Conrad

So, here’s a question: what, if anything, is there to be gained by firing Clouston at this point in the season?

I’ve gotta think that it’s not worth the transition. The season is lost, that’s all but guaranteed (Sportsclubstats has the 8th seed at less than 1%). We’ve already had four coaches in three seasons (including Murray’s second try). And we’ve got injury problems. So what’s the point in bringing in someone for a doomed season to get some losses under their belt? This is an on-ice issue, and this team isn’t going to turn it around until a few of the passengers are jettisoned this off-season.

But if firing him is out of the question, then what about next year? Is he gone no matter what? Or do you give him a chance, given he’s been one of Ottawa’s better coaches for the last few years?

James

Dear Conrad,

You’ve done it again! There is next to nothing to gain by getting rid of Clouston at this point in time if you ask me. Murray too, really (just be sure to super glue whatever hand he uses to trade draft picks for veterans to his forehead before the trade deadline) .
As you readers who have been to this website more than once *leaves hand hanging in anticipation of a high five for what feels like…forever* know, I think the best time for any regime change will be in the offseason. Otherwise, it’s saying, “Here you are, , lets see what you can do with this line up that doesn’t currently include Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher, Pascal LeClaire, and CCFR Smooth Jimmy Update: Alexei Kovalev, halfway through the season! Do you have what it takes to coach this team into perhaps NARROWLY missing the playoffs!?” Which was pretty much the situation Clouston was thrown into btw…except that he had a two year younger Alfie, Spezza, and Heatley…oh and Kovalev even wasn’t ON the team at all back then…and Anton Volchenkov very much was…

It seems like the more we know the less we know with this here caper.

I am kind of getting the impression that the players don’t like Cory Clouston or playing for him. That he, despite dressing incredibly smoovely, is a prickly pear to deal with. I think a lot of prickly pears (thing that exists?) can get results but perhaps the lack of age he has on – lets face it- a good portion of the team make his marching orders seem a little hollow. I’m just speculating here of course but something seems very off behind the scenes. Maybe it’s that people are stressed the fuck out because basically everyone on the entire team – save for Erik Karlsson and i dont know..Chris Kelly- is having a terrible season. Any which way you put it, I don’t think that it’s a good idea to have Melnyk eat ANOTHER contract (only 60 since buying the team!) for a few months so players can work out their inner “trying to please their dad/great great grandfather” complex under the spry 88 year old Bryan Murray.

What you’re saying is true Conrad, Clouston has been pretty effective as coach; numbers wise. Those numbers are rapidly changing for the worse. So are his whacky, WHACKY line combos and weird ideas in regards to playing Gonchar on his wrong side, using Kovalev in the shootout every single time despite him being bullshit at it, akljase;fjel;kjakl;dajsdf, and not putting Kuba in jail, infinity.

I honestly just cant figure out how a coach who is supposed to preach a high flying puck possession strategy cant organize a team that is supposed to be just that into scoring goals/ looking like they are on a power play when they are on one/ tie together more than two consecutive wins. I have to think that some of that blame has to fall on him for that. How the hell are these guys supposed to get used to playing with each other btw? I would be so annoyed to have different linemates shift after shift. And TRUST ME what ‘pretend me’ is annoyed with holds a lot of sway in the NHL/Anywhere.

Closely related to that last point about the team’s on paper identity (making teams block shots instead of having to block them, right Bry Bry!) being far, far from the product on the ice leaves Murray greatly to blame. I think the post-Stanley Cup finals iteration of the team was built a bit stupidly. Most of the roles of players who were left to walk were not effectively replaced. Unless we are supposed to think signing Matt Carkner was a reasonable fill in for A Train ditto AN INJURED GOALTENDER for Martin Gerber…well actually…no WAIT no no…that is insane… Who the fuck trades a healthy player for an injured player? That’s totally crazy now that I think on it. I cant remember but was it Murray who chose a declining Redden over Chara? or nothing over the secondary scoring of Havlat? I don’t know IM NOT MADE OF WIKIPEDIAS IM JUST MAD!!!!
Either way just ride this bullshit out a few months. It will be fun to watch someone fill in for Kovalev win or lose. He’s been bullshit this season. Also it will be awesome to see Zack Smith replace Ruutu – who broke my pretend heart.

Ride this bullshit out. If Clouston’s not going to be resigned – take the mean time to consider the identity and make up of the team and how to get the best results…eating another contract hasn’t been doing that so far. Maybe that should be one of the first attempts to curb some of the many bad habits that this organization has developed.

Also, can’t Daniel Alfredsson be the coach too?

Conrad

Well said / MC’d / VJ’d.

I know we’ve talked in the past about how often it seems like the management for this team brought in a coach who was going to throw some chairs around the room and preach (read: scream hysterically about) accountability, and our conclusion is always, “You can talk to Jason Spezza like he’s a fool, and he might actually be a fool, but the guy was drafted extremely high and makes millions and millions of dollars and being loud and obnoxious is not gunna convince him not to try that no-look pass at the blue line / make his bed.” It’s just not. Ever. And it’s starting again as some writers suggest this team hire the pallbearer Ken Hitchcock.

