GAME DAY: Dallas Stars @ Ottawa Senators - 7:00pm Dec. 20th, 2008

More on that sweater I picked up. Definitely a goalie sweater (tag inside says "Goalie Style"). Did any other goalie for the Sens (rookie/development or training camp) wear 1? If not, then it's definitely Emery's. While that's cool and all, it's a little hard to wear, specifically how huge the sleeves are around the elbows. I'd probably also want to change the number (like, maybe, add a 1 or a 5 beside the 1).

Does anyone know if you can (easily) modify a goalie sweater to take in the elbows? Also, a good place to change the numbers?

beerandsens wrote:http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Garrioch/2008/12/21/7819966-sun.html

Brett Hull's take on Spezza. I don't mean to beat a dead horse but I've been sitting on the fence with Spezza for some time now. Arguements to deal him away and to be patient and keep him both make sense on some level.

Good read. Yes, there are arguments for both sides of the Spezza debate. What is not mentioned though is the economic reality that the Sens face. This team is too top heavy salary wise. Particularly when you only have 3 consistent scoring threats. And when they aren't scoring, for whatever reason, it magnifies the problem. With Alfie playing his career out in Ottawa, Heatley and Fisher having NMC/NTC's, the reality is that Spezza may be the odd man out to balance this club's cap situation. Would moving guys like Kelly, Neil and Vermette be a better option? Sure, but what realistically would be the return for these guys? IF you could clear their salaries, it would free about $6 million in cap space to use on a PMD, but then we'd have no choice but to use callup to fill the voids at forward. Where does that leave our offence?

Personally, I don't want to see a move with Spezza done until the draft, or at least after the season when the draft order is somewhat set. Although that Atl idea that asq2 proposed might change my mind.

As I have been saying, there's no deal that makes sense for Ottawa to trade Spezza, so you keep him and try to trade Fisher.

DashRiprock wrote:As I have been saying, there's no deal that makes sense for Ottawa to trade Spezza, so you keep him and try to trade Fisher.

Easier said than done though with Fisher having a NTC.

I think Murray (and other GM's ) really ought to avoid NTC/NMC's in the future. At least make them limited to give the team an out.

I know he's got the NTC, and I have said many times yes the only person that can be traded, though it makes little sense, is Spezza, but others have said Fisher would leave if he was forced out, though doing so would be heartless.

Basically, it comes down to Fisher vs. Spezza.

Oh, and apparently Kuba was injured too last night? Said he left late in the game with a lower body injury? According to Yahoo.

DashRiprock wrote:I know he's got the NTC, and I have said many times yes the only person that can be traded, though it makes little sense, is Spezza, but others have said Fisher would leave if he was forced out, though doing so would be heartless.

Basically, it comes down to Fisher vs. Spezza.

Yep, it is. And if there was a NTC in Fisher's contract, we'd already have shipped him to Florida with Vermette + for J-Bow and another forward I suspect. Fisher and Vermette would be too much for Jacques to pass up lol.

beerandsens wrote:http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Garrioch/2008/12/21/7819966-sun.html

Brett Hull's take on Spezza. I don't mean to beat a dead horse but I've been sitting on the fence with Spezza for some time now. Arguements to deal him away and to be patient and keep him both make sense on some level.

Hull is the same guy who wanted to put Avery back into the stars locker room, cried to the Wings coaches when he was playing with Zettiberg and Datsyuk. (who actually prolonged his career), and his overall analysis on tallent is somewhat lacking.

He was a great player, great GM and scout, not so much.

Trading Spezza make sense for the simple fact that this team is going to be handcuffed for the next 6 years if they dont. You can basicaly kiss any hope of getting that puck moving D man, Stud D man, or any secondary scoring out of your heads.

I'm so sick of this Spezza trade talk. This city is starting to make me sick. Might as well trade the whole f'ing team then or better yet, move it to Hamilton.

wprager wrote:More on that sweater I picked up. Definitely a goalie sweater (tag inside says "Goalie Style"). Did any other goalie for the Sens (rookie/development or training camp) wear 1? If not, then it's definitely Emery's. While that's cool and all, it's a little hard to wear, specifically how huge the sleeves are around the elbows. I'd probably also want to change the number (like, maybe, add a 1 or a 5 beside the 1).

Does anyone know if you can (easily) modify a goalie sweater to take in the elbows? Also, a good place to change the numbers?

Go to the Sam Group on colonnade road, they will fix you up there. Good service and good price.

jamvan wrote:I'm so sick of this Spezza trade talk. This city is starting to make me sick. Might as well trade the whole f'ing team then or better yet, move it to Hamilton.

Thats a realistic point of view for sure.

wprager wrote:...
1. Aflie. How they missed that I don't know. Any news on him?
...
4. Heatley: several times I thought that was Spezza. What's wrong with that guy?
....
6. People leaving with 6 minutes to go (just before Dallas tied it up). More people leaving with less than 2 minutes to go.

1. That hit was clean. He turned into the boards and got crunched...It happens, it sucks, but its legal.
4. Heatley is awful. Most of the problems with Spezza Imo have originated with Heatley. I'm not saying Spezza isn't responsible for his own play or that he hasn't been playing like Dung, but he has been attached at the hip to Heatley and those two do the same Diddle thing every damn time they are out there. Other teams know what they're going to do; they know exactly what they want to do.
Splitting them up is the best thing for them and for the team.
6. Thats insane. Those fans need to be banned from the stadium.

cash wrote:

wprager wrote:...
1. Aflie. How they missed that I don't know. Any news on him?
...
4. Heatley: several times I thought that was Spezza. What's wrong with that guy?
....
6. People leaving with 6 minutes to go (just before Dallas tied it up). More people leaving with less than 2 minutes to go.

