-Ottawa lost 5-4 to Toronto in a shootout in a game I was unable to watch (Mark Parisi has a brief overview of it and points out Craig Anderson has not done well in shootouts of late); the general sentiment I’ve heard is that the second line was great, but the rest of the team was not (as Travis Yost echoes). Scott had the scoring chances 20-26 (they were 27-18 in the Buffalo game). Here is the boxscore.
–Yost likes what he’s seen from the Sens other than their penalty killing, where he believes Eric Gryba‘s absence can’t be replaced, but he’s a detriment outside the PK. Scott thinks Erik Karlsson isn’t himself and believes it may be months before he is; Matt Kassian doesn’t deter anything; and Elliotte Friedman has finally figured out Mika Zibanejad‘s demotion was money-related.
–Varada looks at the issue of fighting in hockey and he dismisses the ethical side of things because:
Who cares if thousands die in car accidents every year, I hate the bus! Once again, with feeling: people enjoy fighting enough not to care if someone is hurt doing it.
I didn’t know selective enjoyment answered ethics questions, but god knows most people don’t want actual ethics debates so I understand why Varada wants to skip over it. I do like his approach to how fighting fits into the game:
Just as the shootout is viewed as a gimmicky aberration detracting from the purity of a well-contested, TEAM-based exploit, I have to ask how two ‘specialists’ dropping gloves to stop the course of play isn’t also gimmicky.
Touche good sir! People who hate the shootout almost inevitably love fighting. Fighting is literally disconnected from playing hockey–officials blow the whistle and the fists fly outside of game time.
–SkinnyFish (who supports keeping fighting in the game without really going into why) demolishes the notion that fighters deter other nasty behaviour in opposing teams by using the statistical evidence.
-Varada (same link above) also thinks the Zibanejad demotion is the same as Karlsson‘s in his rookie season–I don’t follow this at all as the context in completely different (and no, it does not save a year of his ELC, but that question from Varada might explain why he doesn’t explore the financial elements behind the move).
–Mike Glotov writes a massive blog containing his thoughts about the Sens this season. After a summary of off-season events he delves into comparisons based on various roster moves (eg Conacher–Silfverberg). He hopes the Sens won’t suffer the same injury-woes as last season (I wouldn’t count on it in terms of Spezza and Michalek), which is grouped among seven hopes/expectations. There’s a lot to read and as long as you don’t mind wading through Google translation’s iffy Russian it’s well worth it.
-Binghamton beat Syracuse 4-3 in overtime, with Zibanejad tying the game in the third and Cody Ceci winning it in overtime (Lawson picked up the victory). Here’s the boxscore and the highlights. Stone was hurt in the game with a possible shoulder injury.
-BSens practice lines: Robinson-Zibanejad-Puempel; Prince-O’Brien-Petersson; Dziurzynski-Grant-Hoffman; Cowick-Culek-Schneider/Kramer; Borowiecki-Ceci; Claesson-Rutkowski; Wideman-Blood; Eckford-Sdao.
-Hockey’s Future previews the AHL’s Eastern Conference and says this about Binghamton:
After an impressive season for both Binghamton and their parent Ottawa, Binghamton fell flat in the Calder Cup Playoffs, getting swept by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the first round. With another positive outlook for the Senators organization with little change in the roster, expect a similar regular season record in 2013-14. Up front, look for the continued development of Mika Zibanejad, who played with Ottawa in 2013. The Senators decided he needed some more seasoning, so he’ll see some more time in Binghamton. Zibanejad is joined by finishing specialist Matt Puempel and grinder Mark Stone. Also, look out for Shane Prince, Mike Hoffman and Derek Grant. The forward-heavy Senators’ defensive corps are highlighted by the arrival of Cody Ceci, the 19-year-old 2012 first round draft pick who played in six games for Binghamton last season. Ceci has the size (6’3”, 203 lbs.) to compete at the NHL level, but needs some time to learn to use that size. He has offensive upside and should see time on the power-play and penalty kill. Ceci is joined by Mark Borowieck, a stay-at-home defenseman with a penchant for pugilism, and Frederik Claesson, a defender in the mode of Dennis Seidenberg; he’ll get the job done, but you won’t notice him for it.
I’m not sure what to make of this–it’s pretty generic, but contains a couple of puzzling comments (Stone as a grinder and Claesson as a Seidenberg-style player?).
-The Devils sent four players to Elmira. The Jackals opened their pre-season with a 5-4 win over Wheeling despite trailing 4-0 in the second. None of Binghamton’s players were dressed for the game.
This article is written by Peter Levi
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eyeonthesens 
Dear Peter Levi! Thank you very much for your attention to our blog and your interest in our IMHO’s on Ottawa Senators!
Always online, Mike Glotov and russian-speaking fan team