Cupcakes

The quiet, hot days of summer summon strange conversations and stories in the hockey world, allowing the fan to ponder things that wouldn't get a fraction of a seconds attention during the busy season.

And so it has come to this.

Cupcakes.

If you at all follow the blog Puck Daddy, no doubt you've heard the quirky story of a lady beating the odds and getting her homemade cupcakes past the iron fence of modern day sports concessions and into the dilapidated Nassau Coliseum in Long Island for Islanders games this upcoming season.

Who cares right?

Well, we here at Black Aces do. Not really, but the marriage of cupcakes and NHL hockey have given rise to a mass of Tweeters coming up with their own cupcake jokes, some of which, below, were posted on Puck Daddy:

#nhlcupcakes

Greg's post Thursday about the New York Islanders cupcakes sparked a bit of a to-do on Twitter. The jokes obviously came rollin' in, and made it an odd trending topic for a bit of the late morning.

Some of the better ones:

@DaveLozo: "The Sidney Crosby Cupcake — it doesn't matter if you like it, it's getting crammed down your throat."

@blogesalming: "The Eklund Cupcake: Convinces you you're eating a cupcake and turns out to be urinal cake"

@DownGoesBrown: "The LA Kings cupcake: Fans love it, but don't understand how the icing works."

@psykovike: "Calgary Flames Cupcake... The 'baker' doesn't give a damn if you like it or not... What do you know about cupcakes..."

@radioactivesmrf: "The Chris Mason Cupcake, it's better than it looks. It would have to be..."

@Kevin_Singer: "The Dany Heatley cupcake: demands to be made at another bakery because current one isn't putting it on the right shelf"

And the winner...

@dear_gravity: "The Phil Kessel cupcake: has one nut inside."

Pretty good stuff there (well, the Kessel one was a little much maybe).

But over a particularly long day at work, I started swapping cupcakes with our pal Blood Red Army, and soon the shelves were overflowing with ideas. I thought, what the hell, it's summer. I can do an entire post about cupcakes. So here's what we came up with during our Friday sun-addled afternoon, mostly Senators related and BRA's epic blast at Luongo included.

Enjoy (or don't). We did.


Blood Red Army: The Alexie Kovalev: If you're not careful, it'll disappear before you even get it in your mouth.

Black Aces: The Filip Kuba: No one even noticed it was gone from the bakery shelf.

Blood Red Army: The Rick Dipietro: You'll still be paying for it in 12 years.

Black Aces: The Jonathan Cheechoo: Like fruitcake, whatever appeal it had faded a long time ago.

Blood Red Army: The Jason Spezza: He'll make you sick as he passes backwards through you.

Black Aces: The Jacques Martin: Sugar free, tasteless and bland, but good for you.

Blood Red Army: The Joe Corvo: Will request to be moved to a Duncan Donuts or other generic store.

Black Aces: The Bryan Murray: So sour it makths you talkth lithke thisth.

Blood Red Army:  The Ray Emery: It's chocolate with a white, snowy-frosting.  (Ed.'s Note: Allegedly)

Black Aces: The Martin Gerber: Stank so bad they had to shut the bakery early in 2009.

Blood Red Army: The Roberto Luongo: Decent, but overrated and extra greasy.

Black Aces: The Zdeno Chara: WAY too much yeast.

Blood Red Army: The Erik Karlsson: So slick it'll pass through you before you can even say number 2.

Black Aces: The Cody Bass: Fell through the crack on the bakers shelf and left to rot.

Blood Red Army: The Jarkko Ruutu: Bite in quick before it bites you.

Black Aces: The John Paddock: You get three quarters through it and end up throwing it in the trash.

Blood Red Army: The Bill Muckalt: A year later you'll still be wondering what happened.

Black Aces: The Mike Comrie: Don't buy or sell - the recipe was fucked to begin with.

Blood Red Army: The Don Cherry: Warning - must be split open to allow hot air to escape before eating.

Black Aces: The AlexeiYashin: You can't afford it.

Blood Red Army: The Chris Chelios: You just can't get it to stay down.

Black Aces: The Anton Volchenkov: Shot so full of raisins you wonder how it stays together.

Blood Red Army: The Wade Redden: Slowly rotted from too much sugar. (Ed.'s note: Allegedly)


And a few more for good measure from Black Aces who evidently had more time to kill than BRA.

The Chris Neil: Free tooth inside every one.

The Matt Carkner: Who knew people would like a molasses cupcake so much?

The Andy Sutton: Leaves the experts confused - is it good or is it just another cupcake?

The John Muckler: White icing, full of bones and smells funny.

The Dany Heatley: Smells like chicken, tastes like chickenshit.

Dog Days Are Here...

Still the best video of the year.



I'm already getting nostalgic for Andy Sutton's brief, but memorable time in an Ottawa uniform. It's a shame he's not going to be back.

Bob Probert Passes Away

I grew up in the 80's with split allegiances. I loved the Gretzky/Messier led Oilers, but my first favourite team was always the Detroit Red Wings (back when they were terrible in the early pre-Yzerman 80's and onwards).

And Bob Probert was a big part of those Red Wings later in the decade and he's still the toughest fighter in the history of the league if I do say so myself. Who can forget his legendary battles with Marty McSorley, Wendel Clark and Tie Domi? He was a superstar back when fighters were considered stars.

Unfortunately, Bob Probert passed away today at the very young age of 45.

Here are two of the great scraps he had with Tie Domi in 1992.

UPDATE 4:45; Murray Steals Gonchar From Pens .... Volchenkov Signs A Bargain Deal With NJ

Gonchar. 3 years. 5.5 million per.

Mindblowing deal.

I was ready to bury the Senators today for letting Anton Volchenkov walk away but never did I imagine the Senators would be able to hit a home run the other way by grabbing the best offensive defenseman in the market.

The term and the money are all ideal. Even if Gonchar begins to slow down, three years is not a long time. The cap hit is very, very reasonable for a player of Gonchar's capabilities and there is nothing to suggest Gonchar will be anything other than a godsend for the Senators power-play.

After ranking in the bottom 10 of the league with the man advantage, the Senators can now have a tandem of Gonchar and Erik Karlsson feeding pucks to Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Alexei Kovalev, assuming the Russian forward's knee is on the mend.

If anyone is worried about Gonchar slowing down, you have to think what his strengths are. Running the power-play and moving the puck out of the zone. Those skills don't really go away with age. Instead it's the physical grind and the minutes that are harder to handle. Gonchar is not going to be asked to do what Volchenkov did (nobody could do it better than Volchie anyways), so to me, the issue is moot unless Gonchar proves to be injury prone down the stretch of his career. It's a risk, but one well worth taking considering the circumstances.

It's interesting to note the Senators are simply exchanging one Russian with another, yet the direction of the team is now going to change completely. It's offense GM Murray is looking for and when you lose perhaps the best defensive defenseman in the league, it may not be a bad idea to swing the other way and go for one of the best offensive ones.

Yet, it's still a bittersweet moment for Ottawa. Volchenkov was a core player just entering his prime and the Senators will no doubt be poorer in their own zone with his loss. Yet with Gonchar's ability to move the puck, they may not be spending much time there anyways.

