FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-They looked like a different team in that first period. Actually, they looked like a team we have seen periodically through the first seven games of this season. It’s in there and we’ve seen it on multiple occasions. But in the second and third period, the other more familiar Ottawa Senators made an appearance. Despite getting off to a strong start and basically dominating the first twenty minutes of the game, the Senators were on the wrong side of a 5-1 score when the final horn sounded. A sixth straight loss for the league’s worst hockey team. And good news- they play again tonight!
-It’s hard to see it when they are outscored 12-2 in consecutive games but there are still encouraging signs embedded within this dreadful start. Specifically, the good news is the team’s young players, as in the guys that are at the core of what Ottawa is trying to build here, are generally playing well. Unfortunately the placeholder veterans and expiring contracts that were added during the off-season are struggling on a scale that Pierre Dorion and DJ Smith did not anticipate. That and the especially poor performance of the goaltenders have been the biggest issues during this losing streak. And unfortunately, those aren’t exactly easy fixes.
-There is going to be a time in the not too distant future, specifically once the American Hockey League is back up and running, when the Ottawa Senators are going to need to carefully revisit the idea of “playing the kids”. And while fans continue to demand more youth is inserted into the lineup, the organization may have to ask themselves whether this particular season, a short year in a bubble on what appears to be an especially bad hockey team, is the best environment for developing highly-touted prospects. It’s another one of those tough player development questions with no “right” answer but it will be interesting to see where Pierre Dorion and DJ Smith land on the issue. Do you force the likes of Logan Brown, Alex Formenton and Erik Brannstrom into the lineup and hope they improve the fortunes of the NHL team and create a better environment for the young players already here? Or do you continue to shelter those kids and maybe some of the ones already here, from a losing season? Tough call. The AHL is supposed to start in early-February.
-Good news everyone- it appears as though DJ Smith has fixed Colin White once and for all. The next five years on White’s contract should be smooth sailing. In all seriousness, White really did look like a different player last night and seemed to recognize what he has to do to stay in the lineup. He was skating hard, he was making plays and he was getting to the front of the net. Simple stuff. This is one of those classic instances where some fans will see him playing like he did last night and think- “how could they ever sit this guy?!”. Meanwhile DJ Smith will think- “where has that been all season?”. Realistically there are probably a number of different factors at play. The message probably got through but also White was always that player but just struggling with confidence. Playing with some decent wingers helps too. Whatever it was, definitely a game White can build on.
-Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day. And if you’re new to the internet, it’s a day where all across social media and basically every media platform, people are raising awareness of issues related to mental health and mental illness. It’s an important day that helps to break down the stigma surrounding the issue (for today, anyway) and raises crucial support towards mental health initiatives in Canada. While there have been valid criticisms of this day and of the company behind it raised over the years, the basic premise- raising money for mental health initiatives and starting conversations around mental health- is probably more important than ever. We’ve all gotten away from this recently but remember that the people you talk to in here are just people. Despite the online personas we adopt here on SensChirp, we’re all just people facing real-life issues and dealing with real-life feelings away from this site. Just…be kind to each other. Every year on this day, we try to put the chaos of the SensChirp comment to good use. I will be donating five cents for every comment posted today to the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health. Avoid “spamming” as much as possible though as the ol’ Disqus filter removes those and they won’t get counted.
Smith’s Post-Game Comments
Player Interviews
Advanced Stats
Boxscore
Loading …