GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Washington Capitals - 7:00pm ET - Thu. Jan. 7th, 2010

Maybe... maybe...

Was there ever a time when the Southeast Division winner had less points than every other team in the remaining playoff spots? Back when the Southeast was a horrid division, this was always a looming threat...

shabbs wrote:Maybe... maybe...

Was there ever a time when the Southeast Division winner had less points than every other team in the remaining playoff spots? Back when the Southeast was a horrid division, this was always a looming threat...

There was one year there, sometime in the last 3 or 4 seasons, where the Southeast Division winner was decided on the last day or two of the season -- with the winner getting the third seed and the loser missing the playoffs in 9th.

I'm guessing that there will be 3 or 4 teams in the West who will have more points and will be more deserving of a playoff spot than that number of teams in the East. If playoff spots were determined according to league rather than conference / division -- i.e., if the top 16 teams secured the 16 playoff spots -- then the East would probably only secure about 6 of those 16 spots this year. The East has soooo many mediocre teams this year.

Well, as we say down home, if dogs had saws, there would be no telephone poles left.

TheAvatar wrote:Well, as we say down home, if dogs had saws, there would be no telephone poles left.

And as I say, right here and now, leading the pack amongst a group of mediocre teams ought not to give us any illusions about having a 'good' or 'strong' team. The bottom three seeds in the east will go to the least worst teams.

Practice lines today, in no particular order apparently:

Source: http://twitter.com/NHL_Sens/status/7482459261

Ruutu-Kelly-Neil
Kovalev-Fisher-Shannon
Michalek-Regin-Foligno
Donovan-Winchester-Cheechoo

Leclaire starting tonight.

http://twitter.com/SensReporter/status/7483117290

Time to fill the netting with puck tonight.

Clouston: no lineup changes for tonight, Leclaire starts in goal, Campoli is the healthy scratch.

Clouston post-practice presser from today:

http://bit.ly/4UQyN5

Game notes for tonight (PDF):

http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Prospect_Update-100107.pdf

shabbs wrote:Clouston: no lineup changes for tonight, Leclaire starts in goal, Campoli is the healthy scratch.

Any updates on the Brunette and/or Hamhuis deal?

If Leclaire is not up to snuff this is going to be a bloodbath (on the scoresheet).

Go Sens Go, of course, as always, but I've got a bad feeling about this.

P.S. My sister in law (who lives near Boston) is visiting. My brother in law took her son (a bit Boston fan) to the Boston game. He was all dressed up, painted up in Boston colors, apparently. So at least one member of my extended family had fun at that game. Oh, and they got home just in time to see the US get the gold. Hopefully they don't come to visit again in Fabruary.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

shabbs wrote:Clouston: no lineup changes for tonight, Leclaire starts in goal, Campoli is the healthy scratch.

Any updates on the Brunette and/or Hamhuis deal?

You're done with Filatov?

SeawaySensFan wrote:

shabbs wrote:Clouston: no lineup changes for tonight, Leclaire starts in goal, Campoli is the healthy scratch.

Any updates on the Brunette and/or Hamhuis deal?

All my sources are saying blibbidy-blah-blah.

wprager wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

shabbs wrote:Clouston: no lineup changes for tonight, Leclaire starts in goal, Campoli is the healthy scratch.

Any updates on the Brunette and/or Hamhuis deal?

You're done with Filatov?

He's more of a long-term project from what I've determined. What have you been hearing?

Absolutely nothing. Personally, I'd be shocked if there was a trade by the Sens anytime soon.

I dunno prags...Murray likes his early deadline deals.

Gohan wrote:I dunno prags...Murray likes his early deadline deals.

I like your answer much better.