First comes love and then comes pain, let the games begin. ~ Pearl Jam

Dear Ilya:

You sir, have impeccable timing. вы взводите курок.

Why the facade that you differed from some our previous Russian minor league flakes like Kaigorodov and Nikulin? 

Do you remember all that goodwill that you built up last summer when you neglected your motherland and remained here in Ottawa to bust your ass in the gym? Do you also recall how bad the team's depth was last season? Do you remember not being able to stick with last year's shitty squad? 

Apparently not because you had to wait until Bryan Murray restocked the forward ranks before making your demand public. Fuck me.

Of all the years to demand a trade, you chose this one? Great. It's not like you had a memorable performance in camp. Hell, considering you allegedly spoke to Bryan Murray about getting moved awhile ago, I don't even think the mainstream media realized that you were even here. Because we read about you never.

You have no intrinsic trade value. никакие. Now Ottawa's going to get сладостный fuck все. At best, your trade aspirations involve you riding the bus for another AHL franchise. But maybe that's a good thing. Those Binghamton jerseys are notoriously ugly and you need all the help that you can get.

So give it some time, when you feel that enough has passed without another organization having shown any interest, leave. Go to the KHL. We won't blame you for it. In fact, take Josh Hennessey with you. The less physical reminders that we have of the John Muckler era, the better.

Thanks.

Sometimes it's fun to have a little blind faith. Like last season for example, when Ottawa needed to run the table with about 20 games left to have any opportunity of making the postseason. With the ominous dark cloud of Dany Heatley having been lifted from this city, optimism is renewed in the nation's capital.

"Expectations are high. We did a survey with our ticket holders and got a good response, so we feel it's pretty indicative. About 90 per cent think we're in the playoffs, and 40 per cent think we're in the finals."~ Cyril Leeder

So much for tempered expectations. Ah well. At least this positive aura in Ottawa has carried onto its players, even to those who've received bad news.

"I'm going to go down there with a good attitude. To ask for a trade would be a quitter and I don't want to be a quitter." ~ Christoph Schubert

Consider this Exhibit A for why SchUboat is smarter than people give him credit for. Since I've read his comment, I haven't had time to check out the various message boards or listen to the radio to gauge the casual fan's reaction to what he said. At first glance, I'd probably assume that fans are probably impressed with his new attitude and are probably complimenting him for how much he has matured since throwing another man through a glass window.

And at second glance, I'd imagine that fans who haven't been won over by his play, will embrace him for directing a subtle dig at Dany Heatley's trade request.

However, with his subtle dig aside, what would fans expect him to say?

Remember the advice that Chubb's gives Adam Sandler in the movie Happy Gilmore?

Whenever you're upset. Go to your own happy place. Go there, and all your problems will just melt away.

For Christoph Schubert, that place is Binghamton.

Think about it:

• It's the place where he met his significant other.
• No other team in the NHL claimed him off of waivers. without having to give up any assets for him. And by NHL standards, he makes a paltry $900k for the one-year that's left on his current deal so inheriting the cost of his contract shouldn't be an issue. The fact that no one wants him should be humbling.
• The man's a professional athlete, even if he's getting paid his NHL salary because of his one-way contract,at least he'll be playing for his money instead of getting paid to be idle in the pressbox
• Most importantly, he'll be afforded the opportunity to play defence. A position that he's wanted to play since the 2006/07 season.

So Graeme and I are thrilled to announce that we've become contributors to the New York Times hockey blog 'Slapshot' doing a running feature called "Hockey Night in Blogdom". If you don't believe it or if you're curious, our first contribution can be read here. Check it often and see what other NHL bloggers are saying for this year.

Back in May, I penned an article discussing how Christoph Schubert's development was stunted by the organization following the '07 Cup Run. Here's what I wrote:

Unless he's dealt, Christoph Schubert will enter training camp in the same position he's been in the past two years -- As an undeveloped project who feels that he deserves the opportunity to play full time back there. It doesn't help matters that Bryan Murray has assembled a very average defense that is deep in numbers. Things are so bad for Schubert that he's not even being discussed as a candidate by the local media. Simply put, he's an afterthought. A one-time prospect who has detrimentally wasted the last two seasons of development for an organization's short-term gain.

