–Luke Richardson talked about Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad:

The beginning of the season, Silfverberg and Zibanejad were offensive guys who were used to having a lot of room on the big rinks (in Europe), and they found it an adjustment to how hard the American league really was. It was an eye-opener, for sure. Both of them have developed quite nicely, but Silfverberg lately has really been taking over games. He didn’t have too many points at the beginning of the year, and points don’t mean everything, but his play over the last month has been dominating. He can do it at the next level. He’s a smart, skilled player and he’s really starting to take to the North American game. He’s a lot more forceful in the areas that require a bit more physicality and he’s not afraid to go to the net. People will be shocked when they see him shoot the puck, it really is unbelievable. It will be fun to watch him at the next level.

He [Zibanejad] really had his body run down. He’s just back practising full-time now, he looked great (Tuesday) in his first full-on practice, taking a regular turn on a line, taking extra faceoffs after practice. At this point, he hasn’t played a game in a while, so I don’t know what the thought process is and I know (the Senators) are still trying to figure things out on how many players they want and who’s coming up (from Binghamton), but I would guess they’d want him to play some (AHL) games first. Is he behind a bit because he’s missed some time? Maybe, but he’s a young, strong athlete who can rebound quickly, so I’m sure that will be a topic of conversation this week and I wouldn’t be surprised either way.

–Paul MacLean talked about the upcoming season and sadly didn’t say much of anything.  One thing that I think Nichols (whose transcript I’ve linked) is right in questioning was this:

I think whoever plays the best is going to play. I don’t think it gives him any more of an advantage. Robin Lehner has been very good in Binghamton. The games that I’ve gone to see, he’s been the best player on the ice. I’ve seen Ben Bishop play down there and he’s been the best player on the ice. So both of them have played very well. Craig Anderson is our number one goaltender at this point in time and I think between the three of those guys, we’ve got two real good goalies and two of them are going to be here. I think it would be unfair to say that just because one player’s contract says this that they get the position over the (other) guy. I think the best player is going to be here.

As much as I respect MacLean I think there’s zero chance Bishop doesn’t make the team–he’s on a one-way and cost the team a 2nd round pick–they want him to have a chance at the NHL level.  MacLean talked about the depleted defence:

Well the injury to Jared Cowen has been, we all knew it was a blow at the time. That would have given us a solid four. Now with Michael Lundin, now his injury is also (adds) a little bit of heat.  The opportunity for him to come in and take one of those four spots, he’s going to be a week or two into the season and we’re going to be into… so we’ll see how that affects him. But, the good thing is … good young players… Patrick Wiercioch has played very (well) in Binghamton this year and he just might be ready to come in and play. Last year with Jared Cowen, we gave Jared Cowen the opportunity. We kept putting him back out on the ice and that made him a better player as the season went on. Patrick Wiercioch and Mark Borowiecki as well, he’s playing very well in Binghamton. And these young players, we’re still a team of opportunity for young players. We don’t want to lose track of that thought with the success that we had last year. Yes, we want to be successful and continue down that road, but we also want to be a team of opportunity for young players. This is an opportunity for Mark Borowiecki and Patrick Wiercioch to come in and say, ‘Hey, I’m a NHL player and I want to be an Ottawa Senator. I can do it and know what the coach needs me to do to play in this league and if you keep giving me that opportunity, I can.’

MacLean also made an interesting comment about the loss of Nick Foligno:

Nick was really a good soldier for this team. And really did a lot of good things for us. He’s a player who I think is really on the verge of blossoming into the type of player that he believes he is and everyone believes he is. But at the same time, you have to give something up to get something. And we felt with the drafting of Jakob Silfverberg and being the player of the year in Sweden, Mark Stone coming in and playing in the playoffs and playing very well and Mike Hoffman’s play, we just felt that we had depth at that position at forward. We felt that we needed a top four defenceman to put into our mix with Filip (Kuba) leaving and that ended up being… we felt that we made that deal from strength and made our team better.

So the combination of solid forward prospects and a need on the blueline played into Foligno‘s departure–this isn’t new per se, but I find it interesting Hoffman is included with the two more highly touted forward prospects.

MacLean also made it clear that his expectation is that Peter Regin will be playing on the third line, which fits most people’s projected lineups.

–Allen Panzeri looks at the six Binghamton players he’s identified to push for a spot with the Sens: Silfverberg, Mark Stone, Patrick Wiercioch, Mark Borowiecki, Andre Benoit, and Robin Lehner.

-Binghamton faces Wilkes-Barre (15-16-3) tonight; Beau Bennett leads the Penguins in scoring (23 points) while Jeff Zatkoff handles the load in goal (11-11-0 2.22 .912).

-In a surprise move Brad Peltz (a healthy scatch for last 12 Binghamton games) has been loaned to the Trenton Titans rather than Elmira; presumably this is to find him ice time rather than a problem with the Jackals organisation.