This also effectively puts an end to a theory, partly put forth on this very site, that star players would not want to play in this market with the successive Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza trade controversies.

Last year it was Kovalev and this summer it's Gonchar. To paraphrase David Spade in the movie Tommy Boy, Bryan Murray "could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves."

Bryan Murray created a hole by letting Volchenkov leave, but he more than strengthened the power-play, which frankly, was an embarrassment last season.

So, offense it's going to be.

And Murray may not yet be done. Let's see what else happens today.

***

Update: 4:45

Volchenkov signs with New Jersey for 6 years and only 4.2 million, not even close to the 5 million plus that everyone quoted as gospel.

This raises a few questions. It's hard to believe Murray wasn't willing to pay 4.2 to keep his best defenseman. Perhaps it was the term that Murray wasn't willing to meet. Then again, 6 years is not overtly excessive for a player just entering his prime like Volchenkov is.

It makes you wonder what could have been. For an extra 500, 000 dollars (a pittance), the Senators could possibly have kept Volchenkov and moved Filip Kuba's 3.7 million cap hit to another team, which would have given the Senators a far superior top four defense than they currently have now.

But maybe Volchenkov was determined to leave no matter what. Certainly, by playing in NJ, he now finds himself close to one of the biggest Russian communities in the United States, but he is also playing for a team that seems to have taken a step back, with an aging Martin Brodeur and an increasingly less mobile defense.

With Murray's penchant for revealing details of his negotiations, I'm sure we'll hear the full story soon enough.

But it's all just spilled milk now. Volchenkov is a huge loss for Ottawa and a big gain for New Jersey, but Murray made the best move possible by signing elite defenseman Sergei Gonchar.

It's just so tempting to imagine what could have been with both countrymen Gonchar and Volchenkov on the same team, possibly even the same pairing.

But that ship has sailed.

Murray Grabs Can't Miss Prospect At Draft

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

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

Great move, in my humble opinion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reason # 89 to not trade Jason Spezza

It would mean Alexei Yashin remains number two on the Senators all-time scoring list for at least 3 more bloody years with 491 points to Spezza's 475.

Once Spezz is shipped out, only Mike Fisher has a chance to break 500 points before another possible labour stoppage (he's got 324 points). But don't worry Yashin fans, a certain tabloid paper will cook something juicy up to get Fish traded to Nashville.

The great legacy of Yashin will remain intact....

As for the playoffs, Spezza is already in the number two slot with 46 points in 46 games (compared to Yashin's mark of 15 points in 26 games). Yet for some reason, the "fact" that Spezza is not a playoff performer gets repeated as gospel on talk radio all day long.

***

Have you noticed the winds of change? Is it my imagination or is there a major backlash going on amongst fans that isn't being properly addressed in the city's mainstream media? Virtually all of the Senators related blogs are vehemently opposed to dealing Spezza this summer yet the papers seem happy to focus on the failure of a poorly organized facebook rally and a few pint swilling fans on the Elgin Street strip to illuminate this story to the non-blog reading public.

Are the bloggers out of touch with the real fans, like the ones now famously quoted in the bizarre Sun article yesterday, or is it the curmudgeonly columnists who actually cover the team for a living who don't have the pulse of the city?

It seems to me that there is a curious and great divide here. I'm not saying one side is right over the other, but there are two drastically different narratives going on.

It's almost as if this fight isn't even about Jason Spezza anymore. It comes down to perception, something that is usually only an issue in politics.

It's about the established press in the city going about their business they way they have for years, creating villains and heroes like all good sportswriters tend to do. They haven't changed. Their audience has.

The story has been sold so many times before that it's just not working anymore. It was easy to buy the Dany Heatley and Ray Emery storylines, but it's rings false when it comes to the "aw shucks" personality of Spezza. "Do we have to do this .... again? To this guy?"

Fans feel like there's something more at stake this time. Maybe it's the reputation of their city. Maybe it's guilt. Maybe it's nothing more than something to argue about so we can all avoid real politics.

Whatever it is, there has never been such a passionate response to the hockey press in this city. Just read the comments under Don Brennan's article to see what I mean.

***

And just to point out that not all established press is salivating at a Spezza sacrifice, here's TSN personality James Cybulski on the matter:

"Another big thing to consider as everyone wants to give him the boot out of town is that he enjoyed playing in Ottawa for the most part. Despite being an easy target, he liked being a Senator - something you can't say the same about with other star players aside from captain Daniel Alfredsson. Dany Heatley, Zdeno Chara, and Alexei Yashin all preferred to play elsewhere. Sure it's now being reported that he "wouldn't object" to a trade, but how many times can one guy be told by fans and media how crappy he is before saying 'uncle'? "

TSN

Welcome To Hell

The worst/laziest article I have ever read: here

Peter at Silver Seven responds quite appropriately: here

Murray's Comments On Spezza Brings The Circus Back To Town

"He said he wouldn't object to it," Murray said. "He didn't come in and say, 'I have to be traded.' He didn't object to the fact that maybe it's time - the way (he's) been received - now maybe it's time."

"I said unfortunately, that doesn't happen," said Murray. "You signed a long-term contract. We committed to you, you committed to us...we're not going to make a bet for you."

TSN

First question that comes to mind is this: Why is Bryan Murray throwing Jason Spezza under the proverbial bus by revealing comments made in a private year end meeting? Especially so when Spezza denied to the media not very long ago that he wanted a trade out of Ottawa.

What does this accomplish? One, it makes Spezza look stupid for keeping the details of the meeting private when asked by the media. Two, it makes Spezza look like the bad guy (just listen to Murray's tone of voice as he half-heartedly reprimands Spezza, talking about honouring contracts etc.).

Three, it ignites a semi-dozing controversy that was pushed aside for awhile after Spezza's awkward non-denial/denial to the press and the result will be that an important Entry Draft for the Senators will get completely overshadowed by a re-run of the Dany Heatley circus.

Four, it weakens Murray's bargaining position around the league, with everyone and their grandparents knowing that Spezza wants nothing to do with this city and it's boorish fans anymore. Much like the Heatley crisis, Murray now has a ticking time bomb on his hands and the rest of the GM's can wait and watch him squirm all summer until they can wrangle a sweetheart deal like the one San Jose plucked from this organization.

Five, it completely covers up the fact that Murray admitted that he is about to let Anton Volchenkov, the team's best defenseman, walk for nothing, or possibly a mid-level draft pick if he can convince a team to make a mercy move before July 1st (it's highly unlikely he can land a similar package to the one Nashville got for Dan Hamhuis, but you never know). Notice how all the stories are about Spezza and not Volchenkov? As they say, when delivering bad news, might as well do it all at once so it doesn't seem so bad.

The end result? Two of the Senators best and in-their-prime assets are likely going to be leaving shortly, further eroding the skill, grit, heart and reputation of this now reeling organization.

How low can the Senators sink? Will there ever be a time when the team is not engulfed in controversy?

Who's next? Kovalev? Fisher?

Alfie? Remember folks, Alfredsson didn't rule out the possibility of leaving the team in order to win a Stanley Cup. That may very well be a reasonable option if the team is thinking of starting a rebuild with much older players like Matt Cullen and Andy Sutton.

Stay tuned....

Deadline Day For Volchenkov Looms...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welcome To Edmonton East

Yes, Senators fans, that's what it has come to.

