After reading A Thought on Alexei Kovalev's Slow Start, posted by G a few days ago, I began wondering how much AK-27 is actually worth. However, measuring his (or any other player's value) using financial measures presents some issues in terms linking contract values to actual production. For example, a portion of Mike Fisher's salary - from the standpoint of ownership and management - is likely associated to his marketability and indirect contribution to pink jersey sales.

My particular interest was to examine Kovalev's value in relation to that of the average NHL right wing. In other words, if the Senators were to replace Kovalev's production with that of the average NHL right wing, what upgrade/downgrade might we expect?

So I searched online and came across one advanced hockey statistic at behindthenet.ca, referred to as 'GVT'. Although this stat appears to be some all-emcompassing metric that captures the overall value of a player, the kind folks at behindthenet.ca do not explain what 'GVT' means, or how it is calculated. My search then led me to examine some of the more advanced statistics used in other sports. Finally, Baseball Prospectus offered up a metric that might allow me to answer my question. This stat is called VORP (you guessed it... Value Over Replacement Player). Baseball Prospectus defines VORP as "...the number of runs contributed beyond what a replacement-level player at the same position would contribute if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. VORP scores do not consider the quality of a player's defense." It is also important to note that Baseball Prospectus defines a replacement-level player as having an offensive output equal to that of the league average at a given position.

Next, I proceeded over to NHL.com to gather my sample. I simply went to the stats tab restricted the 2009-2010 scoring table to right wings (RWs). I then proceeded to copy these tables into a standard Excel spreadsheet. Overall, the final sample consisted of 172 RWs who played at least one game for an NHL team last season.

Defining how I would adapt the VORP stat to NHLers was the next challenge I faced. However, based on the Baseball Prospectus definition of VORP, I didn't have to worry about quantifying defensive contributions (which made my job easier). I decided to include only goals and assists as a measure of offensive output (e.g. equivalents to run contributions). I also weighted goals more heavily than assists for two reasons: (1) one could argue that a player's ability to score a goal is relatively more valuable than a player's ability to set one up, and (2) it allowed me to control for players that may have racked up a large amount of secondary assists. Therefore, I attributed a relative weight of 3 for every goal scored, and 1 for every assist. The next step was to include a variable that would adjust the offensive output based on playing time (e.g. given the same percentage of team plate appearances). In order to accomplish this, I decided to use the average ice-time for NHL RWs. Although this is not a perfect measure, it does normalize production in order to reflect the efficiency level of the average NHL RW.

Therefore, the formula I came up with to calculate the VORP of NHL position players (RWs) is as follows:

[(3 x Goals Scored) + (Assists)] - {[(3 x Goals Scored) + (Assists)]/RWs} / Avg. RW Ice Time

Based on this formula, Alex Kovalev's VORP was 3.42, meaning that he offensively contributed to 3.42 more goals a season than the average NHL RW. However, a VORP of 3.42 tied him for 29^th among RWs in the NHL. For those who are interested, Daniel Alfredsson's VORP was a 5.63. The table below presents the results of VORP calculations for the top-15 NHL RWs:

Based on my usage of VORP, it is clear that AK-27 (on the basis of his 2009-2010 production) is only marginally more valuable than the average NHL RW. For example, Kovalev averaged 18:09 minutes of ice time last year (almost 72% more ice time than the average NHL RW). Meaning that if the average NHL RW had also logged similar ice time to Kovalev's, there is a real possibility that Kovalev's VORP would be even lower. The VORP adaptation I have used is not without its limitations, and I am still playing with some of the variables and formulas in order to develop an improved model. However, I do believe the VORP estimation presented in this article is and adequate starting point to measuring a player's offensive value (relative to his counterparts). This being said, the frustration that came forth in A Thought on Alexei Kovalev's Slow Start (and shared I am sure, by many Senators' fans) is not only evidenced by watching Kovalev's apparent nonchalance on the ice, it now has some statistical backing. Although, $5M might be the approximate market value for a 2^nd line winger, it seems like a questionable amount of money - at best - to invest in the 29^th most valuable player at his position in the NHL.

Bruce Garrioch made a great point over on Off the Posts, Elliott's been one of Ottawa's best players. How can you afford to take that guy out of the lineup who's contributing when there are other individuals on the roster who aren't pulling their weight?

