• All it took was one win to quiet that sect of the Sens Army population who maintain that Erik Karlsson is too small to play in the NHL.
• According to Cory Clouston, Brian Elliott's scheduled to make a start in the next two to three games. I have actually have no idea who this Brian Elliott is. I was too busy looking at the new goaltender of the future's OHL stats.
• Some Leafs fan is irked by Bruce Garrioch for blowing off Jonas Gustavsson's hype after last night's game. He raises a valid point by attributing to the fact that Ottawa only scored twice on the Monster and one of the goals was the result of a controversial high-stick. (And by controversial, I mean the stick was over the crossbar.)This is all well and good, but it completely ignores the fact that Shean "Sloth" Donovan scored a goal and that should never happen.
• This warrants another look:

• "John Tavares plays his first game on Canadian soil at Scotiabank Place tomorrow. Wayne Gretky played his last game on Canadian soil. How is that for building up the rookie?" ~ Bruce Garrioch, OTP. Umm, Bruce, that's not build up. That's coincidence.
• Jason Spezza missed today's practice with some bumps and bruises but will play tomorrow night against the Isles. Hopefully he doesn't draw some causation between these and his noticeably better defensive play.
• I was watching some video of Ottawa's first regular season game in modern history and Ron MacLean dropped an awesome line in reference to the number of fans who wore togas to the game. "The sheets have hit the fans." Here's the video:

• Also, tomorrow (October 8th) marks the day when Ottawa got their first win in modern history. Celebrate by making fun of your Habs fan co-workers.
• This isn't related to hockey but I thought it was funny. I was walking down Bank St. yesterday afternoon and passed bya woman at one of the intersections. Anyways,she was engaged in a conversation with a friend when they were interrupted by her terrier that started yapping at another dog across the street. In an effort to quiet the dog, she gave one quick pull of the leash and a dropped a "Shut up you retard!" Ah,the irony in hearing a disabled person use a termused to negatively describe another form of disability. Classy.

Wait, so the Senators are playing the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight?

Who would have known? I almost feel badly for the local mainstream media here who still try to play up the rivalry. Aside from the Leafs having some dick-headed fans, the rivalry has been dead for years. There's no longer a buzz when these teams meet, regardless of how much often your Maple Leaf work colleagues allude to their imaginary trophy case that holds up their four Ontario Cups. Besides, don't the Leafs playoff victories ring a little hollow when they’re unable to handle an opponent like Philadelphia, a team that Ottawa’s had success against? It’s like championing how awesome Rock is over Scissors only to face Paper in the next round of the playoffs.

I consider myself to be a pretty avid hockey fan in Ottawa. So naturally, one would assume that I’m tormented by the fact that the Ottawa Senators have never beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in a playoff series. But I’ll let you readers in on a little secret, I’m not. If it’s any indication of how much I don’t care, I actually had to Wikipedia the last time the Senators were beaten by the Leafs in the playoffs. And this is coming from a guy who was at SBP (then the Corel Centre) watching the game from the 300 level and booing every time Lalime’s face was shown on the scoreboard. (At the time, I did think there was a silver lining to the game, Lalime was dealt and Jacques Martin was fired. See, I do have the ability to see the positive in everything.)

Apparently it’s been 5 years since Nieuwendyk traumatized Patrick Lalime in that infamous game seven. I say apparently, because despite what some Leafs fans might think, it honestly feels like it’s been longer than that.

Part of this can be attributed to the 2005 lockout that cost the NHL one season and took away the League’s competitive imbalance. When the lockout ended and the League announced that it was to going to implement a salary cap, it also took away part of the Leafs mystique. At the time the cap was introduced, the Leafs were projected to have a $59M payroll for the 2004-2005 campaign. Comparatively speaking, Rod Bryden was losing money faster than Eddie Belfour’s bribery account after a night of heavy drinking. With an equitable market system, there was no longer a reason to be jealous of the Leafs. They became just another team.

For an organization whose philosophy on player development was to let another organization do it for them, Toronto’s struggled to adjust under the current system and have failed to make the postseason in the post-lockout era. But almost more importantly, with the organization spending millions less on payroll and fans still willing to eat up a mediocre product, MLSE realized that they had a license to print money. How else can Leafs fans explain the fact that MLSE allowed Mike Myers to bastardize the organization with the production of The Love Guru.

I have a serious queston though: Why hasn’t Mike Myers been banned from the ACC?

Is it because the suits at the game would enjoy his celebrity presence if they weren’t too busy enjoying drinks on the concourse? I almost feel sorry for the blue collar Leafs fans who yell expletives from home every time they see Myers’ dopey grin on television.

