-Ottawa hung on to defeat Florida 3-2 on Saturday (boxscore and Mark Parisi‘s summary) as Robin Lehner picked up another win (and was named the NHL’s #1 star of the week).  There’s a moderate amount of debate about goaltending because Craig Anderson will start in the Sens next game, but it’s a little silly–Anderson needs his reps and the staff needs to see where his game is at.

–Travis Yost continues to talk trades, but doesn’t speculate on what that might consist of other than being meant to help the blueline.

-On the funny side of things, I apparently started a blog for October 24th and somehow missed finishing it–the corpse remains however and here it is: The Sens steamrolled the Red Wings 6-1 last night, shelling Jimmy Howard.  Mika Zibanejad picked up an assist in his season debut and it will be interesting to see how Paul MacLean tweaks his lineup against Anaheim.  I think as long as Derek Grant continues to win faceoffs he’ll stick in the short-term.  Here’s the boxscore (there were no full summaries of the game, but Travis Yost offers some thoughts).  Mike Babcock said:

Their team came prepared to play and skated us into the ground. We didn’t play at all.

-Binghamton crushed Rochester 7-3 (boxscore and Jeff Ulmer‘s summary) in Nathan Lawson‘s and then they beat Hershey in a shootout 5-4 (boxscore and Jeff‘s summary) with Andrew Hammond racking up 41-saves for the victory.  The B-Sens are 9-4 on the season now and assuming the roster remains relatively intact (and healthy) looks in good shape for a playoff run at season’s end.  Stephane Da Costa was named the AHL player of the week (largely based on his performance against Rochester).

-Here’s the latest Sens prospect update, which doesn’t contain anything particularly weighty other than Chris Driedger‘s sub par numbers.

–Aaron Gordon writes an excellent piece on how sports teams get tax payers to fund their buildings.  The key thing here is persuading public officials to spearhead the effort (public opinion, as Aaron points out, is irrelevant).  Public funding is, of course, a terrible idea for the public.

–Eric Duhatschek wonders what the NHL will do about fighting:

Knowing the slow pace of change on this particular issue – and the fact that even if the league wants to move on it quickly, they will receive stiff resistance from the NHL players association, which has a lot of important voices defending fighting – makes you hold out little hope that much of any consequence will be resolved this time around.

Nothing new really, but he echoes my sentiment.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

November 11, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-Ottawa faces Florida (3-9-4) this afternoon in yet another poor scheduling decision (I mean, the Panthers for an afternoon game?).  Robin Lehner gets the start and Patrick Wiercioch draws back into the lineup.

-After panic had begun to set in amongst the fanbase the Sens rattled off consecutive 4-1 wins over Columbus (boxscore and Dave Young‘s summary) and Montreal (boxscore; none of the recaps I saw were particularly engaging, although the praise for the goaltending was well deserved), both wins earned by Lehner.  The wins certainly don’t spell an end to the many issues the team has, but are encouraging nonetheless.

-Speaking of fan panic, Elliotte Friedman threw some gasoline onto the fire by noting that:

if you’re four points out of the playoffs after games on that date [Nov.1], you are in a brutal spot to make it.  The Nov. 1 stat being, “from 2005-06 through 2011-12, just three of 32 teams who were four points out of a playoff position on November 1 recovered to make it.“

It’s an interesting state, although without context I’m not sure how useful it is (the Sens are just on the edge of it, but how many teams were exactly at that point previously–if it’s just a few it’s not particularly meaningful).

–Jeremy Milks addresses the attendance problem and echoes what I said two weeks ago in that the negativity created around the team by Eugene Melnyk plays a major role.

-I can’t mention Jeremy and not think of “toughness”, which Derek Zona has some fun with by pointing out the “softest” players in the NHL (as measured by George Roop) are among the best in the league.

–Bryan Murray spoke and Nichols transcribed, but there weren’t any tasty morsels for me in what he said other than praising Zack Smith (something Paul MacLean has already done this season) and that the Sens want to win now (something I think is pretty self-evident via the Bobby Ryan).