For just a moment, pretend what it would look like to an outsider, from afar.

Since the lockout, both the Senators and the Oilers have made a trip to the Stanley Cup finals and lost.

And since that loss, both teams have fallen into a spiral of missing the playoffs and having some of their best players demand trades.

Everybody knows no one wants to play in Edmonton. Just ask the wives of Chris Pronger and Michael Nylander. It's a sad fact, but nonetheless a fact.

Now people are starting to wake up to the fact that Ottawa, through a vocal minority of permanently outraged, reactionary fans and a jaded, cynical press corps, has probably reached the level that Edmonton has sunk to, and, possibly, could be headed further south.

Because once the stink starts to fester around a franchise, it's awfully hard to get that new car smell back, no matter how many promotional DVD's extolling the city you send to the agents of superstars around the league.

At least Edmonton has a stable of future superstars to look forward to and a number one draft pick this summer. Ottawa's cupboards are only starting to fill up again with competent prospects, never mind any bonafide superstars outside the potential of ace Swede Erik Karlsson.

Of course, all this Edmonton East talk is brought on by the latest superstar turmoil in Bytown. And that would be Jason Spezza, whom Black Aces predicted would be the next superstar run out of town after the Dany Heatley saga.

So here we go again kids. Satisfied?

You've likely all heard the now infamous Spezza interview with Carolyn Waldo where he hems and haws his way through questions of his desire to stay in Ottawa. He answers that he'll be here because his contract says he'll be here. There was no ringing endorsement of the team or his future with them. To anyone with half a brain, it sounded exactly like a player who quietly asked his GM for a trade out of town if it was possible (after all, Spezza is nothing if not polite).

And this theory sounds all the more probable when you listen to Bryan Murray say that Spezza was "emotional" at his end of year meeting with him, where Spezza told Murray he was unhappy to be booed throughout the playoffs despite having 7 points in 6 games playing for a team that was without Alex Kovalev, Milan Michalek and Filip Kuba, thereby having to face the Pens shutdown crew every single shift. In my mind, that's actually a good performance, but the legions of Spezza haters in the crowd relished the opportunity to tell him how they really felt.

And by all indications, Spezza felt it. There is no real evidence here, but it's obvious that the kid wants out.

Who can blame him?

He's just following in a long line of Senators players since the lockout to be either discarded by poor management or demonized by an angry fan base who apparently are too young to remember a time when this city didn't even have an NHL team, and don't know how lucky they are that they now have one.

Regardless, here's the informal list.

Zdeno Chara was well liked in Ottawa but then GM John Muckler had to choose to sign one of Big Z or fan favourite Wade Redden in the summer of 2006. Muckler made a mistake in keeping Redden over Chara but the fans didn't seem to have a big problem with this until Redden started to decline rather quickly in the bizarre 2008 season. When he balked at waiving his no-trade clause, the fans turned on Redden,who was once a community hero and franchise defenseman, to the point that we was booed wearing the hometown sweater. Fans seem bitter even to this day, taking every opportunity to point out how bad he is on the Rangers, as if that somehow justifies their moronic behaviour.

Then it was Ray Emery. We all know what happened there. In a city that once literally burned an effigy of Alexei Yashin in the streets of Arnprior, the amount of scorn towards a young, promising, but cock-sure goalie was surprising. He got the boot and everyone believed the Senators "locker-room problems" had been solved.

Then Dany Heatley demanded a trade and gave no indication why, creating a neverending smorgasbord of rumours that live on to this day. The fan disgust was even worse than anything Yashin or Emery endured. Can you sense a pattern here?

It probably didn't help the city's fragile ego when Alexei Kovalev signed in Ottawa as a last resort because they offered him "the most money". He also said he wouldn't mind finishing his career in his beloved Montreal, where the fans loved him so much they actually held a protest outside the rink to convince Bob Gainey to just give him the money.

Predictably, the fans in Ottawa loathed Kovalev right from the start. That too follows a pattern of Senators fans being wary of pure skill players. Maybe they were burned too hard by the likes of Alexandre Daigle and Yashin. The sense of trust was lost forever.

That's the only way to rationalize a fan base turning almost completely against many of the main players who brought the Senators to the only Stanley Cup final in their modern era.

Emery, Heatley (and now possibly Spezza) are gone. A loud group of vocal fans were not happy with the recent Chris Neil contract and like to point that out every chance they get, as if he "snuck" one by the fans. Heart and soul defenseman Anton Volchenkov is about to leave town and the reaction so far has been..... "whatever". The fans would rather see Eugene Melnyk save some of that hard earned money rather than shell out for one of the most unique and physical defenseman in the game, a player who will give his body for the team every single night and never complain about it.

There is a collective shrug of the shoulders.

But let's go back to that word "unique" for a moment.

You could say that Heatley is a unique player. He's a pure sniper who was good for 50 goals nearly every season he wore the red and black. The Senators survived without him, but the fact is that the Sharks, with Heatley, went to the Conference final and finally shed some of their image as a playoff no-show, the same image Ottawa had before they acquired Heatley themselves from the Thrashers. Facts are facts.

But Heatley was not very well liked here even before his trade request and there were whispers he didn't like playing under the shadow of Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher, two players embraced by the community in a rare show of civic enthusiasm.

So be it. Heatley left. Ottawa was worse because of it but their character allowed them to battle back to the playoffs in a somewhat redeeming year. Other players stepped up in his absence and a lot of those goals were recovered.

But go back to Chara. There is no one like him in the NHL. A talent and force unto himself. Would the Senators have beaten the Ducks in that crucial final series, with Chara balancing out the size and leadership of Chris Pronger? We'll never know. A unique talent left Ottawa because of money and that will forever remain an unanswered question.

Look at Volchenkov. You could sign three beasts like Andy Sutton but it still won't be the same. Volchenkolv is a unique talent and deserves to be paid like one. It looks like the Senators won't do that and the fans don't seem too squeamish about it.

That's fine. Life goes on. But now let's look at the case of Spezza.

Let's pretend the warning signs are for real. Spezza wants out of town. Murray is forced to find a trade partner. He needs to get back a number one centre for this team. Is he going to find it?

Of course not. What kind of trade would make sense for both teams in the equation? The only trade that seems possible is trading one problem for another. You either trade Spezza for a top prospect and face a rebuilding era or you get back another expensive number one centre who was a problem for his old team. Like Vincent Lecavalier. Or pick your poison.

Spezza is one of the top 3 pure playmaking centres in the game and you're not going to get one of the other two in a trade. So, no matter who he gets traded for, the Senators will be worse off, at least in the short term.

The constant siphoning off of "unique" talent will take it's toll. It already has. This was once a team on the verge of winning the Stanley Cup. Now a first round defeat seems like a victory.

The new important word will be "mediocre". Because that is what this team is turning into (or already has) because there is no value placed on skill by their fan base, which in turn forces the management to have to trade these guys because they are unhappy.

The only reason Ottawa isn't in the bottom third of the league is because they have at least kept their unique character players such as Alfie, Fisher, Neil, Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Kelly and Chris Phillips. Given half a chance, a lot of fans would throw at least half these guys overboard as well. Just read the blogs and the message boards where the rabid hardcore fans reside.

