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

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

The Streak Remedy

Surgery is a beautiful thing (photo via flickr)

The Sens were exactly what the Caps physician ordered. The diagnosis: a comeback sparked by 3 unanswered goals all scored in the second period ending an 8 game losing streak. As for the Senators, the role players led the charge while the million dollar actors stayed behind the scenes. Kelly is 3 goals away from being the team's leading scorer. A very telling stat for the 2010-11 season which can be summed up with a 3 letter acronym: WTF.

What the Blood Clot

Ottawa is winning 67% of their games when scoring first. Which, if you ask me, isn't very strong. Over the last 5 years, they averaged out at 74%. If you look at the top tier teams and their average, well they come in at a cool 83%. Sens Army, welcome to the bottom 33%.

Doctor Not-So-Feelgood

Leclaire was playing well until he broke his jaw eating oatmeal and Elliott has not held up his end of the bargain in his absence...which is stopping pucks...when he's in front of the net...while the team is playing hockey. This would be the perfect time for Lehner to get some experience but we'll see him play for Team Sweden in the WJC. Update: Brodeur on the fast Greyhound to Binghamton, Leclaire backing up or hopefully starting.

Offensive Cardiac Arrest

Barring triple bypass surgery, this offense needs a kick start that a defibrillator cannot provide. Alfie missed the net early in the first on what looked like a guaranteed goal. The significance of that missed shot proved to be huge. What about the dudes that were expected to, I don't know, score some goals during the season? The biggest culprits are Foligno and Regin. Head on down to Black Aces to read his take (which I'm really feeling) on these young players.

Sick Days

Sens will play their next game Thursday against the Nashville Predators. A few days off might do this team some good.

Big thanks to Greg @ Puck Daddy for introducing SILN to the puck heads out in the wide world of blogs. Cheers!

-MP

Flying Elbows of Fury

Weber was in shock after he was hit by Kelly's elbow, but quickly gathered himself for the ensuing powerplay.

From what I can see online, there's no talk of Kelly getting a suspension for his hit on Weber. From my point of view, it was accidental and Weber didn't prepare himself for the hit. But what really karateed my chops was seeing Weber laughing on the bench after the hit. Life goes on while the world witnesses just how untouchable Kelly really is.

"If do Right Kuba, no can Defense" - Mr Miyagi (kinda)
Did you know that  "Kuba" translated to English from Czech means "really, really, really....really bad giveaway"? I wasn't keeping track, but at least 2 of the Canadiens goals where a direct result of Kuba's bumbles. I wasn't sad when he was out of the lineup.

Gimme that Black Belt. Here Take this White One Instead.
BB Gunns, or Butler, was quickly demoted to the 4th line and played minimal minutes. Maybe this kid should not have been called up and they should have let him develop with the B-Sens. I'm no Bryan Murray, I'm just shlaying.

Seriously out of Ninja Stars
The Sens have scored one or less goals in 12 of their 29 games played this year. Well that's brutal. To make matters worse, Alfie is on an 8 game pointless streak. Let's hope he ends this streak against the Rangers. And PLEASE put Regin back in the lineup!

The CTCE tracker has been updated.

-MP

It Could only Happen on Sunday

Chris Kelly destroys donuts (Photo via nomnommonster.com)

Chris Kelly the Hart Trophy nominated scoring dynamo single handedly won the game by netting a hat trick this late afternoon. Oh yeah that Leclaire guy played well too. 

For those of you on the Butler watch, under 15 mins of play time with no shots and a -1. Didn't notice him on the ice but I was streaming the game watching it through a pixelated filter. Thanks for the blackout Sportsnet! Sportsnet will be the star of a post in the near future.

We need answers!

When is Alfie going to get a point? Will Clouston continue to alternate Ottawa's net minders or is he playing the win and stay in game? Is Kelly on pace for a career high 18 goals? Will Cox and Brennan finally have that Death Match we've all been waiting for?

The Cloustonian Tie Color Effect

The CTCE tracker is now live and found on the right side of the page. It's a social experiment to measure the correlation between Clouston's tie color and the teams performance. My report will be sent to the Sens brass with my recommendations for the appropriate tie color for the playoffs (should they make the tournament).

- MP