One more game before another long four day break.
The Ottawa Senators head into the All Star Break playing some of their best hockey of the season. They’ve racked up 13 of a possible 16 points over their last eight games and beat some of the league’s best and/or hottest teams along the way. They’re also coming off one of their most impressive wins all year- a 3-0 systeming of the Washington Capitals.
They’ll look to keep that rolling against Alex Chiasson and the Calgary Flames.
After a decent start to their season, things have not been going well for the Flames the last little while. So much so that after their last game, Head Coach Glen Gulutzan called his team “pathetic” following a loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Flames come into this having lost four straight games, outscored 20-7 along the way.
Goes without saying but this should be a motivated Calgary team eager to right the ship a little bit heading into the All Star break.
On Ottawa’s side of things, the newest Senator is expected to make his debut. Tommy Wingels, acquired from the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, will draw in and wear the #57. Mike Hoffman missed the last game with the flu but is on the ice for the morning skate and is expected to play. With Hoffman back and Wingels added, it seems like Chris Neil may be a healthy scratch. We’ll wait and see what the Coach says. Mark Borowiecki was on the ice prior to the morning skate.
We’ll wait for Boucher to confirm the line up.
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Dzingel-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Kelly-Lazar-Wingels
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Mike Condon makes another start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
***
-The Senators made a somewhat surprising decision yesterday announcing former MLSE big shot Tom Anselmi as the team’s new President and CEO. In the process, they let current President Cyril Leeder go after 25 years with the hockey club. On the surface, I get it. The appeal of a guy like Anselmi is clear. He has significant experience in a big market and has been involved in some big projects (Rogers Arena, Skydome, ACC) which is obviously of interest for Melnyk as they prepare for a move to LeBreton. Also, in the pro sports business, these changes happen. It’s extremely rare for someone to hold down the job as long as Leeder did so in that sense; maybe we should have seen it coming.
But it’s also important to not lose sight of Cyril Leeder’s contributions over the years and equally important that he not be seen as the fall guy for everything that’s wrong with this franchise. He deserves his share sure, but so does the guy one step up from him. Leeder was a consummate professional and a man that cared deeply about the organization and about the community. He also held down the role of President during an extremely difficult period for this franchise off the ice. Cyril Leeder will speak to the media in Ottawa today at 1:15 PM.
For Anselmi, the To Do list is a long one. There’s a lot to like about this team on the ice but no shortage of issues off of it. There has been nearly constant turnover in all parts of the organization and what’s left is pretty bare bones. He’ll learn quickly that being the President of MLSE, with their infinite resources, is an entirely different challenge than being the top guy with the Ottawa Senators. Anselmi was brought in to oversee the move downtown but he also has some more immediate challenges to address well before that happens. Sagging attendance, a stale brand and a fan base showing troubling signs of apathy. Moving downtown will give this team a boost but they need to thrive in the five years before that happens too. Although if he’s looking for a quick win, maybe just change the damn jerseys?
-Thanks to everyone that joined in on yesterday’s comment section as it gave us a chance to direct our daily rambling to a good cause. We passed the 2,500 comment mark on yesterday’s post early this morning which at 5 cents a post equals a donation of $125 to the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Foundation! We’ve had five members of the community make a donation too bringing the total donation to $520. If anyone else would like to do the same, here’s the link. And if you do make a donation, feel free to share in the comment section below. Also wanted to take the time to thank those of you that shared your personal experiences with mental health yesterday. I mentioned this on Twitter but it really does help those that aren’t comfortable sharing their own story or choose not to. Thanks again everyone!
