The 2014/2015 season started in four North American cities last night but we all know the season really gets started tonight at 8:00 PM.
It has been 180 grueling days. More than 130 posts on the site. About 30,000 contributions in the comment section. After all the roster moves, the second guessing, the line combinations, the prospect updates…After all the waiting, the day is finally here.
Today…is an Ottawa Senators’ Game Day!
The Senators finally open their season tonight against the new-look Nashville Predators. It’s a big game for David Legwand as he plays his first game in an Ottawa uniform and returns to the city where he played the first 956 games of his NHL career. Legwand has been downplaying the return a little bit but you know he’ll want to put on a show against the team that drafted him more than 16 years ago.
All indications from the last few days of practice suggest that Colin Greening, Erik Condra and Patrick Wiercioch will be the odd men out to start the season. It’s a pretty strong message from the Coaching staff right off the bat that the veterans aren’t necessarily safe this season and that they’ll have to work for their ice time. All three of those guys should have an opportunity to play at some point but it will be up to the young guys like Curtis Lazar, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone and Mark Borowiecki to make it tough for MacLean to take them out.
The Senators will be on the ice later this morning and the Coach will confirm his line up shortly after but the week of practice makes it pretty clear how he’ll line his team up. We know Craig Anderson will get the start in goal. Here’s how the rest of the team is expected to line up.
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Zibanejad-Chiasson
Smith-Legwand-Stone
Hoffman-Lazar-Neil
Cowen-Karlsson
Phillips-Ceci
Borowiecki-Gryba
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 8:00 PM in Nashville but if last night’s games are any indication, I wouldn’t expect things to start right on time. The game is available on the new TSN5, RDS2 and on the radio at TSN1200. If you’re looking for a stream, keep an eye on the comment section below as one usually pops up close to game time. It’s been a long time since I was able to say this….
GO SENS GO!
-Thanks to all the new contributors that joined the conversation yesterday. I was expecting maybe 10 of you to crawl out of the wood-work but it probably ended up being closer to 200. New voices are always appreciated in the comment section if for no other reason than to keep the rest of us in line. Hope you’ll all stick around during the regular season!
-In his 30 Thoughts column, Elliotte Friedman had a quick update on the Marc Methot negotiations suggesting that they are a year and millions of dollars apart. Assuming that means Methot is looking for something in the$5×5 mil range while the Senators are offering $4.6×4. It’s a manageable gap but the negotiations certainly haven’t been smooth to this point. Right now, Methot just needs to get healthy and back on the ice. According to the Coach, he has made some progress over the last couple days.
