FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-Last night’s loss combined with the Bruins picking up a point in Calgary should certainly take care of any lingering playoff hopes that anyone may have had, myself included. Nine points was too big of a deficit and now that it’s back to 10 with a difficult trip out West on the horizon, the hole is just way too deep. The good news is a regulation loss to a bottom-feeder like Carolina is a step in the right direction for tank-nation.
-Another game, another goal for the incredible Mike Hoffman. He now has 20 on the season and leads all rookies in goal scoring. He’s also the first Senator rookie to pot 20 since Patrick Eaves did it back in the 2005/2006 season. With each goal he scores down the stretch he’s just putting more money in his pockets this summer. That’s going to be a fascinating contract negotiation with so many different options available to both sides. Still think a longterm gamble might be a good idea with Hoffman.
-Really scary incident late in the second period when Clarke MacArthur collided at high speed with the shoulder of Robin Lehner. For a moment, both players lay motionless on the ice while trainers from both teams rushed onto the ice. Lehner was able to get up pretty quickly but MacArthur seemed to be in a little worse shape as he went off the ice. No immediate updates available on either player. Obviously a long term injury to Robin Lehner would be a pretty big issue. With Craig Anderson already on the shelf and no real timelines for his return, the Senators are suddenly in pretty desperate need of a goalie. Andrew Hammond could fill in for now but they would need another body and only ECHL goalie Chris Driedger has an NHL clause in his contract. And considering the Senators current situation, it would be pretty ridiculous to give up an asset to trade for a goalie. The good news is Lehner seemed ok going off the ice. We should know more about his situation today.
-Really liked what I saw from Shane Prince in his NHL debut. He’s a great skater and that was on full display last night. He also has terrific vision which he used to spot Erik Karlsson on Erik Condra’s first period goal. You never want to draw conclusions from just one game but from what I saw last night, Shane Prince certainly looks like he can be an everyday NHL player.
-Bryan Murray was on CTV last night before the game and suggested that he’s not really expecting to be too busy before the March 2nd trade deadline. And that’s not because he wants to hold on to his bad veteran contracts but more so because there just isn’t a whole lot of interest in what he might be selling. Chris Neil remains his biggest piece on the trade market but his injury combined with less than stellar offers may force Murray to hang on to him. Murray did say that he expects to make most of his deals in the summer time.
