-Joy Lindsay tweets that Kaspars Daugavins has been called up by the Sens (link).
–The Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan writes how the Senators have surprised him thus far this season (link). Brennan rightly points out that it’s early in the season, but the Senators lead the league in powerplay goals and are fourth in league scoring. For my part, assuming the Sens stay healthy I expect they will remain a productive powerplay team, but the jury is out in terms of their 5-on-5 scoring.
–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Ken Warren picks up the theme of the Senators recent change in fortune (link). Warren asks four questions: 1) Will Zibanejad be returned to Sweden after a quiet debut with the Sens, 2) How many games will Peter Regin miss?, 3) How many games will Chris Neil be suspended for?, 4) Can Milan Michalek keep up his torrid scoring pace? My answers would be: yes; not many for the team’s sake; no idea; and no. The final question is less a matter of Michalek and more a matter who will pick up the scoring slack when he goes cold.
-NHL.com has Jason Spezza as one of its upward trending players (link).
–The Silver Seven‘s Darren M worries about Ottawa’s secondary scoring (link). He makes the point that this is not a new problem, but I have three problems with his article: 1) we’re eight games into the season and while 10% sounds like a big number it’s too early in the year to establish trends, 2) Only looking at goal scorers is an inaccurate way to look at offence–assists are attached to 99% of goals scored because they matter in their production, 3) “Most people have credited the goals to [Michalek] finally being healthy, when they are far more attributable to luck” which is attached to a comment about how his shooting percentage is off the charts compared to his career average; I don’t like the use of the word “luck”–besides one of the goals being misattributed to him, none of his goals were lucky. Darren would be better off saying he can’t keep up this pace (which I’d agree with). Goal scorers are inherently streaky (with a few freakish exceptions like Mario Lemieux), so as long as someone on the team gets hot when Michalek gets cold there’s no issue. I think last year’s Pittsburgh Penguins are a great example of how you can get production from players not known for it when you employ the right system. As long as Ottawa continues to drive the net and get pucks through from the point, someone will score.
–SenShot‘s Jared Crozier writes “according to Elias Sports Bureau, who specialize in all thing statistical, it was only the 4th time in the last 15 years that an NHL team trailing entering the last minute of a game actually won the game in regulation” (link).
-Binghamton has recalled Bobby Raymond, who went 1-2-3 in three games with the Florida Everblades
-Former Sen Brian Elliott is off to a great start in St. Louis (link), illustrating how much of the game is mental/confidence. I think Elliott took far too much criticism here in Ottawa and I’m glad he’s found a home elsewhere in the NHL.
eyeonthesens 