By no less an authority than Icethetics, here's their review:

"The Ottawa Senators had a perfectly good logo when they debuted in 1992. Then they came up with their first third jersey in 1997. And it had this multi-colored mark on the front. And we all asked, "why?" Turning the guy's head to make the logo more three-dimensional takes the logo to a weird place. And it just looks bad. The Sens thought they fixed the problem in 2007 by adding bolder lines and sharper corners. But they didn't. Long live the 2D head."

Never good to be keeping the company of the Islanders "Highliner" and the "Buffaslug".

When Icethetics polled their readers in early 2011 to rank the uniforms of the Canadian teams, the Senators entries garnered the lowest combined score -- averaging 3.4/10. With the infamous "SNES" sweater coming dead last scoring a paltry 2.2/10 (I'd argue that's even a generous score).

This blog applauded Jacob Barette's efforts, and eventual collaboration with the Senators on the superb Heritage Sweater. But it doesn't go far enough. I think Nichols said it best last year, when remarking on the Blue Jays new uniforms embracing their past:

"I really hope that the Senators were paying attention, based off of the overwhelming success of the ‘heritage’ jersey and the amount of buzz that’s generated when teams like Oilers, Sabres, Capitals, Islanders, Flames and Devils (well, maybe there aren’t enough Devils fans to generate a buzz) don their original uniforms, it seems like a no-brainer for the Senators to return and stick to something that resembles the jerseys that they wore during their inaugural season."

#bringbackthe2d

According to a report in the Ottawa Business Journal that was fueled by comments from the Mayor's office, the City of Ottawa will be throwing its support behind the team as it attempts to bring an outdoor game to Lansdowne Park.

The idea is to have the Senators face off against the Montreal Canadiens, according to Ottawa Marriott general manager Daniel Laliberté, a member of the committee helping plan the city’s offerings for 2017.

Mayor Watson has had bringing an outdoor game to Ottawa on his "to-do list' since 2010, and tweeted the following during the leadup to the ASG:

Just chatted with NHL's Gary Bettman and said it's time for Ottawa to get the outdoor classic! He said when you get a new stadium, it's coming.

It should be noted there had been rumours Ottawa was a likely team to face off against Vancouver in a Heritage Classic in 2013 at the newly refurbised BC Place, commemorating the 1915 Senators-Millionaires Stanely Cup Final.

With Lansdowne slated to open in 2014, the intended 2017 date certainly lends itself to stale jokes like, ‘maybe there will be NHL hockey by then’ or ‘maybe Mika Zibanejad will finally have recovered from the flu by then’.

Given the uncertainty surrounding Mika Zibanejad's return to the Binghamton lineup (it's been 26 days since he last played a game), Assistant GM Tim Murray's morning appearance on In the Box carried some heightened importance. 

You can listen to the interview here, or alternatively, you can stream it at the bottom of this post.

As always, my thoughts in bold.

Graeme had a note on this earlier today, but we have begun to enter the fun stage of this genre where the translation makes its way back to those who were slagged. For the unawares, yesterday in a Globe & Mail story, Turris went all Andre Petersson on SM-Liga transportation, Finnish truck-stop dining, and the crushing boredom that is life in Oulu. I'm also pretty sure there was something in there insulting Finnish women, not to mention his severe disdain for saunas, reportedly calling them "bullshit", and that he's really "more of a hot-tub kind of a guy". In short bridges were burned.

So first we go to Karpat's head coach:

Kärpät coach to STT on Turri' comments: "They were like a slap in the face. The fact here is that we don't have private planes to fly with."

— Matias Strozyk (@MaStrozyk) December 18, 2012

Coach Hannu Aravirta: "Maybe he doesn't understand our reality. We don't have any five-star restaurants en route to Pori."

— Matias Strozyk (@MaStrozyk) December 18, 2012

Now onto Turris's agent who had this to say (via Puck Daddy):

"The Globe & Mail article completely misrepresented Kyle's experience in Finland," said his agent, Kurt Overhardt, who called the article "erroneous" in a phone interview on Tuesday. He has nothing but positive things to say about the team, and the way they treated him"

The interesting thing about all this is, for much of the afternoon the Globe story was taken offline, leading to speculation the reporting may be suspect. But it has since been re-posted, with this one small correction:

Turris is slated to have an official denial statement via the team's website Wednesday morning. I'm not sure Kyle was planning to head back to Finland anyway, he just might not have the option now.

Oh...and of course there's a parody account:

On Sunday, I actually had to carry my own equipment bag to the bus. The bag didn't even have wheels!

— Free Kyle Turris (@FreeKyleTurris) December 18, 2012

Update:

And here's Turris' love letter to Oulu, Karpat, and the fans...in which he also makes time to dismiss the Globe story on grounds it contains - "very innacurate and untrue information". Although he doesn't specify what exactly was false, don't think anyone's buying this vague dismissal. Should have just owned it.

The Binghamton Senators revealed a promotion this afternoon that honours the Mayan prophecy that declares the dawning New World Age on December 21, 2012.

In tribute to the impending apocalypse – which Bingo fans can only assume means one of two things: 1) the NHL lockout will end, inadvertently ending any chance of Binghamton Calder Cup; or 2) that Robin Lehner and Ben Bishop will both catch whatever SARS-like flu virus is ravaging the rest of the roster -- "the organization announced that in the event that the world ends on Dec. 21, 2012 they will reimburse fans 100% of the cost of tickets purchased for the Saturday, Dec. 22 game scheduled to take place versus the Rochester Americans."

