For last night’s NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft, Senators fans descended on the Casino Lac Leamy like a pack of ravenous dogs that were out for blood… then beers… and then more blood.
It was the hockey equivalent to Philadelphia Eagles fans invading the NFL’s Draft at Radio City Music Hall, only instead of booing a Donovan McNabb pick, Sens booed Joffrey Lupul every time he raised his eyes up from Team Chara’s podium.
Lupul: With our next…
Faithful: Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Lupul: Uh…
Faithful: Leafs suck!
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With last night’s 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, it marked the first time since October 13th-18th that the Senators had lost three consecutive games in regulation. In the wake of these recent losses, many fans have been quick to place the blame at feet of referees like Dan O’Rourke and Tim Peel. As easy as it is to criticize les incompétentes for some recent incidents -- the labeling of Erik Karlsson as a diver, a Chris Phillips gloved puck in the crease that led to the incorrect awarding of a penalty shot and last night’s goaltender interference call on Nick Foligno that negated a goal – it simply overlooks the fact that Ottawa has not been playing good hockey of late.
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After making a long awaited appearance on the Fan 590 last week, Eugene Melnyk gave an exclusive interview with the Ottawa Sun and rehashed on many of the same points that he made during his first interview. The only real difference being that he praised the job that Bryan Murray has done and mentioned that, "He’s got a three-year contract and I think he’s got his eyes on a big silver cup before his contract expires.”
As awesome is it would be for this organization to win the Stanley Cup within a three year period, forgive for shuddering at the possibility of Murray trying to accelerate 'the plan' because he wants to win before his contractual obligations as GM end. In general, I hate it when arbitrary timelines are publicized. At the very least, all it does is serve to raise the expectations of a fan base and starts the clock on a GMs tenure.
I digress.
This afternoon on Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown and Damien Cox, the Euge made another media appearance and talked about a few things of importance. Here’s a summary of what was said. As always, my thoughts are in bold.
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So the day has finally arrived, the Senators’ latest acquisition is making his hopefully triumphant return to the desert. Hopefully Sportsnet keeps a camera on Dave Tippett all night so that we can chronicle his catalogue of his facial expressions as Kyle Turris is used in situations and plays with linemates that are uncharacteristic for a fourth liner.
Poor Turris. He was like the really attractive girl in high school who somehow managed to get caught up in a relationship with an overbearing and controlling d-bag. After years of enduring neglect and abuse, he finally summed up the courage to get out of the relationship and now Ottawa has reaped the benefits.
The only question that remains is: if Turris tears it up tonight and puts on a strong performance, will @BizNasty2point0 start believing that he can excel elsewhere as a second line player?
Other News of Pithy ImportanceDallas Stars defenceman Alex Goligoski has inked a 4-year extension that carries an annual average value (AAV) of $4.6 million. Prior to this season, Karlsson and Goligoski had relatively similar numbers but now with Karlsson sitting atop the defencemen scoring leaderboard, one would assume that Goligoski's new deal represents the low end of the spectrum for what kind of AAV we can expect Karlsson to fetch.
Apparently the Senators have partnered with March Networks to provide a next-generation video surveillance platform to enhance security and operations at Scotiabank Place. This is great news. Now fans only have to worry about getting robbed whenever they pay for parking or beer.
Last night on the Hockey Central panel, Doug MacLean mentioned that Tuomo Ruutu is a name that could be mentioned quite often when discussing what the Senators could do at the NHL trade deadline. As an impending unrestricted free agent who carries a $3.8M cap hit, I hate the idea of overpaying to acquire a rental that doesn't make this team significantly better. I suppose one could further the argument that he could give the team another center and depth down the middle but Ruutu has only taken 114 draws this season, winning 37-percent of them. Having played only 3 minutes and 31 seconds of shorthanded ice-time this season, it's not like he'll help the penalty killing unit either. At best, he'd move to wing on one of the team's first two lines thereby relegating one of the wingers from one of the top three lines to the fourth. Is that a sizable upgrade or worth the cost to acquire him?
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Okay, so a sepia colored linen from the Medieval Ages that bears the image of Kyle Turris hasn't been found but since arriving from the Phoenix Coyotes, the play of the skilled center has been nothing short of a miracle.
With another two point performance last night, the bane of Dave Tippett's existence now has 4 goals and and 13 points since joining the Senators; pushing their record to 12-2-2 with him in the lineup. As discussed briefly wiith a few Leafs bloggers on Twitter, Turris has benefitted from some good fortune. There's no question that we can attribute some of his success to line chemistry and the puck possession skills of Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Condra (Note: Alfie and Condra have the second and fifth highest relative corsi ratings on the team), however, Turris' arrival has coincided with Craig Anderson's hot streak. As a result, Ottawa goaltenders have had a .954 SV% when he's on the ice at even strength; helping to explain why he has a ridiculous +/- rating of +13.
There is some concern that Ottawa's on-ice shooting percentage is quite high (10.95%) when Turris is on the ice. (In other words, goaltenders have less than a .900 save percentage when he's on the ice.) However, the fact that he is flanked by Alfredsson, a player who normally carries a higher on-ice shooting percentage should benefit Turris. It's probably naive to assume that he can continue to post such a ridiculous +/- rating, but I don't anticipate his offensive production rates to dipping that much. no comments
