FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
-The idea of writing something about the Ottawa Senators every day for the next couple months is unfathomable at this point but I will do my best. And as disinterested as I felt watching last night’s game (I found out about that 4 minute power play when they broke it down during the intermission), it’s nothing compared to what I’m seeing from the players on the ice. Sure their work ethic was decent last night and they managed to keep the game close most of the way but it just never really felt like they were in the game. Even during what was a decent first period on the road, it felt like everyone was just waiting for something bad to happen. And then it did, in the form of a weak goal on Craig Anderson. Story of their season, I suppose.
-36 games to go. As the TSN panel mentioned on a few occasions last night, it’s one thing to be in a spot like this late in the year and be forced to play out the string for a couple weeks but there’s half a damn season still to go. The term “playing for pride” gets thrown around a lot when a team in languishing at the bottom of the standings but there doesn’t appear to be much of that going on either. I suppose that’s good news for those hoping to see this team bottom out though. The Buffalo Sabres won again last night and have suddenly closed the gap to just four points, although Ottawa has a couple games in hand. Those two teams play each other three more times before the season is out too. Those will be strange games to watch.
–Erik Karlsson’s post-game comments give you a pretty good sense of what’s going wrong with this team right now. And while he personally needs to accept some of the blame for what has happened this year, it’s pretty clear that this is a team trying to follow the instructions of the Coach even though they may not agree with the approach. Karlsson specifically said they need to “just start playing hockey and not worry so much about being right and being wrong” and added “right now we are a little bit too worried about being in the right spots and even if you are sometimes, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right call.” When the Captain of the team is saying stuff like that, there’s a pretty clear disconnect between at least some of the players and Coach.
-During his Insider Trading segment, Bruce Garrioch again talked about the possibility of a trade involving forward Mike Hoffman. Appropriate considering the team was in St. Louis and to this point, the Blues are seemingly the ones showing the most interest. There are as many as four or five teams interested in Hoffman though and Dorion seems to content to wait it out a little bit and see what kind of offers he can get. There aren’t many legitimate scoring threats available leading up to the deadline so Dorion is going to get plenty of calls. In his 31 Thoughts column, Elliotte Friedman again mentioned that Robby Fabbri as a potential target. There’s some obvious risk with Fabbri though and he really should be a secondary piece in a deal for Hoffman.
-And now some good news- late yesterday, Bruce Garrioch reported that the RendezVous LeBreton group has reached an agreement with the National Capital Commission regarding the development of LeBreton Flats. It’s expected that the NCC Board of Directors will learn more about that agreement during a closed door session later today and then details will be shared with the public during the open session on Thursday. Yesterday’s news represents another important step in the process to move the Senators into a downtown rink in the not too distant future. Of course, the hard part still remains. It’s now up to the Senators-backed bid to put the financing in place related to the development and they have six months to a year to figure that part out. And while this is great news for the franchise, it probably isn’t enough to quiet the Ownership rumours that continue to swirl in Ottawa. This is a long-term project for Eugene Melnyk and it does little to address the short-term issues. What it does mean though is that the value of the franchise is probably as high as it has ever been.
Boucher’s Post-Game Comments
Player Interviews
Advanced Stats
Boxscore
