GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Pittsburgh Penguins - 7:00pm ET - Thu. Jan. 28. 2010

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:Out of curiosity, what is people's general take on adding a Ray Whitney to this team before the deadline?

What would the cost be? Where does he play? Who goes to make room for him?

It's impossible now. If the team is gonna be tight, then you can't move anyone. Moving Picard now would be silly as well, we need the depth in case. Lee can go, but even then, we'll need some depth at some point I would imagine and it doesn't work against the cap. The cost of doing this is waiving Cheechoo and I doubt even the coldest heart could do that right now.

You underestimate how shrewd GMs can be, especially the one we have. There are ways in the CBA to clear salary if need be...

PKC wrote:
I agree with your assessment. I believe though that Kovalchuk will be moved before the Olympic break. If Waddell gets the sense that he can't re-sign the guy to a reasonable contract that he's not going to take the chance on the guy getting injured in the Olympic tournament and losing his biggest trading piece ever.

They're getting the ducks in a row as we speak. There's a fierce bidding war that's about to happen I bet. Chicago (ridiculous), LA, Boston, even Washington. Look out.

Toronto's 1st, Ryder, Wideman for a signed Kovalchuk. Whew.

asq2 wrote:

marakh wrote:

wprager wrote:McGuire is -- what was that expression -- verbally fellating Karlsson.

Yes, he is good and will be very, very good, very soon.

That's the kind of thing that makes me appreciate McGuire's work. He's one of the only guy on TSN that really appreciates hockey for what it is and not because Brian Burke is up there. McKenzie is great too, but appart from that nobody's gonna acknowledge that the Sens are becoming elite until we win a cup.
Same thing with Montreal media. I heard last night a guy on RDS. "well, they're just on a streak, like any team in the league has once in a while".
Well, watch the games first, douchebag.
I guess they are frustrated that their Original 6 dear teams are becoming a joke by the day.
I am not the homer kind, but that's the kind of thing that irritates me.

Yeah, I got ticked off when "Dutch" started off the highlights (with the Flyers' game) by saying "here's another team I think is better than the Senators..."

Seriously? Aren't you even going to feign impartiality? Even if they are better, what a useless comment.

I was pretty happy to see the Thrash score 3 in the third to take that one.

That's Diddling ridiculous...the Senators are the single most deserving 30-win team in the NHL right now. Bar none.

Chicago's putting points on i's already tonight.

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:
I agree with your assessment. I believe though that Kovalchuk will be moved before the Olympic break. If Waddell gets the sense that he can't re-sign the guy to a reasonable contract that he's not going to take the chance on the guy getting injured in the Olympic tournament and losing his biggest trading piece ever.

They're getting the ducks in a row as we speak. There's a fierce bidding war that's about to happen I bet. Chicago (ridiculous), LA, Boston, even Washington. Look out.

Toronto's 1st, Ryder, Wideman for a signed Kovalchuk. Whew.

That's WAAAAY too much for a UFA...

PKC wrote:
You underestimate how shrewd GMs can be, especially the one we have. There are ways in the CBA to clear salary if need be...

Not really...you'd have to send Regin and Karlsson down until the roster expands. Or you take a risk I guess and trade someone of value, but you better knock it out of the park. I would heavily suggest against deferring any bonuses, next year is gonna be tough as it is.

Thrashers after a win jump from 13th to 6th

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:
I agree with your assessment. I believe though that Kovalchuk will be moved before the Olympic break. If Waddell gets the sense that he can't re-sign the guy to a reasonable contract that he's not going to take the chance on the guy getting injured in the Olympic tournament and losing his biggest trading piece ever.

They're getting the ducks in a row as we speak. There's a fierce bidding war that's about to happen I bet. Chicago (ridiculous), LA, Boston, even Washington. Look out.

Toronto's 1st, Ryder, Wideman for a signed Kovalchuk. Whew.

That's WAAAAY too much for a UFA...

Check the bold.

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:
You underestimate how shrewd GMs can be, especially the one we have. There are ways in the CBA to clear salary if need be...

Not really...you'd have to send Regin and Karlsson down until the roster expands. Or you take a risk I guess and trade someone of value, but you better knock it out of the park. I would heavily suggest against deferring any bonuses, next year is gonna be tough as it is.

What about a guy like Penner assuming the Oilers are willing to take Cheechoo back in a deal for money purposes?

marakh wrote:Thrashers after a win jump from 13th to 6th

Christ! Could the standings be any closer? It's gonna be an all out war for playoff spots until the last second of the last game of the regular season...you can just tell.

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:
I agree with your assessment. I believe though that Kovalchuk will be moved before the Olympic break. If Waddell gets the sense that he can't re-sign the guy to a reasonable contract that he's not going to take the chance on the guy getting injured in the Olympic tournament and losing his biggest trading piece ever.

They're getting the ducks in a row as we speak. There's a fierce bidding war that's about to happen I bet. Chicago (ridiculous), LA, Boston, even Washington. Look out.

Toronto's 1st, Ryder, Wideman for a signed Kovalchuk. Whew.

That's WAAAAY too much for a UFA...

Check the bold.

My mistake. That's still A LOT to give up for the guy. He might be a premier talent like nothing that's been on the market since the first Dany Heatley trade out of Atlanta. But would the Bruins not be better served drafting the youngins and then signing the guy in the offseason a gratis?

PKC wrote:
My mistake. That's still A LOT to give up for the guy. He might be a premier talent like nothing that's been on the market since the first Dany Heatley trade out of Atlanta. But would the Bruins not be better served drafting the youngins and then signing the guy in the offseason a gratis?

It's a lot, yeah, probably too much in today's market, but we're talking the biggest target in a decade I would say. This is a crazy talent, bigger than Heatley, more dominant. Wideman doesn't hurt anymore, he's spoiled. Something happened to him too, I have no idea what. Atlanta would probably say no to him in all seriousness. Ryder is collateral damage, but I certainly see what you mean about Hall/Seguin or Fowler. That's such a might piece for the Bs.

Holy smokes, according to Sportsnet's post-game report the Sens are 12-1-1 when leading after one period and 19-1 when leading after two.

asq2 wrote:Holy smokes, according to Sportsnet's post-game report the Sens are 12-1-1 when leading after one period and 19-1 when leading after two.

I would love to know what our record is this when we don't score first, particularly over the last two months or so. Once upon a time, such an event was a disaster we simply couldn't overcome. Lately, it just seems to be "ho-hum," and we get back into the game in a hurry.

I'm glad we stopped the "letting-the-other-team-score-1-minute-after-we-score" trend, too.

I just finished watching the game (got home late but thanks to PVR, I'm good). HOW much does TSN love the penguins? It was penguin love-fest. Also, I DESPISE, REALLY, REALLY DESPISE RAY FERRARO.

TheAvatar wrote:I just finished watching the game (got home late but thanks to PVR, I'm good). HOW much does TSN love the penguins? It was penguin love-fest. Also, I DESPISE, REALLY, REALLY DESPISE RAY FERRARO.

The only reason the game was even on TSN was because of the Penguins probably.

OK, so I watched the game on the PVR last night (I'd seen the 3rd period live).

First of all, I really have to question N4L's view on Spezza. While I can see questioning his 1st star selection over Elliott, I thought he had a huge game. Very, very creative and the only giveaway was that tape-to-tape pass to a Pens forward on the PP. The other "giveaway" was a pass from Alfie (I think) that was about knee-high and two fee behind him, off the boards. It looked like he tried to wave his foot behind himself to try and knock it dow or something, but you can't fault a guy for not connecting on that -- that pass was way off. Very good game for Spezza.

Second, Karlsson is very exciting to watch. He's got to be challenging Shannon for the quickest set of legs on the team.

Third, Cheechoo is coming around. There was a play where he came back from deep in the other end to back check a guy and he was flying. His effort has always been there, his skating is coming around, all that's left islifting that post/crossbar curse.

Fourth, Kelly has 10 goals with his second game-winner. Last year he had 12 in 82 games; the year before that -- 11. I think it's safe to say this is a career year. I can't see the Sens moving him before the summer.

Fifth, if Elliott plays well Saturday, can anyone see him not getting another 1st star of the week?

Lastly, though, some of the comments here sounded a little beer-induced euphoria. Pittsburgh is not an elite team this year. An elite team does not sit 27th in PP with Crosby-Malkin-Gonchar. And MAF is clearly not 100% as the winning goal was a rebound on a simple shot he could not grab with his golve (the broken finger). Apparently he had to change his glove because of the injury. And he didn't look very comfortable on a few otherplays either, like that Spezza shot that trickled along the goal line and out. The Sens gave up 31 shots on goal last night and a lot of quality chances. They have not done that in a while. I guess it's not a bad thing when there's still something to work on.

Hockey Day is going to be interesting for sure. I don't know about 20,000+++ but it had better be a sell-out. Trouble is, there's going to be Ole chants pretty much from the last few bars of O Canada. That will be our bane until the current crop of 10-15 year olds grow up and get jobs and start filling the season-ticket ranks.