What the hell is wrong in Ottawa?

Torts has the a$$ kicking gene, where Harts does not.....

Aetherial,

Couldn't agree more. Weird things happening the yells frustrated. I don't really think that Ruutu is such a jerk that he would go around biting someone. Neil for as much as a hard nosed player as he is, hasn't shown a history of going after guys like White. Heatley taking a number of stupid penalties for situations where frustration is the key phrase and Alfie turning the puck over at times which he normally doesn't.

All this speaks to a team that is frustrated. My question is why. The players all but publically called for the GM to clean the room last year, and it was done. They all but asked for a new coach getting Paddock fired, and it was done. They asked for their money and they got it.

Why are they so frustrated?

Dawg's Wife wrote:Why are they so frustrated?

Because they have to work for wins. Simple.

Dawg's Wife wrote:Aetherial,

Couldn't agree more. Weird things happening the yells frustrated. I don't really think that Ruutu is such a jerk that he would go around biting someone. Neil for as much as a hard nosed player as he is, hasn't shown a history of going after guys like White. Heatley taking a number of stupid penalties for situations where frustration is the key phrase and Alfie turning the puck over at times which he normally doesn't.

All this speaks to a team that is frustrated. My question is why. The players all but publically called for the GM to clean the room last year, and it was done. They all but asked for a new coach getting Paddock fired, and it was done. They asked for their money and they got it.

Why are they so frustrated?

Because they're not winning?

Aetherial wrote:
So, when you say everything, it really wonder if "everything" is not just a symptom of one thing. Maybe that one thing is the coach? Maybe it is Jason Spezza having a partying who-cares attitude (I don't know if that is true or not). Maybe it is the goalie? Maybe it is simply confidence? Maybe they need one more puck-moving D.

It is the goalie(s).
Despite all of the problems with this team, it all started (as it usually does) with the goaltending.

You can go back to 2007-08 when there was the supposed "goaltending controversy" but beneath all of it were two underperforming/overrated goaltenders. Martin Gerber was never a true #1 and Ray Emery was never a truly committed player - he played very well in the first half of '07, but never got back to form after the surgery. From an outsider perspective, given hindsight, it seems like the team became divided into factions - some backing one goaltender, some backing the other, and some remaining neutral.
If, in fact, this is correct (and I suspect there is some definite validity to the theory) then it's easy to see how these players would have stopped playing for each other; thus, causing our late season collapse. Still, many of the same players remain and that lack of cohesive effort and determination that made them so successful in early '07 still seems absent.
Fast forward to the end of that season, when there was still no significant help in the crease. Auld was brought in to play backup with the potential to steal the starting job. Obviously those players who had little-to-no confidence in Gerber already would have - upon mention of Auld usurping the #1 spot - begun to hope for such an outcome - even going as far as (subconsciously) sabotaging themselves and the team itself.
The cause of the divide was gone, but the divide remained.
Players being as stubborn and arrogant as they are, could have easily placed their own selfish desires above the good of the team - or simply could have believed what they were doing was what was best for the team...

but thats all speculation...

Look at it from another perspective: The Sens have obviously sub-par goaltending - The fact that Auld felt he had a good chance to take the #1 job tells you all you need to know about Gerber (not like you all didn't know anyways) and the fact that Auld had never successfully held a #1 job before (other than the relative success he had in Vancouver) tells you all you need to know about him - Neither is a "goaltending saviour"...
To compensate for this sub-par goaltending, Murray went out and signed yet another stay at home defenseman and traded for a fairly defensive puck-mover. Likewise, he loaded our forward ranks with defensive forwards, almost all of whom are capable penalty killers but are also lacking in a certain offensive flair.
In comes a new coach who has no option but to implement a system that compensates for our obviously weak goaltending. Our team speed, having gone to Dung, now becomes a focal point for opposing teams to key on and one of our primary weaknesses.
Given the necessity for overcompensation in our own end, our star/money forwards (and role players alike) are forced to spend significantly longer in their own end defending and have little hope of transitioning effectively through the quasi-trap implemented by almost every opposing team. Compounding our offensive woes is the unflashy, predictable, "responsible" style they are being asked to play - I'm all for being responsible, and even unflashy, but when the coach asks for predictability in your game (which he did in a recent article) then there is a serious problem in the logic behind the system. Apparently this team doesn't understand the difference between cohesion amongst their players and being insanely predictable to the opposition.

