Chris Phillips will play his 1,000th.
Mike Fisher will return with the Predators.
Craig Anderson will get a well-deserved rest.
Alex Auld will get his first start since Dec. 30th.
Yup, it’s a big night at Scotiabank Place.
Most of all the Senators need to end a seven-game losing skid.
I spoke with GM Bryan Murray today. He said he’s not going to be a buyer at the deadline at this stage. If he wants a player, he has to give up a top prospect and first round pick. That’s not going to happen.
“There’s peaks and valleys,” said Murray. “But, we’re not going to give up what is a possible very good future player and a pick for a rental. We’re just not doing that. We may have to tolerate a bit at the deadline but that’s what we’re going to do.
“If the right deal ever came along, and we were able to do something, I’m not saying we wouldn’t step up. My intent is not to sacrifice something we really like going forward.”
Makes sense to me.
My guess would be a lot of teams are after Mark Stone.
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It certainly does make good sense Bruce…like not swimming where there is a rip-tide makes good sense. It, like “not sacrificing something we like going forward (’cause he doesn’t want to sacrifice someting going backward?) makes good sense for ANY GM! I have never been a GM but feel free to comment. Why not actively try to move Kuba, Gonchar, Philips, for assets in the future…going forward? Why not try to move individuals who have been here for 5 years and have not met expectations for future assets…going forward? I love Foligno’s heart and passion but we have seen the best he has to offer and he has played with a lot of very good hockey players! I would actively trying to move Lee, Carkner, Condra, Butler, Dogauvins, Daisey the Air Rifle and some assets on the farm: Wiercoch, Gryba and such (but not Borowieickieie who is a tough Canadian kid who will never hurt the team). I would have had some fun with him when he offered: “we’re not going to give up what is a possible very good future player and a pick for a rental”. We have had many rentals here in Ottawa in the past…going forward. I just hope we don’t do it going forward…going forward.
What about the chances of Kuba (upcoming UFA) being dealt for pick or prospect.
Bobby:
Phillips and GOnchar have NMC, as do most valuable assets on the team. Phillips is going nowhere.
I can’t stand him but the big lug is clearly respected and beloved by his teammates as tonight’s performance demonstrates. Good on Chris having fun tonight in a so-so season for the team. Congrats to him.
I was wrong thinking that the Predators would win, that’s for sure and I admit it even if I don’t like to.
Right now the team has two to three glaring needs:
1)Hard-hititng, clean passing “D”. Cowen can become this. Borowiecki might be this. Our “D” is very soft outside of Matt Carkner and Jared Cowen.
2)Talent up front: Hopefully one of Stone, Silfverberg, Puempel can fill this role because we have tooooo maaaany pluggers.
3)Sparkplug: I know, why do they need this? It’s always been my impression, confirmed by Martin Lapointe that the room is way too quiet. Someone on that team that can light a fire under the athletes or even on the ice when they are lethargic (all too often!) would be a boon.
Like hearing what Murray says but I am NOT holding my breath as I can see him trading picks or prospects if the team can be thought to make a playoff push.
Bruce, tell Jeff Hunt to get that rink built, I want a Winter Classic here in Ottawa!
First off, it was amazing to see Phillips get two goals last night on his 1000 game! His second of the night looked like pure elation on his face.
Second, thank god for a win.
Third, and I doubt this will be posted, but Dennis Potvin needs to go. He is the worst on air colour guy on TV. I actually felt embarrassed yesterday when Ottawa was controlling the puck in the offensive zone and Spez’s shot hit one of the Nashville players in the hand… the Ref behind the Nashville player could only see him hunch over, so he blew the whistle. Potvin has the nerve to say ‘Not to sound insensitive, but the Senators had control of the puck, the whistle should not have been blown, great goals have been scored in this situation’ We are talking about a player here who could have a broken hand or worse and as far as the ref was concerned, he has NO idea where the puck hit. Get him off the air.
Good game last night. I guess we won’t be hearing from the usual doom and gloom people for a few days.
Was my comment deleted?
Kudos to Phillipps!!!! Well done! I wonder in Murray’s mind exactly who are the players that he thinks will truly be our future and lead us to the ultimate prize. As Bobby said, Murray should be as active as possible trying to move dead weight, older players and those disappointing players for prospects and draft picks. Are players like Foligno, Neil, Condra, Winchester, Kuba, Gonchar, Phillips, Lee etc….really our futurre?
Now that Anderson has had a night off, is the fatigue gone? Is he now well rested to play again or do you stick with Auld vs Edmonton on Saturday? I am thinking that it takes more than one night off to get rid of the fatigue but I guess the pundits will try and tell me that everything is now fine with Anderson.