–Travis Yost examines trade possibilities to help Ottawa’s blueline without getting into specifics (and adds nothing new really), but I enjoyed this:

It always unnerves me a bit when there’s absolute agreement on a particular subject within a fan base

Apparently I stand alone–I’m fine with the Sens holding off on making a trade.  Eric Gryba and Joe Corvo are nothing more than placeholders in the lineup so I don’t get too excited over their middling play.  Were it not for Murray’s desire to win now I’m not sure anyone would (or should) be worried about the team’s defensive struggles.

-Binghamton beat Rochester 4-3 in a shootout (boxscore and Jeff Ulmer‘s recap), with Andrew Hammond earning the win and Cody Ceci picking up his second overtime winner of the season.  The B-Sens play Rochester (5-2-2-1) again tonight.

-Elmira has gone 1-2 through the week, with Scott Greenham going 1-1 (and looking a bit more human in the process), but none of the Sens prospects played in the games.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

November 9, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-As some of you have noticed I haven’t been posting daily for the last little while.  Part of the reason for the change is work-related, but the other is simply me getting tired of the generic coverage the team receives.  I’ve been blogging about the Sens for six years and there are days where nothing engaging is happening or being discussed.  Paid bloggers (and journalists) often fill such days with trade speculation and what not, but I don’t find that kind of thing particularly engaging to write about.

-The Sens play Columbus (5-8-0) tonight–in fact, the game is under way.  Robin Lehner gets the start while Patrick Wiercioch sits in favour of Mark Borowiecki so that Paul MacLean can continue to tweak the blogosphere by playing Jared Cowen.

-Ottawa lost 4-3 in a shootout to Dallas (boxscore and Ryan Classic‘s summary) with Craig Anderson leaving on a stretcher late, but he’s apparently just day-to-day.  The other good news is that Ottawa fought back from a two and one goal deficit and grabbed a point.

–Paul MacLean offered some thoughts on Cowen‘s season:

Jared‘s game is coming around, it’s been a little slower maybe than we anticipated it would, but we have to remember he did miss a whole year and he did miss some of training camp. Any time you miss that much it takes time to get back up to speed and get back into the rhythm of the game. I think his last two games have been better than his previous two games to that, but again, it still needs to be better. I think when he concentrates on the physical side of the game and being hard to play against, that simplifies his game and he’s a much better player.

Missing training camp and the injury are good reasons and worth keeping in mind.

–Travis Yost provides some zone-entry data for the Sens–no real surprises for me, but worth a look.

–Nichols re-visits the Sens attendance issues that Amelia discussed a week earlier.  There’s not much new here, although I do like his theory that:

If season tickets are rising but attendance figures are in the decline, what’s really going on?  Perhaps the most likely explanation is that the Senators have simply stopped giving away as many discounted or free tickets as they have in the past. I mean, with Melnyk crying poor and using the Senators financial situation as a rallying cry for fans to get onboard the idea of putting a casino adjacent to the Canadian Tire Centre, wouldn’t it make sense to make the ticket sale issue as transparent as possible?

I’m less convinced by Nichols’ idea that tailgating or a better developed Kanata would help the numbers (oddly, no one I’ve seen has studied the issue–or at least, not in a hockey context).  Those elements seem to have little to no impact on attendance in other Canadian cities, so it seems a farfetched.

–Scott makes the case for the Sens to acquire Nikita Nikitin (for those who missed Varada do the same thing last week).  Scott includes that the Blue Jackets are trying to move the Russian defenseman, but doesn’t offer up much in the way of trade bait to get him (Stephane Da Costa, Mike Hoffman, and/or Colin Greening?!), although I don’t know Columbus’ organisational needs well enough to complete dismiss the idea (god knows, there have been worse trades made in the NHL).

-Here’s my look at the Binghamton Senators ten-games into the season (link).

–Justin Azevedo wonders if size matters in the NHL and after looking at the numbers his conclusions don’t surprise me:

It’s no secret that teams covet players with size. Everyone is trying to find “the next Milan Lucic” or “the next Zdeno Chara“. Unfortunately, the stunningly obvious reality is that not every player with size will make any sort of an impact at the NHL level. So then why do GMs continue to reduce their odds at finding NHLers? It’s simple: the pursuit of the outlier is a much more attractive option to the average person than it is to settle for the medial. To me, that doesn’t really make sense – the point of an NHL draft is to maximize the amount of NHLers you can get your hands on. The farther away you go, the harder it is to find an NHLer. Thus, draft players who are already equipped with point scoring and skating ability before you draft for size.

