Mark Borowiecki who played very well but, almost predictably, still managed to score an own-goal. That’s the kind of luck we’re seeing here.

We even heard the unthinkable from outraged fans, clamoring to trade one or both of Cowen and Wiercioch. Thankfully, we can assume Bryan Murray still has a firm grip on his sanity and the thought has never crossed his mind.

In Cowen’s case, all that’s needed here is time and patience. This guy is going to be a top NHL defenseman for a long time but right now he hasn’t played enough games, especially recently, to play like everyone knows he can. Losing Gonchar has clearly forced Cowen and Wiercioch to play minutes they’re not ready for but Ottawa has no choice but to keep sending them over the boards in the hope they can adjust. I think Cowen will have a much easier time overcoming his early struggles because he’s not directly replacing Gonchar. Cowen’s issues seem more like rust, whereas Wiercioch’s seem more deep rooted.

Is Wiercioch really a top-pairing offensive defenseman? At this time he’s not, but he may be by the end of the season or a few years from now. The Senators will find out one way or another, but it could be a painful process. Cowen’s issues seem more prominent right now because he’s a defensive defenseman and this Senators team can’t keep pucks out of their net. There’s not much trouble on the offensive side of the game and that’s why Wiercioch isn’t hearing it from the fans as much as Cowen is.

There really isn’t much for Ottawa fans to do but watch and hope this all turns around. My hunch is Jared Cowen won’t be a fan target for much longer.

Hey, he is 23rd in NHL shooting percentage. Of course, that’s off just 8 shots.

Gotta start somewhere.

Chris Neil A Pariah on Twitter, Loved In The Stands

I can’t seem to understand it.

During a Senators game I’ll occasionally scroll down my Twitter feed to see what everyone is saying, maybe catch a few good one-liners from Bonk’s Mullet or the handful of other people worth following. The majority is just Sens fans reacting to whatever play just happened, like an Erik Karlsson rush or a Joe Corvo “uh oh” moment. There’s fans throwing in the towel after one goal and fans pleading for the team to trade the last player who touched the puck. You know the drill.

I get all that. I get the instant passion that causes people to write things that could get them thrown in a jail cell if said on the streets. People have always said this stuff, except for most of a century they’ve been screamed inside a living room in front of a TV or next to a Victrola radio cabinet where only the neighbours could hear you lose your marbles over an offside call.

But one thing I’ve never understood about Sens fans on Twitter, that certain young demographic that’s completely dependent on social media for self-expression, is their almost total committed haranguing of and dislike for Chris Neil.

It doesn’t make any sense to me, but admittedly a lot of things don’t, like Dexter or Robin Thicke.

It would make sense to dislike a player that doesn’t play to the best of his abilities, that doesn’t play with passion and doesn’t stand up for his teammates. It would make sense to rip into a guy who’s not effective on the ice no matter how hard he tries.

In the case of Chris Neil, none of these attributes apply. Not even close.

I don’t feel I need to go into what Chris Neil brings to the table, because anyone who has watched hockey for more than a few years will understand that, but here it is anyways. He’s a role player, and a very unique one, because he’s one of the few guys playing that has almost 100 career goals, can fight a heavyweight like Milan Lucic, plays meaningful minutes and is an acknowledged leader for his team. These kinds of players are highly coveted by general managers and coaches for a reason.

What I don’t understand is how Twitter fans don’t feel there’s a need for this type of player on their favourite team. Part of it, I feel, is that Neil is part of the “old guard”, players who have been around so long that they’ve been picked apart by fans for years. Familiarity breeds contempt. Chris Phillips gets slung by a lot of these same arrows. But it could also very easily be a case of “don’t know what you got until it’s gone”.

Whenever Neil takes a penalty, and it’s often, fans lose their minds, as if it was some outrageous act of laziness and stupidity. A player like Chris Neil, with the role he plays, is going to take lots of penalties. That’s just the way it is. Penalties are a part of the process of playing the game the right way. You have to cheat and play as close to the edge of what’s acceptable to win hockey games unless you’re extremely skilled like Pavel Datsyuk or Sidney Crosby. The problem is, those players are harder to find than Florida Panthers fans. They exist, but you gotta be lucky to stumble onto one.

Coaches play these kinds of role players because they go out and hit guys like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and try to wear them down over the course of 60 minutes. Or they match up with their counterparts and it becomes a war of third and fourth lines, made up of checkers and pests. These battles can be just as important, especially in tight games. Facewashing, hacks and whacks are all part of the recipe.

It works, otherwise these players wouldn’t have jobs in the league. Teams win with a combination of all different kinds of skills, partly by necessity, partly by design. It’s not the argument from me that should win you over, it’s the fact that MacLean and every other coach in the league plays these guys, sometimes for significant minutes in the case of Neil. It’s self-evident. I’m merely pointing to the rosters and ice-time and saying “Look for yourself”. What more do you need?

For the most part, Neil’s penalties are from playing on the edge of acceptable levels of aggressiveness. Sometimes Neil gets caught, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he gets over emotional, but that’s also a strength of his in certain situations. He’s brought an entire rink and his own bench to their feet with a massive hit or a fight at the right time. It doesn’t always work, of course. People love to snarkily point out that a fight or a hit didn’t do a thing for the team’s momentum, but the fact that it works SOME of the time is the reason it keeps happening, and the reason a guy like Neil is so valued by the organization in Ottawa. The old saying of “it takes a lot of different ingredients to bake a cake” is relevant here. You win by having all the elements, not just one. You need skill, you need goaltending, you need defense and you need toughness. To embrace one side of the team over the other doesn’t even seem rational if you want your team to succeed in today’s NHL.