-NHL power rankings are a largely pointless exercise, but I’m including them so they can be looked back on when the season is over to see how well various journalists did.  Here’s Adrian Dater‘s, with Ottawa at #19 saying:

It’s nice that Daniel Alfredsson didn’t have his career ended by a fully lost  season. His return figures to be a boon for the Sens on and off the ice. These guys were better than people (hand raised) thought they’d be last year, and they gave the Rangers fits in the playoffs. But this team is aging somewhat, with  five players 30 or older. In this league, it gets harder and harder to get by on  veteran moxie. If Craig Anderson can have a big season in net, though, another  playoff spot is very possible.

The “aging” thing makes me shake my head.  The only key players who are truly aging are Alfredsson and Gonchar–that’s an important element, but doesn’t define the whole team.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 9, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-With the lockout over Sens news and speculation is flooding the interwebs, although it’s amusing to see some sites (like The Hockey News and TSN) simply regurgitate their pre-lockout predictions as “news”.

–Bryan Murray talked about the upcoming training camp and season:

Yeah, I think the setup on our first couple of lines should be, we have good skill. Obviously we think with that, we have some goal scoring ability. On the next two lines, we have a little bit of size. We have a little bit of variety of players – penalty killers, hard-nosed, competitive guys. I think our forward group is good and on top of that, we have Noesen, who is playing in Plymouth. We’ve got (Mark) Stone and (Mike) Hoffman. We’ve got a good group of young forwards down in Binghamton that, if they have to come up and play some games for us, can contribute. I think that’s where we really have a good edge right now.

The key thing here is its depth at the forward position, not the blueline.  On Jakob Silfverberg:

Yeah, he’s got a (good) head and hands. When a player has that, and he can get up and down the ice somewhat, you know he can contribute. You’re right, Jakob started fairly slow down there. I think the smaller ice surface, the type of game in the American (Hockey) League was a bit of a factor for him but he made the adjustment. I’ve seen a few of his highlight goals on tape and I keep replaying them hoping that he’ll be able to do it up here. He shoots the puck a ton. He’s got a head around the net and he makes real quality plays, so whoever plays with him will benefit from that as well.

On the state of the team’s blueline:

Well, it’s interesting, over the last day and a half now, I’ve received a number of calls from free agents, veteran guys that we will look at. But, we do have… again, we have some kids that have played very well – (Mark) Borowiecki, (Andre) Benoit, (Patrick) Wiercioch and (Eric) Gryba… people of that nature. So we will take a look at them as well. But I’ve talked to a couple of GMs about some surplus that we might have to get what we need. It’s like a normal year there. We will try and take our time, be smart about it, add the right chemistry type of guy to our lineup and hopefully (defence) won’t be the weak spot. We’re short in numbers, there’s no question and it’s really terrible that we lost Jared the way we did. But hopefully it will work out to our benefit later on because of this; we get a kid playing that will learn a lot and be better in the long run. No, they’re hard to get and it’s hard to have enough depth there. As I say, we have some big, young kids that are playing there and playing very well. We know they’re well-schooled in Binghamton and I think the way that it looks now at any rate, we’ll probably start with our own group and if we have to make an adjustment as we go forward, we will do that.

There’s really no replacement for Cowen, but I have a hard time imagining the Sens signing a veteran as anything other than a short-term solution.  Murray suggested he may have to make a trade to Wayne Scanlan.  On the organisation’s goaltending:

Yeah, we’ve been very, very happy overall. The two kids in Binghamton have been outstanding. Robin Lehner has been really, a star. A lot of nights they get outshot badly and outplayed and they win the hockey game and only give up one goal. So we’re going to really have to take a hard look at the two young guys along with Craig (Anderson). Our depth, again I mention up front and in goal in particular, our depth is really good. And in a shortened season, goaltending is going to be a major, major factor. So we have to play the right guy to start off with and hopefully he’ll carry the ball, whoever it may be, will carry the ball and help us win some games early on in particular. Yeah, the one thing that has happened with Robin, he’s matured so much. His game is so much better. His approach is really good. I think he understands now, which is hard for young players sometimes, that it does take time to make it (to the NHL). But you hope when you make it, you stay for a long time. And I think Robin understands that totally, so we’re going to give him a great viewing here. We’re going to give him a great opportunity here and if he has to go back (to Bingo) and play, I know he’ll be terrific down there as well.

All of this points to Lehner remaining in Binghamton.  Finally, on team toughness:

Oh boy, if we’re not tough enough, I’ll get some advice from (Don Brennan) I’m sure and he’ll tell me who to go get. I think that’s the one issue… there’s no question that having Matt Carkner and (Zenon) Konopka last year was a nice ability to put into (the lineup) – like in Game 2 against the Rangers. I think we’re tough enough. I think we have competitive people. And if we’re not, we’ll have to address it. But I think again, with the shortened season, we’re going to see a lot more competitive hockey. You’ve got to stay on the ice and you’ve got to play hard. Recognizing that, there probably won’t be a luxury of carrying a tough-guy only.

I enjoy Murray tweaking Don Brennan’s nose for all his whinging for the departed tough guys (Don choose not to mention the matter in his own column).  Toughness is not going to be an issue for the Sens.

-Nichols makes my point about Jared Cowen even more vociferously than I did yesterday:

The Jared Cowen injury really buggers up the Senators depth chart and with the possibility of starting the season with three new defensive pairings, the potential lack of cohesion on the back end gives me cause for concern; especially if it necessitates playing Gonchar and Phillips together against decent competition for 20-plus minutes per game.

