–Robin Lehner talked about his journey as a player:

It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint. (The Senators) are doing what they think is best for me. They’re trying to develop me as good as they want. I’m an asset to them and they want me to do as well as possible. I’ve got to trust them, too. They’ve got lots of hockey experience in this organization. I’m only 21 — I don’t know as much. I’m just eager to play and eager to show myself. I’ve got to deserve the opportunity first and that’s what I’m (trying to prove) now in the summer and heading to camp, to get them to want me to play here. That was just the thing for me, with the game in Boston and a few other games I played up here, to show myself and show other people that I can play at this level. I know I’ve got a long way to go and some technical things I need to work on, and I have to get more stable and be a little bit more calm in the net. People can look at it that way. This is a business and, of course, they’re going to do things money wise for the organization. That’s not my job. I have one job, to stop pucks and to try to stop as many as I can. That’s what it all comes down to in the end. You’ve got to believe it’s realistic (to make the team). I’m trying to prepare myself as well as I can to be able to get a spot. You never know. You go for it and you see what happens. I’m looking forward to it and I’m excited. Now, when I look back at it … it was a lot of good learning experiences. I think I developed as a goalie and I think I’ve developed and matured a lot as a (person). I’m starting to really know what it’s all about. Last year, in some ways, it didn’t go as we wanted, but it was a really good experience for us, too. Sometimes, that happens. Up here in Ottawa, it felt really good when I got the chance. The main thing for me is (having) the feeling that I got to be a better goalie. And I think I can stop more pucks this season.

The two comments that attract my attention are his mention of the team’s money concerns, which I take to be a reflection of Ben Bishop‘s one-way deal, and his comment about how things felt better in Ottawa, which is clearly where he would like to be.  Unfortunately for Lehner, I don’t think it matters if he’s the second coming of Jacques Plante because the organisation is not going to send Bishop to the minors.

-With next to nothing to write about articles are appearing talking about Jared Cowen and Jakob Silfverberg playing in Binghamton if there is a lockout.  This isn’t news to my mind–both players are signed and the organisation will decide where they play–but as I don’t believe the season is going to be effected by the CBA it’s largely a moot point anyway.

–Kyle Turris talked about the upcoming season:

It’s been great working with Schwarzy on things we want to get better at over the summer — getting stronger and putting on some weight. I feel really good. We’re all confident in our abilities as a team. It’s a lot of work to jell and combine together as a team over the course of a season. That’s why we had so much success over the course of last season and into the playoffs. We’re just going to have to do that again this year and everyone’s excited to get back at it. I think it’s exciting [playing with Latendresse]. It’s going to be fun. He’s a big, skilled player and he’s obviously a good player. It’s going to be a good addition for us and fun to have him as a part of our team. I enjoy every minute of it (here). It’s fun to go out and support different charities and learn more about them. I really enjoy going to those events and spending time in the city.

It will be interesting to see if Turris does add the strength he needs to his frame, since presumably that’s been something Phoenix was urging him to do while he was with their organisation.

-Every once and awhile I see an article like this one from Adam Proteau and wonder about the kind of defaults reporters use to fill space.  Proteau argues that a second team in Toronto will create the pressure necessary to make the Maple Leafs more interested in winning.  I have two of problems with this: 1) the assumption that the lack of a second team in the area means there’s no pressure on the Maple Leafs to win (a popular sentiment, but not something that’s demonstrable), 2) that the NHL will allow another team in Toronto.  Unless Proteau can establish the former, his speculation is irrelevant.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

August 22, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-I’ve been away for a week and most of the hockey news has surrounded the tedious CBA negotiations and its attendant hysteria.  Through that noise some Sens news has come down the pipe

–Peter Regin has been cleared for contact and considers himself healthy and fully recovered.

