Crisis On Infinite Rinks

Who would've thought that Kelly was worth a second round pick? Boston did. The Bruins are winding up for a long playoff run with the addition of Kelly, who does basically everything well except scoring. This leaves me wondering how many more Senators (past and present) the Bruins will attempt to acquire. The Rumor mongerers believe that Phillips is on his way to Beantown for some more picks. I have more to say about Phillips later in the post, so please keep reading.

Conrad from the CCFR made a great point: What the hell is Burke, the Leafs overlord, doing with his roster? He traded a young forward for picks (they desperately need them) one day. Then he trades for a boat-full of truculence in the form of Voros for a very low draft pick. So what's the deal? 1 goal for and 2 goals against (this is my failed play on the whole 1 step forward 2 steps back saying. It is a fail since I had to explain it.) Murray is surprisingly doing this the right way; trade roster players of value for picks or prospects. Mission accomplished. 3 picks acquired over the last week, close to 8 milli purged from the cap and no salary taken in return. Looks like Gramps wants to keep his job. As the Death Cart passes through Scotiabank Place, Murray claims that he's not dead, right before the Sensamaniacs are winding up to club the old man in the noggin. This Shawvillian Villain is trying to show the Euge that he's still got it. He does not. Bring the change.

Time Crisis

The Sens played well against the Isles last night since they were down to 4 defensmen. Karlsson clocked in at 30 + minutes. The Kid can and will play. The real crisis is extra time, and not blaming the loss on injuries. The Sens improved their league leading overtime drought by losing in a shoot out. They are now 0 - 9 in extra frames this year. How lame is that? The rotten cherry on top of this pile of lameness; it took them 57 games to score a goal in the shootout. This goal was brought to you by the Russian Riddler, Kovalev, who will be appearing on a team near you.

Holy C(h)ris(t)is

Since the Fisher trade, Butler has stepped up huge in his absence. 2 multi point games in a row for a total of 4. It definitely helps when your center is Spezza. It took BB time to get rolling and he's showing that he belongs in the Bigs. He can be blamed for the Isles go ahead goal due to blown defensive coverage but let's cut him a bit of slack, right? They were playing the Isles. We can expect to see this quite often over the next 2 or 3 season from the kids. It's not like he put the puck in his own net during the Stanley Cup final. Speak of the devil...

Crisis of Priorities or Loyalty Win?

Raise your hand if you've hated on Phillips this season? Sooooo that's pretty much everybody in the Sens blogosphere. I've defended him more times than not over the last few months. We all realize that he hasn't been the same since Volchenkov left. Phillips lost his best bro and his defensive partner for years. With that said, he hasn't been the same, but we all know what he brings to the rink every night; logs tons of minutes, used heavily on the PK and plays against the opposing team's top forward line. If you were crying about Kelly leaving, you will straight up have a psychotic breakdown if Big Rig packs his bags.

So the man doesn't want to leave. From the Ottawa Sun:

“I do and I know people will call me crazy for saying that," Phillips said, "but I think you need some veteran guys that have been around to help and guide the young guys coming in. I’m okay and would take on that responsibility."

FYI Chris, you're not crazy. Phillips is the shit and this proves it big time. He's played his whole career for this organisation and wants to be a part of the solution. Phillips is not a part of the problem. Who else do we want training the likes of Cowan, Wiercioch and Gryba? He will provide stability on the blue line and will show them the ropes. I would be extremely upset if Murray trades him away, even if it's for more delicious draft picks. If he wants to stay with this team for real, he better sign a contract asap. I won't be able to take it if he decides to not waive his no-trade then walks away in the off season. It will be a flip out of Lehner proportion.

-MP

All Star Draft - I Don't Feel Bad for Kessel Edition

No surprise. (Photo via nhl.com)

This is a couple days late, but really couldn't help myself. Kessel picked last = priceless. This Leafer is soooooo awkward and the weirdest all star in the bunch (Backes a close second...you can't beat up everyone into liking you). Kessel is a social imbecile who would make Ricky Gervais' character in the Office UK blush.

All Star game is today and will be epic. I'm cheering for Team Staal by default since Karlsson is playing for them.

