And the Scratch today is......Picard!!

I have not had a problem with Bell this year honestly. He plays fairly consistantly and or 500K is he bringing more than most of the D out there now.

I dont think there is any real reason to switch it up honestly.

Neely4Life wrote:I have not had a problem with Bell this year honestly. He plays fairly consistantly and or 500K is he bringing more than most of the D out there now.

I dont think there is any real reason to switch it up honestly.

I would agree, we didn't sign Lidstrom here. He is performing to the level he is paid and does sneak in the nice offensive play here and there.

Neely4Life wrote:I have not had a problem with Bell this year honestly. He plays fairly consistantly and or 500K is he bringing more than most of the D out there now.

I dont think there is any real reason to switch it up honestly.

You took the words right out of my mouth N4.

Thing is, Bell is doing: 1) exactly what is being asked of him AND he's doing it to the best of his abilities.

Is he an elite D-man, GOD no, but as a cheaper player, he's doing a fine job IMHO.

Why do people keep crapping on Bell? Did they have visions of Bobby Orr when we signed this guy? For 500k, he's this year's defensive version of Sean Donovan.
Give the guy a break already.

What did I tell you eh

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2009/01/30/8207871.html

For tonight's game against the Blue Jackets, the Senators coach is replacing Brendan Bell and Dean McAmmond in the starting lineup with Alexandre Picard and Christoph Schubert.
"I didn't think Dean had a strong game," said Hartsburg. "And I didn't think Bell was assertive enough. When he plays assertive, he's a good player."

But this, I totally DISAGREE:

Schubert will play on a fourth line with Nick Foligno and Thursday's hero, rookie callup Peter Regin.
Mike Fisher will centre Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil, while Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly will once again have Jesse Winchester on their flank.
The Jason Spezza line, with Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson on the wings, will remain intact.

So the kid scored the GWG and got Schubert as a reward?

Thing is, when Schubert isn't moping about not playing D, he throws some thunderous hits and can be effective on the boards and on the forecheck.

Still, I see your point, it's not much of a reward, but perhaps it's more incentive for Regin to make and create his own opportunities and chances!

No clue what Harstberg is doing here... The Sens played a really complete game last night, the forward line aside from Spezza and Heatley were firing, and now he mixes it up?

Bell Im fine with scartching even though I would not have done it, but wtf...

marakh wrote:What did I tell you eh

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2009/01/30/8207871.html

For tonight's game against the Blue Jackets, the Senators coach is replacing Brendan Bell and Dean McAmmond in the starting lineup with Alexandre Picard and Christoph Schubert.
"I didn't think Dean had a strong game," said Hartsburg. "And I didn't think Bell was assertive enough. When he plays assertive, he's a good player."

But this, I totally DISAGREE:

Schubert will play on a fourth line with Nick Foligno and Thursday's hero, rookie callup Peter Regin.
Mike Fisher will centre Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil, while Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly will once again have Jesse Winchester on their flank.
The Jason Spezza line, with Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson on the wings, will remain intact.

So the kid scored the GWG and got Schubert as a reward?

Hartsburg As has been noted above, the scratches and insertions make sense, but WTF is he doing with the lines?? Like I said yesterday: Hartsburg has proved to incredibly inept at line and pairing creation. His player matching is for Dung. Regin needs to be playing with ... now that I think about it, this whole thing probably came about because baby Fisher couldn't handle not being the centre of attention. If these lines came about - as I suspect they did - as a result of Fisher Wing Dang Doodle about being on the wing, I'm going to be seriously pissed.

Hartsburg always changes lines. You want to know why the secondary forwards are inconsistent? They never get two games in a row with the same linemates!

dennycrane wrote:Hartsburg always changes lines. You want to know why the secondary forwards are inconsistent? They never get two games in a row with the same linemates!

I agree. Imo if you win you try not too change too much and you reward the one's who played well. IMO Regin played pretty good and got the game winner. He sould not be rewarded by playing on the 4th line. Hart's is doing some questionable stuff.

MurderOnIce wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:I have not had a problem with Bell this year honestly. He plays fairly consistantly and or 500K is he bringing more than most of the D out there now.

I dont think there is any real reason to switch it up honestly.

I would agree, we didn't sign Lidstrom here. He is performing to the level he is paid and does sneak in the nice offensive play here and there.

You mean we can't expect pinpoint breakouts and flawless defensive prowess?
Damn.

Heck, for $500K, I still expect him to play very well. Just because the rest of the defense has chosen to crap the bed doesn't lower the bar for him.

marakh wrote:What did I tell you eh

http://www.ottawasun.com/Sports/Senators/2009/01/30/8207871.html

For tonight's game against the Blue Jackets, the Senators coach is replacing Brendan Bell and Dean McAmmond in the starting lineup with Alexandre Picard and Christoph Schubert.
"I didn't think Dean had a strong game," said Hartsburg. "And I didn't think Bell was assertive enough. When he plays assertive, he's a good player."

But this, I totally DISAGREE:

Schubert will play on a fourth line with Nick Foligno and Thursday's hero, rookie callup Peter Regin.
Mike Fisher will centre Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil, while Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly will once again have Jesse Winchester on their flank.
The Jason Spezza line, with Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson on the wings, will remain intact.

So the kid scored the GWG and got Schubert as a reward?

Punishment = Spezza (+/- Heatley)