-Ottawa plays the New York Rangers (8-6-1) tonight; the Rangers are lead by Marian Gaborik (11 points) in the absence of Rick Nash, while they are backstopped by Henrik Lundqvist (7-6-0 2.32 .915).  The Sens lineup is expected to be unchanged.  The attempt to hype the matchup because of last year’s playoff seems silly to me, but it’s par for the course in hockey promotion.

–Nichols believes Craig Anderson‘s level of play cannot be sustained, which given the state of Ottawa’s offence, is a worrying thought.  Fortunately, the organisation has three goaltenders capable of elite play, so if Anderson does slow down there are options within to take some of the weight off his shoulders.

–Wayne Scanlan thinks the mediocrity of the Eastern Conference means the Sens have an opportunity to stay in the playoff hunt despite their injury problems.

–THN interviewed Jakob Silfverberg.

–Tyler touches upon one of my favourite pet peeves: lazy journalism.

I’m sure people have different definitions of lazy journalism but mine is when a reporter takes a recent development, forms a personal opinion on what that could possibly lead to down the road and then works backwards to ram in enough suppositions to allow for their hypothesis to become possible so they can use it as news.  At no point are they able to have any party involve actually confirm any of these suppositions but the mere speculation is made to be evidence enough.

–Daniel Wagner looks at how perception shapes fans notions of who is or who isn’t a goon or a dirty player.  I like the content, although I think not enough time is spent differentiating players with lengthy histories of questionable play as opposed to those who do not.  Context is all important.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 21, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Ottawa won its second game in a row beating the Islanders 3-1 despite being outplayed.  Craig Anderson was excellent in the win (he made 37 saves), while Colin Greening, Andre Benoit (his first ever), and David Dziurzynski (also his first ever) scored the goals.  Mika Zibanejad played the least among forwards, while Eric Gryba wound up playing 20 minutes on the back end.  It was Derek Grant‘s best game as a Senator, although that’s not saying much.  Here’s the boxscore.  Scott had the scoring chances 13/20.

–Paul MacLean talked about the win:

We scored three goals. We’ve played way better and scored no goals. I didn’t think we played particularly great throughout the game. I thought they were harder on the puck and better in a lot of areas. Our goaltender was a big part of it.

I have to agree with MacLean’s sentiment is yesterday’s game was one of the worst the Sens have played.

-There was collective scratching of heads when David Dziurzynski was recalled, but since he put on the Sens uniform he’s looked like he belongs.  I think he’s a good fit with Zack Smith and Chris Neil as opposed to Greening; the latter does throw hits, but he’s not really an aggressive player, whereas Dziurzynski plays the greasy kind of game that fits his linemates.  Whether he can remain consistent is an open question.

–Ben Bishop and Jakob Silfverberg talked about the Swede’s shot:

It’s one of the best releases I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen him do it 10 times in the American (Hockey) League. He makes goalies look stupid. A lot of times he puts it in between your face and glove, so you can’t even get it, really. The thing is, you can know it’s coming and he’ll still score. That’s how good it is. The only way is if the goalie is just completely cheating and he just holds (his glove) up there.

I like taking slap shots as well, but you don’t have time over here. You’ve got to shoot quick. You can’t really lock and load. You’ve just got to get it on your stick then put it away. I like taking slap shots as well, but you don’t really have time. I had one coach when I was about 15 that told me to get a sweet spot, somewhere you pretty much know that you can always shoot. So if you get the puck you don’t always have to look at the net. You just know that’s the spot where you have it, and that’s where I put it. That’s what I’ve been working on, to have that spot. So if I get the puck I just shoot it, I don’t really have to aim it.

–Marc Cheverie has been sent down to Elmira, meaning that Nathan Lawson is now healthy.

-Here is the latest prospect update (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/Owen Sound) 59-15-38-53 (1st)
Matt Puempel (OHL Kitchener) 41-27-9-36 (3rd)
Stefan Noesen (OHL Plymouth) 40-21-17-38 (5th)
Jordan Fransoo (WHL Victoria) 54-4-13-17 (3rd)
Jakub Culek (QMJHL Cape Breton) 9-4-3-7 (10th) (injured)
Jarrod Maidens (OHL Owen Sound) (injured)
Chris Driedger (WHL Calgary) 29-13-3 2.42 .919
Francois Brassard (QMJHL Quebec) 26-17-3 2.87 .904

Allsvenskan (Swe)
Mikael Wikstrand (Mora) 40-11-11-22 (1st) WJC 6-0-4-4 (1st)

KHL
Nikita Filatov (Salavat) 47-10-11-21 (6th)

NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (Ohio) – 32-13-17-30 (1st)
Jeff Costello (Notre Dame) – 24-8-15-23 (4th)
Max McCormick (Ohio) – 32-9-12-21 (3rd)
Bryce Aneloski (Nebraska-Omaha) – 31-4-15-19 (2nd)
Michael Sdao (Princeton) – 25-7-6-13 (1st)
Tim Boyle (Union) – 14-0-2-2 (7th)

USHL
Robbie Baillargeon (Indiana/Omaha) – 46-16-20-36 (1st)

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 20, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Ottawa faces the Islanders (6-8-1) tonight; Craig Anderson is expected to start while Jim O’Brien and Mike Lundin will sit (I agree wholeheartedly with the latter, although I don’t think O’Brien is the forward who warrants sitting) while Andre Benoit and Mika Zibanejad will play.

–Scott had the scoring chances of the New Jersey game 11/15.  My thoughts on the game are here.

-Here’s Binghamton at the fifty game mark.

–Bobby Kelly takes a look at various Sens prospects with a particular eye on Jakub Culek‘s odd year.  Funnily enough, given the state of affairs in Binghamton right now he would be a welcome addition…if he was healthy.

–Jeremy Milks looks at the ins and outs of Ottawa trading for Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly.

–Mark Sutcliffe takes a look at the loss of Erik Karlsson in terms of the Sens marketing.  It’s an interesting piece, although Sutcliffe doesn’t attempt to speculate what Karlsson‘s impact on ticket sales is.

–Bruce Dowbiggin looks at how little advanced hockey statistics and analysis is used on network coverage and I can’t help but agree with him.  I think a lot of that has to do with the lack of sophistication of many TV analysts (particularly the former players who proliferate on Sporstnet) as well as a general conservatism from those who cover the game (I think specifically picking Don Cherry is a bit too narrow on Dowbiggin’s part).  The positive for stats lovers is that these are the kinds of things fans will grab hold of, so ultimately it’s only a matter of time.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 19, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

The Binghamton Senators have reached the 50-game mark so it’s time to take stock and see how the team and the players are doing (for the previous ten games go here).  Binghamton went 4-5-1, dropping to 2nd in their conference, but remaining 1st in their division.  Their 151 goals-for put 4th in their conference, while their 125 goals allowed drops them to 4th.

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

Cole Schneider 9-1-5-6 +1 SCR 1
Shane Prince 9-3-2-5 -1 SCR 1
Jean-Gabriel Pageau 10-1-4-5 Even
Corey Cowick 10-2-2-4 -1
Hugh Jessiman 10-2-2-4 -2
David Dziurzynski 7-1-3-4 +1 [NHL 1-0-0-0 -1]
Derek Grant 7-2-1-3 Even [NHL 1-0-0-0 -1]
Brett Lebda 7-2-1-3 -2
Pat Cannone 10-1-2-3 +2
Dustin Gazley 9-0-3-3 -2 [ECHL 1-2-2-4 +4]
Chris Wideman 10-0-3-3 -2
Louie Caporusso 5-1-1-2 Even [ECHL 7-5-5-10 +4]
Eric Gryba 7-0-2-2 +6 [NHL 1-0-0-0 -2]
Jack Downing 9-2-0-2 -2 SCR 1
Mike Hoffman 1-1-0-1 +1 INJ 9
Mark Stone 1-1-0-1 Even INJ 9
Stephane Da Costa 3-0-1-1 -1 [NHL 6-1-0-1 -2]
Mark Borowiecki 6-0-1-1 +2 [NHL 6-0-0-0 +1]
Danny New 7-1-0-1 +1 SCR 3
Tyler Eckford 10-1-0-1 -4
Wacey Hamilton 10-0-1-1 -1
Mika Zibanejad 1-0-0-0 +1 [NHL 10-1-2-3 +1]
Fredrik Claesson 10-0-0-0 -2
Darren Kramer 8-0-0-0 -1
Ben Blood 4-0-0-0 -1 [ECHL 4-0-0-0 +3]
David Marshall 3-0-0-0 [ECHL 10-4-7-11 +7]
Brad Peltz DNP (injured)
Andre Petersson DNP (injured)

Robin Lehner 3-5-1 2.12 .938
Marc Cheverie 1-0-0 2.90 .909 [ECHL 1-0-0-0 2.60 .917]
Nathan Lawson 1-0-0-0 3.01 .923 (injured)

A number of things stick out: the decimation of the lineup via not just NHL call-ups but also injury (Hoffman is done for the year while Stone is out for an extended period). Robin Lehner seemed to fall victim to fatigue as Luke Richardson was reluctant to play either of his other goaltenders (Lawson was injured early on in his only start over this period of time).  Schneider leading the team offensively may mean he’s made the transition to the pro game after problems with consistency throughout the season.  Speaking of transitions, Caporusso at long last put up points in the AHL, but likely not enough to keep him within the organisation.  I’m not quite sure what the Sens thought they were getting when they signed Hamilton last year, but whatever it is doesn’t show up on stat sheet.  Cannone continues to have a miserable campaign and Eckford remains unproductive.  Despite additional ice time Cowick and Jessiman‘s numbers remain the same.  All in all though, it’s enough for Binghamton to tread water until the post-season when they will be flooded with players currently in the NHL.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 18, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 9 Comments

-Ottawa fell 3-0 to the Leafs tonight in a game that was much more entertaining than I expected.  The score is somewhat deceiving as Toronto did not dominate and the Sens could have earned a point or two if they had more puck luck (there are many instances one could pick, but for example Stephane Da Costa losing control of the puck on a clear breakaway in the first comes to mind).  Craig Anderson made 25 saves in the loss, but wasn’t really a factor either way in the loss.  Here’s the boxscore; Scott had the scoring chances 12/10.  As for the players debuting for Ottawa, Derek Grant struggled the most and played the least, while Eric Gryba played the most and tied as a team-worst -2.

–Nichols transcription service offers some words from Bryan Murray:

Some of these damaged tendons take up to a year (to recover fully). Dr. Chow was the front doctor on this with a couple of others working with him and indications were that it went well enough that the timeframe was basically confirmed to be 100-percent.

So the expectation continues to be that Karlsson will fully recover.

The league, Brendan [Shanahan] being the front guy for the league in this case, has to do what they feel is right. They feel it was a hockey play gone bad. I suggested that Matt Cooke had somewhat of a history and that maybe that should be considered as well. But I don’t believe that’s the approach that they took; they took it as the individual act. I’m not sure. I’ve heard some sources say that this is the new way to do things in hockey – get your body in position and your skates are more in the play than they have been in the past. Being in hockey all these years, I don’t see that very often but beyond that… it’s no benefit for us or for anybody (to push for the player to be suspended). It’s up to the league to make these decisions. We get no value out of a player being suspended and I’m not pushing that at all.

It’s a polite way for Murray to say he thought Cooke deserved a reputation suspension, but has already moved on.

We’re going to talk to teams. I don’t think I want to give up first round picks right now to finish up the year. I want to continue to… we have got some kids. We have got a few hurt down there but we’ve got a few kids that we’ll give a chance to – out of necessity, more than anything. I think we’ve got a core here and I know we’ve got a good coaching staff and they’ll put up a game plan to make us competitive every night. I thought last night we kind of lost a little heart in the third period because of Erik (Karlsson). I think they all went into the room and saw him. I thought we had a really good second period; we were very competitive in the game. Now we’ll have a day to recover and hopefully come back.

