Varada

I’ll start by saying that we did a run through available UFAs way back when, and CCFR readers should check it out because it’s mostly still current. (Update: Brooks Laich re-signed in Washington for several more years of being talked about in trade rumors due to early playoff exits, otherwise known as Antoine Vermette, Ottawa Senators, 2003-2007.)
 
Assuming that Murray doesn’t stand pat – which he might – who are your top picks to see in a (/probably poorly designed retro third-)Sens jersey? My top three are Scottie Upshall, Steve Sullivan and Jason Arnott.

James

I find I have really embraced this rebuild thing. I’m not overly interested in the Senators (yeah, I’m going full name today) grabbing a free agent vet at forward. I know its not the safest idea but unless the Senators trade one of the current crop I think if they plug up a hole with a vet than it doesn’t give a forward prospect much of a shot. I really agreed with his prediction so I’m going to borrow DarrenM’s projected lines from over at SilverSevenSen(ator)s:
 
Michalek – Spezza – Butler
Foligno – Regin – Alfredsson
Condra – Z. Smith – Greening
X – Winchester – Neil
 
Island of Misfit Boys: Da Costa, Filatov, Zibanejad, O’Brien, Wick, Shannon…Daugavins?

I know that these guys definitely vary in terms of age, pedigree, experience and likelihood of playing full time in the bigs but looking at those names it makes me wonder if Murray plans to fill this ONE possible opening with an FA? It wouldn’t break my heart if they signed an awesome player like Scottie Upshall but it begs the question: Are the Sens letting (super cheap) Ryan Shannon walk and don’t plan to fill his spot with one of these guys, namely Filatov? In my mind, call me crazy but I think it’s at least arguable that Filatov is that top 6 winger Murray talked about landing. Okay, that’s a tad crazy but maybe shuffle Condra and Greening between the third and fourth lines, Foligno between the second and third and let Filatov and Butler battle it out for top 3 winger. Are we rebuilding or are we rebuilding? I think we saw the potential of putting a rookie finesse scorer (Butler) on Spezza’s wing. The sample size was small but Butler really showed he had the finish to roll with a player of Spezza’s caliber. A quick aside, what I loved most about Butler’s performance on the top line was how he scored a variety of goals. He didn’t always need a pretty feed to put one away. That nose for the net coupled with Butler’s comments about how he is really trying to raise up his defensive game to the NHL level makes me think Butler could be effective in the top six if not top 3. As for Filatov, if he is given the chance to get some time and I stress TIME not like half a period (im looking at you Cory “Kansas City Shuffler” Clouston) to play with Jason Spezza hopefully HOPEFULLY he can recapture the magic of playing a couple dozen games with centre that people have heard of Derek Mackenzie on the powerhouse Blue Jackets.
If there is an FA i would really like to see the Senators land it would be Ty Conklin. Backup goaltender thats where the real hole in the lineup is. I wonder if Barry Brust is ready? Kind of terrifying but I want Robin Lehner to be undisputed no. 1 in Bingo. 

Pete

I think Ottawa should definitely be targeting a second line centre cause based on James’ and Silver Sens line breakdown that has to be one of the worst collection of middle men in the league. I’m all for finding a backup goalie but I dunno about these guys.

Who that person might be? I’m not sure, they don’t have to be flashy. I know a top six, goal scoring center doesn’t grow on a vine, so how about targeting a veteran face-off guy and explain to him going in that he’s probably going to play on a bunch of different line combos. Sometimes I think the concept of top 6 is GM speak intended to let vets know they have a little more stature in the room via the media. Kinda like putting an A on someone’s sweater ya know?

I’m tempering my expectations with Filatov, it’s not like he hasn’t had chances, even the Russian national team is down on this guy so you know it’s not culture clash. I hope things work out for the kid, I really do. But if he usurps Condra or Greening for ice time, well I wouldn’t fault them for sowing a little dissention in the locker room.

Either way in Murray I trust.

Ottawa traded up to draft this adorable chipmunk.