Chris Neil brings a vital element to the Senators, even if his importance is not on the level of Spezza or Karlsson. The fact that he’s loved in the community and loves playing for this team is just a bonus. There’s plenty of tough players out there who work as mercenaries, going from team to team and not making much of a difference along the way. Neil has roots in this city now and plays his heart out every night, even if that emotion gets him into trouble on occasion.

You may not like “tough hockey”, and you wouldn’t be alone in that sentiment, especially nowadays with the puritan trend in full swing with the media, but you can’t argue that it’s not part of today’s NHL game, because it so clearly is. And not many play that type of game better than Chris Neil.

The divide between fans in the rink, who cheer Neil after every hit, and the whining about him on Twitter is something I’ll never understand. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

Vintage Black Aces: Pierre McGuire Gets Canned In Hartford

This is a pretty wild read on Pierre McGuire (tweeted by Gare Joyce today), from all the way back in 1994 when he was fired as head coach of the Hartford Whalers. I remember some of the drama that was going on at the time but forgot how heated it really was.

If you think McGuire is an intense, polarizing character now, read the article. “When the hallway curtain opened after a loss in Boston, McGuire was found by the media wildly smashing sticks against the wall. When the door opened after a loss in Pittsburgh, McGuire was seen knocking furniture around the coach's room.”

It goes on to say that Jaromir Jagr felt his overtime goal against Hartford in a regular season game was the “biggest of his life” because it was against McGuire. Wow.

Senators Playing Small In A Big League

“What’s our identity?”

When your head coach says that in public, maybe it’s time to start worrying. Just a little.

Those were Senators coach Paul MacLean’s words after Sunday’s loss to arguably the league’s best team, the San Jose Sharks. It’s been a hellish October schedule for Ottawa but that can’t account for everything that’s going wrong.

Where’s the intensity from Erik Karlsson? He played one of his strongest games of the season against San Jose but there were still times where he looked to be in cruise mode like he has for most of the first month. He’s skating as fine as he ever has (and putting up points) but his body language is all too obvious. He’s banging his stick on the ice after goals against, shaking his head, yapping at the refs and looking very much like the young player he is. There just seems to be a little poise and focus missing, but you could say that about a lot of players on this Senators team that’s lost 3 of the last 4 with all those losses being on home ice.

They’re getting killed in their own end and they’re getting killed with sloppy starts to games and periods. They look soft in front of their net despite having two big defenseman in Jared Cowen and Eric Gryba that have the size to actually prevent Craig Anderson from being rattled. It doesn’t help that Gryba is in and out of the lineup due to being inconsistent and Cowen doesn’t seem to be as aggressive in his own zone as he was in the past. Marc Methot is as steady as they come and has been the defensive conscience of this team along with Chris Phillips, both of whom have showed up to play so far.

For the most part, the veterans have done their jobs but there’s a few struggling. Milan Michalek only has 2 goals in 11 games and just 1 in his past 8, despite playing regularly with one of the best playmakers in the game, Jason Spezza.

Don’t blame Michalek’s struggles on Spezza. The captain has been one of the better Senators this season, but he’s never really had great chemistry with Michalek. I get that MacLean likes Michalek’s speed combined with Spezza’s slower, more cerebral game, but Michalek is not the type of winger who hangs back and gets into prime scoring areas for a pass. Michalek is hell on wheels and scores his goals on the rush going top speed or banging in rebounds in the midst of chaos.

On the other hand, Bobby Ryan is the type of player who should be able to complement and read Spezza’s playmaking abilities, but a slow start on that line and some early success with Kyle Turris doomed the Spezza/Ryan partnership prematurely. Some would even say that combination hasn’t been given the chance to blossom like it should but I’m not in the habit of telling the Jack Adams award winner what lines he should play together. It’s hard to argue against the success of Ryan and Turris together, but it must be tempting to reunite Spezza with Ryan just to see if it sparks something.

Yet, it’s not goal-scoring that’s losing this team games. It just seems like they’re small out there all the time, and it has nothing to do with actual physical size. Colin Greening isn’t winning puck battles. Zack Smith is being yanked from centre to wing, sometimes shift to shift and it’s not working. He’s being physical but he hasn’t settled into a role as a centreman as he should, mostly because Ottawa went with younger, smaller players in that role, namely Stephane Da Costa and J.G. Pageau and it hasn’t worked out. At all.

All these Western teams have certainly made Ottawa look small, but if the Senators start slow and only bring the intensity and physicality when they’re behind in games, the Eastern conference teams aren’t going to be any easier.

The Senators built an identity the past two seasons under MacLean by being tough and relentless. It’s hard to deny that. They spent all of last season playing that way with most of the talent on the injured reserve. Somehow they’ve lost that mentality in the early going here and they have to get it back. If it takes someone getting in a fight that usually doesn’t fight, so be it. If it takes someone like Turris paying the price in front of the net to score a goal, that might do it. Something has to spark this team back to life and just scoring goals from outside the faceoff circle isn’t going to do it.

This Senators team is a little too nice right now. The pacifists will roll their eyes and get their hackles up, but this team wins when they play mean. Two first-round series wins were accomplished with that style. It has to come back, and come back soon.

"Black Aces" Now A Song - Check It Out

One of the readers of this blog, Matt Gower, pointed out to me recently that his local Ottawa band, Capital Grass and the No Men, have recorded a song, "Black Aces", (click on link to hear) and have entered it into a CBC contest called Song Quest, which seeks to find "Canada's next great hockey song". Matt mentions the title of this blog gave him an idea for the song, and I have to say it's a pretty strong entry, especially if you're a fan of Americana roots or Appalachian music as I am.