–Varada is back with the hockey season and within his lengthy post offers the following:

I think we [the Senators] have some regression in store, helped along by the lack of mister 20-minutes-a-night Kuba, Cowen and Lundin’s injuries, Phillips, Gonchar and Alfie all being one year older, Michalek’s shooting percentage coming back down to earth, Karlsson probably not leading all defencemen in scoring by 20 points, and that we pretty much lucked out in not missing Spezza or Michalek or Alfie to injuries that much last year. I don’t think we’ll see a bottoming out, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find us just on the outside of the bubble looking in. I wrote earlier how if there was a year that the Sens were going to go futile on us, it may as well be this one, when I’m used to no hockey and we’d only have to live with about 50 games of sucking. Then again, wackier things have happened in a shortened season.

This is certainly a possibility (and a better elucidated version of a downturn than Mark Parisi offers below).  On the surface it all boils down to the blueline and whether it can hold up given the issues it has.  James (who offers his opinions in the same link) is more positive, but (like me) also has the blueline as his primary concern.  Varada continues:

I feel like Turris is the natural answer to the breakout player question, though I’ve never been a huge champion of the kid and I’m skeptical still. I think he’ll do just fine as a 2nd line center, but breaking out, turning heads, stealing hearts? I dunno. Maybe. I think I’ll go with Jakub [Jakob] Silfverberg, who I think may be a part of the Calder conversation, thus increasing the “Is Jakub the reincarnation of the not-yet-dead-Alfie?’ chatter. As for the player in the doghouse, I’d say either Phillips or Neil, both of whom I think should have moved on a couple of seasons ago during the purge. Phillips is a serviceable second pairing guy, and obviously he’s a veteran with a great history in the city, but at $3MM per I don’t know if having both he and Marc Methot around battling for the not-quite-good-enough-to-play-with-Karlsson spot sets my world on fire. Neil gets a bit of a pass because Carkner and Konoptka are gone and as hockey savant Don Brennan will tell you, you need someone on your team who if he wasn’t playing hockey would probably be in jail. Neil will fight people, so…we need him? Veteran, pump-up guy, history in the city, blah blah blah. But his possession numbers are brutal. He also takes more penalties than he draws, making the whole ‘pest’ element a bit of a wash. I don’t know if I care much for yet another season of Neil scoring, what, 20 points? Holy shit, I completely forgot that this team signed Peter Regin. He might pleasantly surprise.

Safe picks for a breakout player, although Turris doesn’t qualify for me (or James) unless he runs at a point-per-game pace or something (the guy was the third overall pick in 2007, so a good to great season shouldn’t be a surprise).  Silfverberg will be that player if he has a productive season; no one else really springs to mind unless Regin really is healthy and can produce.  As for the doghouse I think Varada is spot on, although both those players are largely immune to criticism in the media here so another scapegoat would be found.  James defends Phillips, but he’s watched the Big Rig’s play decline over the years…it may get ugly this season.

–Mark Parisi offers up his five burning questions for the Sens:
5. Did the Sens over achieve last season?
Parisi doesn’t offer an answer, but it’s a valid question that’s hard to answer–I think they did, but this season and last form their own distinctive entities
4. Did the team lose too much toughness?
No.  I don’t see this as a serious question
3. What, if anything, should be done about the goaltending logjam?
I think the organisation has already made this decision, so it’s really only a question for fans who disagree with an Anderson/Bishop pairing
2. Where will the goals come from?
Given that Ottawa didn’t lose many goals to free agency in the summer, this question only makes sense if we can know players are going to have down seasons (an assumption that would need some backing methinks)
1. Who will replace Jared Cowen?
No one directly–there’s no trade or free agent who can provide what Cowen does.  I think the team will try internally first and then externally if that doesn’t work

-Sens prospect Cody Ceci was traded from the 67s to Owen Sound yesterday.  Ceci will be invited to the Sens camp, but it’s clear from Bryan Murray’s comments (above) that there’s no chance of him making the NHL roster.

–Jeremy Milks makes the odd prediction that Zack Smith will be Ottawa’s comeback player…coming back from what?  I’m not sure what heights Jeremy thinks he’ll be returning too.

–Pierre LeBrun goes through some of the CBA nuances, the most interesting of which is retaining salary via trade.  As LeBrun writes:

Here are the main parameters of the rule: A club cannot absorb more than 50 percent of the players’ annual cap hit/salary in any trade. Any NHL club can only have up to three contracts on their payroll in which the contract was traded away under the retaining salary proviso. Also, only up to 15 percent of your upper limit cap amount can be used up by the money you have retained in trades.  For example, let’s say the Maple Leafs want to trade little-used blueliner Mike Komisarek and his $4.5-million cap hit ($3.5 million salary this year) to the New York Islanders  (hypothetically). The Leafs could retain half the cap hit — $2.25 million — and half the salary — $1.75 million — in order to facilitate the deal. The Islanders would pay him the other half. This should facilitate more trades around the league, no question.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 8, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 3 Comments

-Binghamton lost 5-2 to Albany (I was only able to watch the first period).  Robin Lehner took the loss while Patrick Wiercioch and Shane Prince provided the offense.  Here’s the box score and the highlights (which do not include Prince‘s goal).  Robin Lehner talked about the loss:

We were sleeping in the first. We have got to look at ourselves and see what’s going on. The last couple of weeks we have had very bad first periods and today too. The first goal I could’ve been a little better and maybe caught that… it’s not good enough right now. We got back in the second (period) and I felt pretty good in the second but unfortunately it wasn’t enough today.