Varada

At the risk of sounding like a complete fanboy, I’m thrilled with this draft. With Murray having solidified his prospect depth on the backend, he was free to draft forwards, and we received scorers in bunches. Obviously Noesen was a surprise to some (and Zibanejad over Couturier also tweaked people a bit), but trading up to take Puempel was a pleasant surprise, as was the trade for Filatov. I didn’t think Murray had any interest in players whose skills are built solely around scoring goals. But with Filatov, Butler, and Puempel in the system I like the odds of one of them turning into a 20 goal man.

And let’s talk about Filatov. People are saying things about risk, but to me this was an absolute steal. You think about all of the work that goes into assessment during the draft – something we should obviously be well aware of after this year – and all of the work Columbus did in coming to the decision to use a 6th overall pick on this guy, and only three years later he can be got for a 3rd rounder? A 22 year old with that kind of pedigree gets less than, say, Chris Kelly at the deadline? I understand that he might go the KHL in a worst-case scenario, but I’d take that risk any day. He needs to grow up a little, maybe, but at 22 I’d be willing to put him in a different system and see if it takes. Maybe after being traded he’ll wake up a little bit and buy into the program. I’m really excited to see what a line with Spezza, Michalek and Filatov might look like.

I’m a bit surprised that a goaltender wasn’t drafted, as Murray explicitly said that he would draft one to drive Lehner’s development – someone to chase, someone chasing him. I guess it was a weak draft for (chicken)tenders.

Pete

Holy snaps, remember when we all wanted Murray out of town? That dude can draft.
I’m not sure if its his reliance upon a couple of key scouts or if he’s got this Charles Xavier thing going on where he wheels (pardon the pun) and deals and boom, next thing you know January Jones is wearing retro lingerie… By that I mean other gm’s are playing checkers and Murray is straight up playing chess. (mmm sexy mixed metaphor, or sexaphore, if you will)

I liked the emphasis on size and scoring, They passed on Couturier because he just wasn’t big enough and like the edge Mika plays with. I think this draft completes the overall strategy of having the mini puck movers on the back end and more power forwards up front. I still think they’re going to get pushed around quite a bit next year, but if you think of these moves within the context of a year into a five year rebuild, I believe they are ahead of schedule.

About Filatov, Every GM agrees this was a steal on paper. My biggest concern is that this kid comes in displays his brilliance during camp, makes the team then settles into bad habits. This could be a tough challenge to throw your new coach. I’m afraid his attitude will be tolerated which sends a horrible message to your kids who you bring in to grind and work for everything. It will be interesting to see how much the new staff tolerates.

One final mind blowing note, both giant US sports news sites, ESPN and SI.com lauded the moves made by B. Murray. You know when the American papes are dapping you up, you did well!

James

“We’ve been pumping Bryan Murray’s tires all draft long and we haven’t heard him say one good thing about us yet” – ESPN & Sports Illustrated
 
Remember when Roberto Luongo said something like that and on TV no less? AAAAAAAAAdorable.
 
Speaking of remembering, remember in our pre-draft round up how I said “I hope they only go for high risk, high ceiling forwards aaaaaaaaaaall the live long day” (slight paraphrase). So one could say I’m pleased that what I wanted to happen, happened.

Zika Mibanejad: Okay, so the Sens didn’t take the projected no.6 Shawn Couturier. Something occurred to me after the maple leaf special (late season improvement in play after being mathematically knocked out of the playoff race), when it became clear that the Sens were not going to hit the absolute bottom of the league but were likely going to land in the bottom ten. I thought that Bryan Murray was entering a bit of a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation. A situation that could easily come about from not picking in say the top 3 but rather the top 10, particularly in a draft like this one was. What I’m talking about is the strong likelihood that a team is going to get a Jeff Skinner or Logan Couture guy. The type of player that people weren’t talking about like a slam dunk on draft day but ends up really excelling in relation to their rookie peers. By passing on Couturier and taking Zibanejad, Murray will either end up look like a genius or a goat. Since neither player has skated on NHL ice I am very into them picking Zibanejad. He rose to the #2 ranking among European prospects and with the Sens Euro …oh who am I kidding Swedish scouting being what it is I trust whatever justification went into choosing MZ. As a fan of the Ottawa Senators, with the recent selection of Jared Cowan you can see how a prospect’s stock can plummet given injury or illness (Cowan had knee surgery – the Michalek special) and mono, which made him appear sluggish to many scouts through the season of his draft and at the WJC. Maybe the same thing happened to Couturier who was also suffering from Mono during the season. I think no. 6 was actually a pretty tough pick – especially given the blow that came with losing 5th spot to New Jersey- I am very excited about the selection and am mentally prepared for the top ten guys to exceed expectations and others to underwhelm over the coming years. And I do mean years ….remember Stamkos’ first season vs. second season? Also, remember that guy Jonathan Tavares? Guy is layin LOW. Im not saying he sucks or hes a bust or anything…just so, so, so hard to live up to that kind of hype right away, esp with the shit team he was drafted by. In closing, the name Zibanejad is awesome. 
 
Stefan Noesen: A forward? From Texas? Comparisons to Corey Perry? Cool! 
 
Matt Puempel: This guy is pretty exciting. More of what I was talking about above with that injury dropping a player’s draft value. I think that this pick has the potential of ending up being a big time steal. I watched him play some impressive games a couple times against the 67s on an otherwise flaccid Peterborough Petes. I kept hearing rumblings all season about him being the lone spark lighting it up on a pretty bad squad and that he might go high in the draft. Then alas, a bad hip injury curtailed his season. But fear not friends he was fixed up by the same surgeon who operated on Mario Lemieux (!!!!) AND Pascal Le….claire…..uh…okay moving on! I wanted high risk and got it. He was an OHL sophmore this past season so time is on the kid’s side. I hope he bounces back and that his development is not hampered (doiobviously). As the third of three 1st round picks for me, the pressure’s off this kid to turn heads in a hurry. Take your time young man. Glad the Sens took a chance. 
 
Shane Prince: All my moaning about the San Jose Shanks poaching all of the Ottawa 67s best players comes to an end. After failing to take Tyler Taffoli and Ryan Martindale I was very happy to see Prince get selected by Ottawa. I became a fan of Prince this season and judging by all the Prince jerseys at the Civic Centre I wasn’t alone. The only knock is that because it’s so easy to get seats up very close at 67s I have to take issue with Prince’s 5’11 billing. He looked considerably smaller than one inch under 6 foot to me and that was on a rink full of juniors. But anyway, its NHL 8.0 so…go for it Shane! 
 
The Guy From the Olympiques & the other picks: Cool…obviously its time to talk about Nikita Filatov. 
 
Trading for Nikita Filatov: Okayyyyyyy put some extra ketchup on that shit and shit. I had read about Filatov to Ottawa rumors all season deep on message boards. I was hoping they were true but they just felt so Eklund make believe land. Why would Columbus give up one of their most highly touted prospects before he’s barely had a chance at the NHL level? When I read that the deal had gone down I could not believe it! But then I remembered that the Blue Jackets are literally the worst team in the NHL at developing talent. Seriously, one round of the playoffs in franchise history and all they have to show for it is Rick Nash, Pascal Leclaire’s groin and the Ghost of Steve Mason? Anyway, about the kid’s ‘tude… I don’t know, its 50/50 for me. We just endured 2 seasons of master of ‘tude Alex Kovalev after his apprentice Dany Heatley jumped ship just prior to that. I think Peter makes a really good point about what MacLean and Co will let slide with all these kids but  Filatov for a 3rd rounder? Fucking 50 bucks on black. Also, not getting along with Ken Hitchcock to me is like not getting along with John Tortarella…as in… looks like a hard guy to get along with. Especially as a young offensive player on a team as consistently terrible as Columbus.  I think if he’s given top 6 minutes maybe even top 3 and delivers the scoring punch we all know he has those criticisms might melt away. I saw him play in person once at the now famous Canada-Russia game at the WJC in 2009. I remember during the game daydreaming about how awesome it would be to see the Sens one day have an exciting kid like that on the roster. Frigging crazy that I’m actually going to see how that plays out.

We’re in that weird flux between the end of the playoffs and the beginning of the draft – simultaenously the  most and least significant period for hockey clubs. Meaning we’re still mired in speculation, but at least this speculation has the flavor of possibility given all the interviews and articles which are reporting on basically nothing.