Matt says, "Ever since I started reading Black Aces, in the back of my mind, I've thought to myself, that would make for a great hockey song. Plus, being a Canadian songwriter, I know that it's required to have at least one hockey tune on the set list."

Anyways, I thought this was too cool not to share with the rest of the readers and wish the best of luck to Matt and the rest of the boys in Capital Grass and the No Men in the contest. Here's a link to their website. They play fairly regularly around town and have also taken the stage at Bluesfest.

The first song my old band, The Hitmakers, ever wrote was a joke called "Hockey Tonk". It wasn't very funny, nor was it very good. Luckily no recordings exist of this trashterpiece, so you've been spared.

Spezza Steps Over Alfredsson In Biggest Test Of His Captaincy So Far

Watching last night’s game in Detroit, you got the feeling Jason Spezza was a little sick of talking about Daniel Alfredsson. After two goals and one much needed trouncing of a division rival, we’re now talking about the new captain, not the departed one.

From the day he was given the captain’s “C”, Spezza probably hasn’t gone 48 hours without answering a question about Alfredsson and how he plans to fill those shoes. Then there was the Olympic summer camp snub, which would have been painful for a proud guy like Spezza who only fell off the radar because of injuries that destroyed his previous season. It would be enough to make a man want to go out and prove something to everybody on the biggest stage of the campaign so far.

And that’s what this game was. Media were swarming Joe Louis Arena for the Alfredsson angle while the game was nationally broadcast on TSN with as much hype as your average Toronto Maple Leafs game. That’s a lot of hype, by the way.

Imagine the mood if Alfredsson had scored a couple of goals against his old team and Ottawa limped away with their second consecutive loss. Luckily for Senators fans, Spezza made sure that didn’t happen.

You can argue that Spezza scored the two most important goals of the game. Eric Gryba’s opener set the tone but a 1-0 lead in Detroit is nothing to dance about. When Spezza scored 5 minutes later to make it 2-0, that’s when people started to believe Ottawa had a chance of winning this thing. Sure, the true believers would still pick Ottawa against the 1984 Oilers but just look at yesterday’s Citizen Prediction Panel. Only one of eight, Steve Lloyd, picked Ottawa to squeak out a win. Wayne Scanlan, who only seems to miss when he’s feeling merciful, picked Detroit. I picked Detroit. Mothers of Senators players probably picked Detroit.

When Bobby Ryan made it 3-0, the faithful were moonwalking on Elgin Street but Todd Bertuzzi’s late goal before the end of the first, on a power-play no less, could have easily swung the momentum back in Detroit’s favour, and with guys like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Alfredsson, a two-goal deficit isn’t the end of the world.

That’s when Spezza put it away with his biggest goal of the year so far. He went straight down the middle at Datsyuk in the Detroit zone and buried his own rebound off the lively Joe Louis Arena boards. That was pretty goddamn impressive if you ask me.

A lot of guys would have hooked left or right and tried to feed someone coming in with more speed, especially facing two red sweaters, one of whom happened to be a 3-time Selke award winner. Maybe they expected Spezza to do just that but he went right at them, shot the puck, and kept going to the net. Simply put, Spezza was the hungriest player on the ice at that moment and Datsyuk could only swing at him as he blew by.

At 4-1, the captain had taken the spirit out of the building and probably a lot out of Alfredsson as well, who only days ago commented that he caught a replay of a Senators game, saw the “C” on Spezza and thought it was himself for a brief moment. The cameras continually focused on Alfie as he sat on the bench, with everyone sitting at home dying to know exactly what he was thinking as the whole scene played out. Was he regretting everything? Was he stoic, knowing that there’s a long way to go and many chances for revenge?

I was thinking about Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, who had settled his vendetta with Dany Heatley only the day before, and was probably watching the Detroit game from Barbados or Toronto, relishing the moment. I joked on Twitter that he was likely drunk with power at the moment, but like games in October, that too will fade with time.

But for Jason Spezza and the Senators, this is one game, one memorable performance, that can lead to bigger and better things, and just maybe bury some old skeletons that had been haunting them for too long.

And that captain’s “C” on Spezza looks a little sharper today than it did yesterday. What a game.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Jason Spezza
2. Bobby Ryan
3. Kyle Turris

Honorable Mentions: Eric Gryba, Craig Anderson, Jared Cowen, Mika Zibanejad

Timing Is Right For Zibanejad Re-call

Pretty good timing by Bryan Murray.

With all the attention on Ottawa’s upcoming game in Detroit against ex-captain Daniel Alfredsson, Murray felt the time was right to bring Mika Zibanejad back to the NHL today.

Makes sense on a couple of fronts. First, the Senators can use his size and skill to try and energize a team that didn’t look overly inspired against Edmonton on Saturday. No matter how you look at it, Zibanejad is an upgrade on J.G. Pageau and Derek Grant. Hell, he’s an upgrade on most of the players in the bottom-six, especially if he comes in a little ornery from his surprising training camp demotion.

Going into Detroit is a quagmire, and that’s before you even get to the rink. If you get into the Joe Louis Arena with your shirt still on your back, you have Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg waiting for you, and worse, they’ve stolen your best hockey player and, by all reports, he couldn’t be happier wearing the red and white (without the black).

And that’s the second point here. It won’t alter the media’s interpretation of this game much – it’s still Alfie vs. the Sens, but parachuting Zibanejad into the game changes the feel a little bit for the fans. If Zibanejad, who is a clear favourite around town, can manage to have a strong game, it will take some of the focus away from Alfredsson and maybe ease the pain a little. Of course, if Bobby Ryan gets a couple of goals, that would be more significant considering how the two will always be linked from that fateful day in July, but Mika has become a bit of a cause célèbre on Twitter with the #FreeMika hashtags and his stint as DJZbad in the summer. They love their young players here. Erik Karlsson is a rockstar and Zibanejad isn’t far behind. What better way to say goodbye to an old legend like Alfredsson with a win featuring his former Swedish students.