-MP

Same Old 60 + Minutes

It usually breaks around overtime o'clock (photo via papercastlepress.com)

As great as the life and times of the Ottawa Senators have been up to this point in this historic season, I do want to watch this team play. With that said, I'm officially putting Rogers Sportsnet, the Vanier of Canadian sports networks, in the Sin Bin.

If the game is on Sportsnet East, I'm screwed. Yes I do live in Toronto but I'm always forced to watch the game via a terrible stream that is barely viewable.

The network in question offers multiple time shit shift channels that are always blacked out. FREE ADVICE: Do hockey fans a major solid and pony up the dough to get national coverage with the NHL. Your hockey experts are the worse in the hockey macrocosm, with Kyperos taking most of the credit for that (we're cool Mendes). Shame on you Rogers for overcharging me on my monthly bill and giving me this sub par product you call a sports network. FYI broadcasting live video of sports talk radio shows and showing poker games 24/7 gives you zero credibility as a sports provider.

The TSN Highlight Game Recap

Based on the boxscore and a 40 second highlight reel, the Sens held their own. Blown defensive assignments seem to be the reason for the Sabres goals, which should not come to a surprise to any of us. The Sens outshot their opponent for the 246th game in a row, but haven't realized as of yet that low quality shots usually don't find their way to the back of the net. Especially against a cat like Miller.

Kuba is the New Word for Suck, Weak and Everything Else

Happy that Kuba was scratched again last night. Can this continue until his contract runs out?

Overtime Blame Game

A lot of fellow bloggers on the Sensernet are not fans of Mr. Phillips (Big Rig is possibly the worst nickname ever) which is understandable seeing that he kuba-ed all season long. He has made some game changing mistakes in the last 40 games. And all this in his contract year. I'm feeling everyone's frustation with the alternate captain. He hasn't looked the same without Volchenkov.

The overtime winning goal for Buffalo was not his fault. He had his man covered. Then Pominville came to apply more pressure to free the puck off the boards (which he did) while Phillips was already fighting with Vanek. Elsewhere, Karlsson and Michalek were standing around looking at the play develop. We're all aware of what happens when we play sports and become spectators... "Hey what's that? Oh its a Sabres defenseman heading for the net with a head full of steam. Good skater...How did he get the puck?". Game over.

We Are on the Same Page, but Reading From Different Books

How can anyone take this franchise seriously? We have Melnyk speaking somewhat candidly with the Ottawa Sun one day, then No-worry Murray crying to the press the next day saying that he wants to stay on as the grand puba, while claiming that the team is one year away. They've been one year away for 4 years already! Here's the deal: this team needs fresh blood and a new philosophy in the office (a warm body less than 60 years old would be refreshing).

What freaks me out the most has to be this plan that Melnyk spoke about. What do you MEAN you've been working on a plan? A succession plan? A rebuild the roster plan? A I-need-to-stay-away-from-Marc-before-he-hunts-me-down plan? I pray to Alfie's holy ball hair that he's not getting his insider trading fingers into this team's operation. What next? Pierre McGuire as GM? Hahahahaha. That would be the next level of nonsense to bring this team to the lowest degree of ridicule. Get an established seasoned GM or assistant that can pick up the pieces left by the Advisor-in-Waiting and focus on not signing Pavel Bure or Oleg Petrov. Draft it to success. And use the prospect in the system.

-MP

Strike! I'm Out!

UPDATE: As I'm posting this, the Sens are getting destroyed by the Bruins 6 - 0 in the early minutes of the 3rd.

Call it laziness. Or even the back to work and reality kick in the ass. Or a hockey strike. Yes that's it. I'm on an official back to work, lazy ass, dreaming of turkey hockey strike. That loss to the Leafs was the beginning of the strike and will continue until they win. During this period I will not go out of my way to try to watch this team slog their way through a game. I will, however, keep up with my regular readings and comment with the help of said articles and judge the team based on box scores. As unfair as analyzing on stats alone might be...that's the way its gonna be.

Strike: day 11

Great news! Kovalev is out for a week! Jimmy O gets the call again to replace the injured winger (who has been playing with a bobo for a minute). I've seen some folks yearning for Locke to get a call up to provide some O in the Big O. There's a reason why he played in the Habs farm system for all those years. Its because he's a great AHLer. That's about it folks! Nothing else to cry or worry about here.