1. That hit was clean. He turned into the boards and got crunched...It happens, it sucks, but its legal.
4. Heatley is awful. Most of the problems with Spezza Imo have originated with Heatley. I'm not saying Spezza isn't responsible for his own play or that he hasn't been playing like Dung, but he has been attached at the hip to Heatley and those two do the same Diddle thing every damn time they are out there. Other teams know what they're going to do; they know exactly what they want to do.
Splitting them up is the best thing for them and for the team.
6. Thats insane. Those fans need to be banned from the stadium.

Leaving early sucks. But so does getting stuck in ungodly traffic jams to get home. Especially exaggerated traffic when there is a transit strike.

PKC wrote:

cash wrote:

wprager wrote:...
1. Aflie. How they missed that I don't know. Any news on him?
...
4. Heatley: several times I thought that was Spezza. What's wrong with that guy?
....
6. People leaving with 6 minutes to go (just before Dallas tied it up). More people leaving with less than 2 minutes to go.

1. That hit was clean. He turned into the boards and got crunched...It happens, it sucks, but its legal.
4. Heatley is awful. Most of the problems with Spezza Imo have originated with Heatley. I'm not saying Spezza isn't responsible for his own play or that he hasn't been playing like Dung, but he has been attached at the hip to Heatley and those two do the same Diddle thing every damn time they are out there. Other teams know what they're going to do; they know exactly what they want to do.
Splitting them up is the best thing for them and for the team.
6. Thats insane. Those fans need to be banned from the stadium.

Leaving early sucks. But so does getting stuck in ungodly traffic jams to get home. Especially exaggerated traffic when there is a transit strike.

People should die if they decicde to leave early!!!

jamvan wrote:

wprager wrote:More on that sweater I picked up. Definitely a goalie sweater (tag inside says "Goalie Style"). Did any other goalie for the Sens (rookie/development or training camp) wear 1? If not, then it's definitely Emery's. While that's cool and all, it's a little hard to wear, specifically how huge the sleeves are around the elbows. I'd probably also want to change the number (like, maybe, add a 1 or a 5 beside the 1).

Does anyone know if you can (easily) modify a goalie sweater to take in the elbows? Also, a good place to change the numbers?

Go to the Sam Group on colonnade road, they will fix you up there. Good service and good price.

Thanks for the tip, Jam, I'll send them an e-mail to inquire further. Too bad they're not in Kanata, though.

cash wrote:
1. That hit was clean. He turned into the boards and got crunched...It happens, it sucks, but its legal.

I somewhat disagree. He took way more than three strides coming over all the way from the center of the rink, and even before Alfie turned he was in a vulnerable position. It was a charge if nothing else. Compare this to the boarding call earlier in the game, this one was worse.

cash wrote:
4. Heatley is awful. Most of the problems with Spezza Imo have originated with Heatley. I'm not saying Spezza isn't responsible for his own play or that he hasn't been playing like Dung, but he has been attached at the hip to Heatley and those two do the same Diddle thing every damn time they are out there. Other teams know what they're going to do; they know exactly what they want to do.
Splitting them up is the best thing for them and for the team.

I'd been kinda thinking along similar lines. Not that I'm prepared to say it's all Heatley's fault and Spezza Rules. The problem, as you say, is that they got into a rut where Heatley waits with his stick in the air and Spezza looks to feed him the puck. Everyone's caught on to that. They need to change it up every once in a while. Maybe Spezza can come down the wing one time but, instead of curling toward the boards, turn it up a notch and drive to the net instead. I'd be the D are cheating a bit waiting for the curl toward the boards and back and a little burst of speed could catch a few of them off guard. Or shoot instead of passing. Or switching with Heatley so Dany is centre and dishing off to the other two.

cash wrote:6. Thats insane. Those fans need to be banned from the stadium.

No-one commented on the two buddies yakking it up during the National Anthem? Maybe I should write Cherry about it.

Yeah he definitely took a half-rink run at him, but it was no different than Neil on Little. Alfie turned maybe a half-second before being put into the boards. In a game like this, its impossibly tough to differentiate intention in split-seconds as a referee. I personally believe he had enough time to let off a little bit before he went through with it, however I've had the luxury of looking at it 8-10 times, from different angles and in slow motion. So, regardless of what may have actually happened, real time calls aren't as easy as we make them out to be...
In that moment, at full game speed, in real time, it looked like a good hit and a player who turned into the boards. I can't criticize the refs for that one...

Oh and the solution I think is for Spezza to shoot more. As he does so, he legitimizes himself as a scoring threat and halts the opposition from telegraphing his intention with he puck, which is pretty much the same every time he's out there... Likewise, the goalies have Heatley telegraphed because they know he's going to try to rip a one timer every Diddle chance he gets. They are cheating, but leaving a return feed or a delayed snap shot wide open.
Again, real time changes the dynamic and players fall into their habits. Our problem is simply that our two most prolific scorers are so damn predictable. If they can exercise some discpline and try something different, they will be more successful and far more dangerous.

I haven't read through all 8 pages so this may have already been discussed. Anyone else think that game looked like neither team deserved the win? And if someone tries to tell me they're showcasing Gerber then I might just lose my mind. Gerber has zero value and if it's possible his value drops below that almost every game he plays. The only goal that wasn't suspect was the 4th goal when Dallas tied the game. Even that one he should have come up with a big save at a key time in the game.