Think of it this way – imagine Ottawa went into Detroit with the same lineup that lost to Edmonton and ended up getting creamed. Fans would start to hit the panic button, especially with Anaheim, San Jose and Chicago next on the schedule and calls for Zibanejad, who’s had a strong start in Binghamton, would have been deafening.

The time was right for an infusion of energy on the ice and a welcome respite from the Alfredsson narrative. Murray managed all that with the call-up of Zibanejad.

Now comes the hard part. Actually beating Detroit in Detroit.

They have more of a chance to do that with Zibanejad here instead of in Binghamton.

The Backhander: Notes From A Long Night At The Rink

It’s late, I’m groggy and there’s popcorn in my hair. But here’s a few notes from the Senators home opener against the New Jersey Devils which I viewed from the nosebleeds in lonely Section 306.

***

... There were only four people in our row way at the top. Looking around the rink five minutes before the opening ceremony, it looked like there would be swaths of empty seats, especially in the lower bowl. Those seats filled up quickly once everything got underway but it seemed like each upper corner was almost completely unsold from the middle to the top. Strange to see during a home-opener, especially one with free parking on a warm night. Yet it didn’t seem to damper the atmosphere at all once the game got going. It was loud from where I was sitting, with lots of “Andy” chants and profanity filled screaming at the refs. When Milan Michalek blew a puck by Martin Brodeur in the third to put the game away, it was deafening. It can still be a hell of a loud rink when it needs to be.... As for the pre-game ceremony and the hype that came with hiring the guy out of Montreal who used to do their in-house entertainment, it seemed to fall pretty flat. All that happened was they dimmed the lights and played a predictable video on the scoreboard before announcing the players one-by-one. Not much of a light show and the video was that tired old schtick with the Roman Gladiators that looked about 10 years old. As usual, anthem singer Lyndon Slewidge had to be relied on to get the fans pumped up and he came through. I don’t remember hearing the old beloved Senators entrance theme song but maybe I just missed it. If they’re thinking of screwing with that tradition again, they better get their heads screwed on right. No matter how cheesy that song is, it’s the Senators through and through and should never be replaced by canned UFC music....You could hear a few boos mixed in with the cheers when Eugene Melnyk was introduced at centre ice. Not too many, but it was there. I was cringing, to be honest....

.... Still hearing lots of criticism of Erik Karlsson, who ONLY got 3 points on the night, but apart from one or two bad giveaways that I saw, he played a slick game. Giveaways are going to happen for Erik just like they happen for Jason Spezza, because both players are trying to make plays out there instead of being safe, but Karlsson got everyone on their feet when he raced back from the far blueline and stripped Stephen Gionta of the puck after giving it away in the first place. That wasn’t the only strong defensive play he made on the night, something he rarely gets credit for outside of people who watch him every night. He could have easily been one of the 3 Stars last night. He’s going to have an incredible year.... Speaking of which, hard to understand why they gave Gionta the 2nd Star last night. It was a polite move, but if it had to go to a Devil, it should have gone to Steve Bernier who at least scored a goal and tied Gionta with 5 shots. I would have given it to Karlsson. .... The 3rd Star, Bobby Ryan, probably couldn’t have scripted a better home debut in Ottawa and the fans really embraced him throughout the game, including a video they played during a commercial time-out that welcomed him to the city. I’d still like to see him with Spezza again now that injuries and slow-starts are out of the way, but it’s hard to argue the chemistry he’s finding with Kyle Turris. Once again, Turris was flying out there. I was one of those people who turned my nose up at the trading of David Rundblad, but I gotta admit I was wrong there. It will be interesting to see if opposing teams load up defensively against that “second line” now with Ryan there, and how that will affect Turris. He struggled at times going up against shutdown defenseman when Spezza was out last year, but at least he looks stronger in the early-going and might be able to fight through that better.....

.....Michalek is showing no signs of struggling with that bad knee. The guy is skating as good as I’ve ever seen him in Ottawa. That was a nasty shot that beat Brodeur high in the third period. ..... Maybe shaving the beard off was bad luck for Eric Gryba. He struggled in his own zone last night and still looks like a guy who missed most of training camp. I still think he solidifies his spot on that blueline but he might be in and out of the lineup for a while until he gets better. ... Craig Anderson once again put to rest any worries about his play with a 40 save performance that included a desperation paddle save at the goal-line that will be in every best-of-year highlight package. For some reason, this guy has a lot of doubters when he struggles even for a few games, probably because Robin Lehner is still unblemished in many fans eyes, but Anderson always reels them back in with games like that. .... As usual, the parking lots after the game were a confused nightmare. Took a solid hour to get back on the road. But, hey, there’s worse things to complain about. It’s kind of a Kanata tradition to sit in your car and listen to the post-game show, wondering when you’ll ever see your bed again. They should just dig up that grassy hill and put 5 more on-ramps to the Queensway and say to hell with it.... It may have seemed like a less than glamorous opponent for a home opener, but seeing both Martin Brodeur and Jaromir Jagr in person is still something all fans should appreciate. We’re talking about two players who are arguably Top 10 all-time in the history of the league, both first ballot Hall Of Famers. This might be their farewell tour but it’s still special to see them out there, especially if you’ve watched their entire careers. Brodeur had a tough night but I thought Jagr was still dangerous, especially in the Senators zone. The guy still has power. And he’ll have a chance to get a Cup this year. Expect him to be dealt at the deadline when the Devils finally throw in the towel. Imagine he went back to Pittsburgh? It could happen.