–Allan Muir tries to defend fighting by insulting the anti-fighting crowd and providing no argumentation for his own position other than:

There has to be an element of honor to fighting. If someone like Emery chooses to abandon it, he should pay a price.

Er, there does?  He should?  Just saying it doesn’t make it so.  The fly in the ointment for the pro-fighting crowd is they have no arguments to support the practice–they can only stand by their personal enjoyment, which is why the debate becomes redundant.  Ultimately fighting will disappear, but as I’ve said many times before it will take a long time.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

November 5, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

The Binghamton Senators have reached the 10-game mark so it’s time to take stock and see how the team and the players are doing.  The B-Sens went 6-4-0, good for 4th in their division and 7th in the conference.  The team’s 31 goals are 7th in the conference and their 31 goals against are tied for 10th (Matt Weinstein offers a few more stats).

Player’s stats (INJ=games missed due to injury, SCR= scratched, SUS=suspended, NHL=games in the NHL, ECHL=games in the ECHL):

Mike Hoffman 10-5-5-10 +1
Cody Ceci 10-1-7-8 +2
Mika Zibanejad 6-2-5-7 +1 [NHL 6-3-1-4 -2]
Chris Wideman 9-1-6-7 -5 INJ 1
Jean-Gabriel Pageau 2-0-5-5 +2 [NHL 8-1-0-1 -3]
Stephane Da Costa 7-1-4-5 Even [NHL 4-0-0-0 +1]
Cole Schneider 9-4-1-5 +3 SCR 1
Matt Puempel 10-3-2-5 -4
Andre Petersson 5-2-2-4 Even INJ 5
Shane Prince 8-2-2-4 -2 SCR 2
Buddy Robinson 9-2-2-4 +2 SCR 1
Derek Grant 3-2-0-2 +2 [NHL 7-0-1-1 -2]
Corey Cowick 10-1-1-2 -3
Troy Rutkowski 4-1-0-1 -5 [ECHL 3-0-0-0 +2]
Ben Blood 6-0-1-1 +1 SCR 4
Tyler Eckford 6-0-1-1 +5 SCR 4
Darren Kramer 8-1-0-1 -4 SCR 2
Jim O’Brien 8-1-0-1 -4 INJ 2
David Dziurzynski 9-0-1-1 +1 INJ 1
Wacey Hamilton 10-1-0-1 -1
Mark Stone 1-0-0-0 Even INJ 9
Jakub Culek 2-0-0-0 -2 [ECHL 3-0-2-2 +3]
Ludwig Karlsson 3-0-0-0 -2 [ECHL 2-1-0-1 -1]
Michael Sdao 6-0-0-0 -1 SCR 4
Mark Borowiecki 9-0-0-0 -2 [NHL 1-0-0-0 -1]
Fredrik Claesson 10-0-0-0 +3

Nathan Lawson 5-1-0 2.22 .931
Andrew Hammond 1-3-0 4.45 .842

Hoffman and Ceci paced the B-Sens offensively, the latter moving relatively seamlessly from the CHL to the AHL.  Despite limited play Eckford leads the plus/minus charge (+5) while Wideman and the now demoted Rutkowski sit on the opposite side at -5.  Both Petersson and Stone have been struck by the injury bug yet again, while Prince and Schneider initially struggled out of the gate before finding their form.  Jim O’Brien did nothing to help his cause (his only point coming via an empty net goal) before suffering an injury.  Lawson has been excellent in net, while Hammond continues to adjust to the pro game.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

November 5, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-The Sens play Dallas (5-6-2) this afternoon in a game that’s likely to have sparse attendance (NHL schedule makers have not been kind to Ottawa this season).  Craig Anderson will start and MacLean has put combinations into the blender again for this game (Travis Yost does a good job exploring what MacLean might have been trying to accomplish).

-Ottawa lost 5-4 to the Islanders in a game where Robin Lehner was left to fend for himself (he made 53 saves) while the Sens blew two different two goal leads (boxscore).  The loss has led to more and more bloggers questioning of Paul MacLean’s lineup decisions (see above).  I still think it’s a little too early to panic.