You don’t need someone to treat adult men like children. You need someone who can earn their respect. With Clouston, I think it was that he actually coached a lot of them in Binghamton. There was a comfort level, a sort of hard-won respect that is earned by virtue of being an AHL coach and having the ‘interim’ (read: disposable) tag hung over one’s head. And he tried his best, and did better than many would have thought. Better and worse men than Clouston have fallen trying to get through to Spezza. But c’mon: you add Kovalev, who is the most unreachable man ALIVE, to this team, and then ask the coach to preach responsibility, you may as well be asking him to lay hands on Leclaire and heal his badly broken everythings.

So, firing Clouston makes no sense. Firing Murray, on the other hand, I’m all over UNLESS doing so means you can’t hire him to manage scouting and drafting. But if there’s going to be another GM next year then I absolutely want him in charge well in advance of the trade deadline – which is seven weeks away, by the way – and with a mandate to do at least a mini-rebuild. I do not want someone who will not be here at the draft to be the one making the trades, be it of draft picks or players for draft picks.

As for letting Chara walk, that was Old Man Muckler, not Murray, but yeah, that set us back. Just today I was talking to a co-worker about the long list of moves that could be seen as the Breaking Point for this franchise’s Window of Contention i.e. Mixed Metaphors of Melancholy:

– Havlat is traded for…uhhh…pop quiz! Who did we trade Havlat for? That’s right: a dot matrix printer.
– Chara is allowed to walk for nothing, in favor of Redden. Redden immediately halves his talent in favor of cocaine (probably)
– Vermette, a 2nd line center, is traded for an injured goaltender who immediately dies and whose ghost is now our backup
– Volchenkov is allowed to walk for nothing
– Cullen, Sutton, Commodore, Stillman, and Comrie (X2) are all traded for and then allowed to walk to nothing
– Emery is signed and then immediately bought out
– Heatley is traded for some salary buy-outs

Cheeeeeeeerist that smarts. Any one of those could be seen as a fatal flaw.

Aaaaaaand…break!

Conrad

Thursday night I got to go a Leafs game. Like anyone who isn’t a Leafs fan, and thus would never buy their own ticket (from a scalper), I sat in 100 level corporate seats, closer than I would ever get to sit at a Sens game. There was a sense of having unknowingly stolen the treasure of the maharaja, being so close to such precious mediocrity. Here are a few impressions:

– Wow, does that building ever go through mood swings. Down 2-0, there was definitely a “here we go again” vibe. Then they come back to make it 5-2, and the atmosphere is just crazy, far in excess of what I’m used to at a Sens game. Then they blow the lead so that it’s 5-5, and at this point (in addition to a guy yelling a shitty thing about cancer – see below) the crowd is on the verge of simultaneously blowing their brains out. When the Leafs won in the shootout, the place just exploded. I won’t presume to say that Sens’ fans could learn to be this enthusiastic, because these kinds of wild swings are what it’s like to live and die by a team, and that kind of craziness is at the root of why fanbases like Toronto’s are so thoroughly obnoxious. They’re fundamentalists. When the team is losing, they will do nothing but lose forever and ever, and when they are winning – and winning big, like 5-2 big – nothing could possibly go wrong. Like allowing three goals in the next ten minutes. And, really, with so many years out of the playoffs, what more can you do but enjoy a victory as so much the sweeter for its rarity, and lament one’s failures are curses? I’m just glad I got to be there on a night when they pulled out a win, and we all went home transcendent with religious ecstasy, rather than a 2-1 loss, like what the Sens barfed up at home against Tampa the other night.

– If you ever get mad at Kuba and Phillips for making boneheaded plays, you should watch a Leafs game. Their best defencemen – Phaneuf, Kaberle, and Schenn – are just the worst at the kind of play we Sens fans are now getting used to. The number of breakaways they gave up, the blind passes into their own slot, the pylon-like brain freeze they experience when observing an attacking player skating across their blueline: it was eerily familiar. Gustavsson may have allowed five goals, but wow did he ever bail them out. He was Brian Elliott good out there. I’m not even going to talk about Bret Lebda. (Who was -3 after their 9-3 win against Atlanta.)

– It should be little wonder that Toronto consistently finishes last on those Forbes lists about which sports franchises offer the best value for money. I’ve never been to a game where food and drinks were so expensive. $17 for a regular sized beer and a dog? Sheesus. Leafs fans: you are being ripped off something fierce.

– It would hardly be fair to judge the entire Leafs fan base on that one guy in front of me who yelled “I hope your wife dies of cancer” at the ref. I will, however, judge them on the reaction of the spineless shithead sitting next to him who sheepishly laughed and looked around for affirmation, because, hey, you don’t muck with an alpha male, right?