-Going back to August 10th, Tim Murray was on The Team 1200 and Nichols transcribed his comments.  He discusses Sens prospect Stefan Noesen:

We recognize certainly his ability and his potential. We have high expectations for him. I suspect that he’s going to be a top-six or seven forward. I suspect that he’s going to play on our power play someday. I suspect that he is going to be a hard guy to play against and be a very competitive guy so our expectations are high. As far as the casual fan, I’m not quite sure what they think or know from him. I think that there are fans out there that follow (the Senators) quite closely and follow the OHL quite closely and know that he’s a quite good prospect. The rules dictate that Stefan makes our team or goes back to junior but for the most part, and I know it’s a cliche but it is true, we’ll let him decide that. He’ll either knock our socks off or go back to junior and that’s basically the two choices that he has. He can’t come into camp and have a solid camp. We’ll be happy with that but it won’t put him on the hockey club.

There’s nothing new here other than setting the development ceiling the team see’s for Noesen.  Murray then commented on Mika Zibanejad playing in North American this upcoming season:

That’s our plan and that’s the thought obviously. We know things can change. There could be a family issue. There are multiple reasons why he would go back next year but that’s not what we want. The plan is for him to either be here eithere in Ottawa or in Binghamton. As I say, I shouldn’t be so definitive in an article like that because we know that it could change but the idea is for him to be here. He wants to be here. We want him here. Is there something that could pop up in the future to change that? Sure, but I don’t foresee that.

The possibility that Zibanejad might return to Sweden at all surprises me, but I still believe he’ll play for either Ottawa or Binghamton this year.  Murray then commented on Bobby Butler‘s buyout:

It was mostly the numbers game. It was partly the way he played. It was partly, I guess, the way that he prepared. I know I hear it all. I hear it’s a long season in Bingo and I hear a lot of things from different people and from different sources, but that came into it. I just think it was easy to do because of the numbers. It was basically $400,000 over two years. The cap hit doesn’t mean anything because of the position that we’re in. I just think the number and I have to say I guess a little bit the way that he played and prepared for last season sure (contributed to his buyout). To me Bobby was a success. He had a two-way contract. He came out of college hockey a little more mature athlete than a kid out of junior. He went down to Binghamton and he played some games (in Ottawa). He played in Binghamton and he scored some big goals down there. Maybe the team doesn’t win a (Calder) Championship without him, so I think his first year was a success. He gets a one-way (contract) because of the way that the CBA was worded and the amount of games that he has to play in the NHL for us to retain his rights and a whole bunch of different reasons that he gets the one-way deal. I think he kind of on the ice deserved the one-way deal. We had to give it to him or lose him anyway. I think maybe he just got caught up in: we win a championship, he played a lot, it was a short summer and he just… it all came at him too quickly and he didn’t know how to prepare for the following year. Now I think he can take a step back and certainly, I think you can learn from that. I assume that he’s having a better summer this year and is being more prepared. He signed a two-way (contract) with Jersey and now he has to earn his NHL games again and we’ll see where he’s at.

There’s nothing surprising about the comments.  Murray then talked about signing college free agents in general:

I think that they’re a good try. They are on a two-way. You have to give them a signing bonus. I think that when you can get a free player like that… I just don’t know what you guys expect or the fans expect when (we announce the signing of a collegiate free agent). For the most part, (Jesse (Winchester), Bobby (Butler) at times in their time with us in Ottawa, we’ve been very pleased with the production that we got from the money that we put out.

Murray touches on the primary problem college free agents face–hype (as I concluded not long ago).  The expectations for undrafted NCAA stars are often higher than is warranted.  The only other items of note was Murray commenting on Matt Puempel‘s improvements as a player and that the team is essentially done in free agency.

–Adnan wonders what fans can expect in terms of production from Erik Karlsson and compares him to a number of other top offensive blueliners, but I think the most important comment is this one, “most of those players did this [continuing high levels of production] in the 1980s where scoring goals was a lot easier.”  If Adnan said “from the 1967 expansion into the early 1990s” he would be absolutely correct about when scoring was high in the NHL.  This makes the comparisons very tricky, as the trend in the NHL is less scoring (declining every single year).

