GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Carolina Hurricanes - 5:00pm ET - Sun. Jan. 10th, 2010

Wasn't this supposed to be a must win?

I see no reason why Calgary does anything close to this. Was there a smiley missing in the original post? As much as we all love A-Train, apart from blocking a lot of shots and the occasional thundering hit, what else do you get? He is worth a lot more to the Sens (because of being drafted here, being a fan favorite) than he would be to another club.

I don't know if this has been discussed yet because I didn't get through all the posts in here yet but, is anyone surprised we're on a 4 game losing streak under the circumstances?

1 - Goaltending is shaky at best right now.

2 - Kuba has sucked arse as has Campoli and Picard on alternating nights

3 - No Alfie, no Spezza, and now no Winchester, Michalek and Kuba (Is he out longterm?)

4 - Kovalev is finally starting to pick up his play but is wildly inconsistant

5 - Cheechoo is far worse than I'd hoped (I thought 15-20 goals this season)

6 - Fisher has scored 1 goal since Spezza went down to injury. Coincidence?

7 - Michalek is now injured but he hasn't scored over a longer stretch than Fisher.

8 - Experts had them pegged at around 10th or 11th place by seasons end and most GMH members figured they'd scrap it out for 8th.

So, with the issues mentioned above it's not surprising to me in the least that they are struggling right now. Even with a fully healthy lineup they'd still have a hard time.

With a fully healthy lineup they would be in the 5-8 spot that *some* GMH members had them in.

Think about it. If Kuba doesn't get injured his first game out then is it too much to think he could have played like he did last year? And then Karlsson would have had a decent vet as a partner (not Campoli) and would have twice as much experience now than he currently does.

Don't know what to say about Spezza, other than maybe he was injured (or hurt) at the start of the season.

Alfie -- nothing more needs to be said.

Fisher, like you noticed, did a lot better *not* playing against the other team's top defensive pairing and best shut down guys. This is where Spezza, even sucking badly, makes the team better.

Leclaire -- a case can be made that his rehab from a nearly season-long injury was cut short by his broken jaw. Not that he was playing all that great before, but I think it's safe to say his play has gone south since (the Habs game notwithstanding).

We need to hang on for a little while longer without dropping down too far. If we are 9th whenAlfie/Spezza get back to playing shape, we'll be fine.

wprager wrote:With a fully healthy lineup they would be in the 5-8 spot that *some* GMH members had them in.

Think about it. If Kuba doesn't get injured his first game out then is it too much to think he could have played like he did last year? And then Karlsson would have had a decent vet as a partner (not Campoli) and would have twice as much experience now than he currently does.

Don't know what to say about Spezza, other than maybe he was injured (or hurt) at the start of the season.

Alfie -- nothing more needs to be said.

Fisher, like you noticed, did a lot better *not* playing against the other team's top defensive pairing and best shut down guys. This is where Spezza, even sucking badly, makes the team better.

Leclaire -- a case can be made that his rehab from a nearly season-long injury was cut short by his broken jaw. Not that he was playing all that great before, but I think it's safe to say his play has gone south since (the Habs game notwithstanding).

We need to hang on for a little while longer without dropping down too far. If we are 9th whenAlfie/Spezza get back to playing shape, we'll be fine.

I agree with you. I personally have them finishing in 7th and with a major improvement in goaltending performance, some offensive production from guys like Fisher, Kovalev, Shannon and Regin and with the bottom six continuing their solid play we should get out of this in decent shape.

Maybe this road trip is a good thing, get away from all the media madness in Ottawa, cuz you know they'll be all over this.

shabbs wrote:Maybe this road trip is a good thing, get away from all the media madness in Ottawa, cuz you know they'll be all over this.

I don't think it eases up too much on the road does it? Also it's really just delaying the pain until they come home because you know this road trip will likely be dismal.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

shabbs wrote:Maybe this road trip is a good thing, get away from all the media madness in Ottawa, cuz you know they'll be all over this.

I don't think it eases up too much on the road does it? Also it's really just delaying the pain until they come home because you know this road trip will likely be dismal.

Rest of the road trip: Thrashers, Rangers, Habs, Bruins... how bad can it get?



Yikes...

asq2 wrote:

RobbyJ wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I hope the package we get back for Volchenkov is good.

If we could get a good forward prospect and a 1st I would pull the trigger.

Maybe a Jack Skille + 1st, I'd do that in a heartbeat, this team needs to gather some forward prospects that will be good in a couple years.

Then replace Volchenkov with a guy like Michalek for less than Volchie would get and you have some assets in hand.

Ugh, pass on Skille.

If you could persuade Washington to take a Johansson and a 1st for Volchenkov and a later pick (3rd? 4th?) type deal, I'd probably do it. If you then took 4 forwards in the first 2 rounds, plus Johansson, our forward prospect depth would immediately go from maybe the worst in the league to upper-half.

Plus given Washington has to re-sign Backstrom, it's not inconceivable that we could pursue Volchenkov on the free agent market, albeit the chances of him re-signing after getting dealt are pretty slim.

The Skille + 1st was only an example. There are a couple teams that may think that a guy like Volchenkov would put them over the top.

LA, WASH, and to a lesser extent BOS and CHI may have interest. All 4 of those teams can afford to give up a 1st + a prospect.

We can beat the Thrashers if we play the way we can and Leclaire plays the way he should. Rangers? Maybe if Lundqvist is rested and Redden plays top-pairing. Habs, maybe if l'Artiste shows up again. By the time we get to the Bruins, we should have Michalek back; maybe Kuba and Alfie. So, who knows. There is an outside chance we got 3-2 on this trip, but 0-5 is much more likely.

I think I'll be happy if we go 2-2-1 on this trip.

Clouston's post-game presser:
- we're working hard
- unable to finish
- not getting any puck luck
- mistakes are ending up in the back of our net
- difference was Ward

wprager wrote:We can beat the Thrashers if we play the way we can and Leclaire plays the way he should. Rangers? Maybe if Lundqvist is rested and Redden plays top-pairing. Habs, maybe if l'Artiste shows up again. By the time we get to the Bruins, we should have Michalek back; maybe Kuba and Alfie. So, who knows. There is an outside chance we got 3-2 on this trip, but 0-5 is much more likely.

That's alot of maybes. I'd be happy with 2 wins.

If the Sens can play like they did vs. the Canes, in the first 35 minutes of that game, against the Thrashers then I could see a win there. Are the Rangers really that tough of an opponent right now or is it more a factor of the Sens suckiness?

The Habs game could be interesting if we have Kuba, Alfie and Michalek back.

I'm pretty sure we can Pencil in a loss for the Bruins game.

shabbs wrote:Clouston's post-game presser:
- we're working hard
- unable to finish
- not getting any puck luck
- mistakes are ending up in the back of our net
- difference was Ward

I agree with most of those points. I'm not one to blindly accept we lost to a "hot goalie" but Ward was the difference certainly. I was a little suprised to see Campoli and Karlsson paired up but as I watched them I liked what I was seeing.

Karlsson led all Senators in icetime.

I'm happy that Karlsson is showing that he belongs in the NHL and deserves the ice time but I'm sad that he's our best D man right now. It's not a recipe for success.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm happy that Karlsson is showing that he belongs in the NHL and deserves the ice time but I'm sad that he's our best D man right now. It's not a recipe for success.

By March 4th he won't be.

The Rangers have Lundqvist. Period.

I am a little concerned that Clouston keeps saying how the effort was there. Maybe the Carolina game (didn't see it) but certainly not from what I saw in the Panthers game. And he keeps quoting the SOG stats. Who cares! To say the opposition goalie was the difference is indirectly putting the blame on your own goalie, but we scored 1 goal in two games, 3 in 3 (where one of those should have never gone in, and the other was too little too late). Timely saves is definitely something we need, but what about timely scoring? Or any scoring, for that matter? And is it really always the goalie's fault when we get scored on within a minute of taking the lead? That Kostopoulos goal was a beauty diving tip in, but why was there an odd-man rush in the first place? Odd-man rushes are not the goalie's fault, and when they happen 4 seconds after we take a lead that's just unacceptable. And it's been happening A LOT.

We may not be taking as many penalties as before (or are we?) but that kind of let-up, to me, is just as undisciplined. Combined with 9 "Too Many Men" penalties we've taken this season, makes me wonder. You can't blame this on Clouston, can you? I mean, all of these guys can count to 5, and they should be able to tell the player they are supposed to be replacing. The coach just tells them which line is going on next and, sometimes, tells a particular player to go and sub for someone. I don't think it's the coach that tells them when to jump over the boards, so is that also a sign of a lack of discipline?