Meanwhile Lehner is now the proud owner of a Greyhound frequent traveller card commuting back and forth between Ottawa and Bingo. I saw that he might get a start this week even though Mike Brodeur is backing up tonight. I've seen MacDonalds managers that have a better grasp on their team. This.makes.absolutely.no.friggin.sense.

Union Due Arrears

I had this itching feeling about that gold medal game last week. Once I noticed that Marcus Foligno was playing like Nick Foligno, the end was near. I missed the first 8 minutes of the third...late night chores (somebody has to wash the dishes) and probably some show about weddings was on TV (can't blame my fiancé for my inability to track time). As a Canadian hockey fan I was happy with the 3-0 lead. Who wouldn't be? But in the back of my twisted little mind I needed some excitement with a dab of drama. I got it in maple leaf shaped spades. Drama turned into shock. Shock turned into disbelief. Disbelief turned into a bunch of Russian kids yelling shout outs to their moms in their native tongue into the camera. And then the vodka.

Thoughts on Shuffle

The Senator from the NHL's Guardian Project revealed!! Strength: 20 year old, 170lbs Swede. Weakness: A one man forecheck by the opposing team (photo via coloriage-enfant.eu)

- Who would win in a fight? The NHL Super Heroes or Alpha Flight sans Wolverine (who is a reserve due to his citizenship, bub)? On the one hand you have third rate supers and on the other...third rate supers. Result: the most epic crossover mega failure in comicdom. And for some strange reason, the Bettman destroys both teams and colonizes the southern US to save humanity. The only hockey heroes left? The Penguin and Capital who will be forced to mate and create a super marketing tool of evil duper hero.

- Karlsson is Ottawa's rep for the all-star game which is cool. He'll kill it in the "giveaways that lead to deflating goals" competition. Joining him will be Kovalchuk, Thornton and Duncan Keith. Spezza is a reserve for this display of skills since he's still injured.

- If I see one more sign that has "Eh" on it made by a Canadian at an international competition, I might go Rypien on someone.

- So when is Kuba getting traded? Oh! He makes that much a season? That's tough to trade. At least he'll be off the cap after this year. He's signed until when??!!

- Wellwood signed with the Blues after his stint over in Mother Russia. Ottawa Senators, consider this opportunity officially missed. Kinda funny that the Blues have a growing population of former Leafs, and are in the same position this year.

- Speaking of the Leafs, they are tied in points with the Sens, but get out of the Northeastern basement thanks to one less game played. Looks like the Sens are in the running to compete for the Daigle Cup!

-MP

New Year's Resolutions (Besides Scoring More Goals)

UPDATE: According to the official Ottawa Senators twitter account, O'Brien and Lee are in, Kuba and Ruutu are out. Oh hell yeah!!

Kovalev let Murray know that he's doing a great job...no changes necessary (photo via randomjottings.net)

My plan to attend the game on Wednesday didn't come to fruition, which ended up not being such a huge loss (pun somewhat intended). As is always the case during the holidays, friends and family are first in line. 2nd is beer (which can be mixed with holiday option #1). 3rd is the World Junior Championship. And last but not least is pretty much everything else, from hockey to sleep.

All I saw from Wednesday night's game were the highlights from NHL.com and it looked like the Sens had their chances. I also cruised through the World O Senators blogs to get some background for this post and the conclusion is a 2 part breakdown: missed opportunities and weak defensive play.

It looked like Elliott let in a few softies with no thanks given to his first line of defense. Kuba....what more can be said about the high priced veteran? He brings nothing to this team except giveaways and turnovers.

Well it's time to go over a few New Year's resolutions for your favorite Ottawa based pro team located in Kanata:

Filip Kuba

Work on hitting offensive players from the opposing team, remember that clearing the puck out of the defensive zone is a good tactic and stop with the giveaways.

Mike Fisher

Take the rest of the season off to get healthy and realize that he's a 3rd line centre getting primo minutes. Be thankful.

Chris Kelly

Thank the good people at Easton for the magical sticks of goal scoring. Get more.