These comments (and others) boil down to is that Murray isn’t looking for quick fixes and is taking the long view.

-Binghamton lost 5-2 to Wilkes-Barre last night; Robin Lehner made 30 saves in the loss while Tyler Eckford and Jack Downing provided the goals (Louie Caporusso picked up his first-ever AHL point). Binghamton then proceeded to defeat Albany 3-2 this afternoon in a shootout, with Lehner given a rest so Cheverie made 35 saves for the win; Cole Schneider and Caporusso scored the goals and Chris Wideman enjoyed his first two-point night in the AHL.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 17, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-Ottawa faces Toronto (7-5-2) tonight; the Leafs are lead by Nazem Kadri (12 points) and will be backstopped by Ben Scrivens (2-3-0 2.66 .912).

–Colin Greening and Patrick Wiercioch will be healthy scratches tonight; Greening might deserve his fate, but I’m not so sure about Wiercioch.  There’s speculation the team is playing its three call-ups to audition them (and others) for trades, but I really don’t know what assets of use the Sens would get back if that was the case.

–Lyle Richardson examines trade options Bruce Garrioch suggests and I agree with him that other than Lubomir Visnovsky none of them seem reasonable given what Bryan Murray is willing to part with.

–Hockey Reference see’s the Sens finishing 9th given their situation.

-Binghamton got hammered by Syracuse last night 7-1; Robin Lehner made 26 saves in the loss while Shane Prince scored the only goal.  Only three players avoided being a minus on the night and Mark Borowiecki was a team worst -4.  Here’s the boxscore.

-Binghamton has recalled Ben Blood leaving no signees remaining with Elmira.

-Elmira lost 4-3 to Reading last night; Blood had no points.

-ISS has released its latest 2013 draft rankings (for their previous list go here):

1 – Jones, Seth – D – Portland – WHL
2 – Nichushkin, Valery – F – Chelyabinsk Chelmet – RusS (+5)
3 – MacKinnon, Nathan – C – Halifax – QMJHL (-1)
4 – Drouin, Jonathan – F – Halifax – QMJHL (-1)
5 – Nurse, Darnell – D – S.S. Marie – OHL (-1) (+5)
6 – Zadorov, Nikita – D – London – OHL (+3)
7 – Barkov, Aleksander – F – Tappara – FinE (-3)
8 – Monahan, Sean – C – Ottawa – OHL (-3)
9 – Lindholm, Elias – C – Brynas – SweE (-3)
10 – Ristolainen, Rasmus – D – TPS Turku – FinE (-2) (-2)
11 – Lazar, Curtis – C – Edmonton – WHL
12 – Pulock, Ryan – D – Brandon – WHL (+5)
13 – Shinkaruk, Hunter – F – Medicine Hat – WHL (+1)
14 – Dickinson, Jason – F – Guelph – OHL (-1)
15 –Valentin Zykov – RW – Baie-Comeau – QMJHL (+1)
16 – Burakowsky, Andre – F – Malmo – SweAl (+2)
17 – Morrissey, JT – D – Prince Albert – WHL (+30)
18 –Alexander Wennberg – C – Djurgarden – SweJr (NR) (+3)
19 – Rychel, Kerby – F – Windsor – OHL (+8)
20 – Santini, Steve – D – USA U18 – NTDP (+3)
21 – Gauthier, Frederik – C – Rimouski – QMJHL (-2)
22 – Hagg, Robert – D – Modo – SweJE (-10)
23 –Bo Horvat – C – London – OHL (NR) (-1)
24 – Madison Bowey – D – Kelowna – WHL (NR)
25 – J. T. Compher – C – USA Under-18 – NTDP (+1)
26 – Erne, Adam- F – Quebec – QMJHL (-11)
27 – Lehkonen, Artturi – F – Kuopio – FinE (-3)
28 –Max Domi – C – London – OHL
29 – Nic Petan – C – Portland – WHL (NR)
30 – Thompson, Keaton – D – USA U18 – NTDP (-1)