-The Sens called up Mark Borowiecki to help shore up their porous blueline and this seems either a comfort move for MacLean (he knows Borowiecki) or a shot across the bow to marginal players like Eric Gryba.  The B-Sens captain has been average thus far in the AHL, so it’s not specifically a performance-based decision for Boro.

-Binghamton dominated Adirondack on Friday, but lost 3-1 (boxscore with Jeff Ulmer‘s recap), with Andrew Hammond taking the loss.  The B-Sens bounced back and beat Syracuse 4-2 (boxscore and Ulmer‘s recap) last night as Nathan Lawson picked up the win and Jean-Gabriel Pageau enjoyed a 4-point night.  Now ten games in, Binghamton is 6-4-0.

-Elmira went 1-1 on the weekend, with Scott Greenham picking up the shutout win on Friday, while he was shelled the following night.  Jakub Culek had an assist in each game.

–John Buccigross writes a naïve article about violence in hockey (the kind that earns suspensions) where he argues the plays can be coached out of the game.  Right.  If we’re all nice to each other there will be no wars or crime either.  The problem with this kind of simplistic reasoning is that as long as someone in the game thinks that going over the edge will help their team win they will continue to do so until the league makes that strategy unviable.  We all function based on incentives and given that in winning is everything Buccigross’ notion is simply untenable.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

November 3, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-It’s a funny thing about the blogosphere, but the best of times in terms of articles, debate, and provocative thought is when things are bad.  I don’t see Ottawa’s rough start as a sign of Armageddon (see below), but it creates a bonanza of engaging reading material.

-Ottawa plays the Islanders (4-5-3) tonight and Robin Lehner will get the start.  Joe Corvo will sit in favour of Eric Gryba; more interesting to me is that Milan Michalek will start on the third line which while well-deserved is something of a surprise.  Travis Yost writes at length about the lineup and his thoughts are (as always) interesting.

-The Sens blew a 4-2 lead and lost 6-5 to Chicago (boxscore and Amelia L‘s excellent game summary) and now even sensible fans are on the panic ledge getting ready to leap.  Nichols says all the team’s current problems were in the tea leaves before the season started (not that anyone apparently saw them, other than a regression from Craig Anderson):

For as much success as the team had without the likes of Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Jared Cowen, and Erik Karlsson in the lineup, when the team not only puts these players into the lineup but requires them to log significant minutes against tough competition, expectations that these players would play at a level in which they were pre-injury are unfair.

This is absolutely correct.  Nichols also makes the point that team defense doesn’t simply involve the defensecorps (also spot on), and that handing the reigns to Jared Cowen and Patrick Wiercioch and expecting them to thrive was a little naïve.  Travis meantime, examines the problems, but other than offering a possible improvement to the forward arrangement has no suggested answer for the blueline.

So what do I think?  People need to take a deep breath and relax.  The hype coming into the season was way too high and time needs to be given for young players to mature into their roles while players coming off long-term injury will take awhile to find their rhythm.  Ottawa has had an awful schedule, but they are through the murderers row from the Western Conference and can settle in to more standard play in November.

–Amelia L wonders if the criticisms of Chris Neil are justified and provides the proof that he does without answering the question.

–Jean-Gabriel Pageau was sent down to Binghamton at last and Roger the Shrubber thinks there should be the same debate that accompanied Mika Zibanejad‘s demotion.  Roger hits upon the reason why this is not the case in his own question:

Maybe the difference is that Pageau was looking pretty overwhelmed, whereas Zibanejad never did

Exactly, thus the lack of debate.

–Nichols ponders the struggles of Colin Greening and I’m less interested in his specific comments than the topic itself.  Did the Sens over pay for Greening?  As a team with a megaton of cap space the answer is simply “no”, even if they went over his current market value it’s irrelevant given the way they manage their money.  His pay raise doesn’t mean his play was expected to improve, simply that the organisation likes what he is now–a big north-south skater who will go to the net, is responsible defensively, and can play on any line that isn’t made up of Zack Smith and Chris Neil.  He’ll put up his usual numbers and remain useful but largely invisible.

-Binghamton faces Adirondack (3-4-2) tonight.  I haven’t seen the lineups, but there was speculation that Andrew Hammond would get the start.

-Elmira faces Greenville (3-2-0).  Jakub Culek and Troy Rutkowski will play.