Luke Richardson said:

We weren’t ready to compete and play tonight and they were. You can see that from the penalty kill, the 5-on-5, to everything. They deserved the win.

-For those who missed it, here’s my look at Binghamton at the thirty game mark.

-Elmira defeated Trenton 4-3 last night, with Marc Cheverie picking up the win, Dustin Gazley had three points and Danny New picked up a goal.

-I’ve been asked to speculate about the Sens roster, so here are a few early thoughts:
Forwards: Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Daniel Alfredsson, and Kyle Turris are the only locks as top-six forwards.  It’s likely that Guillaume Latendresse will play in that group, but performance (and health) will dictate if he stays.  I expect Jacob Silfverberg to make the team, but I don’t think he has to play with the top forward group to be effective (his time in the AHL will give him an edge in training camp however).  Given the number of forwards the Sens have signed, I think Silverberg is the only realistic addition from Binghamton.  Colin Greening may spend time with the top-six as well (he did last year), as could a healthy Peter Regin.  The other forwards (Chris Neil, Zack Smith, Erik Condra, Jim O’Brien, and Kaspars Daugavins) are all locks for the bottom two lines.
Defence: Erik Karlsson, Sergei Gonchar, Marc Methot, and Chris Phillips form the team’s top-four group while Mike Lundin (when healthy) will play in the bottom pair.  I expect Mark Borowiecki to start with the team while Patrick Wiercioch and Andre Benoit compete for the spot freed by Lundin.  None of the Binghamton blueliners is guaranteed to stick for the season and whatever struggles the team face will dictate who spends the most time there (if defensive grittiness is needed it benefits Borowiecki, while if there’s an offensive deficit I’d expect Wiercioch to see significant time).
Goaltending: I don’t see any alternative to Craig Anderson–Ben Bishop, despite Robin Lehner‘s play in Binghamton.
Potential deals: I’m not a fan of Ottawa’s blueline when Jared Cowen is on the shelf, so something may be done to bolster it.  The forward group could struggle as well, but given the number of quality players in the pipeline I don’t think there is the same sense of urgency.
The Cap: the Sens are extremely well situated to deal with the new cap and can choose to do nothing to be comfortably within the CBA.
Expectations: as a young team in the midst of a rebuilding transition the club could go anywhere.  Last year the health of veterans played a huge role and I think that and goaltending will be the key to how things unfold this season.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 7, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-The big news of the day is that the NHL lockout is over (Darren Dreger reports training camps could open as early as Wednesday).  I have to give SensProspects his due for calling it early.  I didn’t think the lockout would happen and then believed it would be short, but in the end the league and players weren’t stupid enough to lose an entire season.  Hopefully the hockey will be entertaining over the truncated schedule.  Mark Parisi worries that the acrimonious relationship between the players and the owners will lead to further problems, but I don’t see it.  The CBA is all about the money.  Pierre LeBrun breaks down the deal while Stu Hackel looks at some of the factors involved in coming to a deal, including:

The threat by the players of disclaiming interest in their union — essentially dissolving it as their bargaining agent in these negotiations. Had they actually done so, it would have removed the legal obstacles preventing them from pursing anti-trust litigation against the owners. Had lawsuits of that nature proceeded, and if a judge ruled in favor of the players, the owners would have been liable for triple the monetary damages being sought. This was a tactic to get the league to bargain more actively when it showed little willingness to compromise on key issues and was only put before the players reluctantly by the NHLPA leadership and rather late in the process; some labor law experts and observers believed the union should have gone this route weeks, if not months, ago. The players first voted to give their executive committee the authority to disclaim interest in late December, with an expiration of Jan. 2, and as that date came closer, progress began to be made. When it expired and there was no agreement, the players detected that the owners changed their approach to bargaining, so they voted again to give the executive that authority and an agreement followed in short order.

A third factor was the removal of owners from the process. At many of the major bargaining sessions, a group of hardline owners sat across the table from the union representatives and players. Those sessions were generally unproductive and, at times, fractious. More progress was made in early December when some less militant owners joined the talks and Bettman and Fehr temporarily excluded themselves. But the hardest of the hardliners, Boston’s Jeremey Jacobs and Calgary’s Murray Edwards, remained involved and those sessions couldn’t finish off the agreement. Talks came crashing to a halt when the players said they wanted Fehr back in the process, that they were not trained in the art of closing the deal, and having their leader present was something they were certainly entitled to do. Edwards reportedly told them that Fehr’s return would be a deal-killer and things ground to a halt. Following that episode, the league wisely decided against active ownership participation.