Falling out of the top thirty were Ryan Hartman (25) and Anthony Duclair (30).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 16, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

–Eric Gryba, Derek Grant, and David Dziurzynski were all recalled by Ottawa.  A lot of people have been puzzled by the choice of Dziurzynski who hasn’t had a great year in Binghamton (44-3-14-17 +6), with players like Corey Cowick and Hugh Jessiman having superior numbers.  I think there are a number of factors involved: 1) familiarity (Dziurzynski was part of the Binghamton group recalled during Ottawa’s brief playoff run last year), 2) defensive play (Jessiman is not strong defensively nor as good a skater), 3) consistent physicality (in the games I’ve watched neither Cowick nor Jessiman have hit with regularity–Bingo fans who’ve watched the whole year can correct me on that one).  In the end I think the first point is the most vital (it may also be a pat on the back in the hopes of getting Dziurzynski going).

–Bryan Murray put on a brave face in comments about the team going forward:

We’ll recover from this, without a doubt. We may not be as talented but I think we’ve got a real good, strong character group and we have to hope they will carry us through.

There’s not much else Murray can say at this point–he has to support the players who are still active as well as encourage fans to come out to the games.

–Chris takes a brief look at how the Sens will survive without Karlsson and the most obvious point is those who are still playing need to step up their game.  Can they do so enough to compensate for the loss of their top defenseman and forward?  I think it’s a bit much to ask, but it will be interesting to watch who does well in their absence.

–Stu Hackel doesn’t think Matt Cooke deserves any blame for Karlsson‘s injury and goes through his reasoning for that; Sean Gordon thinks Cooke should have been suspended to stop the kind of play he was executing.  The blame-game seems pretty pointless to me; no action was taken and Karlsson is injured so that’s all there is to it.

-Binghamton faces Syracuse (27-14-6) tonight; the Crunch are lead by Tyler Johnson (43 points) and backstopped by Riku Helenius (9-8-0 3.06 .878).

-Binghamton recalled Louie Caporusso and signed Reading Royals’ David Marshall (52-17-29-46) to a PTO.  With their current roster Bingo is lead by Hugh Jessiman (22 points) and Brett Ledba (13 points).

-Elmira faces Reading (33-13-6) tonight with Ben Blood the only remaining Bingo signee on the Jackals roster.

-I’m looking for feedback from readers to see if there’s anything they want to see more/less of on the blog.  All thoughts are welcome!

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 15, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 3 Comments

-Happy Valentine’s to one and all

-I was unable to watch last night’s game, where the Sens took a 2-1 lead but couldn’t hold on to beat the Pens.  Craig Anderson made 26 saves in the loss while Stephane Da Costa and Jim O’Brien added the goals.  Here’s the boxscore; Scott had the scoring chances 14/16.

-No one is talking about the game however, as the focus is on Matt Cooke slicing Erik Karlsson‘s achilles tendon and ending his season.  The least surprising part of the incident is that the NHL has not suspended Cooke.  Whether what Cooke did was intentional or not (Pierre LeBrun thinks it was unintentional) seems pretty moot to me–guilt is not going to bring Karlsson back nor would a suspension really punish the Penguins for his loss.  The incident doesn’t make me dislike Cooke any more than I already did–I don’t think he belongs in the league, but the NHL does not share my opinion.  Middling players injuring stars has a long and healthy track record in the Gary Bettman era, so what’s one more in the grand scheme of things?

-What does the loss of Karlsson mean for the Sens?  It means the pressure and expectation to make the playoffs is gone (my pre-season prediction was that health would ultimately wreck post-season changes for the Sens).  With both Karlsson and Spezza injured there’s no realistic hope for Ottawa to remain in the playoff hunt.  Instead, I’d expect Paul MacLean to play younger players more and for Bryan Murray to make a few moves to land picks, prospects, and young players going forward.  As disappointing as this scenario is in the long run it’s probably beneficial for the franchise (a sentiment Adam Proteau echoes).

-Elmira defeated Reading 5-3 last night; Louie Caporusso had an assist in the win.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

February 14, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments