Senators News: February 11th

–Bryan Murray talked about potential trades, “Right now, some teams are looking for a top young prospect and a first-round pick in exchange for a (UFA). I’m not willing to do that. I’d like to send a message to our team that we’re serious about getting into the playoffs and being able to perform at that time.  If something comes along that makes a lot of sense to us as far as improving the team, maybe not necessarily short-term, but longer-term, then certainly I’d consider that. Maybe a little like Kyle Turris. Maybe not that young, but a player we know we can keep in the organization for a period of time and can help us as we go forward. I’ve only talked to a few, but the teams I’ve talked with, it doesn’t seem realistic that you could make a deal from our perspective. I think if you’re a top team, you might pay the price, but from our perspective, not being in first place in our conference, we probably wouldn’t want to pay the price that’s being asked. I won’t be as busy. I can assure you of that. I don’t really have an answer. I believe that core of players that we have, we want to keep. We feel we have a plan in place that will give us a chance to grow this organization back to one of the good ones. I’m not in a mood to trade a top young player for a rental.”  Let me unpack this a little: Murray might part with a high pick and a prospect for a player who is not a UFA.  It’s hard to know who that might be–someone like a re-signed Tuomo Ruutu?  To my mind the only parts they could use are a top-six winger or a blueliner with decent footspeed.  Given that Murray wants to send a message of encouragement to the players it seems unlikely potential UFA’s like Filip Kuba are going anywhere.  It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Sens do at the deadline.

–Allen Panzeri writes about Milan Michalek‘s goal scoring troubles (and briefly those of many of his teammates), with everyone believing he’ll pull out of his slump soon.

–Joy Lindsay writes that Robin Lehner will get the start for Binghamton tonight.

-Elmira lost in OT last night, with Brian Stewart taking the loss and Corey Cowick held off the score sheet.  Louie Caporusso did not play again with what I assume is a lingering injury.

February 11, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Senators News: February 10th

-Very quiet day for Sens news.  Elmira plays tonight, with the B-Sens looking for their first win in February tomorrow.

–Chris Phillips had a good sense of humour about his two goals last night, “It just took me 1,000 games to find my offensive side of the game.”

–Craig Anderson is expected to start tomorrow against Edmonton

–Steve Lloyd Tweets that Paul MacLean continues to be very happy with Jim O’Brien‘s game

–AP reports that the Conference Board of Canada believes the nation can support two more NHL teams, the best sites being Quebec City and Hamilton.  A second Toronto team was dismissed because “getting and keeping” it would be difficult.

February 10, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

Ottawa 4, Nashville 3

The Sens broke their losing streak tonight with a solid win over Nashville.  It was a big night for Chris Phillips who celebrated his 1,000th game with a pair of goals.  I have humble pie to eat as the insertion of Bobby Butler proved an astute move by Paul MacLean.  Here’s the box score.

First Period
Spezza scores early on an odd-man rush to give the Sens a rare lead.  Phillips sends a suicide pass up to O’Brien and then proceeds to pass to the wrong team with O’Brien bailing him out.  Craig Smith walks around Cowen and hits the post.  Late in the period the Sens get caught on a bad line change and Auld is beat by Bourque with a shot he should have had.
Second Period
The Sens have two ineffective powerplays (including a short 5-on-3) early in the period, but Phillips is able to give them back the lead on a shot through a great Michalek screen.  Gonchar hits the post and then before the period ends Hornqvist makes a great tip to tie the game back up while the Preds are on the powerplay.
Third Period
Spezza scores on the powerplay off a turnover created by Michalek.  Phillips then salts the game away, cashing in on a Kuba rebound (also a powerplay goal).  Nashville adds a late 6-on-5 marker, but it’s too little, too late.