Maybe I'm being a bit naive to assume that he would have developed properly if given the opportunity to play fulltime without having to worry about making mistakes. But I've always been the kind of sports fan who would rather watch a player with upside play over a shitty veteran any day of the week. It's the same reason I abstained from watching Blue Jays baseball for a portion last season when Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson were shitting the bed and stealing at bats from Adam Lind and Travis Snider.

This afternoon, Schubert was placed on waivers and it shouldn't come as a surprise for Sens fans. Schubie has never struck me as a favorite of Bryan Murray. It probably helped that there have been numerous Bruce Garrioch paragraphs that indicated that Schubert has been available on the trading block for years. However, the most recent indication that he was likely to be a roster casualty occurred when he was announced as a late addition to Ottawa's lineup for their final exhition game against Boston on Friday night.

It's probably safe to assume that another team informed Bryan Murray that they'd be interested in acquiring Schubert but via trade.

Even though he never really developed in this organization, I sort of feel badly for him and want to wish him well if he's afforded the opportunity to play elsewhere. (Emphasis on the word want.) Does it make me a bad person if I'd rather see him become another Peter Schastlivy than another Pavol Demitra?

In other news, The Ottawa Sun is reporting that Zach "Without the K" Smith has been sent down to Bingo. With the roster now down to 24 healthy bodies, Clouston admitted that he will cut another defenceman and forward in the next two days. My money's on Donovan and Lee getting the axe but it'll be interesting to see what happens when Jesse Winchester returns from injury in a couple of weeks.

When the final horn sounded, it signified two things: the end of a 2-1 loss to the Bruins and the end of the Senators preseason. After months of being overwhelmed by Dany Heatley trade speculation and uncertainty, the Ottawa Senators are a few cuts away from being ready to drop the puck on their 2009/10 NHL season.

So without further ado, here’s part three of our five part season preview of your Ottawa Senators. (Here’s part one and here’s part two.)

Forwards:

For years, the Senators organization was renowned for having a balanced attack. Even during the Yashin/Daigle era, the Senators never succumbed to the pressure or temptation of playing the best offensive talents together. It wasn’t until Bryan Murray penciled the trio of Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson together during that 2006-07 campaign, that the Senators achieved their greatest postseason accomplishment – reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. Since that time, Ottawa has undergone three coaching changes and each have sworn that they would not rely upon the “Pizza Line” to sustain success. Much of this dependency has been for two reasons:

1)      The inherent pressure to win in this market due to the recentness of the ’07 Cup Finals.

2)      The lack of secondary scoring had a causal effect on the team’s success thereby putting the Head Coach on the hot seat. John Paddock’s tenure can best be described as one of self-preservation by relying upon the top line to play over 24 minutes a night.

With the additions of Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek via trade, and the signing of free agent Alexei Kovalev, the words depth and enigma are now just as much a part of the typical Sens fan’s vocabulary as the words Leafs suck. The hope is that the addition of these three and the emergence of a player like Peter Regin can be enough to offset the loss of former 50-goal scorer, Dany Heatley.

Similarly, their presence should help remove the burden from the likes of Ryan Shannon and Nick Foligno, as these two are now cast in a more appropriate third line capacity.

Barring a trade, the fourth line should now be comprised of Jarrko Ruutu, Chris Neil and Chris Kelly. Provided this expensive trio doesn’t get into dumb penalty trouble, this line should be competent enough to allow Cory Clouston to roll four lines and provide an agitating, physical style that’s otherwise lost on this roster.

Defence:

It’s ironic that just one year ago, Bryan Murray was busy trying to address the team’s lack of puck-moving defencemen having lost Andrej Meszaros and Wade Redden. Today, the Senators have overcompensated and now boast a bounty of puck movers in Chris Campoli, Brian Lee, Erik Karlsson and Filip Kuba.  The group however, still lacks a top pairing player necessary to be an elite team in the Eastern Conference. And it’s a reflection of the group as a whole that Bryan Murray flirted with the idea of keeping Jared Cowen, an 18-year old coming off major knee surgery, around.

It's a bit disconcerting that the unit’s toughness is defined by Anton Volchenkov's willingness to withstand a Spanish Inquisition'esque barrage of vulcanized rubber puck. Unless Matt Carkner cracks the top six, Ottawa’s back end is going to lack an intimidating presence and it's almost assured that opponents will utilize a soft-dump strategy to victimize Ottawa's smaller defencemen with a physical forecheck.