Anyways, my head is spinning from all the losing so I'll sum it up like this:
There may or may not be a divide created by a goaltending situation, but the GM, coaches, and players are all compensating for a lack of consistent, dependable goaltending. Until that situation is rectified - which, with any luck, will be next season - we won't see any success.

well said and good points - one would hope though that a common desire to win throughout the lineup would be stronger than a division based on which goalie should start games

504Heater wrote:
So now, guys like Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu feel they need to shift the flow of games by fighting or agitating. What Ruutu did is disgraceful, but is it more a product of the season, or of his overall ridiculousness? No idea. Neil challenging White was probably more a 'wake up guys!!!' action.

See that is what scares me.
He is trying to wake up the team by challenging Ian White?

Honestly, They should be more embarassed than motivated by that.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Dawg's Wife wrote:Why are they so frustrated?

Because they have to work for wins. Simple.

... which leads me back to one thing.

Maybe the problem is something as simple as this team needs an infusion of professional behavior. Ever since their trip to the SCF they *appear* to play like they are entitled to wins.

... on the other hand, it is difficult to ignore the fact that they have a serious lack of puck moving talent in the back end.

Aetherial wrote:
See that is what scares me.
He is trying to wake up the team by challenging Ian White?

Honestly, They should be more embarassed than motivated by that.

Why, what did White do to deserve being challenged? I don't recall I'm afraid. Neil doesn't back down though, so whoever the Leafs have who can fight probably would've been engaged by Neil.

Maybe he dislikes White's porno 'stache. I thought it was amusing at first, but now, I too want to punch him in the face.

504Heater wrote:

Aetherial wrote:
See that is what scares me.
He is trying to wake up the team by challenging Ian White?

Honestly, They should be more embarassed than motivated by that.

Why, what did White do to deserve being challenged? I don't recall I'm afraid. Neil doesn't back down though, so whoever the Leafs have who can fight probably would've been engaged by Neil.

Maybe he dislikes White's porno 'stache. I thought it was amusing at first, but now, I too want to punch him in the face.

Agreed, the porno 'stache is reason enough for a beatdown.

I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

shabbs wrote:I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

Murray needs to bring in Matt Schneider to sleep with Spezza's fiancé, stat. That'll settle things down.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

shabbs wrote:I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

Murray needs to bring in Matt Schneider to sleep with Spezza's fiancé, stat. That'll settle things down.

That would have fixed two problems:
- puck moving d-man
- room split

Dammit Murray!!!!

shabbs wrote:I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

I heard the same thing but I never believed it. I think Neil would've beaten spezza to a pulp had that happened.

shabbs wrote:I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

There has been one of those rumors about every team in the league.

In Toronto a number of years ago, it was Corson who slept with Mogilny's wife.

urban lore, purely fabricated BS.

Maybe the Sens need to regrow their porn staches? Maybe they should try soul patches LOL.

Aetherial wrote:

shabbs wrote:I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

There has been one of those rumors about every team in the league.

In Toronto a number of years ago, it was Corson who slept with Mogilny's wife.

urban lore, purely fabricated BS.

Every time Patrick Roy closes his eyes he sees his wife hittin' it with different past teammates, and he's hears the horrible, taunting laughter. No wonder he's the way he is.

Aetherial wrote:

shabbs wrote:I still hear rumblings about Spezza and Neil having issues and causing the room to split due to Spezza sleeping with Neil's wife. Was there ever any truth to that? Anyone else heard that on their radar?

There has been one of those rumors about every team in the league.

In Toronto a number of years ago, it was Corson who slept with Mogilny's wife.

urban lore, purely fabricated BS.

The Corson one is true, I garentee you, 100%, that one is true. Thats exactly why Corson was shipped out to Dallas.