Speaking of television, the mainstream media got what they wanted from having the Leafs and Senators play each other in four times. But it’s ridiculous that the Battle of Ontario has been reduced to a Panthers versus Thrashers level, and they’re still treating it like it’s a prominent rivalry.

I could understand it for awhile, Ottawa was an easy market to target.

Ottawa's a weird city when it involves the constructive criticism of the Ottawa Senators, especially when the discussion of a balanced lineup has been approached. For the past two seasons, coaches have come under intense scrutiny whenever the Big Three of Spezza, Heatley and Alfie were split apart to spread the scoring. Because of the pressures on the coaching staff to win now, the prevailing thought has been to keep the three together because this line was guaranteed to put up points and this was assumed to give "Ottawa the best chance to win". The simplistic reasoning was that Ottawa rode these three to success during their run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

So when Heatley was traded, it was like a veil had been lifted off this franchise. That top-loaded first line was now a burden. By adding Michalek and Cheechoo, fans were trumpeting the fact that the team was better for it because they now had forward depth and three lines that could score.

With the scoring concerns being temporarily quelled, the recent fan focus has centered upon a defence that can be characterized as average. With Erik Karlsson in the top four and Bryan Murray having admitted that he gave considerable thought to including Jared Cowen on the roster, our concerns are completely justified. Which brings me to the point: Isn't it time to split up Volchenkov and Phillips?

Some may dismiss it because these two have had a reputation for being a shutdown defensive pairing that can be paired against an opponent's top line. But, for anyone who's watched Phillips lately, the man is trying to do too much and is completely out of his element. Why not pair him with an offensively gifted partner, like Karlsson, and let him focus strictly upon his strengths?

Considering the biggest knock on the blueline is that they're not physical enough, why does the organization insist upon putting all their eggs in one basket? The team can get away with pairing the two together on home ice, when Clouston has the luxury of having the last change. But when this team is playing away games like they did on Saturday night, this team doesn't have the defensive balance to help offset some significant matchup problems. My solution, put the three reliable guys -- Kuba, Phillips, A-Train -- on different pairings if the team continues their slow start.

Have at it in the comment thread.

Are you disenchanted with the Senators blueline? Do you need a break from watching the NFL this afternoon? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then you'll enjoy this video. No wonder Bryan Murray was tempted to keep Jared Cowen around.

“As long as we figure out what we did wrong and take some positives out of it, we’ll be all right. There’s no sense of panic.” ~ Pascal Leclaire

(Mental note to self: Don't panic. Check.)

“We played pretty good through parts of game, but we just had breakdowns and gave them odd-man rushes. That was the game. We had turnovers that killed us. We’ve just got to simplify a bit and not get running around in own end.” ~ Mike Fisher

(Mental note to self: Simplify things. Check.)

Even though these comments were made by Senators players regarding the team, some fans could do themselves a favour and heed the advice of their favorite players. It's actually kind of disturbing to see how many pessimistic fans are gloating in the wake of last night's defeat. Kudos for feeling the need to publicly stroke your cocks anonymously on the various messageboards. I'm sure it's cathartic for your sad and miserable existence to shit on a hockey team that's featuring four new players on their first three lines and had not played in a game for a week.

Although, I guess it's also kind of sad that I kept drinking booze last night in hopes that I could induce a blackout. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning and still remembered that egregious shift by Chris Campoli. (You know, that one with the turnover at his own blueline, followed up by skating past the goal line as Dubinsky's shot rang off the crossbar and Marian Gaborik tapped it by a defenseless Leclaire.)

Quit being so shallow Ottawa. Writing this team off now is like writing off a relationship with a girl that you just had a one-night stand with. At least wait awhile for the beer goggles to wear off before passing judgment.

I was going to try and come up with some elaborate piece for the finale of our Senators preview section but fuck it. Everything we've wanted to say, we've gotten it out there. We've covered the blogosphere, the mainstream media, the team, and we came up with 50 goals, reasons, forecasts, predictions, reasons to stick with this site and your Ottawa Senators for this campaign. And if these previews weren't enough to get your dick wet, we were throwing our thoughts out there for Puck Daddy, The New York Times' Slap Shot blog, and the Ottawa Citizen.

So understandably, I'm a bit burnt out and like the rest of you, I just want the puck to drop already.

If you're at home tonight watching the game, do yourself a favour and check out the Ottawa Blogosphere live blog here on The 6th Sens. 

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.