Good bye Jungle Jim. Thank-you Bell media. I might start listening to the Team 1200 in the morning again.
V, I know about the NMC, but my point is I would do anything to make the team better and more entertaining always and forever. I am very happy for Philips last night and I love seeing a big smile of players faces. Philips is humble and a good man but I would move him in a heart beat and the 4m he is getting paid is about 2m too much! I was surprised by the play of Fisher and Weber; they did very little.
Pav, your are right; Potvin is an embarrassment and a villiage idiot. Although he was right about the whistle, he went on and on and finally, I think someone told him to ‘recover”. The statistic about 1000 games played by a 1st round draft choice all with the same team there were drafted BY…was like many of the obscure, irrevalent stats American sports writes track and spew: “he sports a lifetime 273.3395 batting average when hitting against a 6-2 lefty (born in Arkansas), in Sunday afternoon games in August when there is a prevailing breeze blowing North by Nortwest and the temperature is 71.336″. WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!
Dan and V, my brother geriatrics, I see that Thomas is at it again. I think he is a very good goaltender but probably a simpleton. He is old enough to have heard the expression: it is far better to sit quietly, not say a word and have people think your a stupid, than open your moth and remove all doubt. There is no doubt now baby the horses have left the barn. I am waiting to hear which of the Republicans he likes: Aint seen nothin n’yet Bachman, Sanatorum, Scary Perry, GingGrinch, Nut Romney, Cain’s not Able…who do you like Timmy my boy?
Mikey, don’t jump on Dennis’ “bandwagon”. Dennis may be deceptively clever but he is wrong, dead wrong on we geriatrics having divided loyalties. I stopped cheering for any one team since Hull left Chicago (been a long time baby). Perhaps it is a generational thing but it shouldn’t be…our wanting something far better than what Murray is doing here in Ottawa. I had only a few complaints with the team when it was great and it mostly had to do with Jacques Martin’s singlular focus on defence when he had the most talented team in the league. I used to shout “let the horses run”!!! I make up my own mind who is good and who enertains. I wont blindly accept the moronic offerings of Tim Murray. Bingo stinks Mikey…is that because of Mucklar. Bingo won last year primarily on the back of their goalie and some Ottawa Senators 2 of which Muckar drafted. I really like Zibby and am hopeful for Silferberg and Stone is a natural goal scorer who will have to improve his skating as other goal scorers have done before him. I am confident he can. Aside from that, what’s to get excited about. I will ask those “true fans” what will their disposition be next year if the team struggles and how long would they be patient with Murray with what has gone on in the last 5 years (nepotism, gaudy contracts, buy outs for players and coaches, trading draft choices for rentals, signing and…
Win and you’re in Daniel. Anderson has not been doing the job for the seven games previous to yesterday.
Auld held the Senators in the game yesterday and was sterling in the previous game in relief of Anderson.
RE: Team 1200 I only listen to the 9-12 show excepting when Sens pom-pom wavers Wilson, Brown or the 70-year old guy that calls 67s are on. Versage and Melanson were the only ones that dared complain or be negative about the Senators…not to put too fine a point on it but even SunMedia used to be a LITTLE negative toward the locals and that hasn’t happened in ages. There is ALWAYS a reason to complain about something people.
I only listed to the 8:00-8;30 segment with Pierre McGuire. Steve Warne may as well have the Senators logo on his chest and J.R. seems bored most of the time. Right now Versage and Steve Lloyd are the only voices of reason on the team.
Potvin is indeed brutal.
When he showed the Mockup of Modano, Perrault, Potvin and Phillips being part of this exclusive 1,000 games with one club I did some mental mathematics. Let’s see….
Gilbert Perrault’s a Hall of Famer, one of the seminal players for the Buffalo Sabres.
Mike Modano the face of the Dallas/Minnesota (North) Stars franchise (Sure, Bobby Smith, Brian Bellows, Jon Casey, Sergei Zubov…) and one of the best American players of all time.
Denis Potvin, easily #7-#8 defenseman of all time (I know Dean Brown is going to cry now, sorry Dean just because someone is your friend that doesn’t make them better than Eddie Shore, Booby Orr, Doug Harvey, Raymond Bourque, Nick Lidstrom or Paul Coffey…) and then Chris Phillips…hmm one of these is not like the other!
Daniel, the future of the Ottawa Senators is tied to Spezza, Alfredsson’s aging but valuable body, Karlsson and the picks. Gone-char, Klue-ba should be shown the door asap. At the most let them play the season but our blueline is far too old and softer than the donuts they sell at Tim Horton’s at Scotiabank Place. Murray loves his old underachievers though, I’m just doing backflips out of joy because he never signed Aaron Ward ot a contract…
they won
too bad, do you think they can beat Edmonton, probably not
two in a row would be a miracle
This will probably get deleted but i’m going to say it anyway.