-Binghamton continued their winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Hershey.  I was unable to watch the game, but Ben Bishop picked up the win (the only goal against came off Eric Gryba‘s skate), while Stephane Da Costa, Mike Hoffman, and Mark Stone (empty-netter) provided the goals.  Here are the highlights and the box score.

-Binghamton faces Albany (12-11-7) this afternoon; the Devils are lead by former B-Sen Bobby Butler (22 points) and backstopped by Keith Kinkaid (9-7-3 2.40 .918).  Binghamton defeated Albany 3-2 in their last meeting.

-Elmira lost 6-4 to Reading last night with Gazley (named as an ECHL all-star), Downing, and Caporusso all earning points in the loss.  The Jackals play Trenton (14-14-5) this afternoon; the Titans are lead by Andy Bohmbach and backstopped by Scott Wedgewood (10-9-2 3.03 .901).

–Don Brennan offers his Sens predictions for this season which seem to have been composed months ago and dusted off with the lockout over.  Brennan speculates Craig Anderson will be traded at some point because…well it’s not really made clear why (I’ll infer that it’s to make room for Robin Lehner).  He speculates that Jakob Silfverberg could one day be a 35-goal scorer (an odd number to choose), but otherwise all his roster guesses are standard (Peter Regin goes unmentioned but presumably fits in as the unnamed player on the third line).

–Ken Warren also looks at the roster and speculates that the Sens may need to make a trade to fill in the void left by Jared Cowen.  He also indulges in Brennan’s Anderson speculation, although I suspect it is much more likely that Ben Bishop would be trade bait if a deal is made this year.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 6, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-Binghamton defeated Wilkes-Barre 3-1 last night in a game I was able to watch.  The B-Sens had a slow start and were badly outshot in the game (44-15), but were opportunistic and overcame some brutal officiating.  Robin Lehner earned the win while Derek Grant, Mike Hoffman, and Hugh Jessiman provided the goals.  There was an ugly boarding incident as Eric Tangradi ran Mark Borowiecki late in the game–it bodes well for Tangradi‘s future as a Penguin (2:40 in the highlight package).  Here are the highlights and box score.

-Binghamton plays Hershey (16-14-2) tonight.  The Bears are lead by Jeff Taffe (32 points) and backstopped by Braden Holtby (12-10-1 2.15 .932).  Binghamton won their last meeting 2-1 in OT.

-Elmira defeated conference leading Reading 5-3 last night.  Darren Kramer picked up an assist in his return to the lineup (along with two fights), while Jack Downing had a three-point night, Louie Caporusso had two points, and Dustin Gazley scored.  The Jackals play the Royals again tonight.

-I wasn’t able to watch either WJC game, but Canada lost 6-5 to Russia while the Swedes lost 3-1 to the States.  I imagine there will be some soul-searching here, but while I think the coaching for Canada could have been better there’s not much to draw from a single elimination tournament.

-Here’s an update on how Senators players in Europe have performed:
Erik Karlsson (SM-Liiga) 30-9-25-34
Jason Spezza (NLA) 28-9-21-30
Sergei Gonchar (KHL) 35-3-25-28
Milan Michalek (Czech) 20-11-11-22
Kyle Turris (SM-Liiga) 21-7-12-19
Kaspars Daugavins (KHL) 34-5-8-13
Mike Lundin (Allsvenskan) 7-0-4-4
Colin Greening (Denmark) 17-13-12-25
Zack Smith (Denmark) 7-4-6-10
Peter Regin (NLB) 4-2-3-5
Erik Condra (Ger-3/Ger-2) 7-8-11-19/10-10-5-15

As expected all the players (save Daugavins) have dominated their respective leagues.

–Stu Hackel sums up the current state of the CBA negotiations, but I don’t think their bitter nature will interfere with a deal getting done.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 5, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-Binghamton plays Wilkes-Barre (14-14-3) tonight; the Penguins are lead by Beau Bennett (21 points) and backstopped by Jeff Zatkoff (11-10-0 2.18 .915).  In their last meeting the B-Sens beat Wilkes-Barre 4-3 in a game where they overcame a 3-0 deficit.

–Luke Richardson talked about how the team improved after a rocky start:

I think at the beginning of the year (it was) to really shore up the defensive side of the game. And part of working on the defence is just to get the puck back (up the ice) quicker so you can have it more when you’re fresh to create offence. I know that’s the philosophy they use in Ottawa – to play defense fast. And we just try to copy that and keep it in house in the organization so when players do (get called) up, they’re on the same wavelength; even if we don’t play exactly the same, it’s pretty close as a philosophy. I think as we went, we really worked on creating scoring chances off the rush and being in better spots in the offensive zone on any kind of a forecheck or a rotation. Definitely the power play – they have done a great job and we had to find some units that work better together and players that work better together. They’ve worked really hard at simplifying things, getting pucks to the net and having some courage to stand in front of the net in those tough areas when guys are blasting pucks away at 100 miles an hour. We’ve really created some opportunities for ourselves to score some goals and like you said, goaltending has been our… and our defensive core, especially on the penalty killing side of things have kept goals to a minimal and (scoring) chances to a minimal. Even some nights when shots seem to be a little bit high, they’re all from the outside or most of them are from non-scoring areas; so we’ve taken pride in that and that is everybody on the team. Everybody has done a good job of that, so we’re proud of that. I think the hard work comes in where we’ve really skated and I think we’ve really outskated teams, especially in the third periods, to create those offensive chances to get our goals and that’s where you see us coming back in the third periods from deficits. Or maybe in games that are 1-1 like the other night, and we kind of overtake a team that is tired on the road (St. Johns) and we kind of outskate them in the third and take over control of the game. I think we’ve really evolved into a complete team up to this point and we still want to push and get better. These guys are a really fun group to work with. They seem to really enjoy each other and I think the biggest part of coaching is trying to mesh guys together, enjoy being together and enjoy working hard together. And they’ve done that so that’s a great credit to them.

