GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens - 7:30pmET - FRI Jan. 21 2011

Jesus, how hurt is Neil?

Big Ev wrote:and for people saying Pierre McGuirew would make us the laughing stock of the league, well, NEWSFLASH we already are the laughing stock of the league!

Fair enough, but hiring McGuire isn't exactly the best way to turn the tide of opinion.

I don't think nabby and his half million is what's keeping us from getting him off waivers. I think melnyk and murray are both driving the tank bus. I imagine melnyk expects a full flyers turnaround next season. If they go after semin it will prove the theory.

hemlock wrote:

22_4_ever wrote:
Here is my problem with keeping Clouston, and doing things like not making a move for Nabakov.

To me, that is Melnyk telling the fans that he's not going to spend another dime to try to make the team better this year for the fans. Screw trying to make the playoffs, he's basically telling everyone (especially season ticket holders) thanks for your money, but we're not going to try to put the best product we can on the ice, I'm going to try to save money.

That to me doesn't help you in this or any Canadian city win the fans over.

Does signing Nabakov make this team better? Doubtful in the extreme.

The silence from the management team to me says they are staying the course. Slowly, the fans are getting excited about a youth movement now, so I don't think that's a issue.

As far as the season ticket holders go, I think most of them are knowledgable fans, and most of those people realize that this group is going nowhere. If the teams moves towards a younger lineup, the fans will come back in spades. That's the model of the new NHL. Look at the buzz around the Oilers and Kings etc.

It's not like this would be a full rebuild anyway. We've got the goalie of the future, and potentially 3-4 studs on the blueline. This won't be a Philly-style turnaround but it shouldn't take 7 years like it took the Hawks.

I certainly acknowledge the fickleness of this fanbase though, and would expect a dip in attendance during the transition, but I'd say we are already bottomed out, and this is realistically the only way to go.

Does signing Nabakov make this team better?

Have you been watching our goaltending lately? Yes it does, while the team is still crappy, making a waiver request for a goalie whose salary is less than any other on your roster now, yet is even with how badly he's played this year better than what we have.

I am a season ticket holder, and I disagree that this is a bigger rebuild than you think. Our goalie of the future is 3-4 years away at best. Who is going to be the starter and back up next year? Elliott and who? Brodeur and who? Assuming you trade away Phillips, Kovalev (no way anyone takes him) Kuba and Ruutu, then we're bringing in rookies or young players to fill those gaps. We won't have a #1 d-man coming in to replace Phillips. We won't have a 3/4 to replace the gap Kuba is/will be/was. We do have a plethora of 3rd/4th line grinder players but we'll still be a 2nd line Center (Fisher is not a #2 Center) and at least another top 6 forward.

You just expect to go out to Free Agency and get those guys I suspect? Well it's not happening you're not going to replace the players leaving with better talent to make the team better in 1 year, 2 is a long shot and 3 is more like it.

As for season ticket holders, your darn right I'm pissed if they don't move on Nabakov. If good ole money bags can't spend another 500k to make the last 3 months of this miserable season a littler more enjoyable for me, then me and my 8,000.00 will go elsewhere.

EDIT**
Oh one last thing...fans will only come to watch a younger team if they are winning. This town knows no other way. I've had tickets for 15 years and been through the lean times. You put a young but losing team on the ice and the fans will not come out.

SpezDispenser wrote:Jesus, how hurt is Neil?

to me it looked like the end of the stick went right into his eye.

GO LEE!

Phillips just shoved Moen who easily went into the boards hard, gets a penalty for it.

7-1 on a PPG by PK

End this.. now...

It seems like after every loss, the media asks "Is this Clouston's last game..."

Oh and claiming Nabokov is a big mistake. First of all, his agreement is to play with Detroit and his agent sent out a memo to all teams that Nabokov will only play for a contender. So anyone that claims him that is not where he wants to play, he will not report to that team, period.

Second, this season for the Sens is done. The only thing they can win this season is the #1 overall pick. If Melnyk screws that up by trying to force this team to win, which it cannot, then we need a new owner. He should sell to someone who will take a loss for a few years to build an exciting team.

Stay the course, lose the rest of the games this season and then assess the coaching. Don't do something stupid now that'll cost us one of the Big 4.

22_4_ever wrote:

hemlock wrote:

22_4_ever wrote:
Here is my problem with keeping Clouston, and doing things like not making a move for Nabakov.

To me, that is Melnyk telling the fans that he's not going to spend another dime to try to make the team better this year for the fans. Screw trying to make the playoffs, he's basically telling everyone (especially season ticket holders) thanks for your money, but we're not going to try to put the best product we can on the ice, I'm going to try to save money.

That to me doesn't help you in this or any Canadian city win the fans over.