Interesting article in today’s Ottawa Citizen:

As well all know, and knew days in advance of the official announcement, Paul MacLean is the Ottawa Senators’ new head coach. In the days following the unofficial announcement by the Ottawa Sun (who always arrive prematurely, if you know what I’m saying), we’ve heard the overwhelmingly positive analysis – i.e. he’s been a part of a winning team, he commands respect, he’s a former NHL player, he’s a player’s coach, he’s a communicator, he has a moustache – and a few grumblers – he’s never been a head coach in the NHL, he…has a moustache. This post isn’t meant to fall on either side, but directly through the middle, into the creamy pit of mediocrity between.

Which is to say: do any of us, CCFR or otherwise, really know how to assess a good coach in the NHL?

Spezza had a brief comment at the end of the year about how important communication is and how it was an area where Clouston needed to improve, and now it’s on the lips of all armchair assessors of coaching talent. MacLean, we understand, is a communicator. And who better to assess his communications skills than Bryan Murray, who seethes with contempt for the media, and started the very press conference announcing MacLean with a joke that nobody understood or laughed at? Who better than Murray, who so thoroughly bungled the Heatley debacle in the public arena? Who better than Murray, who generally displays a lack of appreciation or understanding of the importance of effective PR in the overall perception of a franchise?

I don’t have the first clue how to assess a coach other than looking at his track record and assuming a correlation. Ottawa only had guys without head coaching experience and old timers who haven’t coached in a while to choose from, and they chose someone from a winning franchise, so I feel okay about it. But more to the point is that feeling okay about it or thinking it’s a terrible choice doesn’t mean a thing. It’s rare that you get someone like Guy Boucher, whose “I use an entirely different system than everyone else!” helps to distinguish him. The rest of the time we’re talking about assessing a person we’ve never met on their ability to be personable and communicate effectively. More often than not, when asked what sort of system they’ll employ, coaches will say something about work ethic and pressure on the opposing team creating turnovers. MacLean is no different, saying that he’ll speak to his players about playing “all 200 feet” of the rink. As if any coach in the league doesn’t preach hard work and a strong forecheck / backcheck. Does Bruce Boudreau not understand the importance of hard work because he has Alex Semin on his team? (P.S. Jeremy over at Black Aces had it right: how many questions into the presser did we get before MacLean got his first question about teaching Spezza defence? Two?)

 Over the course of a season we see a little bit – a very little bit, actually – of how a coach’s strategy plays out. We learned that Clouston insisted on playing Gonchar on his wrong side, for example, and we can blame that for Gonch’s career-worst season, though we might not be right. (i.e. he’s also 64 years old.) And we can look at Guy Boucher’s unorthodox tactics and attribute Tampa’s success to it, though again, we might not be right. (i.e. Dwayne Roloson.) So I submit to you, dear reader: if you count yourself among the apparently very many people who approve of MacLean’s hiring, why is that? What is it about Paul MacLean (who I personally had never heard of until about two weeks ago) that has you excited?

Just pretend that football....is hockey

“It was the was the sdfla;aerg of times, it was the blurst of times. A time for thing and a time for the opposite kind of thing.” – Charles Dickens, 1991.

Hi everybody.

Can we talk? And by talk I mean, you read your computer screen at work or at the library and either nod and mutter “I know right?” OR shake your head and mutter  “This guy is seriously THE WORST.I need to start my own Senators/Foodie/Puppy photo of the day blog and rub it in his stupid, stupid face.”
I want to talk to you about this whole coaching situation.
As a person who works for this blog as their full time prison rehabilitation, daily I read most of the other webpages (2.0!) devoted to our beloved Senators and I gotta say…twixt the writers and commenters…people seem to really have their personal coaching decisions figured out. Which is awesome for them  -Im proud of all of you! I don’t tell you that enough- but what about my needs/dreams? Am I the only one who feels like this is even more of a crap shoot than the draft?
Foremostly (DEFINITELY a word), not to knock peoples takes on why Bry-Bry should select whom from whence and maybe it’s the humidity talking but the more I read on these guys the more I get flustered about the decision.

“We’re all sensitive people/with so much to give/understand me, sugar/since we got to be/let’s have a brief, friendly overview of what people are saying about the candidates and how I feel about that” – Charles Dickens, July 8, 2011

Dave Cameron: Konfession Korner, I was going to start with Kirk Muller but I figured lets get this guy out of the way early. This dude seems to really be in the hate pit among fans, huh? You don’t coach in the WJC gold medal game winning a silver medal for YOUR COUNTRY AND take your OHL team to the Memorial Cup final without making a few enemies! No, I get it; he can’t win the big game, right step-cousins? That’s why they picked Cory Clouston! His pedigree of BIG. GAME. DELIVERY. I always wonder about that criticism: Can’t win the big game. Only one team’s worth of people “win the big game” per tournament/playoff. It’s such a small pool to draft from and for me there are usually still other good people kickin’ around. I don’t think raising the “big game” question is without merit but it’s got all kinds of holes in it. Think about it player wise. You know what gritty forward knows what it takes to work your ass off to win the Stanley cup? ALEX KOVALEV. Should Tim Thomas lose the Stanley Cup final, it could be argued that he can’t win the big game but you know what? I’D BE COOL WITH THAT DUDE PLAYING FOR OTTAWA. Whatever the case, I think Cameron was written off the minute Melnyk endorsed him. Now that The Euge has been banned from conducting boardroom business (getting caught in shady white collar dealings sounds like the SWEETEST deal btw) he can finally focus on being a fucking BILLIONAIRE* full time. He’s also taken on a consulting role in the Sens organization as resident “don’t do what this guy says is a good idea” consultant. Also, what’s up with minor league coaches (OHL at that in this case!), getting a promo after one season of success. We can’t wait 2 seasons up in here? Anyway, this guy is probably a good coach and everybody hates him. I’d be cool with him as an assistant SORRY ASSOCIATE (apologies all around) coach because…I don’t know?

Kirk Cameron Muller: People seem generally high out of their minds on ecstasy over this guy. I can see why, Jaroslav Halak was REALLY REALLY great that one playoff! Whaaaaaaaat? I kid, I kiiiiiiid put down those bleu, blanc et rouge coloured switchblades. Montreal has been pretty decent the last couple of seasons and Muller was apparently a very big part of their turnaround. Okay, cool. Guy Carbonneau was also responsible for a lot of that success as head coach…and everyone hates that guy…Jacques Martin probably deserves most credit. So, clearly, the key here is handsomeness. Paul MacLean is sketchy because the Red Wings are a good organization willing to give a coach away and that’s a red flag…aaaaand…Kirk Muller is the sexy choice because he is coming from a successfullish team willing to part ways with him. Handsomeness. I wouldn’t be pissed at all about Kirk Muller being coach. I’m as smitten as the next Japanese school girl (.com, probably). I am just a little confused as to why he is such a front runner.

Paul MacLean: One essential that fans and pundits alike can agree on is that Paul MacLean is the NHL’s answer to Wilfred Brimley. Otherwise, he is a bit polarizing as apparently the Red Wings are not allowing teams so much as smell the hair of other associate coach Brad McCrimmon but are handing out MacLean’s pager number at the food court exit of the Rideau Centre. Look, I don’t know why that is. I’m not made of knowing about other teams associate coaches. Have you read this article to here? You haven’t? Just skimming…okay well that’s cool its a big internet. Well, moving on, the fact I’ve been plotting and perfecting a plan  for a couple of seasons now to drug and kidnap most of the Red Wings front office, staff and team only for them to awake go about their business in a Scotia Bank Place that I have painstakingly repainted and redecorated to the last detail to look exactly like the inside of Joe Louis arena makes me lean toward this guy. I think it’s an asset that he has spent considerable time being able to lean to the side and say, “What do you think we should do, Coach Mike Babcock?” and then listen to and remember what he said and then record it on his Newton for later. At the same time, I wonder if people are right about that question of “Is it the Detroit TEAM that makes the coaches so good?” Here in a one act play is what I sometimes imaginer it to be like to coach Detroit:

