GAME DAY:Philadelphia Flyers @ Ottawa Senators– 7:30PM EST, Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

N4L wrote:Whoa, haha, he wouldnt be top 3 in Ottawa right now. Maybe he can one day (even thats a stretch) and Im a lot more excitted about him then I was to start the year. He is not a top 3 NHLer right now, top 6 MAYBE.

Lets dial things back a bit here. If he makes The Sens next year then we can start talking about that, but as of right now he is an over ager tearing aprt The QJMHL. I like the guy, a lot actually, lets start to come back down to earth right now.

His shot is lethal though, that might be NHL worthy at this point. It's a bullet to say the least.

You misunderstood, top 3 shots on the Sens.

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:Whoa, haha, he wouldnt be top 3 in Ottawa right now. Maybe he can one day (even thats a stretch) and Im a lot more excitted about him then I was to start the year. He is not a top 3 NHLer right now, top 6 MAYBE.

Lets dial things back a bit here. If he makes The Sens next year then we can start talking about that, but as of right now he is an over ager tearing aprt The QJMHL. I like the guy, a lot actually, lets start to come back down to earth right now.

His shot is lethal though, that might be NHL worthy at this point. It's a bullet to say the least.

You misunderstood, top 3 shots on the Sens.

Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:A few things:

1 - I might actually start to stand up on a Kelly break away if he keeps this up.

2 - Huge hats off to the PK units

3 - What do the Sens have against Carcillo? Fun to watch but seriously is there a history or did I miss something early?

4 - I seriously can't wait for the Alfie 1000th game celebration. The Alfie chant should be even more crazy than playoffs circa 2007.

They saw a small, annoying, cocky, dirty player playing for the Flyers, and just assumed it was Downie, and so acted accordingly. You can see how easy it is to make that mistake.

N4L wrote:
Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Don't look at me man, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just re-iterating what this St.John fan is saying. I've heard it more than once that he has a very Heatley-esq release, which is a good thing to say the least. Apparently he can skate as well, which is a hell of a lot better than Heatley who used to skate like he was pushing a walker.

I think there's zero chance of Hoffman making the NHL next year, in fact, I think it's laughable. He needs to leave the sniper-friendly confines of the Q and make some noise in the AHL for a full year before even getting consideration IMO.

PKC wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

PKC wrote:The math on this is ridiculous....7 minute powerplay. So if they score, how much time is left on the pp?

It's 2 minutes for instigating and 5 for fighting so if it's within the first 2 then there's 5 min left. If it's after the first 2 then the PP is gone.

Of course the Sens didn't score at all on the PP last night and you could have been asking a rhetorical question so disregard if you want.

That wasn't the break down at all...there was a four minute penalty in there for instigating with a visor, and then another 2 for something and then another minute (??) for something...

This is how the penalties broke down on that play:

Gagne

2 minutes for instigating (or roughing?)
2 minutes for instigating while wearing a visor
5 minutes for fighting
10-minute misconduct (instigator rule)

Volchenkov

2 minutes for roughing

The 10-minute misconduct is just a time-out for adults -- the player has to sit in the box, but it's not a penalty against the team. Gagne and Volkenkov then traded off 2-minute minors, leaving 7 minutes left over -- 2 minutes of minor penalty time, and 5 minutes of major penalty time.

Hobiesens wrote:Gagne got 19 minutes : 10 for misconduct, 5 for fighting and 4 for instigator with visor. The 10 minutes is not a power play leaving 9 minutes of power play time minus the 2 minutes that Volchenkov got for roughing = 7 minutes of PP.

Not that the Sens cashed in on it, but it's a lot easier to defend a 2 goal lead when you play 1 man up for 7 minutes.

Eep. You beat me to it.

Dash wrote:Man, when Volchenkov does the things he did last night, it makes it hard to think about letting him go. The guy always sacrifices himself and seems to always be in the right place, blocking shots, preventing goals, and laying people out. Having him AND Sutton would be awesome. Maybe give Volchenkov a one year deal, hopefully he will take a little less for one year.

As far as the people wanting Mike Brodeur up, it's to be the back-up to Elliott and waive Leclaire. Makes little sense now that the cap has little impact.

Didn't see too much of Zack Smith. I thought he would be the guy they would have fight Carcillo since he wasn't getting much ice time.

Too much PP and PK time for Smith or anyone on the 4th line to see much ice time at all.

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:
Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Don't look at me man, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just re-iterating what this St.John fan is saying. I've heard it more than once that he has a very Heatley-esq release, which is a good thing to say the least. Apparently he can skate as well, which is a hell of a lot better than Heatley who used to skate like he was pushing a walker.

I think there's zero chance of Hoffman making the NHL next year, in fact, I think it's laughable. He needs to leave the sniper-friendly confines of the Q and make some noise in the AHL for a full year before even getting consideration IMO.

Just as well, maybe he'll be ready just in time for Kovalev's departure.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:
Fisher, Alfi, Spezza, Karlsson, Kuba all have cannon's, that's even a stretch.

