Senators 2, Lightning 1

For already the third time this season, these two teams will meet. Besides a game featuring two offensive stars who are struggling to find their touches (Kovalev, Lecavalier), there's still some bad blood brewing from the last meeting. In fact, the only thing that I'd be willing to guarantee is that either Matt Carkner or Chris Neil will engage in some post-fight showboating. Since the first two meetings were blowout victories (with each team having won a game), I think that a tightly contested game is probably overdue here. Volchenkov and Spezza are still on the shelf, so Pascal Leclaire needs to have a bounce back game after recently seeing his save percentage dip below .900.

Line Combos:

According to TSN's Brent Wallace, here are the lines at practice.

Michalek - Spezza - Alfie

Shannon - Fisher - Kovalev

Foligno - Regin - Neil

Ruutu - Kelly - Cheechoo

While it's great that Spezza's skating at practice and might play tonight, it a quote like this that makes you say yeeeeeesh.

“It’s a matter of whether more time off is going to help,” he said. “If they think that more time off would cure me, then I’ll take more time off and make sure I’m 100%. I don’t know how much better it’s going to get. It might get better by playing and getting stronger that way, we’ll see.”

Alfredsson Isn't a Hypochondriac

The Senators captain's inclination is not to get vaccinated, and for now he says he isn't close to changing his mind.

But a letter he just received from the Swedish Olympic Committee could sway him.

"They said they would like everyone to have the vaccine before the Olympics," Alfredsson said on Wednesday. ~ Allen Panzeri, The Ottawa Citizen

Live Game Blog:

If you're interested in checking out or participating in a live game blog of tonight's game, then come back here tonight. Bring the wit, bring the humour. Thanks to Dany Heatley Speedwagon of Scarlett Ice for hosting.

After Ottawa had started the season at a torrid pace, recent losses to Tampa and Atlanta have helped return the Senators back to the middle of the Eastern Conference standings. While there's an old adage in sports that says good teams are able to overcome long odds and find ways to win, Ottawa's been unable to overcome the concurrent absences of their best defenceman, center and goalie.

Fortunately for the organization, Pascal Leclaire has already returned to the lineup after his bout with the flu and Jason Spezza has returned back to practice with the club. Anton Volchenkov will be out for another ten to fourteen days, but the prognosis is a lot better than the originally projected four to six weeks. As each of these players makes their way back into the lineup, I reason that the Senators can return to the levels of success that they had achieved early on.

Why?

Because of Cory Clouston's system.By employing an aggressive forechecking system that encourages puck pursuit, the Senators' forwards are doing an exceptional job of pressuring the puck early, forcing defencemen into making poor reads and decisions that often result in turnovers in the neutral zone. The proof is in the giveaway and takeaway numbers exhibited by the Ottawa forwards.

Here's a list of the forwards and their numbers. The first number will indicate their number of giveaways and the second number will represent their takeaways. All stats are courtesy of NHL.com.

• Daniel Alfredsson: 8, 11
• Jonathan Cheechoo: 5, 5
• Mike Fisher: 4, 7
• Nick Foligno: 1, 10
• Chris Kelly: 4, 3
• Alexei Kovalev: 8, 2
• Milan Michalek: 1, 9
• Chris Neil: 1, 6
• Jarkko Ruutu: 0, 5
• Jason Spezza: 9, 12
• Shean Donovan: 1, 0
• Peter Regin: 3, 4
• Ryan Shannon: 1, 3
• Total: 46 Giveaways, 77 Takeaways

I'm not saying these statistics are the be all and end all of defensive statistics, however, I think there's a lot to be said for the aforementioned results. Albeit, it's still early but there is some statistical progression that's reflective of Jason Spezza's improvement as a defensive player. By comparison, in 2007-08, he had 96 giveways and 44 takeaways. And in 2008-09, he had a ratio of 81-73. If he keeps up his current pace, he'll have his first positive turnover differential ever as a player.

While Kovalev's struggles to find his offensive niche, he'll have to do a little bit more on the defensive side of the puck to rid himself of his stereotypical Russian image. Mind you, he wasn't brought in here to reduce the number of goals scored against the club.

Michalek and Foligno are beasts who have combined for 20 takeaways and 2 giveaways.

Regardless of how much Gord Wilson smatters Chris Kelly's hockey IQ, Kelly has to improve. For a checking line center pulling down the kind of coin that he does, he needs to be more consistent and drastically improve upon his 38% success rate on faceoffs.

Now if only Clouston could fix the power play...

The Senators are almost at that infamous 15-game threshhold wherein it's deemed socially acceptable to start analyzing the current core of the roster in detail.So with that in mind, it comes as no surprise that in a Bruce Garrioch article that ran in the Ottawa Sun, he came out and shat on Alex Kovalev's production thus far saying that the enigmatic one who commands a $5M salary and has only 5 points to his name needs to step up his game.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Senators coach Cory Clouston noted if some of Kovalev’s teammates had cashed in the chances he’s set them up with in last six games, he’d probably have “six assists in the last three or four games”, but he has to start clicking with linemates Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher.

“(Kovalev) had a couple of really nice plays around the net and if we bury our chances, like I said he’s got four or five points in his last few games,” said Clouston. “We need him to contribute a little bit more offensively. He’s gone through a bit of a break-in period.

“He should be familiar with our systems and his linemates and what we’re expecting from him. So, now it’s time for him to not just make those plays, but to bury them.”

What Clouston is saying makes sense. I can think of at least 5 instances where Mike Fisher was set up by Kovalev but inexplicably missed the net with his shot. If Fisher had buried more of his chances, Kovalev would have more points. But the part about Kovalev burying his opportunities doesn't make any sense because Kovalev is burying his chances. He has a shooting percentage of 23.5% The problem isn't that he's not burying his chances, it's that he's not shooting or getting enough chances. With only 17 shots in 12 games, Kovalev's not being the offensive shooting threat that this team needs right now. During his time in Montreal, whenever he'd receive the puck along the half boards by the right circle, it was just assumed that he'd shoot and score. He was always threat to shoot until he got to Ottawa. Now it just seems like he's too content to showcase his passing skills.

Don't get me wrong, I like Kovalev and I had no qualms when Bryan Murray signed him. He was coming off some productive years in Montreal and although he's 36-years old, he has the skill and talent necessary to put together a 50-60 point season. Considering the other deals that were doled out during the summer, I saw Kovalev as a reasonable short-term investment in a weak market. When compared to the terms being offered to other right wingers on the open market, his deal looks safe by comparison. And no offence to either of Ryan Shannon or Nick Foligno but Kovalev's not standing in the way of anyone who can conceivably log consistent minutes on the second line and be productive.

Besides, since Mike Fisher has started flanking Kovalev, he's turned into almost a point-per-game player. That's something pretty magical. Or maybe I'm just a fucking apologist? Meh.

Carrie Underwood has finally publically acknowledged her relationship
with Ottawa Senator,  and 'IS IT ME?' winner Mike Fisher! 
And she did it in the liner notes of her new CD, Play On.

In the notes, Carrie wrote:
"Thank you #12. You are the most amazing addition to my life! You are such a wonderful person and have had such an amazing hand in the building of this album and in the growth of me as a person. . . . I love you so much! You make my life better in every way!
I thank God for you every day . . . xoxo, Carrie."

In case you didn’t know, #12 is Mike’s jersey number.

So fun!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Thanks to my lady friend for emailing me this news bulletin from Hot 89.9

Sun Media has learned the Senators owner was so furious with being forced to shell out a $4-million bonus to Dany Heatley, who refused to accept a trade to the Edmonton Oilers on July 1, he has filed a grievance asking for his money back.

An NHL executive confirmed last night Melnyk filed the paperwork early in the summer, not long after Heatley wouldn’t lift his no-movement clause before the bonus was paid.

Sources say Melnyk contends in the paperwork filed at the NHL’s New York headquarters, that Heatley’s camp — including agents J.P. Barry and Stacey McAlpine — gave the Senators permission to speak with the Oilers and the two-time, 50-goal scorer should have accepted the deal to Edmonton.

It’s believed Melnyk not only claims the decision by Heatley to kill the deal cost him $4 million, it also hurt the club’s ability to sell season tickets because of the uncertainty in the Senators camp.

The league executive said there’s a chance the Sharks could be forced to pay the bonus back to Melnyk if he wins his grievance. San Jose made an offer for Heatley at the NHL draft in June, but only wanted to complete the deal on July 2 — after the bonus had been paid.~ Sun Media

Never one to pass up the opportunity for bravado, The Euge is taking the dilated one to court. Oddly enough, this move wasn't unexpected. In fact, the only real surprise from this Sun Media article is that the Senators actually believe that permission to speak with the Oilers equates itself to Dany Heatley saying, work out a trade with the Oilers and I'll waive my clause.

Ah well. At least Eugene Melnyk will be all over radio and television tomorrow. Can't wait. Maybe he can also address that issue of ownership of the Ottawa Senators that was improperly attributed to someone else.

According to the Ottawa Sun, center Jason Spezza is unlikely to play this week as he continues to recover from some undisclosed upper body injury. (Ed. note: likely his lower back.) While there's no timetable yet on a possible return, Bruce Garrioch is using Off The Posts to implore for Spezza to return to the lineup only when he's healthy.

There is good news on the injury front however. Apparently the severity of Anton Volchenkov's dislocated elbow isn't as bad as some had previously expected. Instead of a four-to-six week absence, a MRI has revealed that the Senators may only be without their best defenceman for another 10-14 days.The way that the Senators have played in his absence, I was starting to warm up to the idea that a one-armed A-Train might be more palatable than some of the incumbents. Besides, it's not like Volchenkov could shoot the puck and hit the net with two good arms. Just sacrifice the body and block some shots and we'll be all the better for it.

The Euge Doesn't Own the Ottawa Senators

In a story that ran in the UK's Daily Mail, a number of residents have submitted a petition to the Westminster City Council to shut down film director Guy Ritchie's Mayfair pub, The Punch Bowl. Now, it's not this petition that's of interest, it's this paragraph:

The campaign, led by Mayfair art dealer Alan Hobart and supported by Canadian property tycoon William Shenkman - owner of the Ottawa Senators ice-hockey team and a prominent donor to Tate Modern and the National Theatre - describes 'a severe downward spiral in quality of life for local residents' in the past 18 months.

Expect The Euge to respond in an appropriate manner to these erroneous facts sometime tomorrow on the Fan 590.

Scott Burnside Revisits the Heatley Deal

Predictably, Mr. Burnside is revisiting the Heatley return now that Milan Michalek's production has waned. Here's what he had to say:

It wasn't all that long ago that the Ottawa Senators didn't look so bad in the wake of the Dany Heatley trade with San Jose before the start of the season. But the tables have turned a bit, as Jonathan Cheechoo has continued to struggle with the Sens with only two assists and a minus-3 rating.

Milan Michalek leads the Sens with six goals, but three of them came in one game and he has not produced a point in the past four contests as the offensively challenged Senators have lost two in a row and four of five. Michalek has also chipped in just one power-play goal this season, one of the reasons the Sens rank 26th on the man advantage.

Heatley, meanwhile, has 17 points for the red-hot Sharks and has collected seven points in the past seven games, including a game winner against Colorado. The Sharks have jumped into first place in the Pacific Division thanks to a five-game winning streak and victories in seven of their past eight games. As we thought.

Don't you think Sens GM Bryan Murray wishes Heatley had accepted that deal to Edmonton? The Senators would now be the benefactors of a re-energized Dustin Penner.

Personally, I can't stand this need to engage in retrospective bullshit after a player has has a good week. It does nothing but piss me someone off. At the time, we knew we didn't get the best player or a fair return in the deal. However, there weren't (m)any trade partners. Milan Michalek was and is the best available talent that Ottawa could get for Heatley (my apologies Dustin Penner) and he's a great 2-way player that the organization can build around. Recently, his production has been down, but that's no doubt correlated to the loss of his linemate, Jason Spezza.

Granted, there are doubts that Jonathan Cheechoo is ever going to become a productive player. That being said, it's still too early to pass judgment. If he can improve his skating to help him keep up with the play or to create some more separation so that he can get some shots away, it could help. If he can't, god help Bryan Murray from getting that cap hit off of the books moving forward.

But in the meantime about time that people fuck right off with anything related to Dany Heatley and his ouster? We know and have accepted that he's going to get his points in San Jose.We're cool with this. If you want to come back after the season and analyze the trade then, cool. I'll be here. Until that time, fuck off. Got it? Great.

Peter Regin's From Denmark!?!

I've liked this kid since I had a chance to see him play last year. It seems like SLC from Five For Smiting is starting to come around. Maybe this feature in The Hockey News that discusses his background will allow you to learn something new. Or maybe it won't. Meh.

If Carrie Took Mike's Last Name, She'd Be The Second Celebrity Named Carrie Fisher That Nerds Would Jerk Off To

According to an AP article, Carrie Underwood has a new album dropping on Tuesday and one of the songs was influenced by the Senators' own #12. Here are the details:

"Mama's Song" is a straight-up love tune about helping a mother gain trust for a good man who wants to marry her daughter. The presence of her boyfriend, Ottawa Senators center Mike Fisher, can be felt on the song, the most personal of the seven Underwood wrote for the album.

Help her mom gain trust in Mike Fisher? I'm not surprised. Her mom probably bought the Center Ice package last year to watch him play and wondered what the hell he was doing out there on the power play. Thankfully, Mike's returned to form this year and Sens fans couldn't be happier.

By only capturing two points in games against Southeast opponents like Florida, Tampa and Atlanta, Ottawa's going to be kicking themselves later in the year for giving away two combined points against Nashville and Boston last week.

Here are the highlights from the week:

With only two games scheduled later this week, Ottawa will get an opportunity to lick their wounds proverbially and literally. With the losses and injuries mounting, there's probably not a better time for this team to get a bit of a reprieve. Even though the next few days should help Jason Spezza recuperate from his lower back problems, the fact that he's only 26 years old and has dealt with this nagging problem for the past few seasons, should be cause for concern to the organization and fans alike. If anything, it could prove to be a deterrent for a future contract extension. So while Spezza's back problems will likely have ramifications in the future, the same can't be said for Anton Volchenkov's dislocated elbow.

A Dislocated Elbow Can Drive a Point Home:

As it stands, his injury is killing the Senators defence. And not necessarily because Volchenkov's strong play, physicality and shot blocking ability are sorely missed. The truth is that the problem with Ottawa's blueline is that the gap in talent between the top three defencemen -- Kuba, Phillips, Volchenkov -- and everyone else is big. Whenever one of the top three guys is forced out of the lineup, the team has a difficult time replacing those minutes without exposing the flaws in each of their other defencemen. Pascal Leclaire's return from the flu should help keep scores respectable, three to five more weeks without Volchenkov could be agonizing on the eyes and the standings.

There have been some rumblings that Bryan Murray should make a move to get a defenceman to address Volchenkov's absence. Considering the incumbents that we have, that might not be a bad idea. Personally, I'd love to see Murray target some financially strapped team looking to create some payroll flexibility like Chicago. Now obviously Brian Campbell's contract is terrible and he's out of the question. And Seabrooke is likely unattainable considering the assets that would be required to get him. And Keith is the lynchpin who they have to resign in the summer. That leaves Cam Barker as a quasi-expensive ($3.083M per year) but still young and enticing enough piece who could help Ottawa's blueline. If it's feasible to acquire someone like Barker by moving some inexpensive blueline depth. Do it.