COACHING THE DETROIT RED WINGS

A One Act Tragiromcomedy 2: Back in the Habit

Scene: Detriot Red Wings Bench. A timeout has been called before a crucial faceoff in their defensive zone with the game tied up and one minute remaining:

 Coach: “Okay TIME OUT TIME OUT…great hustle out there, brosephines. Huddle up boys here’s the plan. Datsyuk, listen up, here’s what I need from you: Win this clutch face off and get the puck to Zetterberg here, who is amazing. Zetterberg will dish back to impending slam dunk first ballot hall of famer Nicklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom will have no problem retaining the puck under pressure and will make it look easy snapping a beautiful outlet pass back to you at centre ice where you have skated incredibly quickly to. From there just make whatever highlight reel move that comes to your beautiful mind and make whatever team we’re playing’s first pairing defense look like tired children’s clowns who are holding golf putters backwards and wearing skates made of sandpaper. Then continuing at full speed make a blind behind the back pass to a waiting Zetterberg who, ONCE AGAIN,  is also amazing. Meanwhile, Johan Franzen, who once scored 5 goals in one game against the Ottawa Senators**, will set have set up the screen ensuring the goal. Now go out there and be all the unfair NHL ‘98 Choose-Your-Own-Team-team you can be!”

Spoiler Alert: They Win.

FIN

Craig “Mac-TSN” SnackTavish: Another guy by and large in the hate pit with fans. Yes, it is really weird that Mac-T has been part of the TSN Panel for so long. He took a pretty mediocre Edmonton squad through the entire Mighty Western Conference only to lose to the widely, widely beloved North Carolina Hurricanes. Personally, I loved Mac-T as a player. That guy never took a shift off. So…Coaching? Right guys? It’s also pretty cool and frankly undeniable that he helped take Edmonton to the finals. I was intoxicated in Vancouver through most of that run and probably just generally bummed out about the Sens having been eliminated at that point so I missed most of it (I think?). Apparently he is very player oriented and that could be very good asset for this squad …but …I guess the Oilers did only have that one crazy ass season under him and it was with playoff beast/stupid asshole Chris Pronger. Mac-T seems to be viewed most unanimously disliked candidate among fans and writers alike…aside from Cameron I guess. Though, he DID rip the tongue off out of the Flames mascot’s*** mouth during a game…which is so, so good. Apparently Murray is high on this guy.

 Kurt Kleinendorst: Can I get spell check!? This guy’s already done more than enough for the organization. Again, according to reports, another player oriented coach with the added bonus of coming off a huge, huge Calder Cup win with Binghamton (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). The obvious turn off here is Cory Clouston Part 2. Back when Clouston took Bingo to the Calder Cu—oh wait… didn’t make the playoffs with them at all?…nevermind. No, we’ve seen a lot of coaches through these parts since Murray stepped down,  the last three were minor leaguers and the last three of them…not. so. hot. Patience is at an all time low in this regard (Coach is the new Goalie!). Despite this hesitance being not at all unreasonable, I still always think about the Dan Bylsma factor. The extremely likeable, upbeat, positive minded coach that players might really want to win one for. Was Clouston scapegoatted a bit in his dismissal? Kind of. He coached the team back into the playoffs after one year out (sans Heatley…who hated him)…and…seemed completely unknowable while doing it. Clouston seemed … not so flexible on anything but Christ could he dress. If Kleinendorst is the kind of guy that players can feel good about playing for while also being successful then of course I could be game for another spin on the Minor League Coachie-Go-Round. If not, I would LOVE to see this guy as Bingo’s head coach again.

Well, that just about wraps it up. Oh, right…

The Guy who coached The Saint John’s Seadogs this year: Another good coach I’m sure but I’m tired now…and the fact that Pascal LeClaire once played for this team is reason enough to take a pass. OR NOT. I STILL AM NOT SURE.

Okay, I’m to go lay down for a bit and worry about the draft.

*Even in all my 64 years on this labyrinth of a planet, I still cannot believe that even one human being owns over 1 billion gold coins.

**RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Pretty much the low point of the season for me.

***which is a dog with a hat for some reason.

Web Bonus Update!: I forgot about Bob Boughner: For my comprehensive take on Boughner check out this article I just put up  at www.bobboughner.com !