Don't look at me man, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just re-iterating what this St.John fan is saying. I've heard it more than once that he has a very Heatley-esq release, which is a good thing to say the least. Apparently he can skate as well, which is a hell of a lot better than Heatley who used to skate like he was pushing a walker.

I think there's zero chance of Hoffman making the NHL next year, in fact, I think it's laughable. He needs to leave the sniper-friendly confines of the Q and make some noise in the AHL for a full year before even getting consideration IMO.

Just as well, maybe he'll be ready just in time for Kovalev's departure.

Yeah, that's an interesting point, if we don't re-sign Kovalev - which I assume we won't - then there'll be a massive spot open on the Sens roster. Petersson, Hoffman, Silfverberg, Cowick etc. will all have an amazing opportunity if they can strut their stuff.

If that happens that way, perhaps the Sens finally have the $$ to get that top pairing D-man - or by then, who knows, maybe Karlsson and Cowen are filling that bill with Wiercioch trying to get in as well.

I think the future is bright here and I hope it all works out the way we're all kind of counting on. It would be refreshing to see a bigger influx of electric young talent like Kalrsson, Regin etc.

Kovalev was awful last night. Really starting to wonder if he actually wants to be here again. Hopefully this is just he calm before the storm because if he can get going come playoff time, he can absolutely be the difference between winning a round and losing out.

N4L wrote:Kovalev was awful last night. Really starting to wonder if he actually wants to be here again. Hopefully this is just he calm before the storm because if he can get going come playoff time, he can absolutely be the difference between winning a round and losing out.

Kovalev was very good and very consistent pretty much from late November through to the end of February. As long as he plays more like that Kovalev in the playoffs, I think we have to be happy. Let's face it, we all knew what we were getting when we signed him -- a lethal player who dials in and out on any given night. He's dialed out at the moment. As long as the pendulum swings back the other way come April, I'm not sure we can expect much more.

Im hoping he does because I think he is literally the difference between winning a round and losing.

N4L wrote:Im hoping he does because I think he is literally the difference between winning a round and losing.

I agree.

Talk to me about playoff Kovalev. When the playoffs come, I pretty much limit myself to following a few teams, and MTL isn't really one of them, so I've never really seen much of him in the playoffs. Does Kovalev thrive in the postseason, or is it just another time of the year for him to go hot & cold, just as he feels?

I think Kovalev's the last of a dying breed. He's the kind of player that will 'conserve' energy in shifts by not moving his feet once the puck has gotten away from him like Jagr used to do and guys like that.

The good thing about him is, when he's on, he can lift you to places you never thought possible - ie. the playoffs for us. When he's off, he's absolutely useless, really he is. The only good thing about him right now is that teams at least have to acknowledge he's on the ice and dispense D-men to cover him. That's all that's good right now.

EDIT: and the threat that he could conceivably take over a game at any given time.

N4L wrote:Kovalev was awful last night. Really starting to wonder if he actually wants to be here again. Hopefully this is just he calm before the storm because if he can get going come playoff time, he can absolutely be the difference between winning a round and losing out.

I honestly notice him about twice a night since the break, and usually when I notice him it's because he gives the puck away.

I'm pretty sure he's a good playoff performer, I remember him being one of the only Habs that had a good series against the Bruins last year.

I know in The Rangers cup run he was tearing it up... from what I remember about the guy, during the playoffs, he usually shows up in some pretty big ways.

As long as Kovalev is on when the playoffs hit, I dont care all that much about the right now.

N4L wrote:Whoa, haha, he wouldnt be top 3 in Ottawa right now. Maybe he can one day (even thats a stretch) and Im a lot more excitted about him then I was to start the year. He is not a top 3 NHLer right now, top 6 MAYBE.

Lets dial things back a bit here. If he makes The Sens next year then we can start talking about that, but as of right now he is an over ager tearing aprt The QJMHL. I like the guy, a lot actually, lets start to come back down to earth right now.

His shot is lethal though, that might be NHL worthy at this point. It's a bullet to say the least.

He was *specifically* talking about his shot being top-3 on the Sens. So he'd have to be better than two of Fisher, Alfredsson, Spezza and Michalek. Or better than three of the above plus Cullen?

N4L wrote:

TheAvatar wrote:Yeah, I wasn't thinking that needed to be done this morning; it's too late now (although I'm reminded of Lou jumping behind the bench just about this time of year about 2-3 years ago). I think if you could get a real great guy to run the powerplay, you bring him in (maybe as a consultant) and you assign other duties to the current powerplay coach (who is that anyways) but you don't fire him (until later)

Work on what you have been working on, hopefully the tallent can get it sorted out.

Could they bring in an outside consultant? I don't think the Sens have an assistant coach *specifically* tagged with the power-play. If it's Clouston, then he's not getting fired for this, and he's got a small enough ego that he won't stand in the way if this improves the team.