I don't think you can understate the importance of tonight's game. Currently sitting with a 0-2-1 record, tonight's match is a game that Ottawa can ill afford to lose. Albeit, it's far too early to push the panic buttons, however, Ottawa needs to start accumulating points. I don't think they'll be the difference in Ottawa making the playoffs or not but they're invaluable for determining which playoff seed Ottawa will get. Considering there are only a small number of elite teams in the Eastern Conference, a few points can mean the difference in facing a Buffalo or a Washington.

The Orr / Engellend Fight

As a Senators fan who has watched Orr decimate Matt Carkner in a number of bouts, why wouldn't I take any satisfaction in watching Derek Engellend KO the Leafs pugilist?

Speaking of Matt Carkner. Thanks to Marc A. for sending us an email that included this photo. It will assuredly be our email of the day.

Carrie Underwood Makes Pregnancy Pact

According to Country Weekly, Carrie has made a pregnancy pact with her friends. Although she doesn't plan on having kids soon, she said, "I made a pregnancy pact with a few of my female friends. Me and a few female friends are going to try to have children around the same time. That way we can babysit each other's kids and they can grow up to be friends."

Isn't it fantastic news for Sens fans that we now have a new voice who can stress the urgency of hitting the net?

For the first few games of the regular season, Ottawa's production from their top two lines has left a lot to be desired. Blame the preseason schedule. Blame Cory Clouston's inability to dress a number of veterans because of it. Blame poor gap control. Blame a terrible breakout. Blame an ineffecient power play. Or as Alexei Kovalev notes, blame Ottawa's lack of confidence in controlling the puck.

"The only problem I see in the last two games usually happens at the beginning of the season, where some of the players maybe didn't play as much in exhibition games," the 37-year-old forward said.

"When the puck comes in they're not confident with it. They're kind of skating away from the puck instead of being hungry for it.

"It almost feels like we're afraid of the puck, like every time it comes in you start throwing it away somewhere. You know, bad passes and everything else.

"Right now I see we just have no confidence with the puck. We're pretty much chasing the puck all game.

"The way the game is played, you see the puck and you say, 'I want that thing. I want to get control of it, and I want to do something with it.'" ~ via The Montreal Gazette

So I admit it might be a little early in the season to be making these types of comparisons - especially when they involve comparing anyone to Jacques Martin. After all, Cory Clouston does own a .543 winning percentage since he took over the Ottawa Senators' bench in 2008-2009.

However (at least on paper) this edition of the Senators is arguably one of the more talented editions of the team since the 2007 Cup year. Three games in, the team's record is a deplorable 0-2-0-1. Although it is early in the season, as noted previously, there appear to be two major causes for concern (both of which can be directly or indirectly linked to coaching).

First, the guys who should be scoring are not. One potential explanation for this might be Clouston's 'Jacques-like' line combinations. Of note, Nick Foligno continues to get consistent top-6 minutes and plenty of power play time. Conversely, Peter Regin has been playing on the fourth-line alongside Zach Smith and Ryan Shannon/Jesse Winchester (Havlat playing with Vanner anyone?). In addition, Clouston continues to go status quo with the Ruutu-Kelly-Neil line. Despite this line having been the best/most-productive in the early going (and in no way am I suggesting that it be broken up right away), it cannot be allowed to remain intact at the expense of the top two lines. Second, the power play is an abomination (as noted in a previous post by Graeme). Although this is Greg Carvel's responsibility, Clouston has to be involved in the diagramming and tactics to a certain extent as well - consequently, some of the responsibility for the sagging power play falls on him. (Don't even get me started on the Gonchar/Karlsson clusterf*** at the point preventing any good one-timers)

This being said, I am a fan of Clouston's apparent emphasis on accountability and work ethic. However, I am starting to question the extent to which his coaching style may have transformed an otherwise moderately talented group of players into a system team. In other words, has Clouston's regime prioritized execution and tactics at the expense of talent development and swagger/creativity?

Senators fans endured Jacques Martin's system teams for too long (more specifically in the playoffs). Otherwise talented teams that were constrained by over-coaching and game plans. This was also in a era where the NHL was a more defensively oriented league in which system teams could do quite well at the expense of talent. However, the NHL is now reflective of a league where talent, skill, and speed are the keys to victory. I for one, refuse to believe that the Senators are any worst than the 8th most talented team in the eastern conference. I also believe that the emerging trends in recent losses are reflective of coaching-level factors. Such factors, might also be indicative of negative long term trends insofar as constraining the talent on the team.