The goals:
1. Spezza (Michalek, Butler)
Spezza keeps on the odd-man rush and beats Renne short side
2. Nashville, Bourque
Auld gets caught too deep in his net
3. Phillips (Butler, Spezza)
Fires the shot through Michalek in front, beating Renne 5-hole
4. Nashville, Hornqvist (pp)
A great tip in front of Auld
5. Spezza (Michalek) (pp)
Michalek knocks the puck loose right in front of the net and Spezza bangs it in
6. Phillips (Kuba, Foligno) (pp)
Kuba’s rebound is banged in by a hard-driving Phillips
7. Nashville, Erat
Michalek’s clearing attempt goes right to Erat who fires it into the open net

Top-performers:
Milan Michalek – his best game in a long time, with two assists and several scoring chances
Daniel Alfredsson – another strong game despite not getting any points
Chris Phillips – despite a few brain cramps the Big Rig got the job done

Players who struggled:
Jared Cowen – got walked around by Craig Smith and continues to turn the puck over in his own zone

February 9, 2012
Categories: Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Senators News: February 9th

-Paul MacLean talks about the Sens struggles, “Somewhere along the line we lost our identity and our work ethic. Our identity was a team that worked really hard for 60-65 minutes. Somehow that competition level, coming out of the break, hasn’t risen with the what the rest of the league has done. (Other teams have) come out and gone to another level and we haven’t elevated our game to this point.”  I’m not sure putting Bobby Butler on the first line is a good way to show players how to earn their ice time (Zenon Konopka will sit).  On the plus side, MacLean has figured out Anderson needs a break and Auld will start.  Lee is finally ready to return and will play instead of Carkner.

–Chris Phillips will play his 1,000th game tonight, which is an incredible achievement (particularly with one franchise).  It’s unfortunate that Phillips has been a less effective player post-lockout, but he does have intangibles that are great for the organisation.

–Hockey’s Future‘s John Henkelman writes effusively about Ottawa’s 2007 draft class (Jim O’Brien, Ruslan Bashkirov, Louie Caporusso, and Ben Blood).  Realistically it’s a disappointing group, although O’Brien has saved himself from being a bust and there’s still time for Caporusso and particularly Blood to help the organisation, but none of these players are going to play meaningful roles long term.

–Sports Illustrated‘s Stu Hackel writes about stats he wishes the NHL would keep:
1. Man games-lost to injury
2. Hit posts
3. Improved shooting accuracy
4. Special teams trends
5. Face-off specifics
6. Time of possession
7. Attack zone time
8. 6-on-5 situations
9. Who draws penalties
He also notes a reader who wants to know which team injuries the most players and which building has the most injuries.

February 9, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

Senators News: February 8th

-As Ottawa slides down the standings with every team in the league having games in hand, their playoff window gets smaller and smaller.  What’s become apparent is that many of the players who got off to hot starts (particularly Milan Michalek) are coming back down to earth and will post up their usual numbers by season’s end.  This should make organisational decisions easier, although being on the cusp of the post-season may mean Murray won’t pull the trigger are some obvious deadline deals (Filip Kuba, for example).

–Don Brennan includes an illuminating quote from Zenon Konopka about the talk between tough guys in warm-up, “Some of those chats can be pretty vulgar, and promoting for later in the night. When I was talking with (Shawn) Thornton in Boston, I knew he went to Turks and Caicos for the break and I was asking how the hotel was. We both know the owner. He says it was pretty nice. He had a real nice time. That was nice. When we played in Pittsburgh, I had a chat with (Matt) Cooke, then (Arron) Asham came over, and I fought Asham first shift. What happened (in the warmup) was, Cooke actually owes a buddy of mine a signed jersey, so I told him he better get it to him or there’s going to be juice, and the juice is running. Then Asham came over and said ‘Zee, what are you talking about?’ I told him and he said, ‘Oh, OK, cool. So are we going tonight?’ And I said, I’m willing if you are. So the first shift we go. Then we played Philadelphia, and I saw that Zac Rinaldo, and I just told him, we’re going tonight. And he’s like, ‘No we’re not.’ I said, that isn’t how it works. I’m the older player. When I was your age, I didn’t ask questions, I just dropped my gloves. We’re going tonight. And he said ‘OK, I guess,’ so later, we went.”  As amusing as this is, it goes to show that staged fights are the norm in the league.