BLACK ACES SENATORS 3 STARS

1. Craig Anderson
2. Erik Karlsson
3. Bobby Ryan

Still Lots To Be Optimistic About For Senators Fans

I know it looks bad. 106 shots against in the last two games. Winless in 4. Goalies yanked. An early loss to the hated Leafs. And GM Bryan Murray has already fired a warning shot in the press that roster changes could be coming.

Yet with one win tonight in Phoenix, the last game of this ugly Western road-swing, the Senators could head home 2-2-2, with the toughest trip behind them and a few easier games coming up on the schedule.

Right away they face the Devils and Oilers to finish off the week, two teams that don’t have anything going for them right now, followed by three days off that will no doubt be used to practice and get comfy in their own rink, things they haven’t had much time to do after a bloated training camp and a time-zone changing road trip.

This team is too good to struggle this badly, and more games against a much weaker Eastern Conference is going to help in the long run, even if they still have rematches with Western powerhouses San Jose and Anaheim and a visit from the defending Stanley Cup champs Chicago before the end of October.

November will be much nicer to Ottawa fans. 9 of 14 will be played at home in Kanata, including 4 in a row that with teams like Florida and Philadelphia. Lots of ground can be made up in a month like that, even for a team that stumbles in October.

Other early weaknesses should turn into strengths when normalcy returns. There’s no way Jason Spezza is going to remain this team’s second best centre as long as he’s relatively healthy. Kyle Turris has been much more dynamic and dependable early but once Spezza gets rolling he’s going to be more than a point-per-game player, especially against an Eastern Conference that’s giving up goals all over the place.

Erik Karlsson will find himself at some point, and it’s going to be scary when he does. This guy can win games on his own when he’s feeling it, and if that depends on how he’s skating, then I’d have no worries. He’s still flying out there but his struggles seem to be more mental than physical. He looks a little unfocused, showing frustrated body language when calls don’t go his way or he misses a scoring chance. That can’t go on forever.

Craig Anderson hasn’t looked bad, but he’s not stealing games like he usually does. Already you can feel a shift of allegiance from some fans to Robin Lehner, which happens every time Robin has a strong game or two, but the pendulum always swings back to Anderson. Last year’s shortened training camp was full of calls for Lehner to take over but Anderson quietly shut down his critics and he’ll do that again. Anderson is just too consistent.

Lots of rumours out there that the Edmonton Oilers will be begging Murray to send them a goalie, possibly in return for one of their young star forwards like Nail Yakupov, but it seems way too early for a huge deal like that. At some point, Ottawa will deal one of their goalies because the return they can get will be too huge to pass up, but right now it’s one of their strengths and will be something they can ride all the way to the playoffs. The time for that deal isn’t now unless they get offered something unbelievable. It’s a deal that Murray has to win, even if it doesn’t come until next season.

In the short term, expect to see one or both of Stephane Da Costa and J.G. Pageau sent down to Bingo for Mika Zibanejad and possibly Jim O’Brien or another player (I believe Mark Stone is injured). Right now, this team is way too small down the middle with those guys and it’s not like Spezza and Turris provide much brute strength there either. There’s certainly a place for small players, especially over-achieving ones like Pageau, but you run the risk of turning into the Montreal Canadiens from the last few years if you have too many. With Zibanejad up from exile, that would allow Zack Smith to move back to the middle where he belongs and suddenly you have 4 bonafide NHL centres, while Zibanejad can also spot on the wing in the top-six if you need him.

It sounds strange that O’Brien would even be considered at this point, after MacLean publicly said younger players had passed him on the depth chart (and unsubstantiated rumours of O’Brien complaining about ice-time last season). Yet the Senators are paying his full NHL salary whether he’s here or in the minors thanks to a regrettable one-way contract offered by Murray. The budget might force their hand and give O’Brien that second chance no one thought was coming.

To me, it looks like the Senators are paying a bit of a price for over-thinking and over-evaluating during that monstrously long training camp where it became more about rewarding players for instant success rather than making sure they had the best team on the ice to start the season. Zibanejad has only himself to blame for not showing the intensity the team wanted, but now it’s time to see if the message has sunk in and get this guy playing important minutes down the middle.

Early season struggles can be just as misleading as training camp heroics, as we’ve seen with the struggles of Da Costa and Pageau. The Senators look terrible right now, but until they start losing games at home, (don’t put too much stock in their home opener against New Jersey after a long road trip – a classic trap game), I see this team the same way I saw them before the puck was even dropped – a playoff team and one of the top seeds in the East.

It may just take a month before we see the evidence.

82 Game Schedule Better Suited For Bobby Ryan and Old-Man Bloggers

I was ready for the game. Upstairs TV, laptop, pajama pants, clear head.

The kid was tucked safely in bed, drooling. The wife was downstairs watching some kind of show I could never stand to sit through, our two cats nodding off beside her. It was a peaceful scene. Too peaceful.

I passed out.

10 minutes before a 10:30 PM puck drop and I was a goner. Missed the entire West Coast Senators-Kings game. Didn’t even get a sniff at it.

Missed Bobby Ryan’s first goal in an Ottawa uniform, missed seeing Dustin Brown, a new pick-up in my pool, score a couple goals for me. Missed what looked like one of those now patented “pesky Sens” comebacks which we’ve seen a lot of the past two seasons (this time unsuccessful). Missed what sounded like a strong game from Stephane Da Costa.