So is Clouston 'Jacques 2.0'? Probably not, but it is something to think about...

For two games at least, the Ottawa Senators have proven The Hockey News' prognostication correct. Not only has the team barely resemble team that finished fifth in the standings last season but their their performance (or lack thereof) is reminiscent of the Craig Hartsburg coaching era.

Poor gap control has led to poor puck support, longer outlet passes and a break out that's worse than Mike Piazza's bacne. Now compound these problems with inefficient specialty teams performances and it's hard to believe that just one week ago, people were concerned about the goaltending.

The timing of Ottawa's losing streak leaves much to be desired. Had it occurred during the middle of the season, it wouldn't resonate as much as it has. Instead, everything has been micro-analysed and much of the blame game has been focused on poor individual performances. (Ed. note: Don't believe me? You can read articles on Erik Karlsson's struggles here, here and here.) As easy as it is to single some out for poor play, I feel like the problems are more systemic. That not enough emphasis has been placed upon Ottawa's piss poor preseason schedule or Cory Clouston's reluctance to dress veteran laden exhibition lineups. As Elliotte Friedman addressed in his most recent article for the CBC, Ottawa played four back-to-backs. Amount of games their best lineup played together: 0. Amount of games it was even close: 1.

Here's a closer look at Ottawa's preseason schedule:

• September 21st: 5-0 win in Toronto
• September 22nd: 4-1 loss in Toronto
• September 24th: 4-2 loss in Montreal
• September 25th: 6-2 win in Ottawa over Montreal
  
• September 28th: 2-1 loss to Buffalo in Dundas, Ontario
• September 29th: 4-3 loss to Toronto in Ottawa
• October 1st: 5-4 OTL to NYR in New York
• October 2nd: 8-5 win in Ottawa over NYR
  

Even in the last exhibition game in which the Senators won with a reasonable lineup,  Clouston remarked, “I don’t know if it was focus or a couple of bad goals each way, but it was almost pond hockey."

Thankfully, the timing of the Capitals game was a godsend. As an elite Eastern Conference offensive juggernaut, there was an impetus on Ottawa's players to get their shit together or risk being embarrassed further. Albeit, the team still lost, their effort level was there and they did manage to pick up their first point of the regular season. It's a step in the right direction and something that can be built upon. Next on the dockett is a Carolina team that arrives after playing their first two games of the season in Finland. It should make for some favorable circumstances.

New Scoreboard In Ottawa For the 2011-12 Season:

Via the Team 1200's Twitter account (@TEAM1200Ottawa)

There will be a new video board @ SBP for 2011-12 season, Sens owner Eugene Melnyk just told us that on The Team 1200 NHL Power Hour.

Alfie and More Alfie?

According to reports, Daniel Alfredsson didn't play in tonight's OT because he sustained an undisclosed lower body injury.

Here's more Alfredsson information from that aforementioned Elliotte Friedman's article. There was a rumour this is going to be the last season of Daniel Alfredsson's NHL career. He laughed it off. "I haven't made that decision."

Jim O'Brien Is Tearing It Up In Bingo

After two games down on the farm, Jim O'Brien already has three goals on the season. At this breakneck pace, he should have no problem amassing the six goal threshold necessary to surpass last season's totals. To check out the rest of the Binghamton Senators player statistics, click here.

Sorry for the delay in posting this show. Between the Thanksgiving weekend and the Bloguin network swapping servers more often than Cory Clouston switches his line combinations, getting this podcast uploaded for today was pretty tedious. Note: The Podcast episode is currently being uploaded by the time that this piece is published. Please wait until 11am or 11:30 am to download since that is when it will likely be available to download.

As always, you can subscribe/download/stream the episode or entire catalogue of episodes from Itunes. Or you can download the file by right-clicking and saving this file. Or you can simply stream the episode below. We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or comments about the podcast, please leave us some feedback in the comment thread below. Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy the show.

Well Sens fans, we made it. We finally made it. That acrid smell that sweeps over ScotiaBank Place from the Carp Dump can only mean one thing: the NHL regular season is back. It's about time too. One year after enduring the Dany Heatley fiasco, we had an opportunity to sit through four bland summer months that left us so news deprived, that we debated the David Rundblad trade and treated an event like the David Hale demotion like it was a big deal. Simply put, this offseason was safe,

Without further ado, here's The 6th Sens' 2010-11 Season Preview...

