–Robin Lehner has been sent back to Binghamton.  It’s exactly what was expected.  Bryan Murray stated the obvious:

It didn’t make any sense to have three people here and two not playing very much. We know Robin has a great future in this game, and I think for him to go play, get lots of starts, will be beneficial in the long run for him.

Lehner himself said:

It’s part of a process, and there’s politics involved. I’m happy and I’ll keep on going.

I agree with Wayne Scanlan (whose story is linked) that “politics” refers to Ben Bishop‘s one-way contract.

–Kyle Turris and Patrick Wiercioch are childhood friends and talked about what connecting on their first NHL goal meant:

It was a very special moment [Turris said]. I think that’s a moment we won’t forget for a long time. To be able to play not only in the NHL together but on the same team, to be on the power play together and connect on the power play together … it was really neat. We were joking when we got back in the room at the intermission, saying that was kind of like the Burnaby Express days, when we were on the power play together, and he kind of moved the puck over to me for a one-timer. That was probably the last time, other than the training sessions in (New Westminster’s) Moody Park that we do every summer. We take thousands of those shots every summer. We work a lot on one-timers like that.

He’d be my best friend growing up [Wiercioch said]. I talk to him about almost anything. When he was in Phoenix, going through hard times, we’d call each other. Last year, when I had my (serious throat) injury he was the first one to call my girlfriend to make sure she was OK. We’ve just kept in contact over the years. It’s a relationship we haven’t lost. He called me before the news broke that he was traded. I was just on my way back from Boston getting my throat checked out by a specialist there, preparing myself for the worst. He called me and that was the best news of the day. I didn’t really care what happened that day. I just knew he was going to be here and hopefully one day I’d join him up here.

There’s little doubt that Turris‘ arrival in the organisation has helped Wiercioch, who finally did the work necessary over the summer to start filling out his frame.  I suspect that Wiercioch will stay once Lundin is healthy and it will be interesting to see how he handles an extended stay in the NHL.

–Don Brennan has decided Marc Methot is already an upgrade over Filip Kuba:

Methot, a better skater than Kuba, leads the Senators with nine hits, whereas Kuba rarely used his big body for such purposes.

As we know, hits define how good a defenseman is (who wouldn’t take Andy Sutton over Nicklas Lidstrom?).  He adds that Karlsson enjoyed a Norris season playing with Kuba who received an “excess amount of credit.”  It’s not much of an argument or comparison.  They  are different kinds of players and Methot‘s track record in Columbus doesn’t match Kuba‘s career.  All this really establishes is that Methot has become one of Brennan’s favourites.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 23, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Here’s my look at the Sens 4-0 win over Florida.  For those interesting here’s Scott‘s scoring chances chart (23/12 for Ottawa; my numbers had it 24/9).  Daniel Alfredsson talked about the Sens struggles in the third period (link below):

We got a little bit off our game in the last six or seven minutes of the third period. We knew they were going to push hard in the third, which they did. They pinched a lot more, which gave us a little bit more trouble getting the puck out of the zone. We need to be a little bit more poised in those situations, but we did a good job of boxing out and (Anderson) made that first save on every shot, so he was huge.

–Jakob Silfverberg stated the obvious about playing with Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek:

They make it easy for me to play

-The oddest rumour about the Sens is the recent one from Andrey Osadchenko who claims the Sens are interested in signing KHL blueliner Viktor Antipin.  The left-handed, 5’10. 20-year old defenseman plays for Metallurg Magnitogorsk and this is his first full season with the team (40-10-10-20).  He was on the Russian silver-medal winning WJC squad and spent most of the last three seasons in the MHL (Red Line Report was the only scouting source to rank him for the 2011 draft and he was #260).  I think Scott (via the link) is right to think Sergei Gonchar is part of the reason the Sens have interest given that he played with Antipin this year.  It’s a puzzling possibility for me because the Sens don’t draft young Russians due to the difficulties in them leaving if sent to the minors.  I have a hard time imagining the Sens could lure him over without an NHL guarantee.  Antipin won’t be available until next season regardless, so if they do sign him fans won’t get a look at him until then.

-Binghamton fell 3-2 to St. John’s last night in a game I was unable to watch.  Nathan Lawson made 36 saves in the loss while Mika Zibanejad and Derek Grant provided the offence.  The B-Sens carried a 2-1 lead into the third, but were unable to hold it.  Here’s the box score and the highlights.

-Elmira crushed Reading 5-2 yesterday with Louie Caporusso and Darren Kramer picking up two points each and Dustin Gazley nabbing a single.

-Here 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) 47-12-32-44 (1st)
Matt Puempel (OHL Kitchener) 30-22-8-30 (1st)
Stefan Noesen (OHL Plymouth) 29-17-9-26 (8th)
Jordan Fransoo (WHL Victoria) 40-3-9-12 (2nd)
Jakub Culek (QMJHL Cape Breton) 9-4-3-7 (10th) (injured)
Jarrod Maidens (OHL Owen Sound) (injured)
Chris Driedger (WHL Calgary) 25-9-3 2.26 .921
Francois Brassard (QMJHL Quebec) 20-14-3 2.91 .900

Allsvenskan (Swe)
Mikael Wikstrand (Mora) 33-11-11-22 (1st) WJC 6-0-4-4 (1st)

KHL
Nikita Filatov (Salavat) 38-8-11-19 (t-2nd)

NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (Ohio) – 24-9-11-20 (1st)
Jeff Costello (Notre Dame) – 16-6-9-15 (5th) (injured)
Bryce Aneloski (Nebraska-Omaha) – 23-4-11-15 (2nd)
Max McCormick (Ohio) – 24-8-5-13 (3rd)
Michael Sdao (Princeton) – 18-5-4-9 (1st)
Tim Boyle (Union) – 12-0-2-2 (t-6th)

USHL
Robbie Baillargeon (Indiana/Omaha) – 36-12-15-27 (1st)

–George Parros talked about the disappearance of the enforcer from the NHL:

More and more there are team like this, kind of going away from that [having an enforcer]. But for me, it doesn’t change my game plan. I still want to be an effective player for our team. But like I said, we’re a dying breed, it seems.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 22, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 3 Comments

-Ottawa faces the Florida Panthers (1-0-0) tonight.  As expected Craig Anderson will get the start against the Panthers and there are no changes to the lineup.

–Paul MacLean talked about the Erik Karlsson-Marc Methot pairing in their first game:

I thought him [Karlsson] and his partner (Marc Methot) were a little bit trying to do too much and force things through the course of the game, but at the same time they still played well enough for us to win the game and they were a big part of it. But they can play better.

–Varada reminds us that the primary comparable for Kyle Turris is Vladimir Tarasenko.  The logic goes that Ottawa traded their 2010 first round pick for David Rundblad and the Blues picked Tarasenko–the Sens swapped Rundblad for Turis, ergo that’s ultimately who was exchanged for whom.  Varada says Ottawa “might not have” picked the Russian, but we know for a fact that they wouldn’t (for the life of me I can’t find the quote, but Murray said the Sens wouldn’t have drafted the player St. Louis did).  That’s irrelevant when you look at who wins a trade, but it can’t truly be assessed until a few more years have passed.

-Binghamton plays St. John’s (17-20-3) tonight; the IceCaps are lead by Jason Jaffrey (22 points) and backstopped by Eddie Pasquale (10-14-2 2.55 .917).

–This is the kind of thing Ben Blood needs to do more to be an AHL player.

-I wish The 6th Sens would include summaries of their pod casts–at least covering whatever salient points were discussed.

–Mark Parisi has the week’s (er, game’s) ups and downs.  I can’t really see trends in one game, so I won’t comment on his list.

-Elmira is playing Reading (28-9-4) this afternoon.  Reading is lead by former B-Sen Yannick Tifu (42 points) and backstopped by Phillipp Grubauer (19-5-1 2.30 .912).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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

–Paul MacLean talked about last night’s win:

I thought the game was a little bit like a dog’s breakfast in the first and second period. I thought in the third period we were able to get control of the game and establish a bit more of our game. I thought the best part of the game for us was the third period. I thought (Anderson) was very good. He brought his buddies (the posts) with him in the first period. For the most part, I thought our penalty killers did a nice job.

Erik Karlsson said:

I didn’t feel really well out there. I didn’t feel really great. It’s nice to contribute. It’s nice to get a goal on the power play. (That) is good for us. Hopefully, we can build on this. It probably wasn’t the best played game from anyone. But, hopefully, we can get the feeling back as quick as possible.

-Here are my thoughts on last night’s game.

-I’ve always tracked scoring chances on my own, but with another take check out Scott‘s.

–Marc Cheverie lost his first AHL game this year as Binghamton fell 4-2 to the Sound Tigers.  Cole Schneider and Mika Zibanejad provided the goals.  Here’s the box score.

-An undermanned Elmira was crushed by Reading 6-1 last night; no B-Sen signees had points.  Both Artem Demkov and defenseman Tyler Miller were suspended by the team prior to the game (I’d guess for curfew issues).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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

–Paul MacLean talked about Jakob Silfverberg:

One thing about Jakob, he’s a very consistent player. Coming here, to be the best player in Sweden, you have to be a good player, so he’s a consistent player there. He’s a little bit older than most rookies, so coming here, the lockout helped him by going to Binghamton and being able to get adjusted to the small rink. And Binghamton’s rink is even smaller than most NHL rinks, so he’s got that adjustment out of the way. We feel that he’s going to able to come in and contribute. Our expectations for him are to just be himself, get himself comfortable, get playing in the league and we feel with the guys that he’s with, he’s going to contribute for us offensively. But we’re not depending on him to have to come in and do everything for us. We have a pretty good veteran group with Jason, Alfie and Milan that are expected to lead that thing offensively, so we just want him to come in and contribute and continue to work hard.

MacLean also referred to the blueline without saying anything new, but Nichols (same link) looks at the stats of the Phillips-Gonchar pairing from last season:

As I tweeted out earlier today, Gonchar actually had better on the surface numbers while playing with Chris Phillips last season at even strength than Jared Cowen. Given these differentials in goals for versus goals against while on the ice, one would assume that this pairing was relatively effective. Delving a little deeper into the sabermetric analysis, I found that this Phillips/Gonchar pairing actually got killed in the puck possession game. Gonchar was actually a more complete defenceman playing with Cowen and it’s safe to assume that the positive Goals For to Goals Against ratio that Sarge experienced with Phillips is left to random chance and good fortune.

Neither player has good footspeed and Gonchar can’t bail Phillips out on his mental errors the way other players can.  Still, given his choices I think MacLean has to start with the combination.

MacLean then talked about his third and fourth lines:

The bottom six has got some good depth. They have a lot of different abilities. They can play physical. They can play with the puck. They can hang onto pucks. They can contribute offensively; they’re not just out there just to kill the clock until we can get the other guys back out there, the expectation is that they can come  out and play. I think what they really allow us to do is push the pace of the game because of their abilities to skate and their conditioning level. We should be able to keep a pretty good pace to our game and those guys are expected to contribute as well.

Nichols has concerns over the Greening-Smith-Neil line’s puck possession numbers (nothing surprising in that as none of its members are known for distributing or carrying the puck), but I see these lines as very fluid–the pieces can be moved around.

-Last night I posed my predictions for the Sens this season.  You can see how my predictions faired last year.

–James wisely dismisses the goaltender controversy talk, but I think he mistakes why Robin Lehner is serving as a backup tonight: it’s essentially a pat on the back for his great AHL-season.  Soon enough, assuming Craig Anderson avoids late night ice picking incidents, Lehner will be back in Binghamton and Bishop will be backing-up.

-Various folk predict the result of tonight’s game.

-Binghamton defeated Toronto 4-2 last night that featured an undisciplined B-Sen squad.  Nathan Lawson made 36 saves for the win while Stephane Da Costa, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, and Derek Grant (empty-net) provided the offense.  Here’s the box score and the highlights.

-Binghamton faces Bridgeport (18-16-4) tonight; the Sound Tigers are lead by Nino Niederreiter (36 points) and backstopped by Kevin Poulin (11-8-2 3.18 .905).

-Elmira lost 8-5 to Trenton last night, with Louie Caporusso and Dustin Gazley picking up two points each.

–Wade Redden found a home in St. Louis and I’ll take his performance as a litmus test for the league.  If a broken down, unmotivated Redden can play useful minutes for the Blues than the league has slowed down and obstruction is beginning to rule the day again.  If, as I’d expect, Redden is awful, then there’s hope that the league is moving in the right direction.