Alexei Kovalev

Ease off the saxophone practice and work on attacking the offensive zone alone against 5 defenders.

Jason Spezza

Stop crying himself to bed while clutching his Heatley plush doll and repeating "I'm a creative guy and those turnovers are gonna happen."

Cory Clouston

Buy a Hugo Boss suit and hire Ray Emery as his personal fashion advisor.

Erik Karlsson

Continue to embarrass the forwards on the team. Out: Two and a Half Men. In: CSI: Byward Market.

Brian Lee

Start a food vendor business at Scotiabank Place featuring the Lee Me Down: a battered deep fried burger topped with jalapeno cheese and chicken fingers (preferably dinosaur shaped) and 2 regular burger patties used as buns.

Daniel Alfredson

Keep doing what he does and continue to bleed out profusely for this team...and not complain about it. Can someone give this guy the fuckin Order of Canada already?

Bryan Murray

Get a nice letter of recommendation from Melnyk and ask players to give recommendations on LinkedIn.

New Year's Eve Showdown

Columbus is on tap tonight with Jim O'Brien getting the call up to play. So I'm assuming that Mr. Smith will hang out with Lee in the press box and Jimmy O will get his shot. Looking forward to seeing the kid play.

Also looking forward to the Canada / Sweden tilt today which will showcase the future of Ottawa's last line of defense: Lehner from Sweden and Cowen from Canada.

-MP

A Costly Win

Raise your hands if you have a long term shoulder injury? (photo via CBC )

According to the the news out there in the webosphere, Spezza is out long term with an upper body injury (shoulder) for at least 6 weeks. So what does this mean for Ottawa's first line centre? Tons more time to spend with his loved ones during the holidays and comedy movie marathons to work on his laughter execution. So what does this mean for the Ottawa Senators? One lucky farm boy will get a chance to impress the big wigs in the big city. And your options are: Locke, Bass and O'Brien. My choice would be O'Brien. I heard that he picked up his game and the Tim Murray interview praising the "lost" prospect during yesterdays game kinda sold it for me. He's also 6'2" - 200 lbs. But according to NHL.com and the Ottawa Sun, Bass is getting the call.  All we are saying, is give Jim a chance. Dude hasn't played one regular season game and he's been with the franchise for 5 years (Bingo for 2 full season including this year).

Karlsson : Priceless

Don't think I've ever seen this on any Sens team since the inaugural season: a defenseman as the leading scorer. I don't have an issue with it, makes me wonder what the forwards are doing in terms in offense. Pessimism aside, Karlsson is an all star in the making and without a doubt the puck moving dman we've been waiting for all these years. He's the catalyst for the offense and is surprising teams with his skill. Can't wait to see what Byslma says about number 65 during the intermission in HBO's 24.

Getting Elliott's Full Value

Elliott played his best game since Leglass went down by delivering a career game. He made 44 saves for the win and almost got a shutout (I'm blaming someone on twitter for claiming a shutout after the second intermission. Can't remember who it was but shame on them. Speaking of twitter, this might be a sign I'm getting old but what's up with some of the hockey fans in twitville and the constant need to tweet profanity? Don't get it and a quick unfollow usually does the trick). So, no shutout for Elliott. This seems to be the life of Brian this year: close but not close enough. I am cool with Crosby getting the goal to continue his streak. It would be nice to see him ride this for a long stretch. Don't see him breaking Gretzky's season point streak which stands at 51 games. Not impossible, but will be a challenge for the Kid.

Paying for Not Going to the Game

I was planning on attending last night's game against the Pens but I was faced with a tough choice: go to Scotiabank Place and miss a large part of the WJC Canada - Russia game or stay at home to watch both games and prevent getting a second mortgage on my condo to buy beer at the arena. Well I stayed home and it was somewhat bittersweet. But the beer was cheap and that makes any red blooded guy happy. I will try to check out the Carolina game on Wednesday if the price is right.

Quickies

Clouston wore the same tie for the first time since I've been tracking the Cloustonian Tie Color Effect. Yellow with black dots now sits at 1 W1 L.

Kuba looked terrible again. And to make matters worse, he's playing with Gonchar.

