Game Night - Ottawa @ Toronto - Sat, Feb 16, 2013

Yeh this year is wake up call at just how far we have to go

LeKing wrote:Looking at the Blackhawks this year... man we have a long way to go to become a cup contender.
They have the big 4 forwards, plus Kruger, Stalberg and Bolland. 4 first line players and another 3 top 6
Plus a crazy top 4 on D.
Everytime the top 2 lines are on the ice the puck goes from behind the Goalie to the opposing team's net in like 5 seconds.

We're on our way. We have Cowen, Methot and the best D-man on the planet - and a TON of money to spend.

LeKing wrote:Looking at the Blackhawks this year... man we have a long way to go to become a cup contender.
They have the big 4 forwards, plus Kruger, Stalberg and Bolland. 4 first line players and another 3 top 6
Plus a crazy top 4 on D.
Everytime the top 2 lines are on the ice the puck goes from behind the Goalie to the opposing team's net in like 5 seconds.

Can they keep the puck out of their own net come playoff time? It all comes back to goaltending for me with the Hawks. They could easily be the Penguins of last year's playoffs.

Corey Crawford is actually pretty good.

LeKing wrote:Corey Crawford is actually pretty good.

There are about 25 "pretty good" goalies in the league; more if you include the backups. LA barely squeaked into the playoffs and then Quick took over. That team was nowhere near the others on paper, but for a stretch of 30 games Quick was the best goaltender in the world. And he was better than "pretty good" to start with.

The Hawks have been built for 10 years now, they are formers cup champs and even then, some years they struggle in terms of really being dominate.

The Sens ae headed down the right path and guess what they have that the HAwks dont? A goaltender that can win a period, gam, or series.

NEELY wrote:The Hawks have been built for 10 years now, they are formers cup champs and even then, some years they struggle in terms of really being dominate.

The Sens ae headed down the right path and guess what they have that the HAwks dont? A goaltender that can win a period, gam, or series.

Hawks have way better forwards than we do. Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland and Brandon Saad looks good.

We (used to)have .... Spezza

wprager wrote:

LeKing wrote:Corey Crawford is actually pretty good.

There are about 25 "pretty good" goalies in the league; more if you include the backups. LA barely squeaked into the playoffs and then Quick took over. That team was nowhere near the others on paper, but for a stretch of 30 games Quick was the best goaltender in the world. And he was better than "pretty good" to start with.

Last time Chicaco won the cup, their goalie was way worse than Corey Crawford. Anti Niemi is worse.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:The Hawks have been built for 10 years now, they are formers cup champs and even then, some years they struggle in terms of really being dominate.

The Sens ae headed down the right path and guess what they have that the HAwks dont? A goaltender that can win a period, gam, or series.

Hawks have way better forwards than we do. Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland and Brandon Saad looks good.

We (used to)have .... Spezza

Oh come on. We have Spezza, Michalek - who sucks right now, but had 35 last year, Alfredsson, Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Turris and tons of money to spend on another top line forward. Chicago wasn't born overnight, it took time to build what they have. They bought Hossa, they traded for Sharp. It takes time, but we're well on the way.

Kane, Hossa and Toews is like having 3 Spezzas... Zibanejad, Turris, etc are as of now the equivalent of a Dave Bolland. 2nd tier.
That's why getting someone like Perry is important when the opportunity presents itself.
Since we have Karlsson, that might be enough.

LeKing wrote:Kane, Hossa and Toews is like having 3 Spezzas... Zibanejad, Turris, etc are as of now the equivalent of a Dave Bolland. 2nd tier.
That's why getting someone like Perry is important when the opportunity presents itself.
Since we have Karlsson, that might be enough.

Again though, they went out and signed Hossa, we can do that to. We have Spezza, we have a nice base of depth, we have the best D-man in the world and we have depth in goal.

SpezDispenser wrote:
Oh come on. We have Spezza, Michalek - who sucks right now, but had 35 last year, Alfredsson, Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Turris and tons of money to spend on another top line forward. Chicago wasn't born overnight, it took time to build what they have. They bought Hossa, they traded for Sharp. It takes time, but we're well on the way.

Michalek is a great complimentary player(important for sure). He's useless without Spezza or a comparable player setting him up. He's not going be a gamechanger all on his own.

Alfie just isn't the same player anymore, he can't singlehandedly win games for us like he used to.

Silfverberg and Zibanejad are currently prospects who are currently unproven in the NHL. You can't count on these guys to produce(not yet anyway).

I debated whether to include Turris or not. He's a great player but he's having trouble on the top line facing the toughest competition. Probably not strong enough to physically assert himself out there as I find he still get outmuscled (but he's better than last year). He's still progressing, we all expected him to excel on the 2nd line while Spezza gets the most attention from the opposition on the 1st line.

Spezza is the only dynamic forward we have, someone who can create something out of nothing. Da Costa is the most intriguing prospect we have with the team. He's making stuff happen and he looks by far the most determined to not get sent down and play better than last year. Everyone else is more or less a passenger. They work hard and have varying degrees of skill but not good enough to be a game changer.