And the Western swing continues, challenging my manhood as I struggle to even make it to midnight as a relatively young 37-year old who used to stay up until 3 in the morning every night of his twenties. What ever happened to that good-looking guy?

I guess it’s all in the pacing. An 82-game schedule where every game isn’t life and death is a strange beast to get used to again. The early-season feels important, vital almost, when you’ve been deprived of the game all summer. Missing a game feels like missing a week. Snap judgements are made on the basis of one night, which is why you see superstars (like Bobby Ryan) getting thrown under the bus while adrenalin-fuelled rookies with early success are praised to death (like Sean Monohan).

Yet when the pace evens out and the veterans get into a groove, the training camp and early season heroes tend to fade and get forgotten. It’s that type of dynamic that allows a player like Da Costa to unseat future blue-chipper Mika Zibanejad on the roster, but I’m betting in two months we’ll be talking a lot more about Zibanejad than we will Da Costa.

Hey, some guys are slow starters, which can be murder in a condensed, lockout shortened season, but in a full year you can afford to have some lulls, no matter how much the hyper-driven media tells us the opposite. Just not too long.

As Ian Mendes pointed out in the Ottawa Citizen recently, Bobby Ryan is historically bad in October but has still ended up with four 30-goal seasons. Jarome Iginla was another notoriously slow starter. Look at Alex Ovechkin last year. People were ready to put this guy on a plane to the KHL or at least revoke his superstar status. He ended up winning the Hart Trophy.

Luckily for Ryan, he scored last night in Los Angeles, but you can already sense a bit of defiance in him towards some of the “slow start” talk. I don’t blame him at all for getting his back up, but he’ll quickly find out that won’t help him either. Not in this market. But Ryan’s got 79 more games to score 29 goals and prove Bryan Murray was right bringing him in here. Fans will be patient because they’ll have to be. The playoffs are a long way away and so are the dog days of January and February when even the most hardcore hockey fan occasionally mixes a movie into their routine.

Even for a blogger it’s tough to find a pace early-on with late night games and endless days in between. I usually like to get a rhythm going of 3 articles a week and see how it goes. Sometimes there’s nothing to write about when you pass out before games like an old sheepdog after a meal.

Yet it’s a bit of a luxury to know you have a full season of hockey to look forward to. So what if you miss Matt Kassian scoring a hat-trick against the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada. That type of thing will happen again, right?

Sens Lose Shootout In Hogtown... Turris Line Rolling Early...And More Game Notes

If the season opener in Buffalo didn't exactly live up to the hype, Saturday's tilt against the Leafs on Hockey Night In Canada certainly made up for it.

After the 1-0 goalie battle on Friday, it was a welcome sight to see a few goals no matter what team you were cheering for. The Senators were a victim of their own success after Jason Spezza and Jared Cowen opened up the game with two goals in 15 seconds to go up 4-2 in the second period. That got James Reimer the hook (maybe for good) and Jonathan Bernier came in and absolutely stoned the Senators the rest of the way, allowing the Leafs to chip away until winning it in the shootout.

You could see Coach Paul MacLean rewarding the best Senators on the ice as the line of Kyle Turris, Clarke MacArthur and Cory Conacher kept getting sent out, and for good reason - they were incredible tonight. Turris and MacArthur in particular were all over the Leafs, while Jason Spezza was the only one making anything happen on the top line (more on Bobby Ryan in the Notes section below).

Erik Karlsson, the hero from Friday in Buffalo, didn't seem to have much going on and looked a little too casual until finding his legs late in the third period. Craig Anderson didn't have much of a chance on the goals he gave up and still made 38 saves in total.

The real positive for Ottawa has to be the fact they showed some secondary offense with the Turris line, while Spezza also scored and looks healthy. If that holds up, it's only a matter of a few games until Ryan and Milan Michalek get their first of the season as well.

BLACK ACES SENATORS 3 STARS

1. Kyle Turris
2. Clarke MacArthur
3. Jared Cowen


NOTES

When Clarke MacArthur made that semi-breakaway dash to the Toronto net at the start of the third, it was like watching Shawn McEachern again in a Senators uniform. MacArthur is a lot faster than I thought he was and could end up being the sleeper UFA signing of the summer.... Hmmm, not sure I made the most brilliant move dropping Kyle Turris from my hockey pool. With Spezza healthy, Turris is going to get away from facing the best shutdown combos that slowed him down at times last year. The only thing slowing me down is my annual tendency to overthink everything about my fantasty team. Just saying "fantasy team" makes me think I'm lucky to have ever kissed a girl..... It looked like Dion Phaneuf was ready to turn around and floor the Senator who pressed him to the glass at the first period buzzer, but when he saw it was old buddy Clarke MacArthur he let it slide. If that was Chris Pronger, whom Phaneuf was compared to early in his career, the ex-teammate would have eaten at least three fingers of Pronger's glove....

..... Speaking of brotherly love, Brian Sutter, longtime NHL coach and player once said to The Hockey News, "Let's put it this way: if one of my brothers were standing in front of the bus last night and we were about to leave and he was on the other team, I'd have run over him. I wouldn't have called out first to ask him to get out of the way, either. That's my mentality, that's the way it is. I don't really care." That's one of the best hockey quotes I've ever come across. Insane, but probably true. Luckily Brian was never presented with that situation in real life, although it's not hard to imagine a Sutter brother standing in front of a team bus wanting to fight every single person in it..... James Van Riemsdyk looks like he's going to have a huge year. I never really understood why Philly let him go in the first place, but they also moved Mike Richards and Jeff Carter who both went on to win the Stanley Cup almost immediately....