Forwards: Fisher, Regin, Smith, Spezza, Kelly, Michalek, Foligno, Ruutu, Alfredsson, Winchester, Neil Shannon Kovalev

Barring injury, this ensemble represents the strength of the Senators roster. It's deep group with many interchangeable parts. The return of Kovalev (ACL), Michalek (ACL) and Alfredsson (sports hernia) from injuries should help this group and in conjunction with an improved puck moving blueline, Ottawa should have no problem improving upon their 220 goal tally from last season.

Remember when a year ago, Ray Emery predicted that his friend, Dany Heatley, would go on to score 60 goals for the San Jose Sharks? And then Heatley responded by posting the exact same total (39) that he scored the year before with the Sens. Well, let's just say that I'm glad he hasn't made any other bold predictions about Jason Spezza. One year removed from his dependency on Dany Heatley, I'm expecting big things from Ottawa's first line pivot. (Ed. note: like 40 goals and 50 assists big.) It also helps that he realizes that it's more productive to shoot the puck than to defer to Milan Michalek. Spezza's wearing blinders and appears to be shutting out the press. If the result is a more driven, focused and mature player, no one is going to complain.

After scoring some unbelievable individual effort goals during the first few games of the preseason, Nick Foligno's production dipped slightly as the preseason wrapped up. This kind of inconsistent production raises the question with Foligno: Is he a power forward with some soft hands or is he a third line 15-20 goal guy? Regardless, he earned the opportunity to play on one of the top two lines to start the year and some internal competition by Peter Regin should prevent Foligno from getting complacent.

Speaking of Regin, I had assumed that he would have had the inside track on a top six role given his play in last spring's playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, however, it looked like he was slated to start the season on a fourth line with Zach Smith and Jesse Winchester. Maybe it's just me, but Regin moreso than Foligno, is an infinitely better player when he's playing with offensively creative players.

Looking at Ottawa's bottom two lines, the philosophy Bryan Murray has used to build this team reminds me a lot of the way that most Canadian Olympic teams are structured. Two scoring lines and two grind lines. Ottawa's third line trio of Ruuto, Neil and Kelly had a benchmark year last season and they'll be counted on heavily to blend their physical style with some modest offensive production. Assuming that Neil and Ruutu don't get into dumb penalty trouble, their irritating style should provide some grit that's otherwise lost on Ottawa's first two lines.

After their strong individual preseasons, the fourth line featuring Zach Smith, Jesse Winchester and whomever has shown that it's competent enough to allow Cory Clouston to roll four lines. I already consider it a success because it no longer features Jonathan Cheechoo.

Defence: Phillips, Lee, Carkner, Gonchar, Karlsson, Campoli, Kuba

We've already been thrown our first swerve of the season when David Hale accompanied the team to Petawawa for some team bonding exercises and was subsequently put on waivers and demoted to Binghamton to clear some cap space. To start the season, management has decided to only go with 6 defencemen until Filip Kuba returns from injury.

Names like Lee, Gonchar, Karlsson and Campoli aren't going to instill fear in the opposition. In fact, looking at the group as a whole, it's hard to believe that just two seasons ago, Bryan Murray was so desperate to acquire a puck moving defenceman. That 2008-09 season saw Ottawa finished out of the playoffs and now it's almost like Ottawa's at the other end of spectrum. Has management over-emphasized a puck possession game?

It'll be an interesting sub-plot to keep an eye on during the season. There's no question that Gonchar and Karlsson will be entertaining to watch. However, I'm going to cringe every time an Ottawa defender has to go back in their own end to retrieve a puck. As it stands, the strategy to exploit the Ottawa blueline resembles a Kyle Wellwood stool sample after he's been to a corn buffet: Soft dumps. Soft dumps. Soft dumps.

Unfortunately, this lack of a physical presence on the blueline will put a burden on Matt Carkner to stay on the ice and pick his battles. If he's spending too much time in the penalty box, who's going to clear the front of the net on the penalty kill?

Goaltending: Leclaire, Elliott

It's a bit disconcerting that Pascal Leclaire's game five performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins is the only good game that he's played since January. Yet, given his salary, he's going to get every opportunity to play himself out of the number one job for the second consecutive season. As an impending unrestricted free agent, this could very well be Pascal Leclaire's last opportunity to prove that he's a legitimate starting goalie in the NHL.