The Letang hit on Spezza didn't look intentional but the fans rained down with the boos every time he touched the puck. I'm sure the chorus of disapproval really hurt his feelings.

On the flip side, the Cooke elbow to Shannon's face wasn't even called. Shannon got a penalty for jumping on Letang after Spezza fell into the boards. Cooke got off scott free.

Ottawa is 4 point behind the 8th place Bruins, who have 4 games in hand.

The Leafs beat the Devils last night, which doesn't mean jack to anyone (except maybe Boston).

Kuba looked really terrible last night.

Didn't notice Cowen that much during Canada's 6-3 win over Russia.

-MP

Wait Til Your Father Gets Home

Gonchar is quite the artist (Photo via familyfunshop.com)



It seems like we're seeing a pattern here. Success follows the Sens when they participate in non hockey activities. In this case, it was hanging out with their dads. Senalesson #1: stop focusing on hockey and continue with activities that have nothing to do with your game, including practice. Allen Iverson is smiling somewhere in Turkey since he knew he was right all along.

Alfie is Your Daddy

Nice to see the Cap get his second goal in 2 games after ending that atrocious streak. His shot was wired to the top right corner and reminds all the haters out there that he can still do what he does best: Be Alfredsson. He also added an assist on Chris "Empty Netter" Kelly's goal. Oldest cliché in hockey: keep your stick on the ice and drive to the net. In the end, it's a simple game so K.I.S.S. it up.

Look at me Pops! I'm not a Lee-sor!

Mr. Hockey Brian Lee was back playing against his hometown team in what seemed like a pity insertion into the line up. I heard from my sources (always wanted to say that even though I have none) that Carkner is injured and that's why Lee replaced him. Besides the penalty he took in the second period, he was unnoticeable. But I have to give it up to Lee for being so damn patient. Sitting out for 25 games must suck and it looks like the management team rewarded him.

Twinkle in his Eye

Karlsson brought his offensive game to the ice last night by collecting an assist on all 3 Ottawa goals. That's the good news. The not so good news is that his defensive game needs to pick up ASAP. He needs to learn how to stop forwards that come into Ottawa's zone by using his stick and cutting off angles. I understand he's a small dude (we are the same height and weight) but that's no excuse. I saw too many Wild forwards slip by him and that really sucks for his defensive partner since they need to cover his butt. Gotta take the positive with the negative.

Avs are on tap tonight. Looking forward to see Duchene play tonight.

-MP

Donut Shop

UPDATE: Butler in, Regin out...Huh? Wha?

Jarkko Ruutu and Nick Foligno are working drive through today.

“It's not so safe or drivable, this one. Step on the gas, and you'll do nothing but donuts.” -  Michael Prichinello

10,410 seconds. 174 minutes. That's the last time the Senators scored a goal. You have to feel for Elliott and Leclaire since they never get any goal support. Elliott did everything that he could last night but couldn't stop that Vanek slapshot in the shootout.

Triple Chocolate Donut
Peter Regin showed us again that he can be the hardest working player on the ice. Only problem is that he's not scoring. Is this another case of Vermettisitis? A natural center playing the wing who will eventually be traded and find success playing his role and his position somewhere else? Only time will tell.

Day Old Donut
Carkner had the least amount of ice time among defensemen and the most penalty minutes. Never a good combo even if you add a coffee or the soup of the day.

Employee of the Day
We saw what Erik Karlsson can bring to the table last night and that's speed. I've seen him try the homerun pass way to many times this season which scares the candy sprinkles out of me. Karlsson needs to push the puck up on the rush and back up the defense. He did it a few times against the Sabres with success and just needs to remember to read the play before trying to go coast to coast.

Fresh Donut of the Day

Looks like we'll get a look at Bobby Butler today for the first time this season. He's leading the B Sens in goals and has been lighting it up with Locke. Don't expect him to turn this team around in one game, but his offense will definitely be a welcome addition. I'm hoping that he gets a chance to play on one of the top 2 lines with Foligno or Shannon taking a seat in the press box.

Prepping the Fryer for a New Batch
Game time is 5 pm for the Rangers / Sens game today. I've had my fill of donuts.

Please drop me a line and let me know what you think about the blog. This is new for me and any feedback is appreciated.

- MP