Goaltending:

The Senators goaltending situation used to be taboo to discuss. This franchise isn't even a quarter of a century old but we've already had too many repressed memories. How repressed are our memories? Some pundits are already emphasizing that Pascal Leclaire is the best goaltender to ever wear the Senators uniform. It’s like the Dominik Hasek situation never happened. He never played here. Never happened.

To enlighten you as to how bad things have been, I've created a small list. Leclaire's season will be viewed as a success if he...

1)      Doesn’t pull an abductor or avoids undiagnosible injuries like the one that Damian Rhodes sustained to his ankle.

2)      Avoids run ins with the local police.

3)      Shows up to practice on time.

4)      Doesn’t threaten to kill another motorist.

5)      Can demonstrate that he can close the five-hole on shots from the top of the left faceoff circle.

6)      Doesn’t wear a goalie mask featuring the image of a convicted rapist.

7)      Doesn’t frost his tips or sell out by wearing a mask with “The Net” written on it.

Brian Elliott will attempt to fill the void left by Alex Auld and that shouldn’t prove to be too difficult. The real problem could occur if Leclaire’s tendency to get hurt manifests (quick, knock on wood) and Elliott is forced to handle the full-time duties in his sophomore year. On a positive note, Martin Gerber’s gone.

Coaching:

Just like everything else about the Senators this season, coaching is a big question mark. Coach Clouston recently had the Temp tag removed from his man-child frame and with that, he was whisked into the coaching Valhalla known as the Senators bench. After being thrust into the centre of his first NHL coaching controversy this past summer, Couch Clouston has emerged unscathed and clearly has the trust of management.

With expectations high after a promising 19-11-4 end to last season, the bar has been set for the 2009-2010 season. Not that things are the same this year, the team in front of Clouston is remarkably different. Gone is the leading goal scorer, gone is the Swiss Miss and gone is the Warshark, Jason Smith. With a new crop of youngsters and a group of veterans who have something to prove, the complacency that existed last season has been removed and the team has been molded to fit Clouston's up-tempo, pressure style.

Clouston’s leash should be long this season since the organization can ill afford to go through another coaching change and further the belief that the players are coach killers. That being said, because of the diminished role gripes from Heatley, Clouston and Murray should feel the heat if this team should stumble out of the gate. Heaven forbid the headline writers at the Sun, from rhyming Clouston with Losin'.

Management:

When Bryan Murray took over the GM reigns from John Muckler, he not only inherited a Stanley Cup Finalist, he inherited a team that was inherently flawed.  After years of poor drafting and neglecting the depth on the farm, a few bad personnel moves compounded the problem and the Senators window of opportunity had closed. Only we didn’t know it at the time.

Following the 2007 Cup Finals, fans expected a perennial contender.  But without any young talent that was ready to crack the lineup, management was forced to resign its core because there were no other in-house alternatives.  

Even though it’s not really problematic to sign one’s elite talent to long-term deals, it’s counter intuitive to sign replaceable veterans to inflated, long-term deals making them completely untradeable in the process. Without young, NHL-ready talent, Ottawa’s veterans could print their own tickets and bleeding heart fans applauded the moves because they’d hate to see one of their own homegrown guys go.

Despite some panic signings (Chris Kelly, Chris Neil) and paying a high-price to acquire Chris Campoli, Murray’s done far more good than harm. He’s improved their amateur scouting, organizational depth and making some shrewd deals (Nycholat for Ryan Shannon; Lehner and Leclaire for Vermette). Even though some pundits will criticize his Kovalev deal, the term of the contract isn’t offensive and was likely a safer short-term investment than some of the deals awarded to players like Gaborik, Gionta, Cammalleri, et al.

“It’s a hard time of year because organizations have lots of young players that are going to be looked at,” said Murray. “Very definitely it’s going to be worth my while to make some calls and find out if there’s anybody that wants to give someone a chance.”

Murray didn’t name names, but it’s not hard to tell which players are on the bubble. Centre Chris Kelly, who would be difficult to deal with a $2.125-million US cap hit for the next three years, hasn’t performed up to expectations in camp and is feeling a lot of heat. ~ Bruce Garrioch, The Ottawa Sun

With yesterday's news that the Sens organization is toying with the idea of moving some underachieving incumbents, there's been some speculation as to who could be moved to facilitate the additions of Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin to Ottawa's 21-man opening day roster. After James Gordon posted today's practice lines on his Twitter, things have become a little bit clearer.

