GAME 4 - 2010 Stanley Cup GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators (1) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2), Tuesday Apr. 20, 2010 - 7:00PM EST.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:the trades for Heatley and Vermette look pretty darn bad now, don't they? Almost career limiting.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:the trades for Heatley and Vermette look pretty darn bad now, don't they? Almost career limiting.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:the trades for Heatley and Vermette look pretty darn bad now, don't they? Almost career limiting.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:the trades for Heatley and Vermette look pretty darn bad now, don't they? Almost career limiting.

PKC wrote:
How so? Michalek had an injury year, Cheechoo was a known quantity and the second round pick turned into Cullen. With Cheechoo off the books, you also gain $3 million in cap space.

As for Vermette's trade, Leclaire's had an injury year and Lehner is expected to be a star goaltender in the league.

So you parlay Heatley and Vermette into Michalek, Cullen, Leclaire, Lehner and cap space. Not too shabby if you ask me.

We'll see how much better our luck is next year with injuries.

RobbyJ wrote:One of the big problems, at least in the last 2 games, seems to be that the D is afraid of pinching and jumping in to the rush like they do when the team is rolling. It's understandable with Crosby, Malkin, etc.. but that is how this team needs to play if they want to score some goals. Right now the Sens are playing a little scared of the firepower on the other side, and if that doesn't change the series is over in 5.

PKC wrote:
I mentioned that yesterday. That and the third forward in isn't going to net, he's just floating around the offensive zone ten feet from the blueline. That doesn't cut it. Our forecheck could use a shot of adrenalin too.

Again, basing the entire series on yesterday's game is a little premature. This team can be better. The Penguins were just more opportunistic. That's all it was.

They didn't manhandle us. They didn't swarm our net and have us running around. They didn't break on odd man rushes - although Guerin somehow slipped behind the team. Still not sure how that happened.

The fact is, the Penguins are beatable. This isn't some unstoppable force that can't be contained. We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot and making life hard.

PKC wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:the trades for Heatley and Vermette look pretty darn bad now, don't they? Almost career limiting.

How so? Michalek had an injury year, Cheechoo was a known quantity and the second round pick turned into Cullen. With Cheechoo off the books, you also gain $3 million in cap space.

As for Vermette's trade, Leclaire's had an injury year and Lehner is expected to be a star goaltender in the league.

So you parlay Heatley and Vermette into Michalek, Cullen, Leclaire, Lehner and cap space. Not too shabby if you ask me.

We'll see how much better our luck is next year with injuries.

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:
How so? Michalek had an injury year, Cheechoo was a known quantity and the second round pick turned into Cullen. With Cheechoo off the books, you also gain $3 million in cap space.

As for Vermette's trade, Leclaire's had an injury year and Lehner is expected to be a star goaltender in the league.

So you parlay Heatley and Vermette into Michalek, Cullen, Leclaire, Lehner and cap space. Not too shabby if you ask me.

We'll see how much better our luck is next year with injuries.

The 2nd rounder turned into Sutton if you want to get technical, but Sutton was the boss until the playoffs.

Flo The Action wrote:
a healthy michalek for 82 games next year plus a healthy everyone could put us in the top 4 teams. it was a bad year for injuries if you ask me, i'm surprised we did as well as we did counting those. i also think we have to give leclaire another shot next year. with the level of tallent he has, i think he could take us far in the playoffs giving him time before hand to get hot.

Flo The Action wrote:the way i look at it is we've proven that we can beat the in game one in their building, i think it would of been a more crushing blow to have lost the first 2 games and won the 3rd by one goal. i'm sure CC and the vets are trying to right the ship as we speak. this is far from over.
the next game is a must win.

First, the absence of Alex Kovalev and Milan Michalek hurts Ottawa, but the absence of Filip Kuba for the playoffs is a far greater loss.

Erik Karlsson is going to be a star in this league for a long time, you can take that to the bank. And Andy Sutton is a solid dependable NHL defenceman with a knack for delivering thundering hits.But playing Top-4 minutes against either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin is proving to be a tough task for both players — it is tough on any NHL defenceman.

With Kuba out of the lineup, you can’t avoid the matchup so the Senators are going to need a harder game from their centres down low to help out the defence.

Second, I couldn’t help but notice how methodical Pittsburgh’s game plan was.

The whole night they chipped the puck out of their zone. Every single time at Ottawa’s blueline Pittsburgh chipped and chased and pressured Ottawa’s defence.

The Senators are at their best when they hem teams in with aggressive pinching from their defencemen. But Pittsburgh’s wingers played higher on the walls and didn’t allow Ottawa’s defence to force them into turnovers.

Ottawa played Pittsburgh just as hard and was just as physical, if not more, but the difference once again was Pittsburgh’s skill players were just better.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:
a healthy michalek for 82 games next year plus a healthy everyone could put us in the top 4 teams. it was a bad year for injuries if you ask me, i'm surprised we did as well as we did counting those. i also think we have to give leclaire another shot next year. with the level of tallent he has, i think he could take us far in the playoffs giving him time before hand to get hot.

Top 3, because we win the North East. And yes, you can quote me on that.

PKC wrote:
The Bruins are adding Hall/Seguin, Savard and Colborne next year. They also have a former Vezina winner as trade bait should they wish to go in that direction and they have tons of money to sign an impact free agent in the offseason.