– Grabovski’s little spinny thing in the shootout was pretty, and made all of the highlights, but is also indicative of the mindset of this team: he said he wanted to try something special because his dad was in the building, and so with the game on his stick, he went out and tried a trick shot. Awesome. Such blatant manifestation of a complete disinterest in winning. Right up there with blowing a 5-2 lead in the third period.

– You know what else is awesome? Having a downtown arena.

James

I’m stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill laughing at that guys HILLARRRRRRIOUS joke*! You know what would be the piece de resistence?
If the ref’s wife/loved one WAS DYING or DID DIE of a terminal illness! ZING! Take THAT you dumb REF! Let’s put it out there though, that fan couldn’t have made something so funny up. He must have stolen that from Carlos Mencia. I’m no George Lopez but I must have Jeff Dunham’ed a thousand Joe Rogans when he Jay Lenoed** that one up. Ohhhhhh mercy!***

The most cerebral thing about that guy’s clever witticism is that if the ref doesnt hear it’s okay because anyone, including his fellow fans, within ear shot (LUCKY!!) who knows someone who has cancer or has been effected by that or any other HORRIBLE DISEASE gets to feel REALLY SAD! Uh…if only he accused the ref of being a homosexual! (IMAGINE pfft…homosexuals walking around…THATLL BE THE DAY!!!!) oh well…even the Mona Lisa’s falling apart****
GO TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh right blogging about the Ottawa Senators…ummm…lets see here:
– Sens stink until further notice
– leafs STINK all the time
– Whatever, you cant fire me/ask me to shovel the driveway me, because I’ve already been fired, already shovelled it, DAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!! *Slams door/Slams internet*

*not fucking laughing / not fucking hillarious at all.
**not implying that any of these REALLY FUNNY dudes would make such a tasteless joke. In fact, Jeff Dunham would come up with something little more racist puppetty I would think.
***God, can you here me? its me Margaret…anyway God, if you exist have mercy on this dumb asshole. Love, Margaret (me).
****Seems to be in good shape actually.

James:

Are you guys turtley enough for THIS news?

Conrad

I gotta say, I’m as tentative as anyone about this, but if I search my heart of hearts (my penis), I find a few immutable facts:

1) I have no idea what the skillset is for a GM other than, like, don’t be Glen Sather. I know that Holland in Detroit is good. He drafts good players late, and signs them to reasonable deals, and builds from within. I know that Sather is bad. He signs anyone and everyone to ludicrous deals and his team will never compete as long as he is in charge. That’s about it. Everyone in between is in a constant state of redefinition. Gainey looked batshit insane last year, and then, whoop, we dined on o-lay chants all playoffs long. Is Garth Snow terrible, or a genius, or a terrible genius? How about Dudley in Atlanta? So I have no idea how to rate McGuire. He knows his players. That seems like a good place to start.

2) Which brings me to the (perceived) negatives. The only bad thing anyone has to say about him seems to be that he’s annoying and that his opinions are sometimes wrong, which are both tied to the fact that he’s hired to be an over-the-top broadcaster on a sports network who offers up opinion constantly. This is very different than being asked to actually shepard transactions towards completion. I’m not worried about any of his behavior on TSN being indicative of the way he will manage resources.

3) Who the hell else are we possibly going to get? Tim Murray? Some former player agent or lawyer who we’ve never heard of? And, more importantly, will it matter if the new GM isn’t empowered to make the big decision – R-R-R-R-R-Rebuild – if Melnyk wants nothing more than to contend? If that’s the case, then throw anyone in there to sign a big UFA every off season and trade a 2nd round pick at the deadline for a rental. I can do that.

Peter

I’m skeptical, though I’m also tired, and if one more cheery HR person wishes me a happy new year I’m going Maury on everyone (where you drop a revealing nugget of truth after returning from a commercial break)

To summarize:

Pro: Pierre McGuire no longer has time to dominate our airwaves
Con: Pierre McGuire makes our personnel decisions

Pro: Pierre McGuire could be spotted in and around the Ottawa area with more frequency which would enhance our chances of a spontaneous stoning.
Con: Pierre McGuire no longer takes wayward sticks to the face in his little crow’s nest between the benches.

Pro: The potential for locker room pranks featuring the diminutive GM will be stuff of legend.
Con: The expenditures spent on McGuire to Swedish translators will possibly bankrupt this team.

To be serious for a moment, this rumor carries little weight with me because look at what happened in Calgary. McGuire wasn’t plugged into the situation otherwise he would have been mentioned waaaaay earlier to hop into Sutter’s throne. His agent or representative or golum or whatever dark spirit he commands is late out of the gate on the recent GM turmoil and is aggressivly hucking to place his client as candidate one for any openings.

McGuire can’t broadcast his candidacy because that’s against the code. Plus if he went on TV actively campagining for someone else’s job no GM would even look at him in the winter meetings (they would however rub his head for luck) So he needs his agent work doubly hard. Trust me, crazier rumors will surface and refuse to go away with a greater intensity once the axe falls. If it does.