The Senators now have a strong group of character guys that you need, but no team wins the Stanley Cup without the elite offensive players (or at least one, in the case of Carolina), especially in the "new NHL".

Just take a look at the current Cup final. Both Chicago and Philadelphia have many different components of skill and grit. Some players are pure goal scorers and are lucky to have one hit a night. Others carry their stick like a shovel and are there to bash brains in when needed. It's a formula that is tried and true.

But what's Ottawa's formula going forward? How do you win a Stanley Cup without a number one centre? Without an elite shutdown defenseman? Without a winger that will score you 40 to 50 goals a year?

If Jason Spezza has asked to be traded, as I believe he may have, the Senators are in a world of trouble going forward. Murray will never get equal value in a trade and he is in a situation where his franchise player, Alfredsson, needs to win now because of his age. If Murray decides he wants to tear it down, he has only one player in the stable who could possibly carry the tag of franchise player, and that's Karlsson.

That's what happens when you let unique talent either leave or get unhappy. You turn into a mediocre team. Sure, you save money for Eugene Melnyk, or you take that saved money and throw it away on average players to compensate for losing the better ones. Players like Michalek and Kovalev are good examples. They are fill-ins for losing a 50 goal scorer. Like someone once said, "Nice guys are nice, but get me some assholes who can play".

And where has Murray been when all this talent has become unhappy in the nations capital? He's sat by the sidelines as the fans and media rip into players beyond all reason and has barely lifted a finger to defend anybody. He has finally come out in defense of Spezza by saying that he's an easy target because when his game is off, he looks bad because he's not a physical player. That's a fairly tepid defense and has come far too late. The toothpaste is out of the tube.

Do you think old-school guys like Brian Burke or Glen Sather would let the fans and media get away with so many rip-jobs on their players without saying a word? If Murray is unhappy with a player, he should say it. Likewise, he should defend them to death as well. Murray didn't have any trouble ripping into broadcaster Jim Fox a few years ago when Fox suggested that Murray incited violence after a Kings-Sens game got out of control. We know Murray has the fire. So why isn't Murray protecting his most valuable assets when they get ripped all day long on team sponsor stations like the Team 1200, where making a mockery of Spezza and his personality has been a staple for years now?

Many people will be happy to see Spezza leave town, just like they were happy to see the others leave.

But haven't you noticed that the team just isn't that good anymore?

Can you connect the dots here at all?

Jacques Gets Some Glory... Finally

A big congratulations goes out to the Montreal Canadiens and their bevy of ex-Senators, including assistant coaches Perry Pearn, Pierre Groulx, GM Pierre Gauthier, Strength coach Lorne Goldenberg, Director of Player Development Trevor Timmins and, of course, Head coach Jacques Martin.

If any coach in the NHL was due for some playoff success, it's got to be Jacques.

I sit here completely astonished that the Habs were able to beat both the Caps and the defending champs Pens in two seven game series.

Simply unbelievable.

Jaroslave Halak is literally turning into this decade's version of Dominik Hasek, a Euro goalie who comes basically out of nowhere to lift an average but spirited team into the big time.

And what if Boston wins their series?

A Habs/Bruins conference final? Are you kidding me?

It will be epic.

The only downfall I can see is that, win or lose, the Habs fans will be insufferable next year in whatever building they take over.

***

Not a lot of posting happening at Black Aces lately, and that's on purpose. I need a break and some time to enjoy other things in life. Whenever something big happens in Senators land, we'll be back.

Until then... enjoy the playoffs. I certainly am.

Volchenkov Speaks

A revealing, and must-read interview with Anton Volchenkov from Puck Daddy. Sounds like he's ready to move on if he needs to:

You spent seven years in Ottawa. You can say that the Senators nurtured you as a player. How will you feel if you have to leave Ottawa?

I think I was nurtured as a player in Russia. And here I was given a chance to play. Of course I have to admit that it is going to be sad if I have to leave Ottawa. But this is hockey. It doesn't always happen the way you want it. I am not a fan of changing teams, but... But if I am in such situation, we will have to decide. But it will all have to happen later.

The Fallout Begins ...

It’s moron time in Ottawa.

And by moron time, I mean the annual week after the Senators are eliminated when the city’s vocal group of reactionary fans start calling for massive changes, facts or rational thought be damned.

And we won’t let rational thought get in the way of a good radio show. The epicenter of reactionism is dependably the Team 1200 year end post-mortem show that usually goes all night long after the last game where callers manic rants have become the stuff of legend in this city.

The next, and most permanent stop is the mid-day show, "Sportscall", and today’s first summer-time edition was no disappointment as the hosts were doing their best Lowell Green or Rush Limbaugh imitations, poking the hornet’s nest of the lowest common denominator fan by espousing the most reactionary moves Bryan Murray could possibly do – letting Anton Volchenkov walk, trading Jason Spezza and the need to “go in a more clear direction”, whatever that means.

In their defense, the hosts of "Sportscall" probably feel they have to push topics that get people’s blood boiling in order to generate interest in what they’re doing. Sometimes I do the same thing here at Black Aces. If I sit on the fence, people don’t read as much. If I really come down hard on one side of an argument, the readership gets more interested, even though they might (and usually do) disagree. I realize that’s how sports radio and blogging sometimes works.

Yet one only has to take a listen to the afternoon “Healthy Scratches” show where the hosts are far less negative and inflammatory than the "Sportscall" guys and still manage to be a more interesting and informative show – by far, I might add. Steve Lloyd and Jason York can be critical too but do so without relying on clichés and the fans who call in seem to be more knowledgeable because they know that a simple “Spezza sucks” rant is not going to pass the smell test with these guys. Go figure.

Suprisingly, the fans weren’t gripping as hard today as they have in years past. There was the usual Spezza backlash as I predicted not long ago, but quite a few callers and e-mailers over the course of the day seemed to grasp reality and expressed patience going forward, and even a little gratitude for what was a short but exciting season where the Senators largely turned around their recent reputation as an underachieving, fractious group of ego laden stars.

The real fans at the game recognized as much, because they gave the team a heartfelt standing ovation at the end of the hard fought loss to the superior Penguins. How many of those same fans sat through "Sportscall" on Monday and suddenly turned into bitter dimwits is anyone’s guess, but it was at least nice to hear a few rebel voices in the darkness talking about the positives.

Because in this town, being positive about your hockey team makes you Marlon Brando in “The Wild One” – a true loner.

***

It was interesting to note Bryan Murray’s revealing comments today as outlined by Citizen reporter James Gordon.

He really seemed to leave the door open to letting Volchenkov walk and test the free-agent market. I still don’t (or refuse to?) believe he will let Volchenkov get away from him, but I’m not as truly convinced as I once was after the comments in the Gordon piece by Murray. Are these just fighting words used for contract negotiations or is this a trial balloon being floated by Murray to gauge how fans will really react to losing their best defenseman. After all, most hockey people still shake their heads at the decision to let Zdeno Chara walk. It won't be much different in Volchenkov's case, yet ... here we go again.

I think it would be a horrendous mistake to let the Russian warrior leave this city, but there’s no reason to get really worked up about it now in late April, as July 1st is a long ways away and so much can change between now and then. A lot of other contracts could and should be juggled around to keep Volchenkov in Ottawa if that’s what it takes. He’s the best at what he does. That’s exactly the type of player you need to keep. One Volchenkov is worth three average players and the pay is probably equal in either scenario.