-In the same article, Brennan reveals that Brian Lee played with both a broken toe and thumb for 20 games last year.  That’s the kind of things coaches and teammates respect.

-Continuing with Brennan, he has an interesting quote from Ken Hitchcock about how the game is played, “It used to be tennis when we came out of the lockout. Now it’s like ping pong. The game is so fast now. We go stretches … we’ve come out of the break, played two games now, and we played one game 8:30 no whistles, and then we played 5;35 no whisteles. You never saw that before. It’s unbeliveale how fast the game is,but it’s fast without puck possession. It’s like, forecheck, forecheck, forecheck. … it’s really different. Sometimes it feels like it’s organizaed chaos out there, to be honest with you. It’s what it is. With no red line, and with teams playing three forwards high in the neutral zone, you’re not going to get a puck possesssion game. You’re just going to have to deal with it, get used to it. It’s really different now. The last two years it’s changed even more.”  In case it isn’t clear, by “tennis” Hitch is referring to scoring.

–The Hockey News and Sports Illustrated‘s power rankings are out, with Ottawa 16th in both.

–Joy Lindsay Tweets today’s lines at practice: Klinkhammer-Locke-Downing, Hoffman-Da Costa-Petersson, Dziurzynski-Cannone-Bartlett, Grant-Hamilton-Lessard; Henningson-Gryba, Wiercioch-Borowiecki, Raymond-Schira, Godfrey.

–Bob McKenzie has his mid-season draft rankings posted:
1. Nail Yakubov, OHL
2. Mikhail Grigorenko, QMJHL
3. Ryan Murray, WHL
4. Filip Forsberg, SEL
5. Mathew Dumba, WHL
6. Jacob Trouba, USHL
7. Alex Galchenyuk, OHL
8. Morgan Rielly, WHL
9. Griffin Reinhart, WHL
10. Radek Faksa, OHL
11. Zemgus Girgensons, USHL
12. Cody Ceci, OHL
13. Brendan Gaunce, OHL
14. Olli Maatta, OHL
15. Slater Koekkoek, OHL
16. Sebastian Collberg, SEL
17. Derrick Pouliot, WHL
18. Andrei Vasilevski, MHL
19. Pontus Aberg, SEL
20. Thomas Wilson, OHL
21. Brady Skjei, USHL
22. Malcolm Subban, OHL
23. Tomas Hertl, Cze
24. Martin Frk, QMJHL
25. Stefan Matteau, USHL
26. Tanner Pearson, OHL
27. Phillip Di Giuseppe, NCAA
28. Teuvo Teravainen, SM-Liiga
29. Matt Finn, OHL
30. Colton Sissons, WHL
31. Ville Pokka, SM-Liiga
32. Damon Severson, WHL
33. Oscar Dansk, SEL
34. Jordan Schmaltz, USHL
35. Jarrod Maidens, OHL
36. Patrick Sieloff, USHL
37. Michael Matheson, USHL
38. Nicolas Kerdiles, USHL
39. Andreas Athanasiou, OHL
40. Daniil Zharkov, OHL
Honourable Mentions:
Ludvig Bystrom, SEL
Brian Hart, US High School
Scott Kosmachuk, OHL
Hampus Lindholm, SEL
Dalton Thrower, WHL

February 8, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, NHL Draft, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

Ottawa 1, St. Louis 3

Ottawa fell behind tonight and simply had no answer offensively.  Paul MacLean made a poor decision in starting Craig Anderson and the team itself continued to fail to execute.  The Sens had enough chances to win the game, but either missed the net or got overly cute in their play.  Here’s the box score.