Nichols (who provides the text above) rightly points out that Richardson’s frequent praise of the team’s defensive work doesn’t jive with the amount of shots they give up (worst in the AHL).  This isn’t to say the B-Sens haven’t improved defensively, but it does mean stellar goaltending is making up for a lot of mistakes.  In fairness to the defense, their two most defensive blueliners have missed significant time (9 games for Eric Gryba and 8 games for Mark Borowiecki) and they were hurt at different times, so only 12 times this season has Binghamton enjoyed its true bulwark on the blueline (the team is 10-1-1 when both are in the lineup).  About the goaltending Richardson said:

I think consistently when you look at it now and you think, ‘Oh, wow, you’ve got Lehner and (Ben Bishop)’ but Robin has been here from the start of training camp and that gives him that extra notch above (Bishop) and he’s been solid all year long. He’s a big guy that has come in good shape and a good frame of mind this year that wants to accomplish something. He looks like he really wants to follow it through all the way to the end of the season and that’s great to see. I’ve said it before, he’s not just a typical quiet goalie on game days. He’s vocal. He’s a leader in the room. He likes to have fun with the guys and talk with the guys whether he’s playing or not. You can’t say enough about him. He has set his mind to something this year and he’s following through. You’ve always got to give young guys credit for that. And then having Ben Bishop here has been great, he’s probably pushing Robin. He’s just a consummate pro. He’s there every day whether he plays or not and he’s a joy to have around. He really makes things calm for our defence when he’s in there because he can play that puck so well. I’m sure that’s a benefit for Robin to see and learn and work with too.

There’s nothing new here, but I’m reminded that no one in the organisation (player or coach) seems to refers to Ben Bishop by his first name; the seeming lack of familiarity has always struck me as odd, although maybe I just don’t remember seeing a quote where he’s just “Ben”.  Richardson then talked about Stephane Da Costa‘s slow start:

Consistency is something that he is probably going to have to work on. He came back from his first stint with injuries at the beginning of the year and I think he was good and bad, and he knew it. He was frustrated and sometimes, as just as an offensive guy, you think you have to take chances and create things when they’re not there and you basically create more problems for yourself and everybody else on the ice by doing that; you end up chasing defensively more than when you have the puck offensively. We talked to him about that and he already knew. Good players already know when you come to talk to them about something that needs to be adjusted. I think his work ethic when he was injured really rose and he really knew. He said, ‘I’ve got to get stronger.’ He really worked hard and he continues to work hard and he is becoming more of a two-way player where he can track (the puck). And when he puts his mind to it, he can… I forget where we were… I think it was Albany, he did a great job on the road in the third period in a tight game using his body, checking in the defensive zone and getting pucks out when we had the lead at the end of the game instead of worrying about making a fancy play or a long neutral zone pass through the middle (of the ice). I think that’s the part of the game where he’s really understanding where and when he has to be that dynamic offensive player and when he just has to play hockey the rest of the time. He’s coming along. He is playing well. He’s playing with Mike Hoffman and Jakob Silfverberg right now and they’re doing a great job of leading us offensively and doing some great stuff on the power play. So we just look for him to consistently go and get better and be that man every night.

Needless to say, anyone who gets to play with Silfverberg looks like a better player (Pat Cannone hasn’t been the same since he was taken off his line).  Finally, Richardson pointed to Derek Grant as someone who has surprised him this year:

If you look at his play and his numbers are probably impressive, especially the shorthanded goal department, but if you watched him play now and you watched him play last year… just taking charge as a big centerman, getting physical and being able to play against the top line on the other team every night  and do a great job. And he’s got the dynamic part where he can check them so well that when they turn the puck over, he’s dangerous offensively. The other night again, it was a 2-1 game and him and David Dziurzynski in the neutral zone just intercepted pucks and disrupted their whole power play. (They) ended up creating a breakaway chance and put the game away for us with a nice shorthanded goal. I think it’s about his fourth or fifth goal shorthanded; he leads the league in that department. Just taking charge all over the ice, it’s great to see. He’s a NHL body and he’s got a NHL stride and now he’s starting to show the other intangibles that go along with it – where he’s a name that has really jumped up not just in the AHL but also in the depth chart of the Ottawa Senators.

Grant isn’t a completely off-the-radar player, but has lacked the hype other prospects have received.  Before he was drafted a scout said:

He’s got so much potential ahead of him that he might be better than (Camrose center Joe) Colborne.