Eugene Melnyk is making a huge fool of himself in regards to his whining about Hab and Leaf fans
He is on one hand saying buy more season tickets so these people won’t go to the games, but most of the Hab and Leaf fans get their tickets from season ticket holders, and on the other hand, is selling Leaf fans tickets
And to say there are drunk people causing rowdiness, that’s a crock of @#$%. I’ve been to some of these games, and there are no more drunks at these games than any other, are they loud when their teams score, YES, as they should be.
Any Sens fans ever go to a Hab Sens game in Montreal, ever heard the owner there whine like this, or in Toronto.
What a crybaby. If he didn’t gladly accept their money, then he might have something to say, but he gladly sells thousands of tickets every game to Leaf fans, and takes their money and then whines.
Someone should tell Mr Eugene to shut up
On another front, it’s so nice to see Mike Fisher leading his team in goals.
Leading by example, I guess that makes you a “bad boy”
And don’t look now but ol’Dany Boy is starting to turn his year around
Eugene should really keep quiet. It is great he owns the team and keeps it here in Ottawa but everytime he opens his mouth I wonder how he made his millions. Lest we forget, more than half way through the season last year he suggested Ottawa was ‘going all the way’. I suspect he will have to part with much of it because of his pending divorce but, rumour has it he will recover big time financially because he owns the patent on a Viagara-like pill for women. He has endorsed every move that Murray has made: from young to old and back to sorta young. Signing big contracts and buying them out. Writing a clause that would pay Heatley 4 million and then reneging on it. Now he is complaining about drunks…yep Eugene, only Torontonians get drunk at hockey games in other teams rinks no less. Last year I had to break up a fight in the mens latrine…both were enebriated and Ottawa was playing Montreal (do we now add Hap fans to the list of drunks?).
I heard Anderson will start on Saturday against Edmonton. I thought he was fatigued after playing so many games in a row. Am I to believe he is now not fatigued because he had Thursday night off. Really, am I supposed to be this naive and stupid. I just wish the media would stop the banter on fatigue, rust, jet lag, back to back games, home game after a road trip etc…etc….because it is all jargon and bull shi….. There is no statistical proof to substaniate all of the above crap and if any NHL player was honest and up front, I would bet my pension that they would never admit to being jet-lagged, fatigued, rusty or lousy because they had to take the wife shopping after a long road trip. Sadly, if the media didn’t address the above issues I mentioned, they would not have any valid comments or queries to make..
Bobby,
I never said that you had divided loyalties, just that you’re more of a Spezza fan than a sens fan. Take for example your “buddy”. He basically has nothing to add to the conversation. All he’s about is hating the senators and you love him for it. But suppose instead all he was about was hating Spezza. I’m guessing that you wouldn’t be LOLing at his posts in that case.
Love my buddy? The nerve of me! Hell Dennis, I love everybody…even you! LOL-ing…now that I don’t love and have never depressed those keys in my entire life (and it has been a long life baby!). I think you forget when everyone hated Spezza. All you had to do was hop on any e-board and read the comments. It amazed me but I wasn’t surprised…Hitler said it best: “people in power are very fortunate that most men are ignorant”. The propoganda machine can make or break depending on Big Brother’s disposition. Spezza was simply asked by the GM if he would be willing to accept a trade and when he said yes…it was printed that he requested a trade and became public enemy number 1. A guy who has over 500 pts in 500 games is booed by the lemmings at Scotia Bank. Go figure. This year, now that Kelly and Fisher are gone and Alfredsson may retire next year, Big Brother wants everyone to like Spezza. They give him an “A” and a show of support and suddenly, the lemmings love him! I don’t care who people like or don’t like…it will always astound me…but I select who/what entertains me. If Choke wants to post something…at my advanced age…I say post away my friend, post away! It is interesting Dennis, what does amaze me is how some will take a post personally. I never use the “we” when referring to the Senators. I am not part of it…I simply cheer for them. Anybody can say anything about a player or a team and I am Old enough to realize, “hey, they aren’t talking about me”. I have often crapped on myself. If I make a mistake and as a member of a certain domographic I often do, I fess up. I love to hear any and all comments. I love the rainbow….many colours….it wouldn’t be nearlfy as beautiful if it was monochromatic…would it?
I shouldn’t blog after downing a pile of red wine. Please ignore my last blog.