....Don Cherry is right about Dave Bolland looking like Doug Gilmour. He doesn't have the same skill, of course, but Bolland just looks like one of those guys on the early 90's Leafs teams that went to the conference finals a couple of times. He's going to be a blue pain in the ass for the Senators for the next few years..... Interesting moments in colour commentating: Glen Healy criticizing the Leafs defense after the first period Turris goal by saying “It’s like the Three Musketeers out there. Too much stick checking”.... Veteran move by Chris Neil not to fight Colton Orr moments after Jason Spezza had made it 4-2. Ottawa had nothing to gain from a fight at that point.....

...... Colin Greening has always looked strong in puck battles, but this year he seems to be meaner against the boards and a little quicker and more involved. Wonder if it's just maturity or that new multi-year deal he signed in the summer that's given him some jump. Not sure he'll ever score 20 goals in a season but his value really isn't in points anyways. It's early, but I like the way he's playing so far.... Tough watching Phil Kessell lying on the ice near the end of the 2nd period after taking an undetected high-stick from Erik Condra. I'm not saying it didn't hurt, but lying there like you've been hit by a sniper waiting for a call while the Senators break out with the puck is a little much. He looked fine complaining on his way to the bench. Hopefully he recovers....

.... CBC did a nice job isolating Bobby Ryan on a replay of the Kessell goal that tied the game 4-4. He had gotten tied up with a Leaf defender behind Jonathan Bernier, but it also showed Ryan coasting back down the ice before he realized his team was in trouble and had to start moving his legs. Not a very flattering few seconds for the highly touted winger.... Not completely surprising to see Joe Corvo sub-in for the rusty Eric Gryba in Toronto, but Corvo didn't exactly make a strong case to keep Gryba on the sidelines for more than a game or two..... Stephane Da Costa was a healthy scratch and Matt Kassian went in to the lineup in case there problems with Colton Orr and others. Nothing ended up happening but Kassian played a pretty strong game when he got onto the ice by going to the net and being part of a few rushes. The guy doesn't get much respect from the snippy Twitter heads but MacLean sure likes him. I do too..... It's nice to have hockey back, isn't it?

Season Opener: Karlsson Delivers Win In Final Minutes

It was exhausting watching all those saves.

Numbing almost, save for the beer. But if it wasn't for Ryan Miller and Craig Anderson making ridiculous stop after stop, we might have had a real yawner on opening night in Buffalo.

The Senators came out in the first period like a team convinced Miller was going to be shaky, and pounded 23 shots on net. You have to wonder if the early message from the coaching staff was “shoot the f***ing puck”, knowing that the first twenty minutes were going to be sloppy with nerves and lots of offside calls (which there were). But whenever Ottawa managed to break into the zone cleanly, they raided Miller, starting with Patrick Wiercioch who rang a high one off the post behind the chronically unhappy Sabres goalie. Both Jason Spezza and J.G. Pageau chose to shoot the puck during a couple of 2-on-1’s as well. Probably a smart strategy when the hands are a little tight in the first game of the season. Miller was game.

Then the second period hit and both teams were skating in molasses, a dreary spell that didn't lift until the last half of the third.

It used to be Daniel Alfredsson who would step up in those moments, especially against Buffalo, but on Friday it was Erik Karlsson, taking a cross-ice feed from new guy Clarke MacArthur and finally getting a puck past Miller.

You had to love Karlsson's celebration of the goal. He just pointed at MacArthur as he drifted away from the net with an expression that was all business. It almost looked like he knew he'd have the chance to end the game like that, while MacArthur seemed a little dazed by it all as he skated to the bench. They didn't have defensemen like that in Toronto and Buffalo when MacArthur was playing his first 400 pension-guaranteeing games.

Bobby Ryan's debut in the red and black was uneven, taking a couple of penalties when he lost his man. He seemed a little behind the game at times, too far head at other moments, but he did manage 5 shots and seemed like a strong presence down low. Everyone's favourite TSN 1200 radio host has been butchering Ryan on-air for a month now and this game won't change his tirade much, but Ryan looked dangerous with the puck on his stick. You can't please 'em all, Bobby.

If you're a Senators fan, and you're probably a mouth-frother if you're reading this on a Friday night or Saturday morning, there's a lot to take positives from, even if the nightmare of a low-scoring team is eating away at your sub-conscious. Ryan Miller was incredible on Friday, and Spezza would have had two goals and four points if it were any other night or any other goalie.

The Senators go into Toronto on Saturday for Hockey Night In Canada, a stage they never seem to shine on, so an unglamorous road win in Buffalo is something most Ottawa fans can be happy with.

BLACK ACES SENATORS 3 STARS

1. Craig Anderson
2. Erik Karlsson
3. Jason Spezza

NOTES

Play-by-play man Dean Brown’s line of the night after both teams traded chances late in the 2nd period: “Ooohh. Magic at one end and witchy spells at the other.” You don’t hear the term “witchy spells” too often in hockey broadcasts. You hear it a lot in Black Metal I guess....Lots of new looks on the Senators Sportsnet broadcast. Dean Brown is going with the goatee in the early going and host Ian Mendes has been replaced by the young Shawn McKenzie, who did a good job as the rookie. However, Denis Potvin is still Denis Potvin, everyone’s favourite uncle ..... Not surprising that it was good ol' Cory Conacher who delivered the first bump on Ryan Miller in the crease. He got about six hockey gloves in the face for his efforts........ Eric Gryba’s early season playoff beard is a fierce look. All he needs is a few missing teeth in the front so he can give guys like Lars Eller an Ottawa Valley smile that will haunt their dreams.... You can tell Gryba didn’t play much in the pre-season. A little shaky with the puck in his own end, but he’ll get better once he settles in after a few games. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Joe Corvo step in against Toronto on Saturday in Gryba’s place....Those white Senators road jerseys have to go – soon. Whatever that design is, it’s not a hockey design. They’re pajamas....