Whatever you think of Joe Colborne he was highly touted when drafted.  TSN’s Shane Malloy chimmed in after Grant decided to turn pro:

Perhaps the best sleeper pick in the 2008 NHL draft was Derek Grant, who has played in relative obscurity with the Langley Chiefs in the BCHL. The 6-foot-3, 190 pound pivot has pretty decent overall hockey sense and dominated his peer group at that level. Over the past two seasons Grant posted 123 points in 92 games, scoring 49 goals and five game winners. His pucks skills are also good and he showed the ability to play in traffic while stickhandling or passing the puck. When it comes to skating, Grant gets off the mark pretty quickly and has the agility to maneuver around defenders. He could use some extra power in his stride and that will come once he adds strength to his core. His defensive game is slowly improving when it comes to protecting the puck along the wall and working well with his linemates. He still needs to make sure he keeps his feet moving while using his wingspan and stick to disrupt passing lanes. Grant is not a bang and crash style of player but he gets involved and will go to the dirty areas to score goals. Next season, Grant will attend Michigan State. Expect Ottawa to be patient with his development.

The Sens have to be pleased that Grant has been able to transition from scorer to defensive specialist.  It will be interesting to watch his development continue.

-One of my readers has pointed to an Almtuna Tweet that indicates Mike Lundin was injured a few days ago; the injury requires surgery and the defensman is expected to miss a few weeks.

-Elmira plays Reading (23-7-2) tonight; the Royals are lead by former B-Sen Yannick Tifu (31 points) and backstopped by Philipp Grubauer (18-4-1 2.28 .912).

–Elliotte Friedman provides a sensible recap of the different bargaining positions between the NHL and NHLPA, but I’m curious why he thinks fans etc will “never forget” the lockout.  Presumably he means that in a tangible way, but he provides no reasoning behind it–does he anticipate it will hurt the league long term?  I have no idea and I wish he’d expand on the comment.

–Luke Fox wastes an enormous amount of energy complaining about a possible expansion of the playoff system in the NHL (from 16 teams to 20) without once referencing the fact that the current near 50-50 split is very recent.  Fans care about the playoffs and adding a few more teams is only going to help (as it has with MLB).  I grew up in the 21-team era and despite occasional absurdities it remains one of the most exciting eras in NHL history–there’s no shame it making a tiny nod back to that time.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 4, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-I watched this morning’s disappointing Canada-US WJC game (5-1 for the States), featuring a tentative Canadian team that created virtually no offensive pressure.  Would I have pulled Malcolm Subban after the third goal?  I would have pulled him after the second or at least after the first period–it’s something that might have changed the momentum of the game.  At 4-0 the game was already over and there’s nothing Jordan Binnington can do about.  I don’t blame Subban for the result–in a single game elimination anything can happen and I think the time off hurt Canada–they will be much better in the bronze medal game.  The final is set-up very well for the Americans who are coming off two easy wins and will face a Swedish team which just finished winning a tough extra frame game against Russia.

-The Sweden-Russia (3-2 Swedes) game saw the Swedes on top of the hosts at the start (it took 25 minutes of game play for Russia to get a shot on goal), although the Russians received much stronger goaltending from Vasilevski than Canada did against the States.  Like most Sens fans I have a soft spot for the Swedes and they were absolutely dynamite mid-way through.  I thought the Russians played with whole tournament with poor structure, relying on skill, and that lack of structure hurt them early.  Unlike Canada, the Russians were able to claw their way back into the game and take it to OT where the Swedes struggled with the 4-on-4 in OT, but were able to hold on to win in the shootout.

-The game was my first viewing of prospect Mikael Wikstrand (Vikstrand) outside a development camp context.  Plays that stood out: he did a great job defensively one-on-one against Yakupov in the first period, along with a nice pass intercept on the PK in the second, but got stripped by Yakupov for a scoring chance late in the second and then burned by him on a deke late in the third.  There was a final nice defensive strip of Slepyshev late in the game.  He failed to score in the shootout.

-I decided to find out what happened to Elmira’s first cuts from this season:
Players without a team include Yegor Bezugly (forward),  Tim D’Orazio (forward), Charles Vaillancourt (forward), Jon Vaillancourt (forward), Ivan Lyaskevich (blueliner), Kyle Pelke (blueliner), Nicolas Lareau (goaltender retired after being cut)
Players with a team:
Matt Harrington – forward has played both for the Bluefins (FHL) and the Mississippi Riverkings (SPHL)
Luke Frey – blueliner is playing for the New York Bluefins in the FHL
Artem Gumenyuk – defenseman is also playing for the Bluefins in the FHL
Jeremy Narducci – blueliner is on the Bluefins (FHL) roster

-Does anyone remember the hype surrounding Luca Caputi when the Leafs traded for him in 2010?  Today he was sent back to Fort Wayne in the ECHL as he struggles to stick with Norfolk.  I bring this up just to show how easy it is for organisations to over evaluate (and over hype) talent.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 3, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 5 Comments

–James Gordon writes briefly about Luke Richardson’s selection to coach in the AHL all-star game and rightly points out the rookie bench boss is benefiting from fantastic goaltending (particularly from Robin Lehner).