Does signing Nabakov make this team better? Doubtful in the extreme.

The silence from the management team to me says they are staying the course. Slowly, the fans are getting excited about a youth movement now, so I don't think that's a issue.

As far as the season ticket holders go, I think most of them are knowledgable fans, and most of those people realize that this group is going nowhere. If the teams moves towards a younger lineup, the fans will come back in spades. That's the model of the new NHL. Look at the buzz around the Oilers and Kings etc.

It's not like this would be a full rebuild anyway. We've got the goalie of the future, and potentially 3-4 studs on the blueline. This won't be a Philly-style turnaround but it shouldn't take 7 years like it took the Hawks.

I certainly acknowledge the fickleness of this fanbase though, and would expect a dip in attendance during the transition, but I'd say we are already bottomed out, and this is realistically the only way to go.

Does signing Nabakov make this team better?

Have you been watching our goaltending lately? Yes it does, while the team is still crappy, making a waiver request for a goalie whose salary is less than any other on your roster now, yet is even with how badly he's played this year better than what we have.

I am a season ticket holder, and I disagree that this is a bigger rebuild than you think. Our goalie of the future is 3-4 years away at best. Who is going to be the starter and back up next year? Elliott and who? Brodeur and who? Assuming you trade away Phillips, Kovalev (no way anyone takes him) Kuba and Ruutu, then we're bringing in rookies or young players to fill those gaps. We won't have a #1 d-man coming in to replace Phillips. We won't have a 3/4 to replace the gap Kuba is/will be/was. We do have a plethora of 3rd/4th line grinder players but we'll still be a 2nd line Center (Fisher is not a #2 Center) and at least another top 6 forward.

You just expect to go out to Free Agency and get those guys I suspect? Well it's not happening you're not going to replace the players leaving with better talent to make the team better in 1 year, 2 is a long shot and 3 is more like it.

As for season ticket holders, your darn right I'm pissed if they don't move on Nabakov. If good ole money bags can't spend another 500k to make the last 3 months of this miserable season a littler more enjoyable for me, then me and my 8,000.00 will go elsewhere.

EDIT**
Oh one last thing...fans will only come to watch a younger team if they are winning. This town knows no other way. I've had tickets for 15 years and been through the lean times. You put a young but losing team on the ice and the fans will not come out.

I'll concede your points as a season ticket holder and what you say about the attendance. However, I do not believe that the fans will stay away for too long. A good young team who works their asses off would draw fans as evidenced by other cities (lesser hockey markets in fact). This is a different league than when the Sens patrolled the basement of the standings in the early to mid 90's. It's a league based on youth and energetic up-tempo play. That's what we need to be moving towards. What we have now isn't working. A change towards a more youthful lineup, would I think signal an effort to get better to the fans, who would respond. Of course there will be lean times, but you can't expect to diet to lose weight while not bothering to take the bad things out of your diet right? Something has to give.

I do not for one minute believe that Nabakov, who will certainly be rusty, make much of a difference. It's not like goaltending is our only problem. Our defence is porous and we cannot score. How does a new goaltender fix that? He can't score the goals.

There is no fix for this team this season. There isn't a player alive who'd make a difference on this club because we have so many holes. As far as wanting Melnyk to make move to make the team better now, I can understand as a paying customer being upset, but are you willing to make the team better now at the expense of the future? That seems non-sensical to me.

SpezDispenser wrote:Stay the course, lose the rest of the games this season and then assess the coaching. Don't do something stupid now that'll cost us one of the Big 4.

Ding ding ding. This is what I've been trying to say.

Rebuild and rebuild now!!! It was embarrassing sitting through this game at SBP. Luckily some other season ticket holders were around my seats.

shabbs wrote:It seems like after every loss, the media asks "Is this Clouston's last game..."

What else can they say? If the team is staying the course, there is nothing to write about. The media has to talk about something.

IMO, the smartest thing this team can do, is stay the course, dump some salary at the deadline and retool in the offseason.

SpezDispenser wrote:Stay the course, lose the rest of the games this season and then assess the coaching. Don't do something stupid now that'll cost us one of the Big 4.

So basically "Don't fire Clouston because we can't afford to start winning." hahaha, i kid of course, i know that's not what you said/meant, but i find it funny, and somewhat agree.

The Sens could sell out most games simply by lowering prices. A lot of the real fans are the ones that cannot afford to go to games. I've tried to get tickets to games and I will only spend $30/ticket and have a hard time finding any but there are plenty of $200 ea. tickets. So, people want to go to games, just not for that price. So it only makes sense to sell more tickets at a lower price.

Anyways, if Neil is out, does Carkner dress as a forward? Or does Ruutu come back in?

How tall is Z Smith. TSN says he's 6'2, but Gill is 6'7, and did not look 5 inches taller.