–Kirk Luedeke, who scouts for Red Line Report, is circulating a potential trade rumour with Florida.  Excluding deadline deals, Bryan Murray is a pretty astute trader, so if there’s any substance to the rumour it will be interesting to see what move gets made.

–Future Considerations has their latest 2014 draft rankings posted and here’s the top-30:

1). D Aaron Ekblad, Barrie (OHL), 6-4, 215
2). C Sam Reinhart, Kootenay (WHL), 6-1, 185
3). LW Sam Bennett, Kingston (OHL), 6-0, 180
4). C William Nylander, Rogle (Allsvenskan), 5-11, 170
5). C Leon Draisaitl, Prince Albert (WHL), 6-2, 210
6). C Michael Dal Colle, Oshawa (OHL), 6-2, 180
7). C Jake Virtanen, Calgary (WHL), 6-1, 210
8). LW Nick Ritchie, Peterborough (OHL), 6-2, 230
9). D Roland McKeown, Kingston (OHL), 6-1, 200
10). D Haydn Fleury, Red Deer (WHL), 6-3, 200
11). LW Brendan Perlini, Niagara (OHL), 6-2, 205
12). LW Ivan Barbashev, Moncton (QMJHL), 6-1, 185
13). C Jared McCann, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL), 6-0, 180
14). RW Conner Bleackley, Red Deer (WHL), 6-1, 195
15). RW Anton Karlsson, Frolunda J20 (SuperElit), 6-1, 190
16). RW David Pastrnak, Sodertalje (Allsvenskan), 6-0, 170
17). RW Kasperi Kapanen, KalPa (SM-Liiga), 5-11, 170
18). C Adrian Kempe, Modo J20 (SuperElit), 6-2, 190
19). LW Spencer Watson, Kingston (OHL), 5-10, 165
20). LW Sonny Milano, USNTDP U18 (USHL), 5-11, 185
21). D Brycen Martin, Swift Current (WHL), 6-2, 185
22). D Julius Honka, Swift Current (WHL), 5-10, 170
23). C Dylan Larkin, USNTDP U18 (USHL), 6-1, 190
24). G Thatcher Demko, Boston College (NCAA), 6-4, 180
25). D Anthony DeAngelo, Sarnia (OHL), 5-11, 175
26). C Jakub Vrana, Linkoping J20 (SuperElit), 5-11, 185
27). LW Nikolaj Ehlers, Halifax (QMJHL), 5-11, 165
28). C Nick Schmaltz, Green Bay (USHL), 5-11, 170
29). D Jack Dougherty, USNTDP U18 (USHL), 6-1, 185
30). RW Nikolay Goldobin, Sarnia (OHL), 6-0, 175

–Allan Muir looks back at the month that was in the NHL and the element that stood out to me was discipline:

You were, in fact, treated to an uglier brand of hockey in October than in previous opening months.

Muir points out there were more suspensions this month than any comparable start to the season and that it’s bad enough that even the NHL has noticed:

one positive to come out of this string of concussions and fractured jaws is that the league’s general managers will consider adding a new layer of discipline at their meetings later this month. That could include fining organizations for the reckless actions of their players.

I don’t see it happening (or if it does, imagine that it will be enforced), but at least it’s a plodding step in the right direction.

-A little trip down memory lane: the lamentable Mark Spector thought Edmonton’s acquisition of Steve MacIntyre would help this season.  Bravo Mark!

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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

-Ottawa faces Chicago tonight in what should be an entertaining game tonight.  Craig Anderson will start and to save my sanity on paper the awful third line (Greening-Smith-Neil) has been broken up.

-The Sens pummelled Detroit 6-1 on Wednesday (boxscore) before falling to Anaheim 2-1 (boxscore) Friday and San Jose 5-2 (boxscore) Sunday.  The two loses have meant varying degrees of panic in the fanbase as some conclude that the Sens need to play “harder” to perform better (Jeremy Milks, as always, is on this bandwagon as he rails against “the pacifists”–Jeremy needs to calm himself, perhaps with a warm glass of milk and more nap time).  If it seems largely ridiculous, it is.  Varada is hovering over the panic button and speculates about improving the defense via trade, but doesn’t suggest what useful piece the Sens would have to part with to get any of the players he suggests (all of whom, with the exception of Nikita Nikitin, probably make more money than Ottawa can afford to add to their budget).  Take a deep breath people–it’s going to be okay, just like Bobby Ryan is when goals suddenly meant he was no longer “fat”.  On the more rational side of things Travis Yost looks at the numbers and continues to wonder who would fit with Jason Spezza on the top line.

–Amelia L writes an excellent article on the Sens current attendance issues and makes a number of on-target comments:

The Alfie/Melnyk Summer of Awful probably has a something to do with it. No one can quantify the impact Alfie’s departure had on the fan base. Many are mad at Alfie, but I suspect those who are still show up. Many are mad at Melnyk; maybe some of them aren’t coming anymore.

And

Ottawa’s somewhat erratic schedule probably isn’t helping

I’d also say the opposition doesn’t help either (west coast teams just don’t draw well other than Vancouver).  She continues:

I get the frustration from fans who want support to be more absolute. Success in the NHL is tied to money and ticket revenue is a large part of that. But I also get fans which are purposely staying away because they were angered by the summer. Sports teams are large organizations. In general, they are not receptive to an individual fan’s complaint. Teams with some of the most committed fans, fans who keep coming despite the frustrations of the on-ice or on-field product, often get treated to more frustration. Fans have few productive outlets for their discontent, but the most noticeable is to stop coming to games. Stop buying tickets, merchandise, concessions, and paying for parking. Stop.

This is absolutely correct.  Toronto is a great example of how lackadaisical an organisation can be if the building is full every night irrespective of performance.  So much of the criticism is heaped onto the fans, but in reality it’s the organisation that’s failing to meet the needs of its consumers.  My feeling is that most of the empty seats are circumstantial (see above), but some of it is related to Melnyk’s consistent public statements that he’s not going to spend money on the team–this implies the team won’t truly compete due to his financial issues and that’s not conducive to fan-confidence or excitement.

-Binghamton was .500 on the weekend, beating Wilkes-Barre 4-3 Friday (boxscore), but losing 3-1 to Adirondack on Saturday (boxscore).  Jakub Culek played his first B-Sens’ game on Friday, but was promptly sent to Elmira (along with Troy Rutkowski) afterwards as Ludwig Karlsson was called up and played on Saturday.

-Speaking of Elmira, the Jackals also went 1-1; Karlsson scored a goal in the loss (New picked up an assist), while Scott Greenham made 46 saves (!) in the win and Culek (and New) picked up assists.

–Sarah Kwak can’t figure out what needs to happen to stop reckless hits and dirty plays in the NHL, but Teemu Selanne provides her the obvious solution:

I don’t think [the punishments are] enough

Exactly.  Sarah’s plea for players to simply stop because it’s wrong is wishful thinking that isn’t worth wasting ink on.  Until the punishment changes, the hits will keep on coming.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 29, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 4 Comments

-It looks like Patrick Wiercioch, Jean-Gabriel Pageau (see below), and Matt Kassian will be scratched for tonight’s game, while Craig Anderson gets the start.  It’s the Sens first game against Daniel Alfredsson and Travis Yost does a good job recapping the drama from this summer.

-The Sens finally recalled Mika Zibanejad (ostensibly due to a Pageau injury).  How much impact will he have?  It’s difficult to say, the interim established (assuming it needed establishing) that Stephane Da Costa, Pageau, and Derek Grant do not do enough for the bottom six to keep Zibanejad in Binghamton.  The blogosphere has universally rejoiced at his return, with only Nichols referencing the financial reasons that seem to have led to his initial demotion.  Will Zibanejad remain once Pageau is healthy?  I’d guess yes, but we shall see.

-A few thoughts on Binghamton early in the season: Andrew Hammond‘s early difficulties seem to be caused by him staying deep in his net; Cole Schneider responded well to being scratched by notching two goals in the Bridgeport game; it’s been a quiet start for Corey Cowick (one point in six games); Jim O’Brien has the worst plus/minus among forwards on the team (Troy Rutkowski has the worst overall); among the various players on the depth chart Mike Hoffman (after Zibanejad) has had the best run (four goals and six points) thus far.

-This comes as no surprise, but Eric T reports NHL teams are adopting the use of advanced statistics (he gives examples from 18 teams, not including Ottawa, although we have reason to believe Paul MacLean also uses them).

–Darren Dreger writes about how the NHL is trying to make fighting safer:

NHL linesmen have been instructed to stop a fight when the participants opt to remove their helmets prior to swapping blows.

There’s no rule attached to this and let’s keep in mind:

Linesmen now have the authority to step in, when it is safe to do so

When it’s safe?  So they can help with safety when it’s safe for them to do so.  I suppose the effort is better than nothing, but I can’t envision it making much of a difference.

-The Sens and Dany Heatley have settled their dispute over bonuses.  Given that the terms are unknown there’s no conclusions that can be drawn from it.

–Sam Cosentino talks about how NHL’s Central Scouting has changed its approach.  It won’t impact things for fans directly, but the technical improvements (particularly with video and ensuring scouts have up-to-date information) should make assessment even more accurate.

–Steve Buffery believes the Sochi Olympics may be the last for women’s hockey and is glad because it’s a Canada-USA show every time.  The underlying assumption here is that any sport where a few countries dominate (is it two? three? Buffery doesn’t specify what amounts to too few or why that’s bad) shouldn’t be part of the Olympics, but Buffery doesn’t bother examining that assumption or looking to see if there are other Olympic sports with similar disparity (there are).  To be consistent Buffery should believe that men’s hockey should have been banned from the Olympics until 1994 for similar reasons, but I expect he has a lot of complicated arguments for why that isn’t the case.  You can draw your own conclusions.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 23, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-Work and other commitments have me way behind on various Sens matters, so let’s catch up as best we can.

-Ottawa lost 3-1 to the Oilers in a game in which they played fairly well, but weren’t able to beat a floundering Devan Dubnyk.  Here’s the box score and BT‘s summary.

–Travis Yost drills into player usage by the Sens thus far this season and while his conclusions are nothing we haven’t seen before I do think he’s onto something in terms of Erik Condra‘s struggles being tied to his linemates.  Could it be that the celebrated Jean-Gabriel Pageau needs some time in the minors to sort himself out?  How odd would that be for the community?

–Jared Crozier also has lineup questions when it comes to the Sens, but I have no idea why he thinks Matt Kassian “has his place”–what has he done in the games he’s played in to claim a place in the lineup?

-With Stephane Da Costa sent down to Binghamton Derek Grant was recalled, replacing Pageau in the lineup due to the latter’s struggles in the faceoff circle.  The blogging community didn’t have much to say about Grant (although Chris compiled a couple of comments from last season), but for those who follow Binghamton his call-up isn’t a big surprise (PK and faceoff acumen along with a goal scoring touch).  Mika Zibanejad remains in Binghamton, perhaps awaiting injury or a slump before Ottawa finally brings him back.

-Binghamton beat Syracuse 6-2, despite being out shot 42-20.  Nathan Lawson picked up the win, Chris Wideman picked up three assists and Ben Blood (of all people) scored a goal.  Here’s the boxscore and the highlights (I enjoy the broadcaster mistaking Wideman for Lebda).

-The B-Sens then lost to Syracuse 4-1 with Lawson taking the loss.  Here’s the boxscore and Jeff Ulmer‘s recap.

-Binghamton rounded out their weekend with a 6-5 OT win, earning Andrew Hammond his first professional win (and Jakub Culek‘s first professional game).  Here’s the boxscore (the B-Sens were 4-4 on the powerplay!) and Jeff Ulmer‘s recap.

-Elmira dropped their opener 3-2 and there were no points among the organisations signed players.

–Allan Muir looks at the debacle that is NHL discipline and points out the KHL has been more bold after Matt Murley was targeted.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 21, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 3 Comments

-Ottawa beat New Jersey 5-2 last night despite the Sens continuing to take too many penalties.  Here’s the boxscore and Dave Young‘s summary.  Paul MacLean was not happy with the game:

But again, we gave up 42 shots at home. I don’t think we handled momentum swings very well. But saying all that, really the positive thing is coming back from a six-game road trip, playing a day after coming back from the west coast. It’s always a difficult game. The team responded. (Craig Anderson) was obviously outstanding in the net and kept the game where we needed it to be. And at the end of the day, we win the game, so it’s time to get ready for the next one. We’re going to have to come up with an answer for it, because we take way too many penalties. In my opinion they’re lazy penalties, for want of a better term, where we reach instead of moving our feet and skating. We end up taking penalties because we’re reaching with our stick, and that turns momentum the wrong way. Seven and half minutes left in the first period, we’re up 2-0 and take four minor penalties, and arguably all four we didn’t have to take. So we’re going to have to address that again and find a better solution than we have.

Other than scratching Chris Neil (unlikely) I’m not sure how MacLean intends on cutting into the dumb penalties (Travis Yost looks at the lengthy trend of Ottawa being penalized well above the norm and doesn’t like the idea of officiating bias being part of the reason–normally I’d agree with him that it’s a weak excuse, but this is the NHL so it’s not outside the realm of possibility).  Travis also illustrates how poorly the Sens played last night, again pointing at the Greening-Smith-Neil line–but that’s MacLean’s decision so surely he either thinks he’s getting something out of them or believes it’s better than any other alternative.

–Varada thinks the ungodly commute to CTC hurts the Sens attendance and he’s absolutely correct.  There’s nothing funnier (or sadder) than seeing desperate fans rushing from the building hoping to get their car out of the lot before the inevitable 30-minute traffic jam.

-Varada hates Chris Phillips on the powerplay as much as I do.

–Roger the Shrubber tells fans they shouldn’t boo Eugene Melnyk because it’s rude (Jeremy Milks cringed as well, but presumably in manly fashion), but it’s apparently justifiable if Eugene is “terrible” (how we’re meant to define that is left unexplored–presumably you’ll have to ask Roger if it’s okay).  I feel for Roger, because he raises a potentially interesting question (the ethics of booing), but fails to explore it.  His premise is:

The question is whether doing so [booing] makes you a boorish moron

And

let’s all just accept that it’s rude to boo someone.  You are literally yelling wordless disapproval at someone’s face

These aren’t arguments–there’s no attempt to justify either assertion, but even if we accept them how does Roger dovetail that into accepting booing if he decides Melnyk is “terrible”?  Doesn’t that mean that if I think Melnyk is “terrible”, I’m justified in booing him?  If “terrible” is completely subjective, than Roger is in no position to judge anyone’s behaviour, but that’s what he’s doing here.  Regardless, he’s tackling something I see rarely discussed so hopefully Roger will keep at it and we’ll see something more rounded next time.

–Allan Muir looks at how rebuilding teams are doing and Ottawa is not included in the discussion–it’s a compliment, but also (I think) incorrect–the Sens are not completely out of rebuilding mode.

–Stephane Da Costa cleared waivers and was sent down to Binghamton; I haven’t heard if he’ll be in tonight’s lineup.

-Binghamton faces Syracuse (1-1-1) tonight and the Crunch’s Lindsay Kramer writes about Syracuse’s struggles for offense early in the season.  Jeff Ulmer offers a preview for Binghamton that includes this about Shane Prince:

Coach Luke Richardson said Prince was playing too much on the perimeter and not getting any scoring chances and he expects better from him. Richardson also added that Prince wasn’t happy not being penciled in and thinks that he got the message.

This kind of accountability is fantastic–it shouldn’t matter who you are, if you aren’t doing what you are supposed too you sit.  Jeff also includes lineups for tonight, but I haven’t seen anything posted so I’m not sure what his source for them is.  [A quick update: Derek Grant was recalled by the Sens.]

-This isn’t apropos of anything in particular, but it’s on my mind.  One of the things I find puzzling/frustrating when it comes to any debate is the following: someone posts or states a theory about a topic and gets the following response: “no” or “you’re wrong” or some variant thereof with no explanation, no argumentation, no facts, just a straight out denial.  Admittedly there are trolls who just want to stir the pot, but this happens enough that there’s clearly more going on.  What does this accomplish?  We default to simplistic statements (in a hockey context, “player X isn’t very good”) without justifying them from time to time, but generally these are simply meant as bookmarked opinions that can easily be expanded on (and aren’t used in serious discussion).  I understand no one likes to be wrong and that sometimes it’s hard to explain a feeling or position, but ultimately I’d rather learn the truth than simply “win” an argument.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 18, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment