Nine points back. Two games in hand. And five straight road games against Western Conference opponents looming on the schedule.
Anaheim. Los Angeles. San Jose. Minnesota. Winnipeg.
The playoffs remain a long-shot for the Senators but thanks to a decent run on home ice, they have at least given themselves a fighting chance. It’s going to take some kind of miracle down the stretch for the Senators to close the gap but as a fan, you have to enjoy the improved play we’ve seen from the team the last little while. And while it may not be good news for their draft spot this summer, the young players on this team will certainly benefit from playing meaningful games in February and March.
As we get set for a week of sleepless nights with the Senators on the West Coast, let’s do a quick round-up of news and notes from this past weekend.
-Gotta say- I’m a little bit surprised to see Jared Cowen get a three game suspension for his hit on Jussi Jokinen. A lot of the still images and slow motion replays I’ve looked at really don’t show definitive head contact. And nobody will say it, but that’s a situation where Jokinen has to have his head up and be aware of what’s going on around him. Jared Cowen was so slow coming across that Jokinen had plenty of time to brace for impact or even avoid the hit altogether. Weird play and an even weirder decision by the league.
-Craig Anderson was back on the ice this morning and it sounds like there’s a chance he could accompany the team on the road trip. It’s funny how quick that injury healed now that it’s time for the California trip. Colin Greening will also join the team on the trip and according to Coach Cameron, he is expected to play in at least one of the games.
-Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot going on in the rumour mill for the Senators these days. Murray has indicated that he expects a quiet deadline and with a little over a week to go, there’s not a lot of talk surrounding the Sens. Legwand’s extra year makes him tough to move, Michalek extra years make him impossible to move, Chris Phillips’ age/ability/injury concerns make him tough to move and Chris Neil’s injury and loyalty to the organization seem to suggest he’ll be around passed the deadline. Tough spot that Bryan Murray finds himself in.
-If Murray does want to make a trade, Erik Condra and Patrick Wiercioch seem like the two most likely to go. Something that will certainly infuriate the analytics community. Condra has actually had a damn good season and in a perfect world, would be a good fourth line guy to hang on to. But with the budget already tight and Condra certainly earning at least a bit of a raise on the $1.25 mil he’s making this season, the Senators are in a tough spot. You would have to think some teams will call about him at the deadline but the return won’t be high. Think like, a mid-round draft pick at best. I don’t think the door is completely closed on an extension though.
-Ottawa is also getting some calls on Patrick Wiercioch but that will certainly be a sell-low kind of deal where a team feels like they are doing Ottawa a favour by taking him. Giving up on Wiercioch makes me a little bit nervous because he’s underlying numbers are so consistently spectacular. Unfortunately my eyes keep telling me a different story. Wiercioch remains one of the most fascinating players in the analytic-era. So Condra and Wiercioch may be the biggest names in play for the Senators on deadline day. Maybe you don’t need to call in sick for work on deadline after all.
-Ottawa’s GM situation is going to be an interesting story to follow this off-season. Bryan Murray has made it clear that he’s feeling better lately and if things stay that way, he’d like to come back for another season. At the same time, there could be some interesting names that become available that may be too good for the Senators to pass up. In that situation, would Murray be willing to assume his new advisory role a season earlier than planned? We shall see. Both Ray Shero and Peter Chiarelli’s names have come up in connection with the Senators.
-Lots of talk over the weekend about the article in the Globe and Mail by Jeffrey Simpson. The6thSens has a great recap here but for those of you that didn’t have a chance to read it over the weekend, it’s worth a look. It’s a lot of things we’ve heard before but to see it from a National columnist certainly shines extra attention on the Ownership issues we’ve learned to live with here in Ottawa. For most of the season, the “budget” talk has sort of been pushed to the back-burner by fans but the reality is it’s still very much a factor for the Senators. It’s going to be really interesting to see what they do this summer. With some long-term extensions set to kick in and a handful of important RFAs still needing new deals, there’s almost certainly going to have to be a bump in the budget. Question is- where does that money come from?