-Speaking of goaltending, ECHL ‘tender Marc Cheverie has fallen on hard times since being named the ECHL goaltender of the month for October.  He’s since gone 5-8-1 and seen his GAA go from 1.52 to 2.75 and his save percentage drop from .953 to .912.  His overall numbers aren’t terrible (he’s 16th in the league for GAA), but I wonder if he’s done enough to push the moribund Nathan Lawson if the lockout ends.

–SensProspects is Tweeting that a deal is eminent between the NHL and NHLPA (no later than the 7th apparently), which either makes him a genius or foolish depending on what happens.  I, with the rest of you, will take a wait-and-see approach.

-I watched the very entertaining WJC Russia-Switzerland game (won by Russia 4-3 in a shootout).  It featured a little of everything, including poor officiating, lead changes, and late game dramatics.  When I don’t have a vested interest in the outcome of a game I cheer for the underdog, so it’s too bad the Swiss couldn’t shut the door in the third with a 3-2 lead.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 2, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-Binghamton rang in the new year with a 4-1 win over the IceCaps.  Ben Bishop made 29-saves for the win while Mike Hoffman (off a fantastic pass from Silfverberg), Shane Prince (great pass from Schneider), Derek Grant (another short-handed goal!), and Mark Stone (empty-netter) provided the offence.  Here’s the box score and the highlights.

-The B-Sens currently lead the AHL in winning percentage (.707), although they remain 2nd place in their conference.  Their performance has earned an AHL all-star spot for coach Luke Richardson.

-Both Daniel New and Darren Kramer have been loaned back to Elmira; neither player suited up for Binghamton while on the roster.

-The long-injured Mika Zibanejad has begun skating again.  This news not only puts to bed all the fuss about Zibanejad not playing in the WJC, but presumably signals the ticking of the clock for his return (which may still be a long way away).  Zibanejad last played November 24th.

-Elmira defeated Wheeling 3-2 last night with Jack Downing picking up a couple of goals while Louie Caporusso and Dustin Gazley had a point each.

-The Canada-Russia game yesterday did not match the epic contests we’ve become accustomed too.  The game was over when Canada made it 3-1, but even prior to that the Russians struggled offensively.

–Nichols looks at how the NHL’s latest CBA proposal would affect the Senators and other than agreeing that Bryan Murray is in an excellent position when a deal is struck I wanted to applaud the idea of a weighted draft lottery for all non-playoff teams as well as remind us all of:

At issue was a story last week in The Ottawa Citizen written by columnist Roy MacGregor. The article contended that after the Senators’ final game of the season—a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on April 14 that allowed Ottawa to finish with one victory fewer than the San Jose Sharks and thus clinch the right to draft first—Firestone had cryptically mentioned to MacGregor a secret plan to assure that the Senators would pick No. 1. MacGregor further contended that on June 26, in an off-the-record bull session with four other reporters in a Quebec City nightclub following the draft, he had asked Firestone to elaborate on his remark of 10 weeks earlier. According to MacGregor, Firestone said that the Senators were prepared to pull their goalie to make sure Boston won; that it had been difficult “keeping the restraints” on Bowness over the final weeks of the season; and that Firestone himself had had a plan to guarantee four players roster spots for next season if those players helped assure a loss to the Bruins. “It is no coincidence,” MacGregor said Firestone told him, “that those four players will be back with the team next season.” None of the other reporters in attendance that night have publicly challenged the gist of MacGregor’s account.

-I missed last week’s prospect update during the hubbub of the Christmas season, but here is the latest (for players with more than 10 games played I’ve indicated where they are in scoring; for blueliners they are compared to other defensemen on the team):

CHL
Cody Ceci (OHL Ottawa) 38-10-27-37 (1st)
Matt Puempel (OHL Kitchener) 26-21-7-28 (1st) (injured)
Stefan Noesen (OHL Plymouth) 26-17-9-26 (6th) (suspended)
Jordan Fransoo (WHL Victoria) 30-2-7-9 (t-2nd)
Jakub Culek (QMJHL Cape Breton) 8-4-3-7 (9th) (injured)
Jarrod Maidens (OHL Owen Sound) (injured)
Chris Driedger (WHL Calgary) 19-7-3 2.23 .923
Francois Brassard (QMJHL Quebec) 18-10-3 2.66 .907

Allsvenskan (Swe)
Mikael Wikstrand (Mora) 29-9-9-18 (1st) WJC 4-0-4-4 (1st)

KHL
Nikita Filatov (Salavat) 33-8-11-19 (t-2nd)

NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (Ohio) – 20-9-8-17 (1st)
Jeff Costello (Notre Dame) – 15-5-9-14 (4th) (injured)
Bryce Aneloski (Nebraska-Omaha) – 20-3-11-14 (1st)
Max McCormick (Ohio) – 20-6-4-10 (3rd)
Michael Sdao (Princeton) – 14-4-4-8 (1st)
Tim Boyle (Union) – 9-0-2-2

USHL
Robbie Baillargeon (Indiana/Omaha) – 29-10-11-21 (t-1st)

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 1, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment