–The Ottawa Sun‘s Bruce Garrioch writes about last night’s game (link), talking about the incident with Jesse Winchester and Alex Burrows along with the boarding of Kaspars Daugavins by Andrew Alberts.  He writes, “It appeared Burrows opened the door and Ottawa players weren’t pleased.”  I doubt there will be discipline on either play (Shanahan will likely say Daugavins turned just prior to the hit, while with Burrows there will remain the ambiguity of intent–Burrows has already said he was trying to latch the door, not open it).

-Garrioch looks at Ottawa’s blueline and changes that could be coming (link), writing “The Senators aren’t in a cash crunch since their payroll is nowhere close to the salary cap. Once defenceman Matt Carkner is ready to return from a knee injury, the club will have eight healthy blueliners,” therefore, “The Senators have the option of sending defenceman David Rundblad to Binghamton. He’s on a two-way contract, was a healthy scratch again in Vancouver and has had difficulties adjusting to the North American game.”  Garrioch doesn’t mention Rundblad‘s option of returning to Sweden rather than going to Binghamton (something I consider unlikely).  I could see Rundblad sent down temporarily, but I’m not sure even that will happen.  I believe what the Sens would like to do is move Brian Lee, but so far no one will trade for him.

–The Silver Seven‘s Mark Parisi looks at the week that was for Ottawa (link), with most players trending upward.  Stephane Da Costa and Nick Foligno are the only players going the wrong way).  I think Foligno‘s yoyo play is what he is, but I agree he’s been on the downward swing this week.  Da Costa (who, outside of faceoffs, wasn’t bad last night) is someone who would benefit from time in Binghamton, but the Sens don’t have enough forwards to send him down at the moment.  Where I think Parisi misses out is listing Erik Condra and Zack Smith as being average–I was impressed with both on the road trip.

-Joy Lindsay Tweets (link) that Derek Grant has recovered from his shoulder injury and is back at practice; Brian Stewart and Maxime Gratchev were recalled from Elmira.  Corey Locke, Francis Lessard, Tim Conboy, and Robin Lehner are out with various injuries

–Hockey Futures‘ has listed NHL organisational depth and slots Ottawa at #2 behind the Florida Panthers (link), writing “The Senators have top-end talent at every forward position, headlined by wingers Matt Puempel and Stefan Noesen, and center Mika Zibanejad. The organization possesses one of the best one-two punches on defense in physical stalwart Jared Cowen and puck-mover David Rundblad. There are also a deep group of players who can fill a variety of roles and provide depth at the NHL level including Stephane Da Costa, Jim O’Brien, and Bobby Butler.  Robin Lehner is a quality goaltending prospect but there is no one behind him. Many of their mid-tier prospects such as Butler and Colin Greening are set to graduate this season and leave a hole in the prospect pool. Top 5 Prospects: 1. David Rundblad, D, 2. Jared Cowen, D, 3. Mika Zibanejad, C, 4. Robin Lehner, G, 5. Jakob Silfverberg, C.”  I don’t agree that Ottawa will be left with a lack of mid-tier prospects, but the Sens do need to draft a goalie at some point.

–The Hockey News has an article from Ross MacLean (of ISS) about the impact of injury on draft-eligible prospects (link).  It’s worth reading in its entirety, but here’s part of it, “But an injury to a player in his draft year can be devastating to their career. The ideology here is that kids in the 17-year-old range are in their prime developmental years. This is not just a sport concern, but a personal and physiological concern. The ultimate and unfortunate truth to the matter is that if you are a prospect, and there is any sort of concern surrounding you, it will effect your draft stock.”

-Prospect updates (their position in team scoring is noted in brackets, defence compared to defence; I’ve also indicated if the player’s scoring position has change (with a + for up, – for down, and = for unchanged):
CHL
Mark Stone (Brandon, WHL) 24-21-29-50 (1st=)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Gatineau, QMJHL) 17-18-13-31 (1st=) (injured)
Matt Puempel (Peterborough, OHL) 23-15-11-26 (t-1st+)  
Shane Prince (Ottawa 67s, OHL) 17-9-16-25 (3rd=)
Stefan Noesen (Plymouth, OHL) 20-6-17-23 (4th-)
Jakub Culek (Rimouski, QMJHL) 22-5-11-16 (5th+)
Darren Kramer (Spokane, WHL) 17-9-6-15 (3rd-)
Jordan Fransoo (Brandon, WHL) 24-0-4-4 (6th=)
SEL
Jakob Silfverberg (Brynas) 19-7-7-14 (4th=) (injured)
Fredrik Claesson (Djurgarden) 22-1-3-4 (4th=)
Marcus Sorensen (Boras) 8-2-2-4 (10th+)
Mika Zibanejad (Djurgarden) 6-1-0-1 (19th=)
NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (CCHA-Ohio State) 13-5-8-13 (2nd+)
Bryce Aneloski (WCHA-Nebraska-Omaha) 14-1-8-9 (2nd-)
Chris Wideman (CCHA-Miami) 14-1-6-7 (1st+)
Michael Sdao (ECAC-Princeton) 9-4-1-5 (t-1st=)
Max McCormick (CCHA-Ohio State) 6-2-3-5 (10th)
Ben Blood (WCHA-North Dakota) 11-1-3-4 (2nd+)
Jeff Costello (CCHA-Notre Dame) 8-0-3-3 (12th+)
Brad Peltz (ECAC-Yale) 1-0-0-0 (=)

November 21, 2011
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 3 Comments

–The Ottawa Sun‘s Bruce Garrioch thinks tonight’s game against Vancouver will be a litmus test for the Sens (link).  He quotes Paul MacLean, “Against the other teams in the league that are closer to us, we’ve played pretty well. This is an opportunity for us to measure ourselves against the Stanley Cup finalists from last year and see where we are. The last time we played the Stanley Cup champions it didn’t go very (well), so this is going to be another test for us. I think we’re going to be ready for it because (the Canucks are) a good team.”  Garrioch goes on to note Ottawa’s 3-3-1 record against team’s above them in the standings, which to me answers his question. Ottawa is a .500 team that runs hot and cold.  How they perform against Vancouver isn’t going to change that perception.

–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Allen Panzeri writes about much the same thing (link), saying “What Murray likes even more is that the Senators are starting to be more  consistent. The wild swings have been levelled out, and players are paying  greater attention to what they’re supposed to be doing.”  It’s not a direct quote so I won’t pick on Murray too much, but I’m not sure I see the difference between going 1-5, 6-0 and then 0-5, 3-0.  If that isn’t a continuation of “wild swings” I don’t know what is.

-Rob Brodie, writing for the Sens website, also looks at how the team is trending (link), but uses a better quote from Paul MacLean, “If we can find consistent play with our team and our work ethic continues to grow, and our attention to detail on how we want to play continues to grow, who knows where it’s going to go? We’re not predicting we’re going to be doing anything or playing anywhere. We’re just going to go out and take it game by game and when it’s all said and done, we’re going to be where we’re going to be.”

–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Ken Warren’s article isn’t worth reading (link), but is worth correcting: he says Andre Petersson had shoulder problems last year–it’s his back Ken, his back; he thinks Jakob Silfverberg leads Brynas in scoring (he does not).  In another article Warren can’t help but snipe at Nikita Filatov (comparing him to Mark Stone), but the meaningless comparison is not worth getting into.

–The Ottawa Sun‘s Jason York writes about Nikita Filatov (link), appropriately after the story has died.  I’ve listened to York’s opinion on Filatov evolve over the past week, but he still can’t quite understand the reasoning that’s so obvious to teammates (Daniel Alfredsson) and management (Bryan Murray).  The argument itself is nothing new, but I thought I’d look at the comparisons York has made to Filatov‘s situation (York doesn’t realise that an accurate comparison would be to another highly drafted Russian on a rebuilding team–there are none below):
–Ryan Getzlaf (borrowed from Garrioch’s story two days ago, my thoughts are here link)
–Bobby Ryan (2nd overall in 2005, he played 48 games in Portland before making the defending Stanley Cup champion lineup)
–Jason Spezza (2nd overall in 2001, excluding the lockout he played 43 games in Binghamton before permanently making the 2003 Ottawa lineup that came one game short of the Cup final)
–Zdeno Chara (3-56/96, played parts of two seasons (48 and 23 games) in the AHL)
–Shea Weber (2-49/03, played 46 games in Milwaukee before joined the 05-06 Predators)
–Martin St. Louis (Undrafted; in Calgary organisation 1997-2000)
–Tim Thomas (9-217/94, unsigned by Quebec/Colorado)
–Danny Briere (1-24/96, spent the bulk of the 97-98 and 99-00 in the AHL, along with half of 00-01)
There are all sorts of problems with these comparisons, but briefly: both Ryan and Spezza were trying to make Stanley Cup rosters filled with veterans (and they still only played half the year in the minors).  Chara was not a high draft pick so there were no expectations of him bursting into the lineup (and yet he never played a full season in the minors).  Weber beat the odds in Nashville by not spending a full year in the minors.  St. Louis wasn’t drafted and along with Briere played in an era when small players didn’t play–both were added to veteran laden teams and had no option other than waiting their turn.  Finally, Thomas was a goaltender with no pedigree at all.  To summate: none of them are Russian, only half are first round picks, and none of the high draft picks were on rebuilding teams.

–SenShot‘s Jared Crozier takes a look at the Sens after 20 games (link) where he illustrates how the Sens have cut down their goals against and improved their penalty killing while their powerplay declines.  He cites Kaspars Daugavins as his biggest surprise and Jason Spezza as his biggest disappointment–I don’t agree with either.  Spezza‘s play hasn’t changed; he’s just not seeing the same results.  Daugavins continues to improve, but the only surprise is how much trust he has from the coaches (presumably in part because assistant Dave Cameron had him in the OHL).

-Binghamton assigned Maxime Gratchev and Brian Stewart back to Elmira and both participated in Elmira’s 3-1 win over Kalamazoo (Stewart earned the win, while Caporusso had an assist and Downing a goal).

November 20, 2011
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

–The Ottawa Sun‘s Bruce Garrioch writes about last night’s game (link), where Paul MacLean praised his bottom-six group, “They’ve been very good on all three games on this road trip. Now, we’re getting some goals out of them and that takes an awful lot of weight off of Spezza’s line and (Daniel Alfredsson’s) line to score multiple goals. If we can continue to get that kind of contribution from our third and fourth lines it’s going to make us a way better team.”

-Garrioch picks up the Aaron Portzline story (link) that’s been buzzing around about Nikita Filatov (link). I don’t doubt that he was told the story, but I have two problems with the story: 1) why didn’t Portzline report it at the time (or at least when he was traded in the summer)?  2) I find it hard to believe that Filatov was dumb enough to say that (referring to himself in the third person and telling the coaches he wasn’t going to go for rebounds?).  If he lacked that much common sense this wouldn’t be the only story indicating it–he also would not be getting the kid-glove treatment from the Murray’s, MacLean, or Kleinendorst. In the same vein, Garrioch can’t help but quote Zenon Konopka who makes yet another irrelevant comparison (Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (the former played 17 games and the latter 19 in 2005-06)).

-Yesterday Brian Stewart was recalled from Elmira; Louie Caporusso and Jack Downing were sent down

November 18, 2011
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-the speculation about Nikita Filatov continues (this became public when his agent gave an interview to a Russian newspaper).  Both Bryan Murray and Daniel Alfredsson were asked about him yesterday (the former on Sportsnet the latter on The Team 1200) and were sympathetic (Bruce Garrioch has framed the situation as more hostile (link), but that framing is not connected to reality).  Murray has asked Filatov to wait a little longer, “Basically, what I told him, ‘We’re going on a road trip for two weeks. Go  down and play in Binghamton, and play hard. If we feel, at the end of our trip,  that we’d like to give an opportunity to you again, (coach) Paul (MacLean) has  said we’d be moving you up and down a few times — if you’re playing well, we  will give you an opportunity to again show your wares here. And then, by the end  of November, if you’re not in the NHL, I will sit down and talk with you  again.’ It may happen before then, one way or the other, but from what I understand,  and I believe it to be true, the KHL honours our contracts, and we honour  theirs. So the option is not Filatov’s, it’s the Ottawa Senators’” (link). In Garrioch’s article he quotes Murray saying, “Lots of young players, whether they’re named Filatov or not, get wrapped up in being an offensive player. We all recognize that guys get points. We don’t recognize the guys that hit the post in overtime with an empty net. They don’t get recognized and we know that.  So, he thinks that he has to be a point-getter, an offensive threat to be in the NHL. We’ve repeatedly told him since he has come here, and I don’t know what was said to him in Columbus and I really don’t care, all I know is we’ve asked him to be a little more grounded so that he’s a contributor.”  Paul  MacLean added, “We want him to be an NHL player. We want his skills and abilities here in Ottawa. The problem we have is when he comes here and plays, he doesn’t do the things that he does down there. If you come on the ice and actually do something, and play, the coach is probably going to give you the chance to do something again.”

–The Silver Seven‘s Darren M makes an unfortunate comparison (link) between Nikita Filatov and Kaspars Daugavins, apparently unaware that Daugavins has an “out” clause in his contract that would have allowed him to go to the KHL if he didn’t play 10 NHL games by (I believe) the end of December–hardly “toughing it out”.  Daugavins is also an older player and not a high draft pick, so their circumstances aren’t comparable.

–The Team 1200‘s Steve Lloyd is guilty of an even worse comparison (link), saying Bobby Butler and Filatov‘s situations are the same.  The 24-year old signed to a one-way contract for the next two seasons is the same as a 21-year old on the last year of his ELC?

–The Ottawa Citizen‘s Wayne Scanlan talks about the science of road trips (link)

-Joy Lindsay interviewed Tim Murray and Randy Lee (link), with Murray saying in part, “We don’t shoot the puck, at all — ever, and I think that shows, certainly on the shot clock. I just know that we don’t get many shots on goal, for the most part, and I think that was one of my complaints last year, with the good team, even.  Oh, yeah, I was expecting growing pains. I think we were probably a game over .500 or so when we were healthy … It was a huge turnover, and I thought we’d be young. My hope was that we’d just stay in the mix and be competitive, and then see what happened at the end. But when you have Corey Locke out and have a couple of guys out, especially with a young team, it’s a lot harder for young guys to step up than it is for veteran guys to step up, there’s no question. We’ll see where it goes from there. There are a couple reasons that they’re [veterans] hard to get. Sometimes it’s money, but we did put the money out for Sweatt, and for his reasons, he retired. It was just bad timing. It was August, and there wasn’t anybody that we felt that was out there that could replace that type of player. When you get that complete exodus out the door — and it was their choice, not ours; they all wanted to leave — you just can’t, in my opinion, replace that in one year. We knew that this would be a down year, I think, as far as experience goes and that.”  Randy Lee said, “I’ve seen lots of games. You can tell they’re young, and you can tell they’re struggling to score goals, but at least some of the guys are accepting the challenges. As an organization, we’re happy about that, but we also need to be competive every game. And we think some guys can definitely look at this as opportunity. If they do take on the opportunity, we’ll be in good shape. Then we also have to get through this time without Corey Locke, and Daugavins is up here, so that really hurts your lineup. Any time you have young players, you have inconsistencies. The highs are higher than they should be, and the lows are lower than they should be. Every game I’ve seen, Jimmy O’Brien‘s been one of the hardest-working guys out there every night. Of the first-year guys, I think Pat Cannone‘s played some really strong games. You see the competitiveness in guys like Wacey Hamilton and guys like that. Mike Hoffman‘s got so much skill that he’s just got to get it packaged right, and if he does that, he’s — to me — a real talented guy that could play at this (NHL) level when he figures it out. I know the pressure’s on Robin, because you have to be on top of your game every game when you’re getting outshot most games. That’s the pressure for him, so if he can handle that, that’s great.”

-Ottawa traded Binghamton Senators Shaun Heshka to Peoria for future considerations.  Heshka never fit in with the team, but his departure does put more pressure on ECHLers Josh Godfrey and Bobby Raymond

-Binghamton has recalled Maxime Gratchev and brought up Riley Armstrong (from Elmira)

November 17, 2011
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Ottawa won its second straight game on the strength of a great game from Craig Anderson.  The team had as many holes defensively as it has all year, but last night those mistakes were covered up.  For the box score go here link.  A look at the goals:
1. Alfredsson (Foligno)
Alfredsson creates the turnover and cashes in Foligno‘s pass in the slot
2. Calgary, Kostopoulos
Anderson turned the puck over and couldn’t recover
3. Butler (Gonchar, Phillips)
A great individual effort from Butler
4. Butler (Winchester, Karlsson)
A shot Kiprusoff probably should have stopped

Top-performers:
Craig Anderson – was fantastic, particularly in the first period
Bobby Butler – finally broke out and scored (with only 8:19 TOI)
Filip Kuba – lead the blueline in ice time and finished +2

There was no one who stood out because of their poor play.  It’s worth noting that Kaspars Daugavins has reached the 10 NHL games required by his contract to prevent him from going to the KHL and Dinamo Riga.

The Binghamton Senators lost their eighth game in a row and desperation has set in.  They were shutout 3-0 and with injuries piling up I have to wonder if the organisation will look to make a move to shake things up.  For the box score go here link, for Joy Lindsay’s game summary go here link.

November 16, 2011
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment