Reports from this morning's practice indicated that the team's line combinations remain unchanged from Monday night's win against the Tampa Bay. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be particularly surprising but for most of the game, the trio of Colin Greening, Jason Spezza and Bobby Butler was pretty ineffective. So much so that when the Senators fell one goal behind early in the third period of play, their line was split up and Spezza was subsequently re-united with Milan Michalek and Daniel Alfredsson. Shortly thereafter and in typical Alfie fashion, the captain notched his first goal since November 15th and tied the game at two; helping to cue another third period come-from-behind victory.
Even so, if today’s lines are any indication that Greening, Spezza and Butler will start tonight’s game together, it means that Nikita Filatov is destined for the pressbox yet again. In other words, if you had any desire to watch a Russian try and figure it out on the top line, Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin are going to have to suffice.
I have to admit, the best part about the NHL's new alignment plan isn't news that rivalries will be cranked up or that teams in the central region will now benefit from having more games scheduled within their timezone. No, the best part about any alignment talks are the inordinate number of unflattering Gary Bettman photos that will adorn many of the newspaper articles discussing the NHL's realignment in today's North American newspapers. The picture that I pulled for this post was from the Ottawa Sun but there are more - here, here and here.
To counter this predictable trend, the official NHL press release should have featured a photo of Bettman with an air of gravitas. Alas, there was no such photo. Instead, it only gave the details of the league's new conference structure.
The National Hockey League Board of Governors tonight approved a four-Conference alignment format and authorized Commissioner Gary Bettman to implement this proposal, pending input from the National Hockey League Players’ Association. The format would create two eight-team Conferences and two seven-team conferences.
Under the format, every team would play every other team outside its conference twice -- once home, once away.
In the seven-team Conferences, teams would play six times -- three home, three away. In the eight-team Conferences, teams would play either five or six times in a season on a rotating basis; three teams would play each other six times and four teams would play each other five times. This process would reverse each season: An eight-team Conference member that plays an opponent six times in one season would play it five times the following season.
The top four teams in each Conference qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first-place team would play the fourth-place team; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round of the Playoffs, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.
The top four teams in each new conference will qualify for the playoffs, with the first-place team facing the fourth-place team and second playing third. The four respective conference champions would meet in the third round, with the winners playing for the Stanley Cup.
Here is the new look of the league:
|
Conference A |
Conference B |
Conference C |
Conference D |
|
Anaheim Ducks |
Chicago Blackhawks |
Boston Bruins |
Carolina Hurricanes |
|
Calgary Flames |
Columbus Blue Jackets |
Buffalo Sabres |
New Jersey Devils |
|
Colorado Avalance |
Dallas Stars |
Florida Panthers |
New York Islanders |
|
Edmonton Oilers |
Detroit Red Wings |
Montreal Canadiens |
New York Rangers |
|
Los Angeles Kings |
Minnesota Wild |
Ottawa Senators |
Philadelphia Flyers |
|
Phoenix Coyotes |
Nashville Predators |
Tampa Bay Lightning |
Pittsburgh Penguins |
|
San Jose Sharks |
St. Louis Blues |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
Washington Capitals |
|
Vancouver Canucks |
Winnipeg Jets |
For those of you who need to visualize things, here's a map courtesy of tomfulery.com:
So how does this new schedule affect the Ottawa Senators?
First and foremost, barring the Detroit Red Wings switching Conferences or the Phoenix Coyotes suddenly becoming the Quebec Nordiques, Ottawa's seven team Conference means that there is less competition for the Senators to make the playoffs than an eight-team Conference. Of course, the trade off here is that Ottawa is competing for one of four playoff spots instead of the current system's eight. Unless there's some mechanism like the ‘crossover steal’ that David Alter mentions in his Fan 590 blog, some 5th place team in an eight-team conference could have a better record than a 4th place team in another and be left out of the playoff dance. (Note: the 'crossover steal' would allow some 5th place team in an eight-team conference that has a better recod than a 4th place team in another to meet in a one-off game before the playoffs where the fifth place team would essentially have a shot of ‘stealing’ the playoff spot, rather than just automatically giving it to them.)
Similarly, because of this new alignment that ensures that the first two playoff rounds are divisional, Ottawa no longer has to worry about facing a Sidney Crosby, an Alex Ovechkin or a Claude Giroux in the first round of the playoffs. (Although considering Washington's record in the postseason, you could raise the argument that this may be a bad thing.) Instead, the Senators will have a greater opportunity to extend their playoff rivalries against teams like the Maple Leafs or the Sabres while hopefully creating long overdue ones with the Bruins and Canadiens... or Panthers?
Yes, the beloved Florida Panthers. I believe the closest thing that Ottawa has had to a rivalry with Florida is that they infamously took lesser trade packages for the likes of Gary Roberts and Roberto Luongo. Many people will want to conveniently lump Tampa Bay in with Florida and say that there is no natural rivalry there either but as expansion brethren that entered the NHL at the same time, at least there's some substance there. A few, most notably Ron MacLean, have also championed the number of snowbirds who will travel down south to take in games in Miami and Tampa too. So there's that.
What do you readers think of the new alignment?
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It’s a game night versus our expansion brethren Tampa Bay Lightning. As much as I’m looking forward to the prospect of watching the now-infamous 1-3-1 system, I’m half-hoping that the Senators can work in some footage from their expansion draft so fans can raise reflective questions like, “Why didn’t we draft Brian Bradley?”
Ah well, here are today’s news and notes…
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The glory. The legend. The mystique.
In case you haven't heard, the Chris Neil Penalty FaceTM and his raise the roof but only in front of the home crowd as not to show up his opponent post-fight celebration are both returning to an arena/television near you so check your local listings.
Yes, Chris Neil is back. For the first time since November 9th, the pugilistic forward will suit up and play against the Washington Capitals tonight and the timing couldn't be more meh.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have him back in the lineup. He's effective at what he does - blending a modest offensive game with that steady dose of grit, sandpaper, lunchpail attitude, school of hard knocks, "he's good in the room", ham-fisted, blue-collar feistiness that resonates so well with Senators fans.
So why meh?
In the nine games that he's been out of the lineup, the Senators have gone 5-3-1. Erik Condra, the man who has replaced Neil on the line with Zack Smith and Kaspars Daugavins, has serviceably replaced Neil's minutes. In fact, this trio have gone on to become one of Ottawa's better and most consistent lines.
Here's the third line's production during Neil's absence:
- Daugavins: 2 goals, 5 points, +3, 14 hits, 10 shots (note: subtract Kaspars' -3 rating from that November 11th game against Buffalo and he's +6 in his last 8 games)
- Condra: 2 goals, 5 points, +5, 17 shots
- Smith: 4 goals, 6 points, +3, 19 hits, 15 shots
Rather than break up the Daugavins-Smith-Condra line, MacLean's making a veteran like Neil earn his ice by breaking him in slowly on the fourth line.
Other Things of Pithy Importance
- No news on who exactly is coming out of the lineup but Don Brennan writes that the team didn’t skate Saturday morning, but judging by Friday’s practice Bobby Butler will come out of the lineup and Neil will work on a line with Jesse Winchester and Zenon Konopka.
MacLean could decide to sit Konopka if he feels the Senators need more offence, as Butler is more of a natural scorer. But Konopka has been the bigger contributor of the two in recent games.
Aside from faceoff wins and two minor penalties, the difference between the two players in the last two games has been negligible. Brennan's right in asserting that there's a difference in the manner in which these two players play but given Butler's recent run of success on Ottawa's fourth line -- 2 goals, 4 points, 11 shots and a plus/minus of +5 -- I'd be inclined to keep him in the lineup over someone like Konopka whose minutes and skillset can be more easily replaced by Chris Neil.
- The latest scuttlebutt out of Montreal is that Andrei Markov will be undergoing another surgical procedure on his knee. Per ESPN, general manager Pierre Gauthier announced to reporters Saturday that the star defenseman will need athroscopic surgery on his knee after further tests this week revealed swelling in the surgically-repaired knee.
Gauthier believes that Markov could return in as few as three weeks because if history has taught us anything, Markov's a quick healer...
Assuming that he won't be returning to the lineup anytime soon, Montreal could prove to be an optimum destination for one of Ottawa's excess of defencemen. Or at the very least, perhaps they're an organization that could be used as leverage to get a better trade package from another team seeking a defenceman.
- Apparently Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien was unhappy with the manner in which Cory Clouston inexplicably dropped trou on Chris Kelly late last season.
According to Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty, Julien stated, “I still remember a comment that was made by his former coach last year,” said Julien referring to Clouston. “He said that when [Kelly] was traded he wasn’t doing much there either. It was a cheap shot I thought at Kells as a guy coming in and giving him a chance to get used to his teammates.
“We’ve seen what he’s capable of doing and he can be a really good player. I think most of his teammates in Ottawa knew that. I think it was obvious they missed him and I think they still do. He’s a pretty good player and a good leader.”
In fairness to Clouston, Kelly wasn't doing anything in Boston and he was in the middle of a public campaign to save his NHL coaching career. As easy as it is to shit on the former coach and this oversight that makes it sound like he didn't think much of a former player, he did have some pretty complimentary things to say about Kelly when he was dealt. Besides, communication (or suit and tie selection) was never his forte.
Chris Kelly is a good player and a good leader, but Julien's right when he says we know what he's capable of doing. That 39.1 goal and 69.5 point pace that he's on is... well let me just say that there is a greater chance of Nikita Filatov putting an end to his habit of answering every young girl's Formspring question than there is of Kelly sustaining those levels of production.
It's interesting that Julien even remembers that Clouston quote so well because everyone is going remember Chris Kelly’s 2011-12 season well. Bruins fans will be damning and Senators fans will be laughing about it in three seasons when everyone talks about how untradeable and expensive his contract is.
So when Kelly, who is headed towards unrestricted free agency on July 1st, signs some ridiculously expensive extension.
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Excitement! A NHL transaction involving the Ottawa Senators actually happened!
The Senators announced today that the club has acquired forward Rob Klinkhammer from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a conditional seventh round draft pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
So who the fuck is Rob Klinkhammer?
Besides rocking a ridiculously awesome hockey name, Wikipedia reveals that he scored his first professional goal against the Binghamton Senators and a quick Google image search shows that the undrafted forward once sported an ill advised faux-hawk.
According to the Senators' press release, Klinkhammer, 25, has recorded two goals and four assists in 18 games with the Blackhawks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, this season. He will join the Senators’ AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, who play three games in three nights this weekend.
A native of Lethbridge, Alta., Klinkhammer set professional career highs in goals (17), assists (29) and points (46) while ranking third in overall team scoring in 76 games with the IceHogs last season.
Great, but we were all kind of hoping for some young forward who could play on the second line in Ottawa... not Binghamton.
Ah well, the issues with this year's Binghamton are well documented. They could use whatever help the undrafted 6'3", 209 pound forward can provide. no comments
Now that the Senators have formally announced that they have sent defenceman Matt Carkner to Binghamton for a conditioning stint, with his return looking imminent, the Senators now have up to two weeks to resolve the number of bodies that they will have on the blueline.
According to article 13.8 of the NHL’s CBA,
Unless a player consents, he shall not be sent to a minor league club for conditioning reasons. Nor shall such conditioning extend for more than 14 consecutive days without the player's consent. The player shall continue, during such period or mutually agreed to extension of such period, to receive the same salary, and be entitled to the same benefits, that he would have received had he continued to play with the Club.
In other words, barring Filip Kuba being out for an extended period of time with that upper body injury of his or another Senators defenceman getting injured, the odds of the Senators making a move to accommodate Carkner have just gone up.
So who goes? no comments
