Game Day: Sens vs. Canes, Feb 24th, 09, 7:30pm EST

504Heater wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:Clouston single's out the goaltender and then doesnt throw him in there to try and get things turned around, not impressed with that. Not impressed with the flat efforts, not impressed with what Clouston has done thus far honestly.

Next year you will see a new guy behind that bench.

Auld's been better recently. What message does it send if you sit Auld and play Elliot?

Elliot will get his chance. There's still 24 games to go.

Then you start Auld and shut up.

just so everyone has a heads up the line up for tonight according to tsn ice chips

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11009

Projected lines vs. Hurricanes

Forwards:
Heatley - Spezza - Alfredsson
Shannon - Fisher - Comrie
Vermette - Kelly - Foligno
Ruutu - Winchester - Donovan


Defence:
Phillips - Volchenkov
Kuba - Lee
Campoli - Smith


Goaltenders:
Auld
Elliott

Injured:
Neil (calf, indefinite)

Neely4Life wrote:
Then you start Auld and shut up.

Or you challenge Elliot to bring it at all times, whether it's practice or game time. Out of all the prospects ranked, THN raked Elliot as 35th. That's amazing, he's not going anywhere and don't forget that Clouston had him for part of last year and the entire time they had in Bingo. He knows what he's seeing and he'll fix it. There's nothing to worry about.

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:just so everyone has a heads up the line up for tonight according to tsn ice chips

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11009

For some reason those lines look nice and clear. Hopefully they'll all mesh and score some goals against Ward or whoever's in nets.

Who's sitting from that roster?

shubert bell and picard

If you challenge a guy you let him play then, whats his challenge, stop San Jose? yup, thats where you want your rookie goaltender going in with confidence problems...

Clouston knows Elliott, I have no doubt about that but the way he is handeling him at the NHL level is wrong right now... Man, if Ottawa comes out flat on Thurs, hopefully Auld is in nets again.

Neely4Life wrote:If you challenge a guy you let him play then, whats his challenge, stop San Jose? yup, thats where you want your rookie goaltender going in with confidence problems...

Clouston knows Elliott, I have no doubt about that but the way he is handeling him at the NHL level is wrong right now... Man, if Ottawa comes out flat on Thurs, hopefully Auld is in nets again.

I would agree, but I think Clouston's telling him to prepare properly for SJ. He's our future, he can play against top teams - and he'll have to.

504Heater wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:If you challenge a guy you let him play then, whats his challenge, stop San Jose? yup, thats where you want your rookie goaltender going in with confidence problems...

Clouston knows Elliott, I have no doubt about that but the way he is handeling him at the NHL level is wrong right now... Man, if Ottawa comes out flat on Thurs, hopefully Auld is in nets again.

I would agree, but I think Clouston's telling him to prepare properly for SJ. He's our future, he can play against top teams - and he'll have to.

Yup, he has to, he needs those games, he also needs one against teams like the Huuricanes.

I think Clouston has done a poor job with the goaltenders thus far, and done a poor job getting his team ready to play on most nights.

Neely4Life wrote:
Yup, he has to, he needs those games, he also needs one against teams like the Huuricanes.

I think Clouston has done a poor job with the goaltenders thus far, and done a poor job getting his team ready to play on most nights.

What did you expect was gonna happen against the Habs - honestly? There was no chance from the moment the puck dropped, the Habs fans were treating Kovalev like the second coming after his vacation, their team was in the middle of crazy controversy - and like was mentioned, they laid everything on the ice. We were dead.

Unless you can magically produce adequate D-men for Clouston, I think the only thing he can do is try to hypnotize our crappy D into thinking they're actually worth a Dung. I'd say he's been doing a pretty good job of that so far, it was bound to wear off eventually.

Bring me in a number one D-man, then I'll start pointing the finger at Clouston - but at least with him we're being aggressive in losing instead of pulling our pants down and presenting every game.

Im not pointing the finger at CLouston, but I dont think he has done anything that is really note worthy besides benching Spezza.

Elliott playing the way he did for a good stretch gave Clouston more credit than he actually deserved.

Its on the players for sure, the last people I blame in Ottawa, the coach and goalies.

You don't think the system is more suited to a fast attack now? And that given time Clouston can have this team ticking like a Boudreau lead Caps?

I don't think so Heater. Not without another major move or two.
If we're relying on Campoli to be our number one PMD then it's more of the same the rest of the way and next year IMO.

Sure, he brought a different system in, same lazy a$$ players in it though. Again, I dont blame Clouston for anything, but he really hasnt made a difference IMO.

I think scratching Bell for Lee is a mistake as well, Bell goes from leading the team in mins and played vs Vancouver to a healthy scratch... Lee better be getting show cased, there is no reason he shouldnt be a healthy scratch once in a while.

Clouston changed the system, not the team, and he wont.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I don't think so Heater. Not without another major move or two.
If we're relying on Campoli to be our number one PMD then it's more of the same the rest of the way and next year IMO.

You all know my feelings on our D.

But in case you don't :D :

They all suck with the exception of Volchenkov. All of them. I'm willing to give little man Campoli the benefit of the doubt, but the rest of them need to be arse kicked out of here.

Neely4Life wrote:Sure, he brought a different system in, same lazy a$$ players in it though. Again, I dont blame Clouston for anything, but he really hasnt made a difference IMO.

I think scratching Bell for Lee is a mistake as well, Bell goes from leading the team in mins and played vs Vancouver to a healthy scratch... Lee better be getting show cased, there is no reason he shouldnt be a healthy scratch once in a while.

Clouston changed the system, not the team, and he wont.

Bell for Lee is a disaster. I'm not the biggest Bell fan, but I can see what he brings to the table.

He'll get some of the players that'll help him this summer I would assume. We'll make judgements then.

The best thing that can happen is for Columbus to miss the playoffs and Hitch to get fired (ha ha), otherwise, I think Clouston can be the guy for a long, long time.

Ill take Bell over Lee for sure, he is better than Lee in very aspect.

Neely4Life wrote:Ill take Bell over Lee for sure, he is better than Lee in very aspect.

Except for speed, yeah, he's pretty much better in ever way. This is good as Bell gets though, with Lee you still have a chance for improvement. I would send Lee back to the AHL tomorrow in order to make room for Bell - and I'd also like to see Picard a few more times.

But hey...they'll do what they have to do I guess. Doesn't mean that we'll all agree with it.