To quote Quint from the best movie ever made, Jaws: "But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap .... be on welfare the whole winter."

The other big issue was, of course, Jason Spezza and the ongoing backlash that seems to target him everytime something goes wrong in this city, whether it's politics, sports or the weather.

Murray summed it up quite nicely here and I think it’s spot on:

"When you're playing against a Sidney Crosby or an (Evgeni) Malkin, two of the top players in the league, you're judged accordingly," Murray said. "Right now, Jason turns the puck over, we all point the finger, but when he makes a great pass to Matt Cullen on a five-on-three for a goal, we love him.

"So he is what he is. You accept it," Murray said. "We hope that as he continues to play this game that he'll do little things a little different and better, but he's a good player, and you don't go find that kind of player very often in the National Hockey League."

Murray is right.

You can trade Spezza but you better get a number one centre in return, or you have zero chance of doing anything in this league. ZERO.

And the only number one centre you can get in return for Spezza is going to be one who has all sorts of baggage or doubts surrounding him – in essence, someone else’s problem.

Spezza was great this year when he was healthy and has the ability to put up 100 points in this league. He’s a cornerstone whether you like it or not. He doesn’t have to be the next Daniel Alfredsson like so many erroneously claim. He just needs to be Jason Spezza. He needs to be the player he was when he was healthy this season. He’s a huge reason this team made the playoffs in the first place.

Good Night Irene

Another tumultuous Ottawa Senators season has come to a close, but at least they went out with dignity.

Down 3-1 in the series rather quickly, this never-say-die team won a gut-testing triple overtime game in enemy territory to stay alive and it took another overtime period for the Penguins to bring them down Saturday night in Game 6.

We'll let the blood dry before making any sweeping conclusions and predictions going forward for this team, but while Senators fans let the verdict sink in over the remainder of the weekend, let us say that this team has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

This season was a resounding success when you consider the state they were in when this whole thing started in Madison Square Garden on October 3rd, 2009.

They were coming off two somewhat disastrous seasons where everyone questioned their character, their dressing room and their management. Many trusted pundits picked them to miss the playoffs again this season after they were forced to unload their top goal scorer Dany Heatley.

Not only did they scratch their way into the playoffs at a very respectable 5th place finish, but they gave the defending Stanley Cup champions all they could handle in a physically brutal 6 game series.

For sure it's a tough loss to swallow for the die hard Senators fan, but brighter days lay ahead.

The Senators have a ton of top end prospects for their defense core and they already have Erik Karlsson blossoming before their eyes as a teenager - already the best offensive defenseman on the team.

The forwards are still young and Daniel Alfredsson probably has two or three years left in him.

Even Pascal Leclaire showed that with a little faith from the coaching staff, he might be able to be the big time goalie they've needed all along. Two games are not enough to declare him the future, but I think it's fair to say that he wasn't given enough rope by Coach Clouston during a season where he needed a little patience from the organization. If Leclaire isn't the guy, they still have Robin Lehner in the system.

But enough of that kind of talk.

It's been a long road and I'm tired of trying to figure it all out as well.

We'll be back sometime next week when all the dust has settled with some end of year thoughts and some ideas of what to expect in the draft and the free agency period.

But for now, I could use a beer and a little Paul Westerberg for a night cap.

Thanks to all the readers and folks who felt the need to comment throughout the season. Black Aces will continue for at least one more season because there's nothing like having an NHL team in your own backyard to talk about, win or lose.

Incredible! Sens Live! ... After Triple OT Classic - Sens 4 Pens 3

Carkner!!!!

One of the most memorable Senators playoff games ever. Leclaire? Are you kidding me?

Enjoy the moment, Sens fans.

I have to work in the morning. See you folks Saturday.

Nightmare Goaltending Sinks Ottawa, Likely For Good This Time

That was a tough game to watch for Senators fans. The dream died here tonight, even though the technical elimination game will take place at Mellon Arena on Thursday night.

It's still a little too early to sum up a series that isn't officially over yet, but tonight's game was a clear indication that the Senators are being outclassed in all categories, in particular the goaltending department. To call the Senators goaltending a debacle is probably being too nice.

But more on that later.

And it's also clear that Sidney Crosby is the best hockey player in the world right now, with Evgeni Malkin not far behind.

Despite all this, the Ottawa fans down at the Kanata rink have been the brightest spot during this abbreviated playoff season. They've been loud and mostly supportive even when the team was clearly getting run into the ice, an embarrassing situation for any professional athlete.

The team itself clearly haven't given up despite being outmatched and that's a testament to the Senators character which they've shown all season. This is a good group of guys who deserved better, but injuries ultimately led to their downfall.

On top of losing Filip Kuba, Alex Kovalev and Milan Michalek, it's clear that Daniel Alfredsson isn't healthy and I'd be willing to bet that Jason Spezza is being bothered by that chronic bad back. He's playing exactly the same way he usually does when his back is acting up but that isn't giving him any leeway with the fans, who openly booed him during game three. His giveaway to Crosby tonight in the second period that led to a goal didn't help his popularity much, but he at least got that one back later in the game.

It's also much too early to say what will be the result of this inevitable series loss on the Senators in the off-season. But you can probably guess that a few things will dominate the spotlight.

There is going to be a predictable and massive backlash against Spezza from the fans, and it may even chase the affable centre to another city this summer, either by him requesting a trade or Bryan Murray doing him a favour by getting him out of a city that has never liked him much. I think it's unfortunate that things will turn out that way, but when Ottawa fans get carried away, there's not much to be done to save whoever is the target of their ire. We've seen this story played out many times before. Hopefully, he'll get the chance to keep maturing in a Senators uniform, as we saw a more determined Spezza this season.

I can also see the number of season tickets being a big issue. The Senators need a bigger number than they had this year and will likely make a big push this summer with some new marketing, but will a token appearance in the playoffs after a years absence be enough to get the fans to open their wallets? It's a problem that shouldn't be a problem in a hockey town like Ottawa, but there's a reason that Leafs and Habs fans can invade the arena at will - those tickets are perpetually available.

The other major concern will obviously be the goaltending. Brian Elliott has his fans (Coach Clouston) and his detractors (everyone else), but I don't really blame him for what's transpired. To me, Elliott played to his potential, which is as an average goaltender without the ability to make game stealing saves. He's likely not going to get much better but he could still be a great backup who is capable of getting streaky, but Clouston was not rewarded by favouring his familiar AHL goaltender.

Leclaire is a goalie with much more skill than Elliott, but injuries, and a coach who didn't seem to believe in him contributed to a disaster season for him. He may even be done as a Senator altogether.The organization's firing of goalie coach Eli Wilson didn't help matters one bit and the whole department is in a complete shambles right now.

But a more detailed analysis of those situations can wait for the idle days of summer.

For now, the Senators are just going to have to salvage a little pride by trying to delay elimination in Pittsburgh. They have nothing to be ashamed of, as they have given it their all throughout this series.

But like I said before, they lost their chance to face a weaker team by being so damn inconsistent during the regular season and ended up with the worst case scenario - a motivated Sidney Crosby looking to repeat as a Stanley Cup champion.