–Ken Campbell believes the Devils re-signing of Travis Zajac and the Caps agreeing to let Alex Ovechkin play in the Olympics means the players are winning the new CBA.  Uh…what?  Ovechkin (just like the NHL) was going to go anyway, so why create a problem?  And were the Devils not supposed to sign Zajac long term after they lost Parise?  Ken needs to switch to decaf before he writes a column.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

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

–James Gordon speculates that Mark Borowiecki will be a healthy scratch against Winnipeg and that Andre Benoit and Patrick Wiercioch will play as the third pairing (although the line combinations I’ve seen posted don’t necessarily mesh with that idea; Nichols thought what he saw indicated Borowiecki would play ahead of Benoit).

–Stu Hackel lists questions for teams in the East and for Ottawa he says:

Some don’t believe that Erik Karlsson is the real thing, but there’s no doubts about that here. The defense corps as a whole, however, could be a problem. Matt Carkner and Karlsson’s partner Filip Kuba are now elsewhere, Jared Cowen will miss the season with injury and both Sergei Gonchar and Chris Phillips are well on the back nine of their careers. Can the new d-men brought in by GM Bryan Murray — local boy Marc Methot and Mike Lundin — and/or perhaps some of the Sens’ prospects capably fill the gaps? Some other areas of concern may be team toughness with the departure of Carkner and Zenon Kenopka. Also, can captain Daniel Alfredsson continue to play at a high level in what might be his final go-around?

It’s a pretty generic list, but shows Hackel has kept tabs on the team’s coverage.

–5Dimes lists Ottawa at 30-1 favourites for the Cup (tied for the 19th best odds).

-Most of the Silver Seven staff believe Ottawa will be a playoff team this year.  The boys at WTYKY also offer up a wide variety of predictions.

–Adam Proteau believes the Sens will finish 10th in the Conference saying:

The Sens were another team that overachieved in the eyes of many – and unfortunately for them, injuries to defensemen Jared Cowen and Mike Lundin have thinned out the back end in a big way, at least to start the season. They’ll still be competitive, but it may not be enough to keep pace in the increasingly tough East.

–The Hockey Central staff had to relive the embarrassment of their Ottawa prediction from last season and other than Brad May (who thinks they need more goons–you know, like Brad May the player) they all see them making the playoffs.

-Binghamton faces Toronto (22-11-3) tonight; the Marlies are lead by Ryan Hamilton (25 points)–in the absence of players at camp or lost through waivers–and backstopped by Jussi Rynnas (6-3-1 1.96 .937).

–Mike Hoffman was returned to Binghamton while Cody Ceci was sent back to junior.

–Andre Benoit and Robin Lehner were named AHL all-stars.

-Elmira plays Trenton tonight; the Titans are 15-27-5 and feature Brad Peltz (if he plays); they are lead by Nick Mazzolini (40 points) and backstopped by Scott Wedgewood (11-11-2 3.07 .898).

–Jeremy Milks advises fans temper their enthusiasm to move on from Craig Anderson to give either Robin Lehner or Ben Bishop the reigns.  I think realistic expectations are good, but there are a couple of things in Jeremy’s piece that stuck out to me as worthy of comment:

Most fans look forward to the Entry Draft more than they do the Stanley Cup finals.

Ignoring the hyperbole, it’s worth considering that 29 of 30 teams have nothing else to celebrate after the Cup finals, so the draft is the next major team event where they can hope to improve their cause.

He’s [Anderson] now a respected veteran in the league

Is he?  Three seasons as a starter he’s been great, awful, and good–that’s it.  Keep in mind Jeremy is trying to convince fans to be patient, but given that fans have no impact on who play or not and if Craig Anderson plays well than all the discussion goes away.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 18, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 4 Comments

–Chris Phillips talked about the team playing young defensemen this season:

Everybody talks about that inexperience all the time, but look at Cowen last year. These guys have been playing in the AHL and doing well all year. They’re ready, comfortable with it. I don’t think it should be any concern at all. The biggest thing is to be patient and calm out there and don’t try and over impress the people that are watching you.

-Binghamton rolled over Rochester 5-1 last night in a game I was unable to watch.  Nathan Lawson picked up the win with a 35-save effort, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Corey Cowick had three point nights, while Mika Zibanejad had his first point since returning from injury.  Cowick and Da Costa had two goals each while Jack Downing scored the other.  Here’s the box score and the highlights.

-Elmira defeated Kalamazoo 2-1 last night with Louie Caporusso picking up the only point among Binghamton signees.

–Eric Duhatschek talks about league parity and includes good comments from Detroit GM Ken Holland:

Somebody asked me the other day, ‘who are the Cup contenders?’ and my answer was, ‘the Cup contenders are the 16 teams that make the playoffs. If you make the playoffs, you’ve got a chance to win the Stanley Cup. In ’05, when the salary-cap world came into being, part of that was for economics, but part of it was for parity – to give everybody an opportunity. That’s the beauty of the league right now. It’s wide open. The disparity between the best and the worst players in the league, in relation to 10 or 20 years ago, is far less than it once was. Then you think about coaching. We call it ‘backside pressure’ now, but all it really is, is back checking. When you think back to the 1990s, how often would you see a three-on-two? How often do you see odd-man rushes now? Then you see the D-zone coverage and all the shot-blocking that goes on. Then you think about the goaltending and how that’s evolved. I think everybody is better managed. Coaches are going to seminars and sharing information. The Europeans, they used to come over and were a little awed and intimidated at first. Well now, with the world juniors and Olympics and all the games they play here, when the Europeans come over, they’re ready to go. When you start to put down the laundry list of all the things that changed, it adds up to parity. It adds up to a league that’s really close – where every night, it’s a one-goal game. Somebody’s going to make the playoffs in a photo finish and somebody’s going to miss the playoffs in a photo finish and the team that misses, if they had gotten in, they might have gone on a playoff run.

I hear a lot of complaints about parity, but I think it’s good for the league.  Knowing that each season every team has a chance if it’s managed well means the fan base can always hope, grow, and look forward to each year.  Having lived during the dynasty period in the 1980s the seasons were a largely pointless exercise as the same bloody teams won year after year–it’s tedious unless your team is winning (I’ve found most fans of the dynasty era supported a team that was successful during it).

-For the poolies out there both TSN’s Scott Cullen and ESPN’s staff have posted their player point projections.  Their take on the Sens listed:
Jason Spezza 45 (ESPN) 41 (TSN)
Daniel Alfredsson 39 (ESPN) 31 (TSN)
Erik Karlsson 37 (ESPN) 35 (TSN)
Milan Michalek 33 (ESPN) 28 (TSN)
Guillaume Latendresse 25 (ESPN)
Mika Zibanejad 23 (ESPN)
Sergei Gonchar 20 (ESPN) 22 (TSN)
Colin Greening 20 (TSN)
Kyle Turris 19 (ESPN) 25 (TSN)
Patrick Wiercioch 14 (ESPN)
Jakob Silfverberg 8 (ESPN) 2o (TSN)
Chris Phillips 5 (ESPN)
Craig Anderson 20 wins (ESPN)
Ben Bishop 6 wins (ESPN)
Robin Lehner 5 wins (ESPN)

–Ryan Kennedy offers his mid-season 2013 draft rankings:
1. Nathan MacKinnon, C, Halifax
2. Seth Jones, D, Portland
3. Jonathan Drouin, LW, Halifax
4. Aleksander (Sasha) Barkov, C, Tappara
5. Elias Lindholm, C, Brynas
6. Sean Monahan, C, Ottawa
7. Robert Hagg, D, Modo
8. Rasmus Ristolainen, D, TPS
9. Hunter Shinkaruk, LW, Medicine Hat
10. Adam Erne, RW, Quebec
11.    Darnell Nurse, D, Sault Ste. Marie
12.    Curtis Lazar, C, Edmonton
13. Valery Nichushkin, LW, Chelyabinsk
14.    Anthony Mantha, LW, Val d’Or
15.    Josh Morrissey, D, Prince Albert
16.    Morgan Klimchuk, LW, Regina
17.    Jacob De La Rose, LW, Leksands
18.    Ryan Pulock, D, Brandon
19.    Frederik Gauthier, C, Rimouski
20.    Valentin Zykov, RW, Baie Comeau
21.    Zach (Zachary) Fucale, G, Halifax
22.    Nikita Zadorov, D, London
23.    Artturi Lehkonen, LW, Kalpa
24.    Max Domi, C, London
25.    Steve Santini, D, USNDTP
26.    Jason Dickinson, LW, Guelph
27.    Ian McCoshen, D, Warterloo
28.    Eric Comrie, G, Tri City
29.    Alexander Wennberg, C, Djurgardens
30.    Kerby Rychel, LW, Windsor

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

January 17, 2013
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment