NEW SCOREBOARD GDT: Montreal @ Ottawa , 7:30PM, Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
PS - is it because his wife gave birth this summer? Perhaps he didn't have as much time to put in the training, perhaps it messed with him mentally. I dunno, kinda grasping at straws at this point.

He was doing auto racing this summer and I remember one line from the article on the Sens website how he had to "unlearn" his fast reflexes in order to be able to race effectively. I guess he didn't learn them back ?

He's not the same goalie as last year, he plays deep in his net, rarely challenges shooters, hasn't made those great desperation saves he was known for and I haven't seen him communicating with the defense as he did last year. All the things that impressed me last year are largely absent. It must be a confidence/motivation thing, he's not "in it".

Our defense is pretty bad as well, so it's not like our goalies get a lot of help.

hemlock wrote:Can someone fashion a reasonable argument as to why Bobby Butler is in the lineup?

I can't for the life of me wonder how this team could think so highly of Butler and essentially send Filatov away to keep Butler. And don't give me any Dung about one way contracts please. That's a joke argument. If this team is serious about winning, then eating a one way deal is sometimes necessary.

NEELY wrote:

hemlock wrote:Can someone fashion a reasonable argument as to why Bobby Butler is in the lineup?

I can't for the life of me wonder how this team could think so highly of Butler and essentially send Filatov away to keep Butler. And don't give me any Dung about one way contracts please. That's a joke argument. If this team is serious about winning, then eating a one way deal is sometimes necessary.

Butler gets scoring chances and has done something (little as it is) offensivly. He's hit a ton of posts this year and all in all, was a lot more effective on the 4th line than Filatov. Not saying Butler shouldn't be a healthy scratch when the team is totally healthy but Filatov dumped the puck into the corner the first game of the year and Spezza and Michalek went to work... that was the highlight of his year.

Hoags wrote:

wprager wrote:You've made an argument of Butler over Filatov, but not Butler in the lineup. Konopka has more goals, wins faceoffs and fights, yet he's been out of the lineup for Butler on a few occasions.

All that said, Butler had 5 shots on goal last night. I know, that's not telling the whole story, but I only got to watch the start of the second before I turned it off in disgust. Also, Phillips was the only scratch last night. Regin and Winchester are both on the IR. I suppose if Phillips played they could have put Lee or Carkner in as a forward and sat Butler, but fact of the matter is they had no one else without calling someone up.

MacLean says that Butler works hard... which implies that Filatov didn't (as much at least anyway).

hemlock wrote:

Filatov was probably a bad example. How about Da Costa then? I'm just tired of seeing the free ride Butler gets. I want to believe it's a sophomore jinx, but man, he's got to work harder. That Cammallerri goal last night he coasted back and watched as Cammalleri banged in a rebound literally untouched. He's got to give more of a damn. Is he this years Regin?