James

A Tale of Two Turtle Men

It was the whatevs of times, it was the turt’lest of times….
My off-the-bat thinking (“?” – Me, 1942-2011) is that this is a very interesting prospect because I believe there are two P McGs.

P McG the first: The one people are most familiar with. Prime time broadcast Pierre. We need little introduction to the over the tizzy, dolphin smooth headed, jarringly enthused NHL commentator who induces TV mutings and sidles up to players/Darren Dreger like a body pillow during interviews.

This guy comes off as irritating and reminds me of how I would do that type of job when I was a twelve year old back in the year of our Lord, 1954. For the record…I liked big hits, saves and goals and the new serialized Fitzgerald in Colliers Magazine back in those times. I am terrified of 12 year old me running a pro hockey team.

PMcG the second: Mornings on Team Barfhundred Pierre. The more calm, thoughtful guy who can tell you how many ladies Mike Cammelerri was carnal with in his second semester at Michigan State or what third line centre for Jokerit you should pick up to bolster your Finnish Elite League pool. I like this Pierre to be perfectly honest. Maybe its because he is conversating with some of the lowest quality radio hosts possible, ultimately making him look good, but at the end of the day he’s a complete geek and I think that’s an asset. I hope this Pierre is the real one because his hockey knowledge and ideas are pretty grounded and impressive. He also couldn’t be any more obsessed with hockey and I think he is super hungry for another shot in the bigs. Came close in Minnesota and maybe Ottawa is the team to give him a shot. All that said, some thoughts:

1) If there is one thing people like about the current Murray administration, it’s the keen drafting. If there is one thing Pierre is almost undeniably, dare I say, an expert in …it’s junior hockey programs and prospects. He was even a scout/asst coach for the 90’s cup winning Penguins team. IIIIIII don’t know if you guys ever noticed but he has a cup ring on his finger. Where is it? Oh, you must have missed it…it’s on the hand that is ALWAYS holding a microphone or generally is always finding its way on camera. Subtle. Who knows what the extent of his contribution was to that team but it had to be some. Scouting: “See that guy Jagr? …yeh, pick Jagr” or Coaching: “Pass to Lemieux”. That was an insane team for what it’s worth and they won two cups. At any rate his second to none knowledge of the junior world / FA world is an asset moving forward.

2) He was head coach of the Hartfort Whalers….and that team was terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible. He was fired I think within the same season he was hired and his record there was brutal.

3) He worked for our beloved Sens …and … being born anywhere near here / having ANY connection to the city seems to make you a shoo-in to be part of the organization.

4) To me he seems to be a very new-school mind. I am confident he would run a club in a 2011 manner. Going back to what Conrad said, yeah, it’s likely he would do a better job than Sutter, Milbury, Sather…he also has not been a fan of Murray’s trading away of assets at the deadline for transient free agents – which puts, I think, all of us in line with his thinking at least in this respect. Not that Murray is so super old school…he gets it – but bro is almost 70…He’s gunna hang up his glasses and cup of Tim Horton’s tea soon so …clock’s tickin.

5) Since not getting the GM job in Minnesota he has many times on the radio revealed what his pitch was for the job, and though he didn’t get it in the end I was impressed with his plan. Which is more than I can say about Murray the last couple of years.

6) His repuatation preceeds him…or does it? Again the tale of two turtles. Which Pierre is he more akin to, how he is in real life, or more importantly how he does business, and is that personality an asset or a liability? This seems to be one of the biggest issues surrounding him. It’s clear his commitment is fully there. He couldn’t be any more obsessed with hockey. He’s on NBC for the winter classic one day, TSN for the world Juniors the next, then on the radio in the morning to discuss pretty competently the stuggles of the Sens and answer questions about whatever else. He puts in that work and I cannot deny him that. BUT does this result in players wanting to play for him necessarily? I don’t know if players want to play for any GM…well minus the short lived Brett “Party Time, Excellent!” Hull as GM. A lot of people think he is irritating. I don’t know if this is uncommon amoung GMs. Whether it was Sutter/Gainey/Other coming off like grim death in interviews, Brian Burke selling me apartment insurance, Brett Hull talking about how “The Dallas stars shit [is gunna be] fuckin’ far out and shit, man!” or Bryan Murray not being able to keep ANYTHING on the down low…seriously that guy tips more hands than me at the Friars Club…*rim shot/deserved garbage pelting*

Though a wet-behind-the-ears rumour at this point, Is Pierre Turtley enough for our Turtle Club? And if Clouston gets fired …what the hell do we do with this domain name?

James:

SEARCHING FOR BOBBY BUTLER

Now I am become Conrad… destroyer of teams.

You know, there were some points last year when I really got down on the Sens, during one or more of their fabulous flame outs. On Sunday night I was talking to someone about this Sens squad (more or less the post-Heatley incarnation) and was saying how when they are doing poorly they seriously look like theyre never going to be good ever again. Case in point, recent thrashings by Carolina and Barfronto (Which is Algonquin for The Barf Land) do little to help we fans think otherwise. I think almost all of the Sens games I have attended this year, have been losses. This is fine. Its part of the high risk world of buying tickets to see the team take on squads like the Washington Capitals. It’s reflecting on the good times I’ve had at hard fought but lost games that I shake my head and can’t imagine how those fans who paid the, in this case ironically named, ‘gold level’ price, for this shitpile of effort like Sunday’s. Not that the battle of Ontario vibe isnt so fun and welcoming for fans as it is — sorry, just a second I have to wipe the sarcasm off of my keyboard here — okay done.

I think people are okay with paying to see the team lose. . . SO LONG AS THEY LOOK LIKE THEY WERE TRYING TO WIN. Thinking back to an earlier statement I made in this post about how when this Senators squad is doing really poorly they look like theyre never going to be good ever again and how I felt this down on the team several times last season only to be surprised in the end. Heck they still made the playoffs. Something that, in Ottawa, we are sometimes a bit spoiled for as hockey fans. We care for this team and that makes the lows feel…maybe lower than they are sometimes…

Segue to Negative Island:
THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT SAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID…

The team is looking fuh fuh fuh fundamentally flawed. They are never going to be perfect. Even in their not so distant hey day there were some holes (Ray Emery was a mildly more consistent Brian Elliot behind better D for one) so … you know… BUT BUT BUT there are some things that need to be addressed

“IM WEEERRRKIN ON IT IM FOOOOKIN WEEERRRKIN ON IT”
                                                     – Bryan Murray, Sens GM 2007-2011

– Daniel Alfredsson, praise be his mighty name, cannot be the team on his back force of blesteryear. The team needs an NHL LEVEL 1st line RW to play with Spezza. Get homie off the 1st line already …guy is 38 years old. If the Sens signed Bill Gueren tomorrow would you say put him on the first li–…well, that WOULD be pretty handy about now..

– In the spirit of Conrad’s going out of team sale, clean house up front and for the love of Pete (from this blog…yes..his love) get a player or two who doesnt make scoring TWENTY GOALS look like an noteworthy achievement.  Like Conrad pointed out that could be in  drafting or bringing guys in young to the brand. By the looks of a lot of other teams it could pay greater dividends than picking up FAs to plug up holes.

Dare to compare:

Erik Karlsson 38 8 16 24 -8

vs. sayyyyyy… 

Alex Kovalev40 8 10 18 -9
Sergei Gonchar 40 5 13 18 -20

Mike Fisher 40 11 6 17 -12
Milan Michalek 36 7 7 14 -6

Jarkko Ruutu 38 2 6 8 2

Like…hot mess folks. Hot. Mess. Keep in mind with the exception of one, the guys I put his numbers up against ARE FORWARDS.

How does this argument hold up for Peter Regin’s one goal and Foligno’s 5? well..it…uhhh…I just think we need more Peter Regins and Nick Folignos to choose from and better results could come from that.

A second year undersized D man should not be putting to shame dudes making Millions of what the Australians call “Dollareedoos” …This is telling me along with garbage
piles like the LeClaire signing that the team is wasting money all over the goddarn place.

There’s a lot of money coming off the books and I hope the team takes advantage of it. We have some decent prospects in the pipe….some…lets get more. Id like to see the team get a bit more of a young and exciting element to it. The Sens have the quiet Dad element NAILED…can we not get some pies in the face and Patrick Kane stanley cup parade speech inspired flavour? If he cant play next year can we not sign Emery to a front office job like “commissioner of partying down?” Im not talking stocking the cupbord where you have to die a thousand deaths to get your Hall, Eberle, Paajjaarrvvii-Finklestein line…but …more a boston bruins type deal where you give up some pretty good assets to some idiot –missing you D. Sutter 😦 —  and fleece them in the end.

This core is flawed and I think the Sens are in a pretty good position to smash elements of the team up and take a chance on something new.

Oh, for the love of god and baby Jesus, dont trade Spezza but build around him…I know I KNOW I KNOW …but find me the new Jason Spezza. Oh what’s that? It’s Chris Kelly right now. Yeah. Dont trade that dude.

A huge thank you to our readers for making this “let’s post our word vomit online” experiment a really fun and satisfying experience. What started out as a place for our friends to read our irrelevant thoughts about a mediocre team has turned into a nice little community. It’s been pretty amazing to run into people at bars who tell me they read the site regularly. For a site that offers almost zero analysis and has no connections, and thus breaks no news, it really is a testament to the sort of hockey community Ottawa has. We’re looking forward to 2011, which I suspect will involve an awful lot of prospect and draft analysis (just a hunch). And if the site has done okay so far, in what is basically the worst season in the last fifteen years to start a blog about this team, then we can only go up from here!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: [keep in mind that we started in late July]

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,200 times in 2010. That’s about 15 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 86 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 188 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 19mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was October 28th with 496 views. The most popular post that day was Addendum to 2010.10.27: In which Halloween comes early.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, sports.yahoo.com, silversevensens.com, feedasplush.com, and the6thsens.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for cory clouston fashion review, unicorn, sebastian hastings, jarkko ruutu, and kovalev.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Addendum to 2010.10.27: In which Halloween comes early October 2010
1 comment and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

2010.12.03: In which we eat a pail of acid December 2010

20.08.2010: In which we feel unappreciated and you don’t make love to me the way you used to August 2010

09.09.2010: In which we butter The Hockey News’ bread and Pete actually picks the Islanders to make the playoffs September 2010
3 comments

2010.10.28: In which we get high and hit on Tomas Vokoun October 2010
2 comments

For tonight’s discussion I will be playing the part of the unremittingly pissed off fan. For a change.

Another nationally broadcast game, another bumbling, embarrassing effort, in which a team already six points out of the playoffs gets blown out by a team seven points behind them. Some blogs were characterizing this as must-win, and I think that they were right: halfway through the season, management has to think that if this team can’t compete with one of the worst-managed teams in the league, then they need to retool in a big way. I know that hockey is a random sport, in which a team like the Penguins can be a consistent contender and still lose to the Sens and Islanders in the same short period, but having a team that 1) can’t win in overtime, 2) are second last in the league in goals-per-game, with a 20 year old defenceman leading the team in scoring, 3) are fifth worst in goals-against-per-game, most of which seem to be of the crash-the-net and Elliott goes Kitty Pryde variety, and 4) can’t execute a dump-and-chase play to save their life, should be enough to signal that this team is fundamentally flawed.

I’m also just really sick of watching this team shit the bed every single time they’re on Hockey Night in Canada.

So, in the most bloodless, least empathetic way, here’s what I hope to get for some Senators before the trade deadline, along with the minimum I would require to do the trade:

Chris Phillips – ideal: 1st rounder or former 1st round prospect and a late round pick; at least: a 2nd rounder and a late round pick
Alex Kovalev – ideal: 2nd rounder; at least: future considerations
Daniel Alfredsson – ideal: a 1st rounder and two good prospects; at least: a 2nd rounder and a good prospect
Chris Campoli – ideal: late 1st rounder; at least: a 2nd round pick
Brian Elliott – ideal: 2nd rounder; at least: a 4th round pick
Pascal Leclaire – ideal: 2nd rounder; at least: future considerations
Nick Foligno – ideal: late 1st rounder; at least: a 2nd round pick or a prospect with bottom 6 forward potential
Peter Regin – see Nick Foligno
Filip Kuba – ideal: a 2nd rounder; at least: a late round pick
Jason Spezza – ideal: a 1st round pick, a 2nd round pick, and a prospect with top 6 potential or a 20-goal roster player; at least: a 2nd round pick and a good prospect
Milan Michalek – ideal: a late 1st round pick; at least: a 2nd round pick
Sergei Gonchar – ideal: a late 1st round pick; at least: a 4th round pick
Brian Lee – ideal and at least: a poster of Brian Lee
Jarkko Ruutu – ideal: a 3rd round pick; at least: a 5th round pick

Conrad

I’m still in Chicago, where hockey highlights, even with the defending champs having played last night, are harder to come by than NBA highlights in Canada, and the Bears played yesterday so checking in on the Senators is tantamount to being a KHL fan in Sao Paolo. But from what I see, Karlsson has decided to make his Chrastmusborg resolution to get the Sens into the playoffs, and after back-to-back wins the team is four points out of 8th. (Though, it should be said, they’ve played four more (!) games than 8th place Boston at this point, and Sportsclubstats still shows their chances of taking 8th at 3%.) As if we need any more evidence that this team should reload, a tiny, 20-year old defenceman selected 15th overall and only in his sophomore year now LEADS THE TEAM IN SCORING. I don’t know whether to get psyched by this or be really depressed about the rest of the team, but it’s probably a little bit of both.

Peter

Actually, you know what was weird last night? I thought the team looked like only one or two guys away from being really dangerous. Thinking in my head, “maybe a total teardown isn’t completely necessary.” Also seeing the highlights of Jared Cowan in Buffalo for the WJHC earlier in the day was mucho encouraging.

If Murray can get his hands on one more physical blueliner and some consistent secondary scoring, we might be okay. Then again we might be not okay since the Spezz now needs meddz. Gulp.

Conrad

I think the Senators are caught now in what I’d term the Rangers Trap: lots of high-paid players, and so the assumption is that they have a high ceiling. One thinks that if all of Alfie, Spezz, Fish, Gonchar, Kovalev and Leclaire played to the level management seems to think they’re capable of, that maybe they would dominate. But you watch a team with a lot of high draft picks – even a team like Atlanta, who have traditionally been terrible – and you get the sense that the Senators are just aging and infirm. There’s a level of speed that just seems beyond this team.