LOLing at Daniel
don’t sweat it man, if you hadn’t told us we’d have never known
At least you have an excuse Dan…I can only blame my premature senility! The Sens say that they can take positives from a loss and I truly agree with that approach (as long as the positive isn’t a real stretch). The are in a bit of a tailspin and I hear accounts as to why, but as I see it, the problem is a familar and has been there all year! The team can score goals certainly; they have scrored a respectable 169 good for 8th place in a 30 team league, but are sloppy and soft defencively. The Ottawa Senators continue to lead the league in shots allowed and goals scored against. There needs to be a little more effort to pick up your check (back pressure…gap control…ice management…responsible play…what ever). Take some pride in keeping your counterpart off the score sheet. Spezza was absolutely soft on Hall in the OT. Kuba got caught leaning/cheating to the inside and got beat clean on the outside. Michalek was very late coming back and failed to pick up Hall. Karlsson went left to cover somebody and the traffic/puck was going right. Spezza was also very soft on an earlier goal. Cowen is now -7 and his lack of foot speed and inexperience is getting him in trouble. I believe in keeping your game simply but how simply do you want it. Again, he may hit players but I do not see thundering body checks from a kid who is 6-5 and 230 lbs. Lee is now -6. Neil is not their to score goals and although his 9 goals is outstanding he now sports a gaudy -10! The same can be said of Greening who is now -6. Dogauvins, Konopoka and Foligno are -5, -4 and -5 respectively. These guys should be preventing goals. I sincerely believe that team defence starts from the back end out, but everyone should take some pride in it. By and large, our backenders are soft and very slow which means the forwards need to do more to help them out. Until the team starts taking more pride in the other column in the stat sheet, losses will continue to mount. In spite of what some may say, defence doesn’t take any skill but it just take effort.
ChokerLover only in your demented little world was Fisher considered a bad apple but you really have nothing to offer so you take a comment and try to twist it.
If Fisher wasn’t liked why did the Sens take less than they could have to send him to Nashville? Why was he wearing an A?
Winning two in a row would be a miracle…they have had several streaks this year but of course you weren’t around then. They hit the skids and you are here all the time.
There is drinking at every game but fans of teams other than the Leafs, Habs (the last couple of years because they caught lightning in a bottle for a few play-off rounds) and now the Canucks (they set their own city on fire for God’s sake) don’t drink and then get in your face.
And hey, what is the Sens record against the Chokers this year? One and Oh…man, how could a team as crappy and useless as the Sens beat the Sharks? I know! Because the Sharks are chokers – stacked team and do nothing.
OD99, have you OD’d?
When your owner finished trading away the heart and soul of your team
LAST YEAR
he said; and I quote
now that we’ve gotten rid of the bad boys
course you don’t remember that because you have very selevtive memories
so take all the cheap shot you want at me but you can’t change factual history!
Has your oxygen been cut off for too long Choke? He made that comment after all the players were traded and while it was a stupid thing to say it was obviously about Kovalev and nobody else.
Hilarious you say to take cheap shots when that is ALL you provide on here. When the Sens lose you come in and take a few easy cheap shots based on recent play but disappeared when they were playing well. Fact remains whatever you say about them means nothing and they are in 7th spot when you had them ready for last place in the league. Not shocking because you don’t know crap about hockey.
You provide and say nothing of substance, the next time you post something semi-intelligent will be the first but keep on trolling little boy.
Agree fully on every point Bobby – the team needs to learn to play some proper D. They did it for a while so they are capable but they need to get back to hard work on the D side of the puck.
I watched Malkin the other day and I believe, right now, he is the best hockey player on the planet followed very closely by Stamkos. I know this title is can be very subjective (based on what criteria you want to use) but to me, no matter how you want to measure it, Malkin comes up on top. I heard at the start of the year he made a real committment to getting more physically involved and he certainly has. Is it just me, merely coincidental or does he play at lot better when Crosby is out of the lineup? He is working some magic with James Neal on his line. Neal can really bring it and he lets it go in 1.25 nano-seconds. Stall is healthy again as is Letang (he is beautiful); this team will be tough down the stretch. Watch out if/when Crosby gets to participate. I am looking forward to both games in the Sunshine State. I’m calling for a win against the Lightening (the team isn’t deep and the goaltending is very suspect) and a loss VS the Panthers. I really would like to see Andre Petterson! I think Maclean could put Cyclone Taylor on a line with Michalek and Spezza and he would get assists and he has been dead for many years! I have always liked Versteeg and really wonder why he has bounced around. When he freely dropped the gloves with Fisher and held his own, I liked him even more.