First Period
Ottawa has a good start, including a great chance for Spezza, but the Blues score off a bad play started by a Carkner rim-around.  Daugavins subsequently hits the post and Konopka fights Crombeen.  Barely a minute later Perron scores off Anderson fumbling the puck and Paul MacLean’s decision to start him costs him two goals in 3:49.  Auld comes in and Ottawa carries the play the rest of the period, including Greening hitting another post.  Carkner, whose play has been brutal throughout the losing streak, was benched early in the period.
Second Period
Sens get off to a good start with Alfredsson scoring on the powerplay.  Instead of the momentum changing, a Karlsson turnover gives Perron his second goal of the game and puts the Sens back behind the eight-ball.  Ottawa’s powerplay becomes increasingly disjointed (two more attempts in the period) and Spezza can’t hit the net on two golden opportunities.
Third Period
The Sens struggle to make passes and get through the neutral zone and then continue to be pass-happy on their powerplay opportunity.  Condra continues the trend of missing the net on a golden opportunity.  MacLean calls a timeout and the result is 45 seconds of the Sens being unable to enter the zone.

A look at the goals:
1. St. Louis, Porter
Carkner rims it too no one and both Phillips and Smith leave Porter wide open to tip in Polak’s shot
2. St. Louis, Perron
Anderson fumbles a rebound and Smith gives up on the backcheck, allowing Perron to swing around Anderson and score
3. Alfredsson (Gonchar, Spezza) (pp)
A great tip-in play
4. St. Louis, Perron
Karlsson’s soft back-hand pass is turned over at the blueline and Perron has no trouble beating Auld one-on-one

Top-performers:
Sergei Gonchar – picked up an assist and was good defensively
Jason Spezza – can drive you nuts by over-passing the puck, but he had the most scoring chances tonight
Chris Phillips – one of his better games tonight

Players who struggled:
Zack Smith – defensive lapses on two goals
Erik Karlsson – hasn’t been the same since the western road trip; brutal turnover on the third goal
Jared Cowen – has also been struggling for quite a while; lead the team in turnovers

February 7, 2012
Categories: Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Senators News: February 7th

-The fact that the Sens have been losing bothers me less than how they’ve played.  The team has been pass-happy in the offensive zone and struggled to get out of their own zone (the classic Chris Phillips floater into the neutral zone comes to mind).  It’s pretty clear that Craig Anderson has slipped back into the mediocre form he displayed at the start of the season, but Paul MacLean has so little faith in Alex Auld that he’ll play Anderson anyway.  Bryan Murray would do well to move Auld if he can.  Another player who should be looking for a new address is Bobby Butler, but its a stretch that another team will bite given his salary/performance.  I thought Butler‘s pair of games on the top-line may have been a trade audition of sorts, but if so it failed miserably.  Jim O’Brien is one of several Binghamton Senators who are a better fit than Butler for the bottom of the Sens lineup (Jesse Winchester will have that role when he’s healthy).  I never thought I’d miss Brian Lee, but watching Matt Carkner lumber around the last six games has me missing the underwhelming #5.  Lee doesn’t excel in any particular area, but his ability to skate makes him a more useful depth player than Carkner.

–Brian Lee is still not ready to return to the lineup; Craig Anderson will start.

-Paul MacLean returned to the lines that were scoring a couple of weeks ago–Greening back on the first line, Condra on the second line, Foligno on the third line.

-Paul MacLean thinks the Sens funk can be traced to the all-star break, “I just think, right now, we thought we’d come out of the (all-star) break and hit the gas, and away we’d go. But it hasn’t happened that way. That’s just a quirk. Sometimes you’re playing good, sometimes you’re playing bad. Right now we’re not playing good. I think we’re getting better, but we have to go game by game, day by day, and try to get better.”  I thought the Sens were very engaged playing Boston, but were going through the motions against the Islanders and Leafs.

–Wayne Scanlan wishfully wants fans to behave themselves at games–I can’t believe he thinks that’s a realistic expectation.

–ESPN and TSN‘s power rankings are out, with Ottawa 16th and 13th

–Joy Lindsay Tweets Binghamton’s lines at practice: Klinkhammer-Locke-Downing, Hoffman-Da Costa-Parrish, Dziurzynski-Cannone-Petersson, Grant-Hamilton-Bartlett(Lessard).

-Sens prospect Matt Puempel has been out with a concussion since January 4th (after a hit to the head from Alex Gudbranson), but has begun light exercise (link).