We'll see how it all ends up in game five.

Ticket SNAFU's And The Absurd Return Of Cheechoo???

True story: Someone I know bought a handful of tickets to last night's game in Ottawa well before the playoff dates were set and finalized. He and some members of his family, all bedecked in Sens gear and with their faces painted, showed up at the rink, paid for parking, and were excitedly looking forward to their first ever playoff game.

The problem was that their tickets said "Home Game Three" with no specific date on it. When he initially bought the tickets, he asked the ticket agent specifically for tickets to "game three", meaning last night's tilt. Except that the ticket agent at Capital Tickets gave him tickets to "home game three", which really means game six of the series, if you can follow that. Last night's game was technically home game one, despite it being the third game of the series.

Can you blame the guy for being confused? It's strange that the tickets were labelled "Home Game Three" and not just game six, seeing that Capital Tickets doesn't sell ducats for games at the Mellon Arena. No need for the "Home" distinction in my view. Why not just cut through the confusing semantics and put the actual series game on the ticket in lieu of a date that hasn't been set yet. EDIT: Blood Red Army makes a good point that the Senators didn't know if they had home ice advantage or not when selling those tickets, which validates their reason for putting "Home Game #" on the ticket. The guy I know says he bought the tickets after the Sens were assured to be on the road. Regardless, it's just a sad story I thought I'd relate, the lesson being - don't make the same mistake and make sure you're going to the right game.

You can blame both parties in a way for the unfortunate confusion, but can you imagine the walk of shame this guy and his family had to endure when they found out their tickets were useless for last night? With jerseys and face paint on?

Just brutal, either way you look at it. He was so despondent that he tried to scalp the game six tickets right away outside for face value, with no takers.

***

I could not believe my eyes or ears when reports surfaced from the Senators today that it's possible Coach Clouston is thinking of inserting Jonathan Cheechoo into the lineup for game four (or should I call it home game two?) .

For one, it betrays a panic, not only to the fans and media, but through your locker room. Cheechoo is a guy who was deemed not good enough to even be a healthy scratch in Ottawa, yet Clouston is now contemplating dropping him into the lineup over two real NHLers in Shean Donovan and whoever the other scratch would be, presumably Ryan Shannon. It was at least nice to hear the seasoned captain of the team, Daniel Alfredsson, say that he doesn't think a major change is needed in order to get back into the series.

Not that inserting Cheechoo would be a "major change", but did Clouston ponder dressing Cheechoo for game one? Of course not. So it's obvious that Clouston has been shaken by what he's seen, while Alfredsson, who has been through these battles many times, is more for staying the course rather than opting for a Hail Mary lineup change so early in the series.

To be fair to Clouston, he hasn't officially made the change yet, but he has already floated the idea to the press, and we're all left wondering why he just doesn't make a concrete decision here. If you're going to make a bold move like that (bold is probably not the right word - perhaps confusing is better) just do it. Don't waffle in front of everybody, compounding a panic move by looking like you're unsure whether it's the right thing to do or not.

Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

As for Cheechoo, people love him around here simply on the basis that he's a good guy. Yet an even better guy languishes, his career threatened by a coach who seems to have something against him.

And that is, obviously, Shean Donovan. To say that Clouston doesn't believe in Donovan is probably an understatement. Clouston has looked under every rock for excuses not to dress the Senators own version of the "little ball of hate", despite Donovan continually showing that he's not only popular amongst his teammates (giving him a sort of Rudy glow), but that he's effective in the playoffs as his showing against the Pens in 2008 and his long run to the finals with Calgary amply proved.

Clouston threw Shannon into the series, presumably looking for some speed when Milan Michalek went down, but Shannon is miscast on the fourth line. He's a skill guy who can't do the type of grinding needed when slotted beside the likes of Jesse Winchester and Zack Smith. He needs to play with other skill guys to do his thing. Donovan, on the other hand, is just as fast as Shannon, and his game is made for the playoffs - and for that fourth line spot.

Yet now we get Cheechoo hoisted into the lineup, with his "blazing speed and scoring prowess" (sic).

Maybe I'll be totally wrong and Clouston will be right. It's a move so strange that it could just work.

If Cheechoo makes a difference, I'll be the first to congratulate him on this very blog.

Until then, consider me "day-to-day".

Game 3: Pens 4 Sens 2

Not much analysis needed here. You've all watched it as closely as I have and there's no need to break down the minutiae of the game to see a pattern here.

This series is tilting unerringly in favour of the Penguins, despite a spectacular effort by the shorthanded Senators through the first three games. And unfortunately, the end could come sooner than many had hoped.

If it's any consolation to Sens fans, the series is proceeding as predicted by most. When you are facing a Penguins team with two of the top 5 players in the world surrounded by a championship calibre supporting cast, it's not surprising that the Senators are down 2 games to 1.

In short, the Penguins have more skill, more confidence and better goaltending. And they are much, much healthier. But I don't need to tell you that.

It's tantalizing to wonder what might have been. The skills of Milan Michalek, Filip Kuba and Alex Kovalev combined with the uncompromising effort the Senators team as a whole have showed so far could have been enough to surprise these Penguins. The games have been much closer than I originally thought but with key players out, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson have been neutralized which will ultimately seal the deal here.

More and more, game 1 is looking like an aberration. The Senators won that game simply because the Chris Kelly line had the game of their lives. They've been good since but no one can ask for another game like that. The only other real lights have been Peter Regin and Jarkko Ruutu and that's just not going to be good enough, especially when Brian Elliott is being.... well, Brian Elliott - an average goaltender.

Despite all the doom and gloom, the series is only 2-1 and, as you know, strange things can happen.

Perhaps the novelty of the playoffs is all Senators fans can savour at this point.

Senators Bench Gets Less Crowded - Michalek Gone For Season

Bad news for the Senators as it was revealed today that winger Milan Michalek has completely shredded his ACL and will require surgery.

Questions will, and should be, asked about whether or not having Michalek return so quickly from his previous knee injury which he suffered mid-March, jeopardized the wingers season by playing on an obviously sensitive hinge. But it's the playoffs and it's admittedly hard to keep players off the ice, even if it's for their own good. Michalek gambled and lost. It happens all the time.

But if you're keeping count, that's three major players for the Senators unavailable for the rest of these playoffs, however long they last - Michalek, Alex Kovalev and defenseman Filip Kuba.

I wrote a piece a while ago that of all the top six forwards on this team, Michalek and Kovalev were the guys the Senators could most afford to lose and still have an ability to win. That was in a context of a healthy Kovalev and an injured Michalek who still had a chance to return. Never did I mull the possibility that both would be gone for good. That changes things considerably.

Losing Kovalev was one thing. The Senators still had 5 premier forwards and a couple of guys like Peter Regin and Nick Foligno just waiting for an opportunity to show what they could do. Now with Michalek gone as well, you're putting an awful lot of pressure on Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Matt Cullen and Mike Fisher to make a difference nightly. As we all know, in the playoffs, that's just not possible. Star players often get neutralized by incredibly tight checking and obsessively tended matchups from opposing coaches.

