WRITTEN BY SENSCHIRP READER- Fredo
Whether the Ottawa Senators manage to make the playoffs in 2015 or come up short, this year has proven to be a highly entertaining one. There was no shortage of both on ice and off ice drama with the club, and it would be good if we had a little less uncertainty off ice and perhaps quite a bit more results on ice.
So, now we come to the impending new year. 2015 is upon us and rather than debate ourselves over what our personal new year’s resolutions should be, why not instead debate over what the 2015 resolutions/predictions for the Senators? Debate away.
-Curtis Lazar returns to Ottawa from the World Juniors with a Gold Medal around his neck. He is happily welcomed back in the Senators dressing room – but only after having to tell his team mates that “Chris Phillips won a gold medal at the World Juniors for Canada first.”
-Zack Smith return from his wrist injury and miraculously leads the team into the playoffs. Failing that, here’s hoping that Bryan Murray finds a Western Canadian team with a history of questionable trading, poor coaching, and odd draft day decisions that willingly offers to take Zack Smith off our hands at the deadline.
-Kyle Turris, finally grows tired of being asked by Sportsnet reporters how it feels to replace Jason Spezza as the Senators number 1 centre, instead asks Sportsnet “What it’s like to spend $5.2 Billion and still be the number 2 sports network?”
-Alex Chiasson finishes the season as a plus player. Dallas weeps. Dallas GM Jim Nill then figures that the best way to get Spezza and Hemsky to play to their “potential” next season is to re-unite them with Milan Michalek. Bryan Murray agrees, and grudgingly takes back Ludwig Karlsson.
-Colin Greening finds his skating, scoring touch and a mean streak long enough for the above mentioned Western Canadian team to decide that they want to take a flyer on him in exchange for a mid round draft pick. (Hey, let’s keep it reasonable here, folks.)
-David Legwand proves his worth and brings everything to the Sens that they hoped they were getting when they signed him. So much, in fact, that his value as a veteran NHL centre is so ridiculously high that Nashville, prepping for a playoff run, finds itself paying a premium to re-acquire their former captain.
-Erik Condra finds a bit of a scoring touch to go with his high defensive IQ, and gets to stick around with the Senators, ultimately becoming an intriguing hybrid of Magnus Arvedson/Andreas Dackell. Daniel Alfredsson becomes so taken with the new “Eric the Swede” that he offers to let Condra move into his basement.
-Cody Ceci keeps up his heady play. On any given night, Ceci has been the best overall defenceman. I’m a big believer in keeping players down on the farm until they are “over ripe,” but the way this kid has played, it’s hard to believe that he ever needed any seasoning in Bingo. Reminds me of a young Chris Phillips. Yep, I said it.
-Jared Cowen absorbs absolutely everything that assistant coach Jason Smith has to teach him, and learns to play within Dave Cameron’s system. Ultimately finishing the season as Erik Karlsson’s D partner. Long time defenders of Cowen on SensChirp rejoice.
-Captain Erik Karlsson continues to grow into the leader that Alfiie, his pal and mentor, groomed him for. Don’t worry about winning the Norris this year, Erik. Instead, be it resolved that your name will one day be called to hoist the Stanley Cup. On that day, you won’t even remember that you’ve ever won another trophy.
Thanks for reading. Have an idea for a new year’s resolution/predictions for the Sens? There’s still time. Fire away!
