| 04 February 2009
Well, not sure if anyone was paying attention last night, but getting lost in the debut of Cory Clouston's version of the Ottawa Senators was the return of the Senators theme song before the start of each period. While the return of the theme was a nice touch to an otherwise lacklustre game, it couldn't stop me from having six separate conversations about how ugly the current version of the Senators uniforms are. Could you imagine that the Chicago Blackhawks took their logo and made it a cartoony 3-D image? It'd look like the fucking Cleveland Indians logo and there would be an uproar. Here in Ottawa, there's no fuss at all. People ridicule the management here for having no structure but the team can't maintain tradition with their look on the ice. I wouldn't put it past the talking heads to start encouraging the players to wear custom gold helmets with a painted red stripe down the middle -- Somewhat similar to how the University of Michigan players have helmets that mirror their football team. Apparently the marketing department's philosophy is that schlock is the look in the Nation's Capital. Seriously though, can someone draft a petition to bring back the original uniforms? At least if they lose, they'll look good doing it.
My apologies for the off-tangent rant, but I felt it was well warranted. So anyways, last night marked the debut of Mr. Clouston. Given the build up and the young talent of LA, I was really looking forward to taking this one in live. Who would have thought that a couple hours later, I'd leave ScotiaBank Place with the thought, "Well, at least I didn't pay for my seat," running through my head. If there were any positives from last night, it was that the Senators got the puck out of their zone more easily than I can remember and the team played some inspired hockey for the first three minutes of the game.
After that, it was like watching two completely flat teams play an exhibition game. I thought Chris Phillips was arguably the worst player on the ice through two periods but then Brendan Bell took his sub-standard play to a new level and lapped Phillips in the third. (Note: I had a good laugh this morning after I was enlightened that SportsNet named Phillips as their 3rd star last night.)
Perhaps the part that was most disappointing for me was the Senators inability to finish off a noticeably fatigued Kings team that seemed content to just wrap up their extended road trip. While Jonathan Quick made a few timely saves, his success was in large part due to the inability of the Sens shooters to hit the net from between the dots.
Drew Doughty and the Kings:
After watching him play last night, I wonder if the Tampa Bay management staff are kicking themselves for passing over this kid to draft Stamkos? Personally, I can't recall ever seeing another young defenceman who's this confident while skating with the puck. He reminds me of a bigger Scott Niedermayer. While looking at the rest of the Kings roster, you really have to appreciate the way they've taken some media and public flack while waiting for their stockpiled draft picks to pan out. Not only do they have an infinite supply of blue-chippers at every position coming through the system, they also have a plethora of Salary Cap room to work with. If Dean Lombardi manages to fuck this up, he deserves a boot in the ass. If they'd only go back to their Bruce McNall era uniforms, they'd have one of the more marketable teams in the NHL in a year or two.
Peter Regin:
On the ride home this afternoon, Steve Lloyd and Chris Yzerman mentioned that Peter Regin had been sent back down to Binghamton. They also mentioned that Christoph Schubert is drawing back into the lineup at forward. While some may be disappointed that they're not playing their kids, I don't think that there's any question that Regin will be back up before the end of the year. With only four weeks until the trade deadline, you're probably going to see a number of veterans being showcased for Playoff-bound teams.
Lloyd and Yzerman also mentioned the lines at practice today. Here they are:
Heatley - Spezza - Alfie
McAmmond - Fisher - Foligno
Vermette - Kelly - Neil
Schubert - Winchester - Ruutu
Of note, Fisher and Winchester are getting the opportunity to center their respective lines. (For those wondering, yes, Winchester was a center in college.) I'm a little bit disappointed that Clouston is moving Fisher back to center, I thought he was playing a more effective style on the wing and his best game this season was when he played the wing against the Blues. I think it's also interesting that McAmmond is being slotted in on the second line since his minutes were limited in the third period last night. Maybe we can add McAmmond to the long list of players who are on the chopping block?
Curtis Hunt:
Since being dismissed from his Assistant Coach position, word has it that Hunt has accepted the vacant Head Coach position in Binghamton and he'll be behind their bench for tonight's game.
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