While Alfie and Spezza were relatively quiet in game one, it was the Chris Kelly line that did most of the damage, but they can't be expected to contribute 3 goals on a nightly basis, or even once more during the rest of these playoffs. If that line didn't step up unexpectedly, we're looking at a Senators loss in game one. Losing Kovalev and now Michalek just dwindled the scoring load by two players and the margin of error considerably.

The good news is that Regin looks like he'll have a fine run here, despite some poor penalties taken during game one. Foligno will need to step into Michalek's spot on the second line and show the form he had before he got injured late in the season. But he still looks like he's lost his hands. Time will tell.

Now you have guys like Ryan Shannon (even though it should be Shean Donovan) entering the lineup, and while he will provide some needed speed, he's basically had a throw-away season.
In essence, the Michalek injury just reduced the Senators to a three-line team.

To me, the only guy I'd have no problem throwing over the boards in most situations on that fourth line is Jesse Winchester. Before Michalek's injury, you had a nice balance with Foligno there beside greenhorn Zack Smith and Winchester. As it was, that line didn't see the ice much. Now that will be further reduced.

The Sens may get lucky here and not have the injuries affect them too much in the first round. If they can pull off the upset and get to round two, their top three lines will be in rough shape from the load they now have to bear.

A lot of times, winning in the playoffs comes down to luck. When both teams are even in skill and effort, it's usually who's missing that decides a series.

It's just one more set of odds the Senators will have to overcome to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Game One: Ottawa 5 Pittsburgh 4

That's why you have those guys on the team.

The playoffs.

The line of Chris Kelly, Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu were clearly the best from either team tonight, yet their worth was at times fiercely debated amongst fans, bloggers and the media during the past two regular seasons.

Tonight was a solid reminder that players of their ilk don't always show their true worth until the post-season where guys will gladly eat the boards if it means moving the puck a few inches up the ice.

That's the kind of mentality that Neil and Ruutu bring to the rink and Kelly is a perfect fit as their calming, complete two-way centre.

The Penguins didn't seem to have an answer for that line all night. They had Matt Cooke running around, but, like the rest of the Penguins, Cooke's antics seemed random and only worked once when he managed to get Jason Spezza hauled off the ice in coincidental minors early in the third period. Cooke ended up a minus 2.

Like any playoff game, it was marked by wild surges in momentum and both goalies looked less than impressive, even though Brian Elliott won in a war of attrition. The game didn't start off great for the rookie Elliott when he fumbled a puck out of his glove and watched it drop in front of the crease before Erik Karlsson made a nice play to save a goal from being scored.

And as usual there were some miscues (Peter Regin's three penalties, two of which resulted in a Penguins goal) but in the big picture, the Senators looked like a much better team than the disorganized Pens.

But it's one game.

The real test will be game two Friday night when the Pens will be completely focused on salvaging their opening home stand, and it will be hard to deny a team with that much firepower and experience.

Yet the Senators have already exposed the cracks in the highly favoured Pittsburgh team. The Pens looked completely unprepared for the Senators defenseman who were jumping into the play at every opportunity. That's a system adjustment coach Dan Bylsma can make on the fly, but what he can't change is a Pens defense that looks much too soft in their own end, probably because it's made up of offensive specialists like Jordan Leopold, Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang. Brooks Orpik is a tough defender, but no one is mistaking him for an Anton Volchenkov or an Andy Sutton.

Many times tonight, the Senators were able to cycle the puck down low for long stretches, in particular, Ottawa's two physical lines (the Kelly line and the Fisher line). That's not something that Coach Bylsma is going to put an end to by writing on a chalkboard. That's just big Senators forwards outmuscling small Penguins defenseman.

Say all you want about shutting down Crosby and Malkin, it's the softness of the Penguins defense that will give the Senators their best chance to shock the hockey world and win this series.


NOTES

The tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists who believe that Ron Maclean and Hockey Night In Canada have something against the Senators, were no doubt provoked by Maclean's opening monologue in which he talked about Sidney Crosby not having success against Ottawa. "It's not the mountains you trip over, but the pebbles", said Maclean majestically as images of Chris Neil and other Senators warming up flashed across the screen. Pebbles. Usually the tone from HNIC towards Ottawa is merely condescending, but for a moment it looked like they'd cranked up the intensity level to insulting. Yet Maclean and Don Cherry had nothing but great things to say about the Sens after the first intermission and Maclean even got Cherry to admit that Erik Karlsson was a "heckuva player". Truth is, folks in Ottawa get a little too sensitive about these things. There's never been an "agenda" at CBC to run down the Sens. Maclean and Cherry rip the Leafs just as hard. But they do know that Leafs talk and Leafs games drive the ratings. Like everything else in the NHL, it's about the bottom line........

The only Senator who showed up in the first eight minutes of the game was Jarkko Ruutu. He "accidentally" bumped into Evgeni Malkin after the whistle at one point and was given a stern warning from the referee, which Ruutu (hilariously) didn't even bother to acknowledge as he skated to the bench. As Cherry pointed out on Coach's Corner, Malkin had already drawn the ire of the Senators when he lipped off to their bench after the Pens first goal. This, folks, is why the playoffs are so damn good..... Glad to see Zack Smith letting that mohawk grow in. It might have looked cool in Binghamton, but in the NHL you'll only catch grief for it (see Mike Green). And this is coming from a guy, me, who used to have a bright red one when he was a kid. In fact, the only people who should have mohawks are those who know that Black Flag is not just a bug spray.......

Elliott made some great saves, but am I the only one who winces every time there's a shot from the point headed towards his net? He's going to have to be better going forward in order to make sure he doesn't let any more deflating goals in. There are going to be a handful of nights where he's going to outright have to steal a game. That's just the way it is....... Karlsson was incredible again tonight. This guy is going to be a superstar in this league. Like Glen Healy said on the CBC broadcast, not many people around the league are aware of him right now, but they'll all know his name by the end of this series.

Pens and Sens - The Breakdown...

It’s a different atmosphere for Ottawa going into the 2010 playoffs, one of much lesser expectations than in the past decade – or the “glory years” if you’re brave or crazy enough to call them that.

You might argue that no one expected Ottawa to do well going into the recent 2008 post-season after suffering a near historic collapse one year removed from the Stanley Cup finals, but going into that ill-fated first round series against the much younger, less experienced Penguins, you still had the sense that Ottawa just might be able to lift their heads from the mud and at least survive a round or two just on instinct alone.

We all know that series ended in a humiliating sweep at the hands of the Sidney Crosby-led Pens, who went on to lose in the Cup final to Detroit before getting their revenge, and their championship, one season later.

Now Ottawa and Pittsburgh both go into another first round matchup with a lot of hard miles behind them and no guarantee of a return to championship form.

But I’m sticking to my original start-of-season prediction where I picked Pittsburgh to repeat as Stanley Cup champs, and unfortunately for Ottawa, who have shown incredible character through much of the season, I think their exasperating season of dynasty-hinting heights and horrifying lows ends here, same place it ended in 2008. But that doesn’t mean the season will be considered a colossal failure like it was back then. Far from it.

The Penguins, to me, look like a team who basically coasted through the season because they know you need all the blood you can save for the playoffs, and it’s not about how much you spill in December and January. They’ve been to the last two finals and know what kind of stamina and resolve it takes to endure. I’m not saying there was a conscious decision to hold back all year, but you most likely can’t help shrugging off a few games against inferior competition in what amounts to a necessary 82-game exercise in tedium and stat collecting.