*insert joke about Binghamton already resembling a hellscape*

Assuming that the world does actually come to an end on December 21^st, here is how Senators history will be cemented:

The Senators will have never beaten the Maple Leafs in a playoff series. Mika Zibanejad will go down as a bust. Erik Karlsson will fall 261 points shy of Wade Redden’s franchise record of 410 regular season points by a defenceman. The Senators’ greatest Stanley Cup moment will be Alfie striking Scott Niedermayer with a slapper at the conclusion of a period. We will never get a chance to watch Alexei Yashin’s wear the other shoe, reneging on deals or promises as the GM of the Russian women’s hockey team.

There are so many moments to look forward to in this team’s future, you’d hate to have things end now.

Goodluck to the fellas as they travel to Finland tomorrow. Early flight back home this morning #bitterdisappointment #USAWJC

— Stefan Noesen (@ScubaShteve93) December 17, 2012

While there's been nothing official from either the IIHF or USA Hockey this morning, the above tweet speaks for itself. 

In a report from Adam Kimelman of NHL.com yesterday, Team USA general Manager sounded a semi-optimistic note on the matter:

"It's still a pending situation, and in fairness to everybody that's involved in it right now I really don't have much more of a comment. In our opinion it's pending. It's a matter that's not closed and we're working on that. We hope to have a resolution on that before we leave here. There's a lot of conversations. Ultimately he has to be eligible for an IIHF tournament. We're working on it as best we can. It takes a lot of communication with a lot of people right now. It's a little bit of a uncharted territory for everybody. All I can say is I'm working on it as hard as I can. And I've been happy with the cooperation but it's a difficult position for everybody and everyone involved is giving it the right diligence right now."

It appears 12 hours after those qoutes were published, USA Hockey got their 'resolution'.

For Senators fans hoping to indulge their prospect porn fix with TSN’s glorious HD broadcasts, this news is bunk. Just a short time ago, it seemed possible that some combination of the organization’s first rounders – ie. Matt Puempel, Noesen, Mika Zibanejad, and Cody Ceci – could or would be participating in this year’s tournament.

Now, we’re just left with Mikael Wikstrand.

Ah well, Bingo streams are pretty great too...I guess.

Update:

And the official word via Chris Peters:

USA Hockey officially announced that Stefan Noesen has been declared ineligible for the World Junior Championship by the IIHF #2013WJC

— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) December 17, 2012

The Senators have two prospects slated to travel to Ufa for this year's WJC. And if the IIHF holds to the letter of their own law, it could be only Mikael Wikstrand who makes the trip.

On Wednesday, Stefan Noesen was handed a 10-game suspension for a hit placed on the Oshawa Generals Tyler Hore (video of which you can see above).

Chris Peters at United States Of Hockey has the story since:

"According to IIHF by-laws, the suspension may render the big right winger ineligible to participate in the 2013 World Junior Championship, as the international governing body tends to honor discipline from individual leagues.

A source familiar with this process explained that USA Hockey can appeal should the IIHF honor the OHL's decision, which is what is expected to happen.

Noesen is elibilbe to return to OHL play on Jan. 11th. Even if the IIHF accounts for time served, the Whalers only have two games between now and the start of the tournament. Noesen already sat out Wednesday night's game. Using that info, there will be seven games left on Noesen's suspension which would mean he'd likely have to miss about four or five tournament games. If the IIHF decides to uphold the ruling, it likely dashes Noesen's hopes."

Tough break.

Update:

Chris now has "a source with direct knowledge of the situation" stating the "IIHF intends to honour OHL's suspension of Noesen".

Anyone like his chances on appeal?

Ottawa Rush a strong candidate for Ottawa CFL team name, the Citizen has learned ottawacitizen.com/sports/Ottawa+… via @sensreporter

— James Gordon (@SensReporter) December 14, 2012

Hope they make the Kappa Gamma Gamma sorority they're aiming for. RT @sensreporter Ottawa Rush a strong candidate for Ottawa CFL team name.

— Radek Bonk's Mullet (@BonksMullet) December 14, 2012

Oh, no. Please, no. @sensreporter: Ottawa Rush a strong candidate for Ottawa CFL team name, the Citizen has learned ottawacitizen.com/sports/Ottawa+…

— John Bowman (@johnbowman) December 14, 2012

The 67's finished last season first in their devision with a record 40-20-8 and a goal differential (shootout goals excluded) of +50.

Today they sit last in the OHL with a record of 8-23-3 and a goal differential of -44.

A season in which Cody Ceci was named co-captain along with Sean Monahan went off the rails pretty quickly. Losing the likes of Prince, Toffoli and Mrazek to the AHL is some part of the story, as are injuries/suspension to key players and a lineup who on many nights has simply looked overmatched. The 67's are icing a young, green roster and have generally played like it.

In spite of this, Ceci has been able to stay productive hovering around a point a game, although he's maintaining that production in a different way than last season:

Where last season Ceci was getting the majority of his points at even-strength, this season he's been reliant much more on the power-play. In fact he already has more power-play points through 34 games played than he did in all 64 last year.

The Senators director of player personnel made an afternoon appearance on The Drive this past Monday, calling in from Washington, CT scouting US prep schools. You can check out the full interview here, or via the embed below.

As always my thoughts in bold.

On the difficulty of scouting tier II and prep school prospects...

"Most of times when we come and watch NHL prospects at these games they're by far the best player on the ice. You know, they have the puck the whole game, so you have to take in account the level of play, and what school they'll be going to, and how they'll develop. Like there's two kids I'm watching on Hotchkiss today, they're on Central's list, I'm not telling you any big secrets. But it will be interesting to see how they play. Sometimes I kid people...I"m not being a smart guy, but sometimes they're playing against kids who are on the chess club. You know, so it's not quite exactly the same as when you go watch an OHL game or a Quebec league game or a WHL game, you have to take everything into account in these kind of situations."

Tyler Hill and Wiley Sherman would appear to be the two players he was looking at.