Down on the Farm:

Congratulations to Erik Karlsson for registering his first career AHL point (an assist) on the weekend. In his first and only game on the farm, Karlsson was a -1 with 4 PIM, but he did register three shots on goal. If you want to keep future tabs on this highly touted prospect, don't hesitate to use the Binghamton statistics tab located on this site's menu.

While I was looking at Binghamton's statistics to see how Karlsson had done the other day, I couldn't help but notice how some of Ottawa's other players are performing stastically. Jesse Winchester's producing at more than a point-per-game clip. In three games, he now has 2 goals and 2 assists. As we draw closer to the conclusion of his two week conditioning stint, it will interesting to see how the organization handles his return to the big club.

Also, for those who are wondering why Cody Bass didn't stick around longer during the preseason, maybe part of the reasoning can be explained by his mindboggling minus-10 rating through ten games.

Machu-Cheechoo Update:

It's worth mentioning that the Cheech rang one off of the iron yesterday. (And yes, I do realize that it's sad that I even have to mention this like it's some sort of accomplishment.) Oh, and Gerald Norton's worried that if Jonathan doesn't start scoring soon, he could be riding the buses in the minors.

I Hate Czech Goalies:

First it was Hasek. Now it's Ondrej Pavelec. Enough said.

They're Calling For Lightning on Thursday:

With their two previous meetings being blowouts featuring some fisticuffs and bad blood, Thursday night's game should be another entertaining affair. Expect an evening chalk full of goals, fights and Chris Neil or Matt Carkner showboating.

If you don't read The Hockey News, odds are you probably missed this stinker of an article penned by Ryan Kennedy. Don't worry though, I'll walk you through it, one paragraph at a time. As is the norm, my thoughts are in bold.

Sens risk alienating Karlsson with demotion

Defenseman Erik Karlsson is apparently not a happy camper right now. The Ottawa Senators prospect, who has three assists through nine games this season, is heading to Binghamton to play with the American League’s Sens; not exactly the destination he was hoping for when he came over from Sweden this summer.

Great. This article looks like it's going to be about maximizing Karlsson

Dropping rookies back to junior (or in the case of most Europeans, the minors) is a common practice these days and with that famous nine-game window – the point at which a year comes off their entry level contract – closing on most players right now, it’s interesting to see who stays and who goes.

Regardless of the circumstances, people are always interested in seeing who stays and who goes. Especially if the news comes from an ambiguous source. People eat that shit up.

Luca Sbisa has already been sent back to the Western League by Anaheim, while Colorado’s dynamic teen duo of Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly have been given the green light to find houses in Denver. John Tavares, Dmitry Kulikov and Tyler Myers can also feel safe.

So even though it's admittedly common for rookies to be sent down, Kennedy has named five rookies who will stay with their parent clubs to just one other who was sent down. Hmm, what kind of anti-thesis bullshit is this? It'd be like me writing a 3,500 word essay on how great the current state of Canadian music is only to spend the bulk of my time discussing how bands like Nickelback, Hedley, Simple Plan and Three Days Grace make me want to stab my eardrums with knives.

But for those who go, such as Karlsson, the demotion is a tough one. After all, the Sens were in desperate need of a true offensive defenseman to quarterback the power play and that’s the young Swede’s game. Three points in nine games isn’t setting the world on fire, but it’s not bad, either.

So there was a need for Karlsson's offensive game and his numbers weren't that bad. Surely, there must be some reason for this. Because Ryan's only listed his point production and none of the reasons attributed to why the Senators sent him down, I'm convinced that he probably hasn't watched Erik Karlsson play very often.

The Sens need to tread lightly here. I have to imagine Karlsson’s mindset right now is, "if they didn’t want me this year, why didn’t I just stay in Sweden?" After all, the B-Sens aren’t off to much of a start in the AHL this season and Karlsson would probably feel more comfortable in his native country.

Do you know where you can't get comfortable playing the North American game? Sweden.

At this point I must acknowledge that learning North American culture, putting in your dues by riding buses up and down the I-90 and playing 80 games plus playoffs is a great way to get prepared for the NHL grind; it’s just tough to appreciate when you’ve had a taste of charter planes and beautiful hotels.

I think Ryan Kennedy has just summarized Denis Hamel's career in 56-words or less.

Patient Zero? Ilya Zubov, former leading scorer on the B-Sens and now a much happier member of Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the Kontinental League. Zubov, who played 11 games over two seasons for Ottawa, never seemed to be happy in Binghamton and when he didn’t make the big squad this year (reports said he was out of shape when he showed up), the writing was on the wall.

First-rounder Brian Lee (ninth overall in 2005) is also suiting up for Bingo this year after spending the majority of last season in Ottawa. Think he’s getting a bit squirrelly after leaving the University of North Dakota after his sophomore season in 2007?

If haven't noticed or heard anything pertaining to Brian Lee acting oddly since he was sent down to start the season in Bingo. Besides, does anyone actually think that Brian Lee regrets his decision to forego his last two years of collegiate eligibility to turn pro? For one, he's now getting paid to play hockey professionally. Two, he gets to escape North Dakota. And three, by the time that Brian turns 45, he can go back and finish his degree. Maybe at that age, he'll finally start to resemble a collegiate junior.

Maybe Ottawa’s cool with the slow burn. After all, the Sens are sitting second in the Northeast Division right now, so why mess with a good thing? Some of the franchise’s best prospects are college kids (Louie Caporusso at Michigan and Patrick Wiercioch with Denver) with several more years on the clock before graduation, so there’s no rush. But they may be playing with fire when it comes to some of the other kids.

Actually, many of the clubs best prospects are either Swedish or are Canadian defencemen. And a number of them are expected to fast-track (ie. Lehner, Cowen, Karlsson). So in a sense, you're right. There's no inherent pressure on guys like Caporusso and Wiercioch to opt out of college yet. That being said, the throwing out of blanket statements like "they may be playing with fire when it comes to some of the other kids" is ridiculous when the only substance to back that sentence up is that Karlsson's upset over his demotion.

Alienating Karlsson right now when he’s already been touted as a future building block doesn’t bode well for a Sens team that has had trouble churning out and keeping its own elite talent since the turn of the century when Jason Spezza, Ray Emery and Anton Volchenkov all made their way through the development process and into the NHL (Andrej Meszaros could be included, but the Sens traded him after just three NHL seasons).

I'm sorry. Karlsson's being alienated? That's news to me. I thought the Senators were doing their best to get him acclimatized to North America by having him live in Daniel Alfredsson's basement with his lady friend. Maybe Kennedy knows something that we don't? Maybe Alfie is keeping Erik's girlfriend to look over the kids and act as a maid. Otherwise, what's the big deal? It's not like Erik's unfamiliar with many of the guys down in Bingo. Between this past summer's conditioning program and the rookie development camp, Erik's going to be pretty familiar with a number of the guys down there. If you're alarmed at the number of Sens prospects that have come through the system lately, go author an article on how shitty of a GM John Muckler was. Or better yet, read mine.

The Ottawa brass may not be in the wrong here, but if the end result is another unhappy prospect, it doesn’t really matter who has the moral high ground, does it?

Weird. I thought the only end result that matters is whether or not Karlsson pans out. Anyone who watched Karlsson play this season should know that Ottawa brass wasn't wrong to send him down. In Bingo, Karlsson will get a chance to log some big minutes, work the power play and adapt to the North American game. All of which will come without affecting his entry level contract.

Here's the video from the Oilers website that has Penner and Cogliano discuss their Hallowe'en costumes. Good times.