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?