Michalek - Spezza - Alfredsson

Fisher - Regin - Kovalev

Foligno - Shannon - Cheechoo

Ruutu - Kelly - Neil

Schubert - Z. Smith - Donovan

Phillips - Volchenkov

Kuba - Karlsson

Picard - Campoli

Carkner - Lee

Even though he's listed as the fourth line center and carries a large pricetag, there's been an outpouring of support for giving Chris Kelly a stay of execution.

So while you're drooling that Matt Carkner (why did I not hear of this amazing talent before this season?!) may take the place of Chris "heart and soul" Kelly and his $2.1 million contract, try to remember why he was offered that contract. Kelly is an excellent penalty killer, an occasional scorer, and a solid defensive forward.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of return you're expecting to get for the likes of Christoph Schubert and Chris Kelly, but it's a fact that 4th round picks can't kill penalties or score goals. Hell, even Carkner probably won't.

So before you go throwing the baby out with the bathwater, try to remember that baby is pretty good at hockey. And your bathwater is inexperienced at penalty killing at an NHL level. ~ Ben, Sens Army

And there's this:

So now all remains is my fear of moving players before the season begins. I’ve now heard names like Chris Kelly, Jarkko Rutuu and Chris Neil all being tossed about to make room for the younger players. And while I have no problem making a trade, I would hate to see something done too prematurely just because a preseason player has impressed. Regin may not live up to the lofty expectations we are now setting for him, and he may become the next Brian Lee. It was only two seasons ago that Murray said Brian Lee was an NHL defencemen from now on, only to have him play half the season last year in Binghamton.

The bottom line is this: I think Peter Regin deserves a spot on this team. I think he should get one starting on October 3. But I think a few healthy scratches might be in order before we start shipping guys off. ~ Tambland, Stayclassy.net

When I think about it, maybe I am guilty of undervaluing the utility of a player who, at his best, is only a third line center and penalty killer.

While it's straight up silly to suggest that Matt Carkner's pugilism can replace Kelly's intangibles, it's also implausible to believe that Peter Regin's addition to the roster should necessitate the trade of number twenty-two.

Tambland put it best when he mentioned that it's important to temper any offensive expectations for Peter Regin. The first strike against him is that he's playing on a line with Mike Fisher. Strike two is that he's a Danish prettyboy. How often do Danish prettyboys pan out in the NHL? Almost never. Give me that good toothless Canadian boy any day of the week, eh. Besides it's not like his vision, speed and willingness to play both sides of the puck are skills that he can fall back on if he's not producing. Third, Regin's a John Muckler draft pick. How's that for a kiss of death?

That's why we have to keep Chris Kelly. At a $2.1M cap hit for the next three years, we're guaranteed that the Senators' penalty killing savant can anchor aunit that was blatantly average last year - it finished 15th overall in penalty killing efficiency at 81.5%. Besides, it's naive to assume that Kelly's role can be filled by Milan Michalek, a speedy puck pursuer who contributed to the 5th rank PK unit in San Jose. And it's equally as unimportant that the goaltending position has been significantly upgraded with Pascal Leclaire.

Okay, so I'm being a bit facetious with my comments.

Ben's right when he says that third or fourth round picks won't produce numbers like Kelly this year. But honestly, if he's spending the year being buried on the fourth line with Neil and Ruutu, the production from an undrafted player might not be far off from what Kelly's. If Kelly can be moved now for a pick, it's a good salary dump. By being pressed up against the cap ceiling, the Senators can ill afford to waste their cap dollars on a replaceable player. Especially when the financial flexibility created by trading Kelly can be used to add a legitimate second line center if Regin's offensive numbers aren't flattering.

Cowen Teases Murray:

Murray said it was difficult to send D Jared Cowen, the club’s No. 1 pick in 2009, back to the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs following the game in Regina.

“I can just envision him in November being able to play at a very good level in this league,” said Murray. “He was a tough one for me because I really like young players that step up the way he did. In the long run, it’s probably better for him.”

