The Sens lost to Florida (nkb describes) and we’ve hit that point where Ottawa is around where I expected them to be in the standings–a borderline playoff team. Things could get much worse, given the coaching and management, but fans shouldn’t bemoan where they are right now (they are who we thought they were).
I don’t know what happened to Nichols, but he’s posted more this past week than he normally does in a month. Let’s dive in, shall we?
-He talks about how Dave Cameron’s risk-averse approach hasn’t worked and how under-utilized Shane Prince is (agreed & agreed)
-The WJC (a fun event, but overrated in terms of what you learn about prospects) comes up via Pierre Dorian’s comments and the one thing that is worth emphasizing is this:
I think last year, I think if we’re honest about his [Andreas Englund] play at the world juniors and how he played in the men’s league, his play was average and I think we’re being kind when we say it’s average
Amen. The rest of his comments about Englund are basic “good in the corners” stuff. Dorian ejaculating over Colin White and Tomas Chabot is par for the course, although him comparing Christian Jaros to Englund is cause for concern.
-Nichols makes the case that the Sens should go after Jason Zucker
-He addresses that the Sens were apparently working hard to trade Patrick Wiercioch early in the season, but now are attempting to move dead weight Jared Cowen–a little tardy to the party boys! And good luck with that
-He notes that Bob McKenzie is virtually certain that Jonathan Drouin will go to a Western Conference team
The Binghamton coaching staff finally came to their senses and sent Danny Hobbs (22-1-1-2) down to Evansville. Ostensibly this was done to make room for David Dziurzynski, but Hobbs is not an AHL-player and getting him off the roster is a positive (this also indicates that the staff understands Ryan Penny is a better player than Hobbs). None of these moves occurred before the loss described below.
Binghamton faced Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday (the top team in the Atlantic, although you couldn’t tell by their sparse attendance); predictably the Sens lost (Driedger took the loss). Incidentally, the Pens broadcast is the only AHL-feed I’ve seen thus far with neither the score nor the time displayed. The goals:
1. Puempel fights off his check to bang in Lepine‘s rebound (really poor rebound control from the Pens goaltender)
2. Driedger is beaten off a deflection from the point (Kostka unable to disrupt the man or his stick)
3. Mullen turns it over at center ice and is then unable to block the shot from the hashmarks that beats Driedger five-hole
4. Kostopoulos bulldozes through Kostka and shrugs off his hook on the breakaway to score
5. Empty-netter
This is yet another game where Fraser was paired with Carlisle and this simply doesn’t work–Fraser is such a poor defender he needs a partner who can make up for his mistakes and while Carlisle is a decent player he’s not at a stage where he can do that. We also the usual pointless, undisciplined penalties (Stortini with a boarding call in the second).
No games yet this week, but besides getting Hobbs they also finally traded away useless Mark Anthoine (to Manchester)–he’s the fourth forward from the team’s season starting lineup that has subsequently been traded (and all for the better).
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
Leave a comment
No comments yet.
eyeonthesens 
Leave a Reply