They played well enough to get home ice advantage and that’s all they really need to get started.
Yet, they probably didn’t want to face the Ottawa Senators in the first round, and they would have good reason not to.

Bryan Murray has put together an ill-humoured, nasty group of grinders while still retaining more top end skill than most teams in the East. It’s a potent combination and the kind of team that can go on a surprise run.

While no one except Washington and maybe San Jose or Detroit can match the skill of Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Ottawa at least enters the orbit with Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. It’s unfortunate that Alex Kovalev got hurt as he would have been another formidable weapon that would have given the Pens defense some worries.

Let’s call Jordan Staal and Mike Fisher a saw-off in terms of effectiveness. Their games are a little different but they both play similar roles.

Overall, I’d even say that Ottawa has better forward depth than the Pens, with the underrated Matt Cullen, the bash brothers in Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu and well kept secrets in Peter Regin and Nick Foligno. Throw in Milan Michalek and the steady Chris Kelly, and you have as solid a group of skaters as any.

The Pens defense can score more goals and still play solid defense, but the Senators boast 3 of the best shutdown or physical D-men in the game in Anton Volchenkov, Chris Phillips and Andy Sutton. The young Swede Erik Karlsson doesn’t even know what nervousness feels like, so I expect him to be quite good in a playoff atmosphere, possibly better than he plays in the regular season. He has a lot of Alfie in his character and that will give Ottawa at least one bonafide weapon on the back end.

Both teams defense play vastly different styles, but I’d say that Ottawa might actually have the advantage here, at least through defenseman 1-4. Sergei Gonchar is still great but Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski can be infuriatingly inconsistent at times.

So then you break it down to the goalie position. This one is no contest. Marc Andre Fleury is the proven guy and Brian Elliott is the greenhorn. I find goaltending one of the hardest positions to predict, probably because they’re all nuts in the first place. Just because Elliott is green doesn’t mean he can’t stand on his head. Every goalie has to start somewhere and this is Elliott’s first real chance to show what he’s made of. But until then, Fleury gets my respect in this battle.

When you look at it, these two teams are more even than you think. Just writing this piece may have convinced me that the Senators have a better chance than I originally thought.

Whaddya know?

Yet even if the playoffs only last one round for Senators fans, they should be proud that their team fought their way back there after a tumultuous couple of seasons which had a lot of pundits questioning their heart, their dressing room, their fans, and even their location for an arena (again and again!)

As the cliché goes, “anything can happen in the playoffs”. You just never know when it’s going to be your year.

***

I’ve rounded up my old pal at Blood Red Army to partake in the annual first round predictions, and here they are for you to pick apart.

Let us know where we did right, and where we swerved off the road…


EASTERN CONFERENCE

#1 Washington Capitals vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens

Black Aces: Washington in 5
Blood Red Army: Washington in 7

#2 New Jersey Devils vs. #7 Philadelphia Flyers

Black Aces: New Jersey in 5
Blood Red Army: New Jersey in 4

#3 Buffalo Sabres vs. #6 Boston Bruins

Black Aces: Buffalo in 7
Blood Red Army: Buffalo in 5

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Ottawa Senators

Black Aces: Pittsburgh in 6
Blood Red Army: Ottawa in 6

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#1 San Jose Sharks vs. #8 Colorado Avalanche

Black Aces: San Jose in 4
Blood Red Army: San Jose in 6

#2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. #7 Nashville Predators

Black Aces: Chicago in 7
Blood Red Army: Nashville in 6

#3 Vancouver Canucks vs. #6 Los Angeles Kings

Black Aces: Vancouver in 7
Blood Red Army: Vancouver in 5

#4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #5 Detroit Red Wings

Black Aces: Detroit in 4
Blood Red Army: Detroit in 5

Congrats Alfie ... Bring On The Pens

Yup, that's me with my first cold one of the evening (a few more followed) at the big Alfie game on Saturday night. All in all, a good show by the Senators organization and a classy ceremony for the captain which actually went by surprisingly fast, compared to similar events in the past around the league.

Unfortunately for the fans, the ceremony was all they could cheer for, save a colossal Andy Sutton hit in the first period and what could possibly be the last goal of Shean Donovan's career.

I found it somewhat strange that Coach Clouston sat Brian Elliott and started Pascal Leclaire. I'm sure the Senators are extra sensitive right now after losing Alex Kovalev for the playoffs due to injury, but it's still somewhat rare for a goalie to get seriously injured and Elliott already had some rest the game before last. Leclaire made a few decent saves but couldn't help his team when it really mattered. Nothing new there.

Regardless, a few quick points:

- A lot of fans can't get the smirks off their faces concerning Kovalev's injury. The jokes are flying pretty good right now, "he was already on vacation" yadda yadda yadda. Fans might not respect him, but I'm telling you, NHL players do. Big time. His presence alone is enough to back defenseman off on the powerplay and give other players room on the ice. He hasn't had a great season, and is certainly on the downside of his career, but Kovalev is more important than most fans give him credit for. His loss is huge. Bryan Murray is one of the most experienced GM's in the league and he didn't sign Kovalev for nothing. In the playoffs is when he really could have made a difference. Now, with major ACL surgery, it's conceivable that Kovalev could be done as an NHL player. We may never know what he could have really done when it mattered the most. It's a very similar situation to Dominik Hasek's brief stay in Ottawa.

- I think the Senators are a team with great character and perseverance. Yet, it's a terrible thing for them that they get a date with the Penguins in the first round. I don't pretend to be a cheerleader for the Sens (disregard that photo at the top ... ahem) and I'm not going to start now. Objectively, I can't see the Senators beating the Pittsburgh Penguins. You think Sidney Crosby is going to let his team lose in the first round? I just don't see it.

It would have been much preferable to face the Devils and an aging Martin Brodeur (no offense to the future Hall of Famer by any means, but everyone becomes mortal at some point) in the first round instead of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc Andre Fleury just entering their prime. It's a little like the Calgary Flames going up against the Edmonton Oilers in the mid-80's.

Yet, the Flames upset Gretzky and company in 86 when Steve Smith scored into his own net near the end of a long, hard fought series. Strange things do happen.

I just don't think anyone can justify picking the Senators over the Penguins in any category worth debating. Skill, experience, and even grit. The Penguins are a tough group. You don't go to the Stanley Cup Finals two years in a row without knowing what it takes to win.

What might give hope to Senators fans is that fatigue can certainly play a factor here. The Pens have looked a little hungover all season long and most of their top players did double time in the Olympics this year as well. There are a lot of miles there. Maybe the Pens just don't have fuel for another run. The last time a team made it to the Stanley Cup final three years in a row was the Gretzky era Oilers, from 83-85 (they won the last two).

That's a long time ago when the league was much different than it is now.

The Senators certainly have a chance and they have the character to pull off an upset like this.

But if they lose, blame their inconsistency during this yo-yo season and remember that they had a chance to win the division over Buffalo and play a lesser team such as Montreal or Boston.

They now have the first round opponent they deserve.

I'm just as interested as the rest of you in how they'll do against the Stanley Cup champions.