Although he's privy to the deflating soft goal, Brian Elliott demonstrated that he is capable of handling a 30-40 game workload. In each of his professional seasons, he has demonstrated an ability to improve his numbers. Will this trend continue? Or is he simply a decent NHL backup?

More importantly, will anyone care about either of these two if Robin Lehner gets off to a torrid start to the AHL season?

Coaching:

Despite being brought in as unknown commodity to succeed Craig Hartsburg, Cory Clouston has brought much needed accountability and stability to the organization. Sure, maybe he's still a little too loyal to some veterans for our liking -- ie. In a perfect world, I'd like to see Regin on the second line, Foligno with Kelly and Neil and Ruutu on the fourth line -- but it's something I can live with since he brings a structure, organization and discipline that is unparallaled in Ottawa's modern history.

On special teams, Sergei Gonchar was brought in to mentor Erik Karlsson and help jump start Alexei Kovalev's production. Was last season's ineffective power play a result of poor personnel or a bad philosophy used by assistant coach Greg Carvel or as fans like to call him, the luckiest man in sports. Somehow, despite a number of coaching changes and an ineffective power play, Carvel remains with the team. To put things in perspective, if he worked for British Petroleum, he'd still be their CEO. If the PP starts off slowly, maybe Clouston can let his wife draw up the power play. By mixing neutrals with bright pastels, she's done a great job overhauling Clouston's wardrobe. With any luck, the team's success will parallel the improvement in Cory Clouston's fashion sense.

The General Manager:

As Bryan Murray enters the last season of his contract, it will be interesting to see if this is his last season as General Manager. I'll give credit where it's due. This year's version of the Ottawa Senators is the deepest that I've seen since Murray's been here. For the first time in years, there are a number of prospects and players in the AHL who could be called upon and expected to contribute.

That being said, I don't know if Bryan Murray has ever won a trade that has involved acquiring NHL level talent. Considering that the Hale move was made to save the Senators some cap space, I don't think that there's any question that the roster in December is going to be different than the roster that we see today. The uncertainty is whether Murray is going to win a trade outright without jeopardizing the future.

Motto: My Town. My Team.

My Town. My Team. It's the kind of motto and team that the insufferable fucks, who constitute a significant portion of the fanbase, will snicker at. Bad goaltending. Old Russians. Injury prone players. A nepotistic front office. Booing Jason Spezza turnovers. A soft blueline. Deflating goals allowed. That Jared Cowen draft pick should have been Magnus Paajarvi. We've heard it all before and if the team starts off slow, we should be prepared to read or hear more of the same on the Interwebs, sports talk radio and in the comment section of Off the Posts.

If we at The 6th Sens had to pen a motto it'd be - The 2011/12 Season: It Can't Come Soon Enough. With sexier prospects, bad contracts coming off of the books, the subsequent influx of cap space and the potential end of the Bryan Murray General Manager era happening this upcoming summer, the 2012 All-Star Game, there's going to a ton of things to talk about heading into next season. I don't even feel dirty about looking forward to next season.

Player with the Most on the Line:

Milan Michalek. If he doesn't have a productive season, he not only make the Dany Heatley trade look worse than it already does. He needs to perform well to not only redeem Bryan Murray but to  avoid losing that coveted first line LW spot alongside Alfredsson and Spezza.

Bounce Back Player:

Alexei Kovalev. An improvement in power play point totals should see the RW return to career norm production.

Things to Look Forward To:

• December 2nd: Dany Heatley's return to ScotiaBank Place
• The Ottawa Sun media reinforcing the goaltending situation every week of the regular season.
• Robin Lehner's debut
• Alexei Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson's pursuit of 1,000 points
• Another season of hoping that Ottawa goes back to their original jersey
  
• A boatload of cap space on July 1st
• Rubbing Ottawa's finish in the face of prognosticators everywhere
• Garry Galley's hiring by CBC finally means that a CBC broadcaster now knows the names of more than three Senators players

1. Washington
2. New Jersey
3. Boston
4. Pittsburgh
5. Philadelphia
6. Ottawa
7. Buffalo
8. Carolina
9. Tampa Bay
10. Montreal
11. New York Rangers
12. Toronto
13. Atlanta
14. New York Islanders
15. Florida

More Predictions:

1. David Hale is called up the day before team photo day and is sent down immediately following the shoot and is photoshopped out and replaced with cap space.
2. Robin Lehner debuts the day after Cory Clouston throws in the towel and starts goaltending coach Rick Wamsley.
3. Chris Neil gets in Matt Carkner's face for fighting on home ice stating, "HEY! THATS MY THING!"
4. Greg Carvel will continue to defy the odds and hold a job in professional hockey.
5. Peter Regin becomes a 20 goal scorer. Mike Fisher becomes a former 20 goal scorer.
6. Milan Michalek will record 2 goals for every assist.
7. Jarkko Ruutu does something stupid and then says something funny and all is forgotten. Colin Campbell then tells everyone, "Well, this isn't the National Pussy League now is it?"
8. The keyboard keys g-o-a-l-t-e-n-d-i-n-g (space bar) d-e-b-a-c-l-e become worn out at the Ottawa Sun. Don Brennan is forced to sell Hawaiian shirt collection to replace the keyboards ($4 return).
9. Another Alfie Love Fest for reaching 1,000 points occurs. Fans stroke out at the mere thought of an Alfredsson love in at the 2012 All Star Game.
10. Scotia Bank Place somehow manages to inch its way another 5 minutes from downtown making it officially the West Carleton Arena. Carp Arena sues claiming territorial violation.
11. Regin eventually supplants Foligno on one of the top two lines and in exchange, Foligno bumps Ruutu to the fourth  line. Ruutu responds by driving a zamboni into Foligno's ride.
12. Pascal Leclaire eventually loses the number one job and Senators fans learn a valuable lesson. Even if you drive a Lamborghini, it still can't get you out of town fast enough.
13. We find out the real reason Dany never returned any of Don Brennan's phone calls: It turns out Don ran out of minutes on his cell phone and none of his calls were ever connected.
    

With some less than inspiring play from the goaltending position during the exhibition season, Bryan Murray met with the media today and answered some questions regarding the team's situation. Here's a transcript of what was said...

Question: Are you concerned about the goaltending?

BM: I hard knew that was the question. No I'm not. We'll see as we start the regular year if I have to be worried. I certainly didn't like the number of goals we gave up in in the last couple games by either one of them. But I think we played the last couple of games also like they were the preseason games and "Let's get them over with and get serious about playing." I thought we were quite careless in our own end. I thought we had a couple of rebound situations. But the goaltenders have to be better. There's no question. We know to be a contending team, you have to have good goaltending. I believe they're both capable of that. They have to go do it now.

Question: (Goaltending) is such a key position, how patient can you be?

BM: Well, they're both under contract and the options are limited with what we can do so we just expect that they will play to their capability and we know that they're both capable of being good goaltenders. We're just counting on them doing it.

Question: blah, blah, blah, Robin Lehner, blah blah blah?

BM: He says, "Just put me in, I'm ready to go." I say that you have to take time. You have to have some success. You have to go down and play at a level that you'll get most of games and we're hoping that. But he's a very confident, young man. A very strong, young man. He's been through it. He believes that any time we need him, he's ready to play. You have to be carefuly but it depends on the personality of the person as well.

A Thought On David Hale

The news making its way around the Alfiesphere (TM SteveHL) today was that the Senators brass had decided to waive David Hale for the intents and purpose of assigning him to the Binghamton Senators. Under normal circumstances, it's news that would cause one to barely bat an eyelash. However, with Filip Kuba not set to return for another three to four weeks, Hale was a player who looked like he was positioned to start the season here. Considering that Hale's a player who accompanied the team to CFB Petawawa, skated at a practice there as Matt Carkner's defensive partner and participated in the team bonding exercises, there was no reason to foresee the way today went down. Now any time someone in Ottawa gets lulled into a false sense of security, it will be referred to getting Haled.

GM Bryan Murray wasn't without explanation though, "We are assigning him. We have six healthy D to start and cap space to protect." Now there's a motto for the blueline to start the season: If we're protecting cap space? Who's protecting the net?

All joking aside, the fact that the Senators are comfortable fielding a roster that includes only six defencemen is pretty intriguing. After assigning Hale, the organization has approximately $1.2-million in cap space and we're almost assured that Bryan Murray has something up his sleave. (Ed. note: The last time management said that they would address a need on the blueline, we had to wait about 60 games before Murray dealt a 1st to the Isles for a package including Chris Campoli. Hopefully we don't have to wait that long before something is done.)