Also, and only partially related, if Gonchar doesn’t start shooting the puck more I think it’s gonna be a long three seasons.

Conrad:

So James is back, having returned from his scouting trip of every NHL team, in what was the hopes of finding a home for Brian Lee, and I believe he has secured Lee a position as towel boy for the San Antonio Spurs. To celebrate, we went to the Sens game last night. Hooooo-boy is Ottawa not very good right now.

I’m starting to think that the Sens should re-sign Ruutu, if only because that third line is the only group to get traction on anything. They keep it simple – one dumps the puck while the second chases it into the corner and dishes the hit, and the third crashes the net. Then they work the cycle and generate chances. You have to wonder why this isn’t working for, say, Spezza-Michalek-Kovalev, who generally accept a pass at the blueline, try to stickhandle through the entire team (the opposing coach having realized that all he needs to do to stop the Ottawa Senators is play the trap), lose the puck, and enjoy the sounds of booing as our opponent gets an odd-man rush the other way.

Spezza was awful last night. I get that he’s a creative player, and that’s a bit of a high-wire act that won’t always work out, but it would be nice to see some fundamentals on, say, the powerplay. When your team is down by a goal, there’s ten minutes left, you get two powerplays, and you’re not able to get a single shot on goal, then you know you’ve got problems. Honestly, I would have put Neil, Kelly and Shannon out there before Michalek, Alfie and Kovalev.

Oh, also: Gonchar. Does. Not. Shoot.

Lastly, being at the game you really get a sense of how down on Spezza most people are. I feel like all of the frustration at once having had such a fun 1st line and now only having the youngest and most inconsistent player of the three left (Alfie having transcended to a higher / lower plane of age) is now taken out on him. The boos came readily, given the team only lost by a goal and was leading through one. People are really frustrated. Too bad. With an announced attendance of 19k, it was a packed building, and the team blew it.

Peter:

Watched last night’s game in shifts. First period at my parents’ place where everything was gravy. Washington looked like a team that had lost 8 straight. Ottawa was winning battles along the boards, putting guys in front the net and generally carrying the play.

After the first period I decided to hightail it back to my apartment. I walked in the door to Perrault’s second tally. Basically a tale of two games. After the intermission, I can only imagine what Boudreau said in the room but I suppose it sounded something close to Joe Pesci’s character in Home Along 2. (nope, didn’t stay home saturday night to watch that movie)

The crazy thing in all this aside from the play which Conrad highlighted earlier, is that they’ve picked up 6 of the 10 available points in the last five games. Hello 8 spot.

So here’s my zany, “Islanders make the playoffs” type prediction for the second half of this season. Ottawa makes the playoffs, draws Atlanta and wins that first round series only to be swept in the one that follows. Think about it, it affords the delusional optimism most fans have come to expect (heck even embrace) while after its conclusion there’s still enough fodder for the “what’s wrong with these guys?” pundits. The perfect mix!

Conrad:

I would take that scenario. Looking at the standings, the parity certainly does give the impression that almost anyone can make it. There’s enough hockey left that were the Sens to go on a run, it’s possible. Though, again due to parity, a team being six points out of the playoffs, as the Senators are, is huge these days. According to Sportsclubstats, the Sens have a 1% chance of taking the 8th seed, and less than that of going any higher. (Which seems sort of ridiculous, and I don’t know if the math bears out.) Again, to put it into perspective, the Sens are only four points up on Florida, who is rebuilding, and Toronto, who is cursed, and only three up on Edmonton, whose average age is eleventeen. I’m rooting for that 8th place finish (though I’m not-so-secretly rooting for a blow-up), but let’s just say I’ve been reading about top ten picks lately.

James:

Welcome back ME! *dodges sharp garbage*

Well, I’ve decided that forced retirement is not for me. No, rather, in the spirit of my BDSM club, the floggings must continue until morale improves. (No judgements at the CCFR)

As such, like Conrad mentioned, we attended last night’s floor behind the toilet that no one ever cleans at Scotiabankplace.com. I returned from blog jail a few days ago to check up on the Senators, only to be pleasantly surprised: No big blow outs to speak of, Pascal Leclaire alive, some mercy points for good measure, Karlsson point streak…okay, I can get into this.

Welllllll welcome back curseface! (I am curseface.) I returned to see the Sens blow a lead in Colorado only to stage a semi-valiant comeback and then suffer a regular-valiant counter comeback from the Avs.

Theeeeeeeeeeeen there was last night. Wow…is the Sens third line ever flying! Leading the team with work ethic, speed, some flashy passing and scoring–! Oops …call coming in…absolutely have to take this…

Hello CCFR, junior blogger at arms James speaking …oh hey boss, thanks for not throwing my desk in the garbage while I was gone. Hmmm…third line, yeah…nope I meant to type third line just there…no, I did. Yes, I am pretty drunk right now but I can assure you… Yes, I know that those are adjectives you would typically use to describe the first line on pretty much any team. Well, I’d love to erase it because it IS pretty embarrassing but there’s no backspace on my electronic typewriter. Yes, that would explain my spelling and grammar—

Oh he hung up. Anyway, the Sens looked like a goddamn mess last night. By the Barfzone I mean Second Period here were the lines:

Forwards:
Carkner Jr. – Melnyk – Mendez
Regin – Jong Il -Woody Allen
Foligno– Brust – Foligno
Ruutu – Alfredsson – Captials Fans

Defense:
Spezza – Clouston
Rundblad – Spartamoose
Murray- Schubert

Starting goalie – Eli Wilson

CLOUSTON I KNOW YOU’RE READING THIS. THIS BLOG IS THE FOURTH RETURN ON GOOGLE WHEN YOU SEARCH YOUR NAME: CHILL OUT WITH THE LINE COMBOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I might be uncharacteristically short on the recap:

-Maybe Spezza’s worst game of the season. Was definitely hurting the team more than helping.
– Michalek and Phillips both bet on the Capitals or something
-Line combos are bordering on insane
-Gonchar still playing on wrong side?…Totally working.
-Team can actually look at a DISADVANTAGE on the power play
-Defense is making Elliot break his back and as a result Elliot is breaking the team’s back
– Karlsson is currently the only dynamic puck possession player on a supposed dynamic puck possession team.
– Alfie looks hurt or really tired. Age 38 (happy belated Papa Alfie) on the first line? Give him a week off or something at this point.
– Pascal Leclaire is on an IV
– Third line looks like First line
-Yikes.
– I think Gonchar was smoking weed with Kovalev before the game…but I think Kovalev can handle his stuff way more.
– Stuff people scream out at the game? Really, really funny…oops…oops not very funny…that’s confirmed as NOT very funny. You’re KILLING it bros. We’re allllll paying attention to you just like your parents didn’t. We / your parents hate you.

I’m excited about the Sens upcoming game against the Cleveland Barons.

According to Google Image, this guy’s name is also Erik Karlsson. Lace ’em up, Erik, you’re going in.

Everywhere you look, Sens blogs (including this one) and “legitimate” “newspaper” “writers” are bemoaning a Senators team that, according to Playoffstatus, have a 7% chance of snagging the 8th seed. Who can blame them? The year before last, which was the first playoff-less year in over a decade, was seen as an anomaly for a team switching coaches every few months and dealing with the Emery mess. But this year is different: there’s been no torrid start, and no scoring, let alone win streaks. This team came out of the gate like a wet noodle and hasn’t fared much better since. It’s rare to look at a season that is still so young and know that you don’t have much to look forward to, be it playoffs or a high draft pick. (As an aside, we definitely picked a great season in which to start a Sens blog.) There are still about 50 games on the schedule, and so long as this team stays in the mediocre middle – not rebuilding, but not competitive – I don’t know how long fans will tune in. They’re pretty savvy in Ottawa; they’re not that into “anything can happen in the playoffs” being the plan for the future.

Which brings me to Erik Karlsson. He’s in a unique position, in that he represents the youth of this club, but is playing out his entry-level contract while the rest of our good defensive prospects – Cowen, Wiercioch, Rundblad – are still looking at a year or two of development. He hasn’t hit his ceiling by a long-shot, and he hasn’t filled out (though expecting him to be physical is like expecting him to be a different kind of player), but we’ve seen glimpses of what he’s capable of. He’s in that purgatorial state where he’s neither a prospect nor a veteran, and for all of his talent is not enough of a blue-chipper that this team can build around him.

So the tough question is: if this team launches into a rebuild (which remains to be seen), is Karlsson actually tradable?

From a sentimental point of view, I say no: I like his play, his enthusiasm and creativity, and how his voice sounds like he’s sucking back helium. He’s only in his second season, and I feel he has a lot more to show us. But from a strictly developmental perspective, the timing isn’t great. After next season he’ll need another contract, and one would have to think that he’ll be earning at least $2M – $2.5M given he plays twenty minutes a night and occasionally quarterbacks Ottawa’s power play. (Which, it should be noted, is rated 12th in the NHL after last year being rated 21st, and spending most of the season next to last.) He’s worth that money, but is also worth more now from a trading perspective than he’ll ever be. If Ottawa is going to implement a plan to win in three to five seasons rather than right now, are we better off with a high draft pick / a prospect that’s a year or two from breaking the big game, or is Erik a big part of Ottawa’s future?

Of course, trading him will never happen. Murray traded last season’s pick for a player selected in the same spot a year earlier, jumping the development line by a year – he’s not looking to build long term, he’s looking to jump start production. But if this team is facing the big ideological questions of what kind of team it wants to be, where do you see Erik Karlsson fitting in?