February 7, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Senators News: February 6th

–Jared Cowen summed up the Sens’ performance against the Leafs, “You get that many shots and you think about the second chances that we had. We just weren’t hungry around the net. It’s all over the ice where we’re not competing. We care a lot. We have to get back to practice and work on the little things. We just have to play with emotions, instead of going through the motions.”

–Jason Spezza made some interesting comments about the team’s recent woes, “You have to look at the season as a whole. We’re happy to be in this position and now we’ve got some important games down the stretch. We’ve put ourselves in a position to play some important games. Take a breath (Sunday) and come back to work on Monday.”  This is dangerously close to saying ‘we’re just happy to be here’.  I understand his appeal for calm, but I think there is a better way to talk about how the team has taken a step back.

-It’s not news to anyone, but I’m always bemused by how thin-skinned the local media is here in Ottawa.  Bruce Garrioch clearly isn’t enjoying the taste of humble pie he and his cohorts have been eating this season about Brian Elliott.  He’s right that Elliott had a bad season last year, but he knows full well that he and the Ottawa media played a part in getting him traded.

-Here are my thoughts on what will happen with Sens prospects who are potentially joining the organisation next season (the following are signed:  Silfverberg (will play pro), Zibanejad (ibid), Mark Stone (ibid), Noesen (can be returned to junior), Puempel (can be returned to junior); these players are graduating: Blood (NCAA), Wideman (NCAA), Culek (2010 draftee), Sorensen (2010 draftee), Kramer (last CHL year)).  My expectation is that both Noesen and Puempel will be returned to the OHL, Culek and Sorensen will be let go, and Blood, Wideman, and Kramer will wind up in Binghamton.  I believe Silfverberg will play all of next season in Ottawa, while Stone and Zibanejad will see some time in the AHL.

-Prospect updates (their position in team scoring is noted in brackets, defence compared to defence; I’ve also indicated if the player’s scoring position has change (with a + for up, – for down, and = for unchanged):
CHL
Mark Stone (RW, Brandon, WHL) 48-35-51-86 (1st=)
Shane Prince (C/LW, Ottawa 67s, OHL) 41-30-36-66 (2nd=)
Stefan Noesen (C/RW, Plymouth, OHL) 46-21-38-59 (1st=)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (RW, Chicoutimi, QMJHL) 34-30-27-57 (t-2nd+)
Matt Puempel (LW, Peterborough, OHL) 30-17-16-33 (5th-)
Darren Kramer (C/LW, Spokane, WHL) 51-18-14-32 (5th=)
Jakub Culek (C/LW, Rimouski, QMJHL) 41-9-18-27 (6th+)
Jordan Fransoo (D, Victoria, WHL) 53-2-13-15 (2nd=)
SEL
Jakob Silfverberg (C/RW, Brynas) 39-17-22-39 (1st=)
Mika Zibanejad (C/RW, Djurgarden) 16-4-4-8 (16th+)
Fredrik Claesson (D, Djurgarden) 39-1-5-6 (5th=)
Allsvenskan
Marcus Sorensen (RW, Boras) 23-7-6-13 (7th-)
NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (C, CCHA-Ohio State) 27-6-15-21 (3rd=)
Max McCormick (LW, CCHA-Ohio State) 21-8-10-18 (4th=)
Michael Sdao (D, ECAC-Princeton) 22-7-9-16 (1st=)
Chris Wideman (D, CCHA-Miami) 30-1-15-16 (1st=)
Bryce Aneloski (D, WCHA-Nebraska-Omaha) 28-4-11-15 (1st=)
Ben Blood (D, WCHA-North Dakota) 27-2-11-13 (t-2nd=)
Jeff Costello (LW, CCHA-Notre Dame) 22-3-6-9 (10th=)
Brad Peltz (LW, ECAC-Yale) 8-1-0-1 (20th=)

February 6, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Ottawa 0, Toronto 5; Binghamton 2, Portland 5