When it was announced yesterday that Senators defenceman Jared Cowen had been assigned back to Spokane of the WHL, I admittedly was pretty disappointed.

Had he played well enough to distinguish himself amongst Ottawa's top six defencemen since Filip Kuba went down with an injury? I certainly thought so. I had hoped that the organization would extend him the same opportunity that Erik Karlsson received last year. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that by giving him a 9-game trial, they would have only been delaying the inevitable.

“(He was) very (disappointed). He probably was thinking he’d get a start here at any rate and we’d make a decision a little ways into the year.

Rather than kind of fool around with him and leave doubts in his mind, I wanted to make it cut and dried that he’d go back and just play.” ~ Bryan Murray via The Montreal Gazette

Barring further injuries, Kuba's return to the blueline would have created a log jam on the blueline. I find it odd that in an interview with James Duthie during the second period intermission of the Kraft Hockeyville game, Bryan Murray singled out Cowen and Gonchar out as two of the new faces who have impressed with their play.

Was it just lip service? Or am I supposed to believe that in the games that followed Murray's comment that Cowen played himself off of the roster?

I don't think it was either. Thanks to Brian Lee's one-way contract and uncertainty that David Hale would clear waivers if he was demoted to Binghamton, Cowen's demotion is as much a complicated numbers game as it was an assessment of his ability to contribute at this level.

"This is where I think I can improve the most. If I went back to junior, it would be a step back. If I stayed here, I'd obviously get a lot better and become a better player. Going back to junior, it would be a familiar spot -- Spokane's a nice place to play, I love the guys on the team, love the coaching staff and everything.

But this is a step forward. This is where I want to start."

The above comments were made by Cowen in a feature story that ran on TSN's website a few weeks ago. In the same article, Jon Klemm, an assistant coach for the Spokane Chiefs, indicated that he believed that Cowen already possessed the skills needed to play in the NHL. 

"He's a big, physical presence out there. He can change the game at any time with a big hit or a great defensive play. That's kind of the player he is. ...

He handles himself very well not only on the ice but off the ice -- he's great in the locker-room, he works extremely hard. It was a pleasure to work with him last year."

Now that Cowen has to return to Spokane, Sens fans have to hope that it's best for his development to return to play junior for a fourth season. At this stage of his young career, will it be beneficial for Cowen to play against smaller, less talented competition? Will Cowen's demotion put him in eff you mode and motivate him to stick to Ottawa's management and dominate the WHL or will his development stagnate because he's playing at the same level of competition for four straight years? It's not like his participation in the AHL would prevent him from participating in the World Junior Hockey Championships either.

So what exactly is in the best interests for Jared Cowen's development?

It's an intriguing question to ask and one that can be hotly contested. Personally, I think it's a tad ridiculous that Robin Lehner eligible to play in the AHL and Jared Cowen is not. Both are 19 years of age and were drafted in 2009 NHL Entry Draft. The difference? Unlike Cowen, players like Lehner, John Carlsson and Jeremy Morin are eligible to play in the AHL because at the time that they were drafted by a NHL team, they had not dressed for a game with a CHL team yet. According to an agreement that the Canadian Hockey League has with the NHL, players drafted out of the CHL can only play in the AHL if they turn 20 years old by Dec. 31 or have played in the CHL for four seasons.

In the words of David Branch, "There are certain provisions in the NHL-CHL agreement which contemplate what happens in terms of where a player may be assigned to etc. based on where he’s drafted from."

I don't want to turn this into a debate as to whether there should be some universal standard as to whether teenage prospects should be returned to the CHL teams that own their rights. I think every individual player's situation and circumstances surrounding them is unique. One could argue that an exodus of elite 19-year old talent could hurt the CHL product, however, when the NHL invests more than $8-million in development money each season, should NHL organizations have the ability or opportunity to decide what is in the best interests of their prospects' development? (Ed. note: Exodus of elite talent? That's rich. It's not like the CHL has a problem taking some of Europe's elite junior aged players.)

"You look at his size and his maturity level, definitely I think he's got a shot at the NHL (this season)," said Klemm. "You know the Senators are going to give him every opportunity to make the team."

Every opportunity? That's questionable. Especially when you consider that he doesn't get the same ones that are afforded to others like Lehner.