–The Hockey News has been slowly grinding out their predictions for the 2012-13 season and have picked the Senators to finish eighth in the Eastern Conference:

The Sens surprised many (THN included) when they made the playoffs last season. However, now that offense-minded dynamo and reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson has blossomed into a superstar, they won’t be able to sneak up on opponents. The good news is that with goaltending depth (Craig Anderson, Ben Bishop and Robin Lehner), a buttressed blueline (with the addition of Marc Methot) and promising youngsters including Kyle Turris, Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad up front, they don’t need stealth to in order to win.

I don’t know why THN doesn’t fully embrace being wrong about the Sens last year–it happened to most predictions.  There’s no need to qualify the error by saying the Sens were “sneaky”.  I actually think the Sens are likely to finish on the outside looking in (an opinion shared by Nichols), and I have problems both with decreased offensive capacity of Ottawa’s blueline, the ability of the team to reproduce their offensive production overall, and I my opinion of the Anderson/Bishop tandem is “wait and see”.

-For those who’ve followed the Dany Heatley saga after being traded from Ottawa, he’s filled a lawsuit against his former agent

–Stu Hackel writes about the NHL’s deplorable officiating and notes that the uninspiring Colin Campbell has admitted the officiating standards have slipped considerably since the post-lockout era began.  One can only hope there’s a slight shift towards allowing skill to return to the forefront of the game.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

August 20, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

–The 6th Sens provide their Senators essentials for Puck Daddy.  It’s an entertaining read and re-cap and I encourage you to check it out, but their notion that the 2002/03 Senators were better than the 2005/06 Sens is wrong and while there are many reasons for that I’ll make it simple: goaltending.  No one wins with Patrick Lalime between the pipes.

-Here’s my look at the success of college free agents in the post-lockout NHL.

–Mark Parisi writes a long article wondering why fans expectations for rookies are so varied (specifically comparing Colin Greening to other prospects), but never makes the connection that the difference is hype.  No one hyped Greening or Condra the way they have Mika Zibanejad, Mark Stone, and Jakob Silverberg.

-In the “water is wet” category Bruce Garrioch reports that Mika Zibanejad won’t be going back to Sweden.  This is only news to Garrioch himself, but he does provide some comments about how disappointed the Sens were with how Djurgarden used Zibanejad when he was in Sweden:

Nothing is ever a waste of time so it wasn’t a waste of time, but it was close to that I guess. They weren’t very good. I assume the management and coaching staff have to take some responsibility for that. The players suffer. Unless you’re there every day you don’t know, but I can say there were times they didn’t (put him in the role they promised). Consistently, they didn’t. There were probably times we didn’t see them play that they did. Overall, no, it wasn’t a great experience, that’s for sure. There’s at least one spot in a Top-6 role and I think any one of the kids could come in and push for that. It’s going to be good competition. He can play either wing. He did for Sweden. I don’t think it matters at all. You can see that he’s a top player. He looked good in spurts. When he gets the puck in the offensive zone and when he shoots the puck, he shoots it like nobody else. He’s got a 10-out-of-10 NHL shot, not (just) a top shot for his own age group. He shoots the puck like a man. That’s his biggest asset.

-For those looking for a primer on the New Jersey Devils financial situation check out Stu Hackel‘s article.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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

-Joy Lindsay, Binghamton’s excellent beat writer for the past two years, is moving on from the team.  I join many other fans in wishing her all the best–her coverage of all things Binghamton was second to none.

-In Joy’s final post she clarifies that Shane Prince can be returned to junior, which would help alleviate the forward clutter in Binghamton’s roster.

-Speaking of Binghamton, I will continue updating my roster and expectations as new information dictates.

–Mark Parisi wonders if signing college free agents is worth it (something I brought up when Bobby Butler was bought out), but instead of looking at their general success he sadly limits his comments to Ottawa’s signings under Bryan Murray and listing Hobey Baker winners.  I would have liked to see some analysis on the broader phenomena post-lockout, but I am beginning to think I’ll have to write about it myself.  I limit myself to post-lockout because the attitude of teams towards drafting, prospects, and college free agents changed with the new CBA.

-Here are my profiles of Zack Smith and Colin Greening.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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