Obviously it's going to take time and we can all see the pieces falling into piece but we still have a ways to go.

SpezDispenser wrote:
Again though, they went out and signed Hossa, we can do that to. We have Spezza, we have a nice base of depth, we have the best D-man in the world and we have depth in goal.

Well that's why we're hoping we'll sign Perry right ? I don't think anyone expects our entire top 6 to be made up of our own draft picks.

We need more dynamic, skilled forwards and we need another threat from the blueline(or two). We can't just rely on Karlsson, our opponents need someone else other than EK65 to worry about (to some degree). Hopefully Wiercioch and/or Cowen can be a factor.

LeKing wrote:

wprager wrote:

LeKing wrote:Corey Crawford is actually pretty good.

There are about 25 "pretty good" goalies in the league; more if you include the backups. LA barely squeaked into the playoffs and then Quick took over. That team was nowhere near the others on paper, but for a stretch of 30 games Quick was the best goaltender in the world. And he was better than "pretty good" to start with.

Last time Chicaco won the cup, their goalie was way worse than Corey Crawford. Anti Niemi is worse.

But their team was more stacked then now.

Hoags wrote:
Well that's why we're hoping we'll sign Perry right ? I don't think anyone expects our entire top 6 to be made up of our own draft picks.

We need more dynamic, skilled forwards and we need another threat from the blueline(or two). We can't just rely on Karlsson, our opponents need someone else other than EK65 to worry about (to some degree). Hopefully Wiercioch and/or Cowen can be a factor.

My opinion comes from the way the Senators are build from a foundation that includes many prospects, some of which will hit, some will miss, but the amount of them gives us a chance to build something quite similar to Chicago. Kalrsson, Cowen, Methot appear to be a perfect top 3, with the bottom pairing something around two of our prospects, it's the right side next to Cowen that concerns me. Obviously it could be Ceci or Murray could go out and try to acquire a guy, or it could be Gryba, but that's the huge hole - and righties who play big minutes are near impossible to find.

That said, I feel we have a ton of prospects that could one day be turned over into a right handed D-man like a Bogosian. It's a pretty important off season for this team to expand into a young Hawks territory by hopefully signing or acquiring at least one top line forward to compliment Spezza and a top tiered 2nd pairing right hander once and for all. Latendresse was a band air, low risk move, but we need someone there who can do that job consistently and not spend more time on the IR than the ice.

Gotta bag that impact forward though, Murray's positioned us perfectly to be in the hunt for a big guy, plus with Gonchar likely moving on, we'll need to hit the cap floor I assume.

NEELY wrote:The Hawks have been built for 10 years now, they are formers cup champs and even then, some years they struggle in terms of really being dominate.

The Sens ae headed down the right path and guess what they have that the HAwks dont? A goaltender that can win a period, gam, or series.

They stunk for many years which enabled them to get Toews, Kane, Seabrooke & Keith. Getting Hossa by UFA was great for them.. I like Sharp as well.

They are a great team who have yet to lose a game in regulation this season....

wprager wrote:

asq2 wrote:
Absolutely. We've had horrible luck but the positive angle is that the kids get some PT and we only have to suffer through the rest of a shortened season. And potentially getting a MacKinnon or Drouin or Jones could really help us in the future. Staying the course is paramount. The only "significant" piece we stand to lose after this year is Gonchar. I hope Murray really goes after a top-notch d-man to replace him and round out the top-4 with EK, Cowen and Methot. But d-men seem to be at a premium these days.

What if Alfie retires?

It's possible but I think he might stay on another year. This will probably not be super fun but he's not playing too many games and he knows Karlsson will be back the next season. Plus there's the incentive that he might play in the Olympics.

Here's hoping, anyway. We could make it a season to remember if he stays on another year.

asq2 wrote:

wprager wrote:

asq2 wrote:
Absolutely. We've had horrible luck but the positive angle is that the kids get some PT and we only have to suffer through the rest of a shortened season. And potentially getting a MacKinnon or Drouin or Jones could really help us in the future. Staying the course is paramount. The only "significant" piece we stand to lose after this year is Gonchar. I hope Murray really goes after a top-notch d-man to replace him and round out the top-4 with EK, Cowen and Methot. But d-men seem to be at a premium these days.

What if Alfie retires?

It's possible but I think he might stay on another year. This will probably not be super fun but he's not playing too many games and he knows Karlsson will be back the next season. Plus there's the incentive that he might play in the Olympics.

Here's hoping, anyway. We could make it a season to remember if he stays on another year.

I question whether Alfie actually makes the Olympics team. he's great but by next winter maybe Sweden decides to go younger.

He wouldn't make the Olympic team right now.

That being said, if they actually have a "3-year plan", whatever that means, then it doesn't make sense for Alfie not to be in the 3rd year.