OD’d, I admit I was away for a while, but not because the Sens were playing well, I also admit that they have played way way over everyone’s expectations and way over their heads. Now they’ve thumped back to earth and are playing like most rebuilding teams do play, spurts of good play followed by bad play. Congrats to the Sens but there is still time to finish on or near the bottom.
As far as what Eugene says, most of what comes out of his mouth is bogus and embarrassing. And if he meant Kovalev, he should have sad Kovalev, or even, we got rid of a bad guy, but he didn’t he said
“now that the bad guys are gone”
twist it any way you want, the fact of the matter is, you can’t change what he said.
He was also whining about Hab and Leaf fans last week, and he’s the one who sells them tickets.
There isn’t a team in the NHL that doesn’t end up with opposing fans in their rink, stop whining, or get out of sports ownership
Since Bruce and Don are too busy to blog anything interesting, I thought I would ask all you bloggers for your opinion to this question.
What is the next step in the Senator re-build? I am very curious to know what Murray and all have planned down the road, if anything, to continue the re-build so that we might have a legitimate chance to win the cup. Is it simply a wait and see plan where we hope for what we have to mature and get better? Do we start actively seek bits and pieces and dabble in the free agency market? I am not sure what is next for us. Comments????
As per my comments above, listening the lads and Maguire on the Team 1200 this morning, I keep hearing this “stand pat” approach but I don’t hear anyone talking about what the next step is with respect to the re-build. Assuming it is not realistic to expect a serious Stanley Cup run for the next 2-4 hours, what is the game plan for the next 2-4 years? Are the likes of Alfie, Philips, Neil, Foligno, Condra, Greening, Lee, Carkner etc….really part of the plan? Will they even be playing? Do we simply let the cards fall where they may and hope that a few draft picks in the next few years come to fruitation along with what we have on the farm right now? I am seriously curious to hear everyone’s viewpoints.
OD99… why do you bother. The term ‘internet troll’ comes to mind when Choke makes those comments. Like you said, when the SENS are doing bad, he comes around. Nothing better to do.
Bobby, I see what you see in reference to Malkin. He is playing amazing.
Going to be a fun drive to the end.. here is hoping. GO SENS GO!
I just checked out how our Swedes are doing in the SEL this year. Silverberg’s year is going great and he has 17 goals and 39 pts in 39 games. Zibanijad isn’t doing so well; he has but 4 goals and 8 pts in 16 games played. I am disapointed and I was also very surprised at his size; I thought he was big but he is not. He is listed as 6′ tall and only 176 that makes him smaller than Karlie (6′ and 180)! Silverberg is 6′, 1″ and listed at 186. I can realistically see Silverberg making the transition to the NHL next year but based on the numbers Zibby is posting, I don’t think it would be good for him. In fact, based on his numbers (and age) I would leave him in Sweden for another year of development. I got a front row seat for the game tonight (right in front of the 52″) and the chips and dip are on standby! I will make a prediction that Ottawa will win the game 4-2.
What going on with the approval of comments?
Dan, have you no confidence in the 3 year plan? Even at risk of being called negative again, I will offer that the only thing I know about the 3 year plan is that it will take more than 2 years! You are right, we fans can’t expect that Greening, Condra, Butler, Dogauvins, are going to be the cornerstones of the rebuild. Butler and Dogauvins aren’t NHLers. Konopka will be done (hell, he is done now). Foligno is a 15 goal a year guy and that is it and in a game that is getting faster, he is getting slower. Cowen will learn how to play more efficiently but he will never be a guy who will punish or strike fear in the oposition. I will suggest that Carkner will not be in a Sens uni next year let alone 3. Lee certainly wont be here. Philips isn’t very effective today, and what will he be like at the end of his contract. I will answer, gone. Alfredsson will have retired and I will bet anyone this is his last year (I suspect he was all caught up in euphoria of the Allstar game when he said he wanted to play one more year). Gonchar will be another who, if he is not traded, will retire as a Senator. Kuba may be here but I suspect he will not. So who will be on the team? I think Stone will be on the team. I love Zibby but I am concerned with his play in the SEL. Silverberg is posting some good numbers though. Noesan and Poempal (I am sure I spelled both their name very wrong) are maybes at best. So…the team can trade away some of the fat and/or draft well. Although many suggest Murray’s strength is in the draft, I beg to differ. f I were the Brothers Murray, I would be very active trading the fat to stockpile draft picks. I am not concerned about participating in the post season with a mediocre team that we all know would make a quick exit. What would be the point? I would like to know what Murray’s plan was before this, new, 3 year plan! Ottawa played against a bad team last night and although they won 4 zip, the game was very close. And this team is full of “youngsters”. That may be so, but they aren’t very good!