... Still hard to fathom that Stephane Da Costa is playing in Ottawa instead of Mika Zibanejad. Hey, Zbad only has himself to blame, but you look at Da Costa out there and he still doesn’t look like an NHL player. I can’t believe this little “lesson” will last long. The Sens need Zibanejad’s size and skill in the middle.... Very happy to have been asked to join the Ottawa Citizen’s Prediction Panel again this season, but it has only reminded me why I don’t play Pro Line anymore. Try it yourself for a year and be happy if you hit .500.

Sens Blindside Zibanejad With Demotion - Theories Start Flying

One day it will be an obscure footnote in the career of Mika Zibanejad, but today it seems like a strange turn of events in the early going for the Ottawa Senators, who shipped Zibanejad down to Binghamton, presumably because of his waiver ineligibility and the notion he was beat out for a roster spot by players like Stephane Da Costa and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Meanwhile, rumours and insinuations are being thrown around that this was a budgetary move on orders from Eugene Melnyk, who commented publicly the other day that he “just found out” the team was over-budget. Others suggested, like myself, that the old-school management team might have been less than impressed with his one-off summer gig as DJ Zbad at a local nightclub, possibly bringing up issues of focus. Both theories seem like a stretch (although if you count in Zbad’s entry-level performance bonuses, this has the potential to save real money in the unlikely event he stays down), but until GM Bryan Murray speaks to the media later this afternoon, people will remain guessing why the fan favourite just got dumped on the eve of the season.

Strictly from a hockey perspective, it’s a tough one to get your head around. I suppose the signs were there for everyone to see but it almost seemed impossible to imagine Zibanejad, a near prototypical modern hockey player with size, skating ability and soft hands, would be thrown overboard for one of two smallish centres in Da Costa and Pageau.

Now Pageau, I can understand. This guy was going to be on the team no matter who he had to climb over. His character and talent dominated the Senators training camp and he’s already shown he can play at the NHL level. But Da Costa?

We’ve heard nothing but praise from Coach Paul MacLean on how Da Costa showed up to camp ready to play after being told he needed to change in exit meetings last season. It’s pretty easy to assume he showed more hunger than Zibanejad in camp, because if you’re talking NHL talent, there’s no way you could justify either player over Zibanejad, especially Da Costa who already fell out of favour once with the organization because he couldn’t adapt to the NHL.

Yet if two centres outhustled Zibanejad, and MacLean has already stated he only likes Zibanejad as a centre, you can see what happened here. Don’t believe for a second the team intends to have Da Costa ahead of Zibanejad for the long run. This is strictly message sending time and its clear Ottawa didn’t like the young Swede being outperformed by two prospects on the bubble.

There are very few times an organization has the ability to swing this kind of hammer on a young prospect and not hurt their own chances in the short-term. It happened to Jason Spezza early in his career under Jacques Martin when the comment was made about the NHL being a “man’s game” to justify Spezza sitting out. Now it’s happening to Zibanejad, and it’s likely the Senators can get along without him for a few weeks if it means getting this kid back into the right mindset to compete harder, assuming that’s the issue the Senators have with him.

Starting for a few weeks on the road without last line change will be pretty tough on some of the more slightly built Senators, such as Kyle Turris, Pageau and Da Costa, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Zibanejad join them halfway. It’s a bit mystifying why MacLean would want to go into L.A., Anaheim and San Jose with the smallest team possible, but maybe Zibanejad’s training camp was just that bad. He looked good in the pre-season games that I saw, so there must be something behind the scenes that hurt his spot on the team.

It seems excessive, but it might be the best thing for both Zibanejad and the Senators if this cranks the kid up a bit.

Conacher Makes It Easy For Coach MacLean

Okay, I was wrong about Cory Conacher. This guy isn’t going anywhere soon.

I was convinced Mike Hoffman was destined to be on that second line going into the pre-season with all that speed and those flashes of NHL ability he showed last season before going on the shelf. Yet all he’s done this month is pretty much disappear and I’m not sure of the reason, whether it was not impressing early on in camp practices or not coming out of the gate strong in his first pre-season game on September 16. Whatever it was, Hoffman didn’t see another game until last night, a stretch of 10 days in which Conacher likely sewed up the job next to Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur.

Just look at Conacher’s last three pre-season games. 3 goals, 4 points, 10 shots on goal and he’s probably smelled more gloves from pissed off defenseman than any other Senator as he crashed the net every shift.

There’s no competition here right now for that spot. It’s Conacher’s. Hoffman had 3 shots on goal in his two games but hasn’t stood out. Mark Stone looked better than Hoffman but he still doesn’t seem like an NHL player. The gargantuan Buddy Robinson stood out early with two goals in two games but has started to fade. When the pace started to pick-up, it was Conacher, the guy with the most NHL experience, who kept pace.

And this guy is entertaining to watch too. You see scuffles at the net and eventually this little guy comes out of the middle with his helmet on sideways and his shoulder pads hanging out of his jersey. He’s fearless along the boards, behind the net and obviously has a way of getting goals standing right outside the crease. I’m not sure there’s going to be many laser beams from above the faceoff circles but Conacher doesn’t seem to mind going up against huge defensemen down low anyways. He’s going to get his head kicked in scoring 75% of his goals.

An 82 game schedule is going to be hard on him, as it was last season when he faded with Ottawa after tearing it up early with Tampa, but he’s probably learned a lot from that.

Pencil him in. Throw away the pencil.