Everyone can blame Cowen's knee injury for the reason for his demotion, however, it's important to bear in mind that it's easy to forget that it was also a blessing in disguise. Had Cowen stayed healthy last season, there's absolutely no way he would have slid to the Senators at the 9th overall position.

The Ottawa Citizen helped shed more light on Cowen's return back to junior.

"To me, (the decision) was really hard because I can just envision him in November, being able to play at a very good level in this league, but, long-term, it was the thing to do."

Now, if Murray was flirting with the idea of keeping Cowen and Karlsson, what kind of condemnation is this for the guys currently slotted in the bottom pairings on defense?

In an epic comment thread over at HockeyBuzz, a user with the handle leafericson made this comment in response a post by everyone's favorite anonymous rumour man:

#3- I don't call out other professional writers even if they take shots at me.

That's B.S right there you took a shot a Puck Daddy a few months ago pretty much putting words in his mouth and changing the context in which his comments were meant to be implied. (Click here for link.)

Eklund's response?

ok. that was a story where Brian Burke contacted me to clear his name. "changing the context in which his comments were meant to be implied" is where you lost me. (Click here for link.)

A classic case of Eklund saying more than he probably realized in implicating Burke. Thankfully Ottawa doesn't have a GM who contacts Sens Chirp to defend his honour on a whim's notice. However, I contacted Sens Chirp to get some insight here. When asked if he'd defend Murray's honour like that, Chirp responded with this:  

"Haha. How's the pay?"

“The way Peter has played the last two games, playing with Mike Fisher, he’s turned Mike into a scoring machine. (Regin’s) fast, he’s creative, he gets back and helps out defensively, and there’s no question he’s ready to play in the NHL.”

I now pause for some literary love for Erik Karlsson:

“Erik we know is a very talented young man,” Murray said, adding he’d still like to see the 19-year-old make some adjustments on the power play. “Beyond that, he has really come in and played well and – not unexpected, mind you – but certainly (he is) a guy with very strong possibilities, I would say, to make the team.” ~ Bryan Murray, The Ottawa Citizen

For the cynical fucktards who'd use this opportunity to mention the name Brandon Bochenski, Bryan Murray put it best - He turned Mike (Fisher) into a scoring machine. Game. Set. Match.

With the emergence of rookies like Regin and Karlsson, that noise you hear is either the shuddering of veterans who came into camp thinking their job was secure or it might be the sound of Sens Army jumping off the Chris Kelly bandwagon. After spending the past two offseasons purging the roster of talented but flaky players, the Senators braintrust has realized that it's no longer necessary to keep overpaid character guys who don't bring that much more to the table than their younger, comparably talented and cheaper counterparts.

With obvious candidates like Kelly, Ruutu, Winchester, Lee, Picard, Schubert and Donovan being mentioned as trade fodder, it's worth noting that for the first time in weeks, the Senators rumour mill is back in full effect. For those who read my latest piece, you'll know that I shat on Saskatchewan's lack of sports appeal. Well, welcome to Ottawa's other sport, the Bruce Garrioch rumour mill. Or as I like to call it, the equivalent of TSN's dart program. The only thing that's missing is having Bruce re-cap his weekly rumour column on local community cable where he can sweat profusely under the bright lights and throw shit at the wall in hopes that it sticks.

And while it may be Regin and Karlsson who are receiving their share of love, it's worth noting how well Matt Carkner has played thus far. Given his size, Schubert'esque positional flexibility and willingness to drop the gloves, I'm a little surprised at the lack of retrospective shit flinging given to Chris Neil's recent contract.

Bryan Murray = Executive of the Year?

First it was Doug MacLean giving his endorsement to the Senators return on Heatley. Now it's Jay Feaster who's dropping trou to shit on shit on Doug Wilson and the Sharks. Could there be two bigger kisses of death for Sens fans? Can the Sens Army at least get a thumbs up from Ken Holland or some other well respected GM?

Eklund Less Definite?

Apparently Eklund learned a vital blogging lesson on the weekend and vows to post less definite rumours in the future. With a three percent success rate, Eklund's apparently shooting for the moon here.

Jared Cowen Sent Back to Junior

According to the Globe and Mail, the Senators reduced their roster down to 27 bodies by sending Jared Cowen back to his junior club in Spokane. Even though Cowen may be gone, we suspect the boners that he induced over at The Ottawa Prospector will not be forgotten.

Lightning strike out