Game Day - Minnesota @ Ottawa, 7:30PM, Tuesday, October 11, 2011

wprager wrote:
Somehow I don't think Rundblad will be a hitting machine, either.

Rundblad doesn't appear to be afraid to be physical. He threw that hit on Kelly in the last preseason. Kelly turned around at the last second and Rundblad got called for boarding . He may not be a hitting machine but he's certainly more willing to hit than say EK.

Our preseason was spent evaluating prospects and even now they are making decisions on Zibanejad, Da Costa etc. Playoff teams had their roster and lineups set pretty much before training camp, Toronto pretty much iced their final lineup for most of the preseason(and they've had pre existing chemistry from last season to build on). We haven't finalized our lines and defence pairings, we're in a different stage than those teams. Once things are finalized I expect the team to take another step forward as chemistry forms and players get more comfortable playing with each other etc.

I'm treating these games as the preseason, I am looking more at individual effort of the players/prospects than the final score. The giveaways are worrisome but I think they'll get better over time (let's face it, can't really get much worse).

Michallica wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:It would have been soooo much better if we could've had 5 more pre-season games against NHL teams. This is just killing us having to 'try things out' we shouldn't have to try anything out, things should be pretty much set in stone by now. It's not going to help with chemistry by playing the Clouston game already.

12 pre-season games??? That is insanity. Our team is supposed to struggle and it's still fairly new (as in players) so it's expected that they'll take time to gel, not just preseason. I get the frustration though, I feel that way too, but its reality unfortunately.

You guys are frustrated after 2 games?
I am probably the only guy in here who is ready to expect a lottery season
Though I am still hopeful we make the playoffs.

^ Pretty much.

I'm of the opinion that Z-Bad should stay through this. He has the size, the speed, the tenacity and the offensive instinct appears to be there. Next comes coaching him through handling the puck - because he handles it like a grenade when carrying it. He needs it off his stick immediately - like most young guys.

SensGirl11 wrote:

Michallica wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:It would have been soooo much better if we could've had 5 more pre-season games against NHL teams. This is just killing us having to 'try things out' we shouldn't have to try anything out, things should be pretty much set in stone by now. It's not going to help with chemistry by playing the Clouston game already.

12 pre-season games??? That is insanity. Our team is supposed to struggle and it's still fairly new (as in players) so it's expected that they'll take time to gel, not just preseason. I get the frustration though, I feel that way too, but its reality unfortunately.

Maybe not extra games, but they could've spread it out much better than they did - there was still 1 week of pre-season hockey going on when we were done. Frustrating.

We're in a rebuild with a new coach. Implementing a new system -which is done in practice, not games - would be more important I would say. Worry about chemistry later. Not one NHL team builds chemistry in the preseason.

SensGirl11 wrote:What's a fassion?

I think every d-man has been Dung besides Lee.

They've all been from average to bad. Lee got undressed by Colton Orr...

La Femme wrote:
You guys are frustrated after 2 games?
I am probably the only guy in here who is ready to expect a lottery season
Though I am still hopeful we make the playoffs.

You couldn't watch those two games and not be frustrated. I expect Ottawa to finish dead last (although with Anderson I think there's a slight chance of being better than that), but seeing Gonchar stroll through the neutral zone, 'trying to catch' Bertuzzi (ha) was enough to make anyone crazy. Not to mention the other 75 errors that our D made in the first 2 games. I'm relaxing through this season as much as possible, but f-ing Gonchar was driving me mad...

Cowen can make some mistakes, no problem, but lack of hustle had better not be one of those mistakes - and it hasn't. Same with Rundblad, he'll turn over the puck, that's life, but what excuse does Gonchar and to a lesser extent Phillips have? Come on...if we ever needed you guys it's now with a green team.

So I guess this will be Rundblad's one and only game for the moment and he'll be sent to Bingo tomorrow. I can buy giving him a game, and this is probably one of the best games to give him. He needs to play against NHLers to see what he needs to work on, it's all fine and dandy to watch these games, but being in one is a whole different story. I just hope he doesn't make too many mistakes and kill his confidence even more.

SensGirl11 wrote:So I guess this will be Rundblad's one and only game for the moment and he'll be sent to Bingo tomorrow. I can buy giving him a game, and this is probably one of the best games to give him. He needs to play against NHLers to see what he needs to work on, it's all fine and dandy to watch these games, but being in one is a whole different story. I just hope he doesn't make too many mistakes and kill his confidence even more.

Source?

SensGirl11 wrote:So I guess this will be Rundblad's one and only game for the moment and he'll be sent to Bingo tomorrow. I can buy giving him a game, and this is probably one of the best games to give him. He needs to play against NHLers to see what he needs to work on, it's all fine and dandy to watch these games, but being in one is a whole different story. I just hope he doesn't make too many mistakes and kill his confidence even more.

That's what you and I would likely do, because we both want to see him get into 10-15 straight games under KK, but who knows what MacLean will want to do with him...

SpezDispenser wrote:

La Femme wrote:
You guys are frustrated after 2 games?
I am probably the only guy in here who is ready to expect a lottery season
Though I am still hopeful we make the playoffs.

You couldn't watch those two games and not be frustrated. I expect Ottawa to finish dead last (although with Anderson I think there's a slight chance of being better than that), but seeing Gonchar stroll through the neutral zone, 'trying to catch' Bertuzzi (ha) was enough to make anyone crazy. Not to mention the other 75 errors that our D made in the first 2 games. I'm relaxing through this season as much as possible, but f-ing Gonchar was driving me mad...

Cowen can make some mistakes, no problem, but lack of hustle had better not be one of those mistakes - and it hasn't. Same with Rundblad, he'll turn over the puck, that's life, but what excuse does Gonchar and to a lesser extent Phillips have? Come on...if we ever needed you guys it's now with a green team.

I am frustrated with Gonchar, not the Ottawa Senators.

La Femme wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

La Femme wrote:
You guys are frustrated after 2 games?
I am probably the only guy in here who is ready to expect a lottery season
Though I am still hopeful we make the playoffs.

You couldn't watch those two games and not be frustrated. I expect Ottawa to finish dead last (although with Anderson I think there's a slight chance of being better than that), but seeing Gonchar stroll through the neutral zone, 'trying to catch' Bertuzzi (ha) was enough to make anyone crazy. Not to mention the other 75 errors that our D made in the first 2 games. I'm relaxing through this season as much as possible, but f-ing Gonchar was driving me mad...

Cowen can make some mistakes, no problem, but lack of hustle had better not be one of those mistakes - and it hasn't. Same with Rundblad, he'll turn over the puck, that's life, but what excuse does Gonchar and to a lesser extent Phillips have? Come on...if we ever needed you guys it's now with a green team.

I am frustrated with Gonchar, not the Ottawa Senators.

Well...okay. Not thrilled with Phillips either right now, nor Karlsson (except his dynamite offensive skills), Spezza needs to be better during the coarse of a game, not just in the 3rd, Foligno needs to be better period.

Aside from that, we're good to go.

SpezDispenser wrote:

La Femme wrote:

I am frustrated with Gonchar, not the Ottawa Senators.

Well...okay. Not thrilled with Phillips either right now, nor Karlsson (except his dynamite offensive skills), Spezza needs to be better during the coarse of a game, not just in the 3rd, Foligno needs to be better period.

Aside from that, we're good to go.

One scapegoat per customer, per season.

Michallica wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:It would have been soooo much better if we could've had 5 more pre-season games against NHL teams. This is just killing us having to 'try things out' we shouldn't have to try anything out, things should be pretty much set in stone by now. It's not going to help with chemistry by playing the Clouston game already.

12 pre-season games??? That is insanity. Our team is supposed to struggle and it's still fairly new (as in players) so it's expected that they'll take time to gel, not just preseason. I get the frustration though, I feel that way too, but its reality unfortunately.

How many pre-season games to NFL teams play? Their games are roughly equivalent to 5 of ours (16 game season vs. 82). Checking the pre-season schedule this year they played 4 games. So 12 is not all that crazy.

Looking at it another way, we play roughly 3 games per week vs. 1 for the NFL, so if they played 4 we should play 12. Again, not all that crazy.

NEELY wrote:Kuba has been fine, not sure why he is even being talked about in a negative fassion.

Yep, Kuba has not been a problem. And replacing him with Borowiecki as a "calming influence" is not a move I'd support. Boro is anything but calm. He will need tutelage. Bringing him in as a 4th left-side D man is a totally different situation and I'd get fully behind that one.

La Femme wrote:

Michallica wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:It would have been soooo much better if we could've had 5 more pre-season games against NHL teams. This is just killing us having to 'try things out' we shouldn't have to try anything out, things should be pretty much set in stone by now. It's not going to help with chemistry by playing the Clouston game already.

12 pre-season games??? That is insanity. Our team is supposed to struggle and it's still fairly new (as in players) so it's expected that they'll take time to gel, not just preseason. I get the frustration though, I feel that way too, but its reality unfortunately.

You guys are frustrated after 2 games?
I am probably the only guy in here who is ready to expect a lottery season
Though I am still hopeful we make the playoffs.

well its frustrating watching our team go down 4-0 and 5-0 in consecutive nights. Its frustrating to see the defensive breakdowns by a veteran, not rookie. But I get that it comes with this territory and there's going to be some growing pains. They wouldn't call it that if you wouldn't get frustrated with what's happening on the ice.

There are guys who are 'safe' players, and Boroweicki is one of those guys.

SpezDispenser wrote:There are guys who are 'safe' players, and Boroweicki is one of those guys.

He did a bit of running around, looking for a hit, before. Cowen was an iceberg in the preseason -- huge and very cool. He's lost some of that in some of his shifts. Kuba, on the other hand, has played solidly.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Good thing we are somewhat balanced in terms of handedness on D. Imagine if we had all RHD and no options on the left? I'm glad our D doesn't look like this:

Weber - Karlsson
Boyle - Seabrook
Doughty - Myers

Then we'd be REALLY screwed.

Oh man. Worst. D. Ever.