The organisation managed the trifecta tonight with all three teams losing.  The Senators didn’t show up for tonight’s contest against the Leafs (they had one scoring chance through the first thirty minutes) and deserved to lose tonight.  Players consistently took pointless, dumb penalties and the defensive coverage was lax.  Once again the blueline struggled with footspeed in the neutral and defensive zone and Craig Anderson couldn’t make a game-changing save.  Here’s the box score.  A look at the goals:
1. Toronto, Kessel
Carkner blocks the initial shot, but Kessel bangs in the rebound
2. Toronto, Phaneuf (pp)
Great one-timer
3. Toronto, Bozak
Nice pass through the seam catches Cowen and Gonchar flat-footed and Bozak scores on the mini-break
4. Toronto, Schenn
Alfredsson losses defensive position and Schenn beats Anderson with a simple wrist shot
5. Toronto, Franson (pp)
A great passing play through the box as the Sens can’t close down the passing lanes

There were no top-performers tonight, although Jim O’Brien and Kaspars Daugavins played hard.  The entire team struggled to the point where it’s difficult to single players out, but Zenon Konopka can’t keep taking dumb penalties.

Robin Lehner lost his first start since January 20th in a 5-2 decision.  Jack Downing and David Dziurzynski scored the goals.  Here’s the box score (once again there is no game summary from Joy Lindsay).

Elmira lost 2-1 in regulation, Brian Stewart taking the loss with Corey Cowick held pointless and Louie Caporusso not dressed.

February 5, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Senators News: February 4th

–Ian Mendes Tweets that no lineup changes are expected for the Sens, which if correct means Bobby Butler will sit again for Jim O’Brien

-One of the issues the Sens have been having during their losing streak is an inability to handle speed by their defensemen.  The older players, particularly Matt Carkner, just don’t move well enough.  I doubt the Sens will do anything to change that this season, but it will be interesting to see what the organisation does in the off-season (in Carkner‘s case, with the death of the heavy weight in the league, you’d have to think this year is his swan song).

–Zack Smith summed up the Sens problems last night, “I don’t think we executed the way we wanted. We tried being a little too cute at times. We didn’t get pucks to the net and didn’t challenge their ‘D’ enough entering the zone.”

-The lack of intensity by the Sens last night followed a hard practice from MacLean, which if nothing else illustrates how meaningless that approach is with this team.

–The Hockey News‘ Ken Campbell writes about Bryan Murray’s pre-deadline conundrum, “Murray is a GM who is more betwixt and between than perhaps any other. That’s kind of a good thing, considering the Senators were viewed by almost everyone as bottom feeders in the Eastern Conference this season, and here we are with roughly two months to go and the Senators are sixth in the conference. On one hand, they’ve played more games than everyone else and those games will be made up at some point. But on the other, teams such as the Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning have spent the season throwing away their chances of making the playoffs. So what’s Murray to do? Does he go out and make a trade for an impact player such as impending unrestricted free agent Tuomo Ruutu of the Carolina Hurricanes or does he stick to the rebuild philosophy and hope that’s enough to get his team into the playoffs this season? If they do make it, are the Senators a team that could make a little noise and go on a run or are they first-round road kill?  Murray has made it clear, however, that top prospects such as Mika Zibanejad, Mark Stone, Matt Puempel and Jakob Silfverberg are off limits. ‘We have one or two young guys in our system that we might be willing to trade,’ he said. ‘But there is no way we’re going to be trading that kind of asset.’ What is certain is the Senators appear to be on the right path for a long-term rebuild regardless of whether they end up on the north or south side of the Eastern Conference this season. They have served notice that they are much better than everyone thought they would be and that their route back to contender status is going to be much less circuitous than first projected. And Murray knows it doesn’t make a lot of sense to mess with that.”

–Hockey’s Future‘s D. J. Powers’ College Notebook includes this about Ottawa prospect Max McCormick, “It was a January to remember for Ohio State freshman Max McCormick, after posting seven points (five goals, two assists) in eight games during the month. The highlight was his first career hat trick on January 28th versus Lake Superior State. McCormick had a good start to his rookie campaign before suffering an injury that forced him to miss eight games in late October/early November. To date, McCormick has appeared in 19 games, posting 14 points (seven goals, seven assists).“

February 4, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

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