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

Yeah, I'm not trying to be negative with Zibanejad, but it's a waste of time right now - unless Murray and Mac think they can help him more by him being here.

I mean...why are people dead against rookies and young players like him being shuttled back and forth? You hit a wall in the NHL, you get instructions on what to work on in the AHL, you go down, you Diddle some Dung up, you come back up with energy. Rinse and repeat. It works all the time - see Da Costa.

Haven't looked at the stats but he seemed to have won a lot of faceoffs too last night. He isn't getting pushed around anymore and actually looks pretty strong out there. Laid a big hit on Phaneuf as well.
Oh I'm talking about DaCosta btw. He looks pretty young Alfie-like right now.

Da Costa has been impressive for a while now, he is ready for the NHL but he does need to get stronger still.

LeKing wrote:Haven't looked at the stats but he seemed to have won a lot of faceoffs too last night. He isn't getting pushed around anymore and actually looks pretty strong out there. Laid a big hit on Phaneuf as well.
Oh I'm talking about DaCosta btw. He looks pretty young Alfie-like right now.

Can't find any clips of that hit. Apparently CBC did not include that in their highlights. However checking the TSN game log he had a shot and three hits in the first, then *nothing* the rest of the game. The box-score confirms it. He was also 38% on face-offs.

Found it! DaCosta hits Phaneuf into the end-boards and knocks him down.

NEELY wrote:

LeKing wrote:I am more interested about giving Bishop some playing time to get a 2nd round pick at the deadline. Gonchar should net a 2nd rounder as well I think.
We played hard tonight, but not enough skill is not enough skill. Continue to draft well.

Yup, getting some picks or prospects for Gonchar, Bishop, Lundin, Regin, and Greening. Giving the Sens managment a chance to look at the kids in the NHL and see who and who doesn't belong is a luxury if expectations are somewhat realistic.

Take you top 5 pick, hopefully make a good off season signing to help out he forwards, and turn the corner into a contender next year. The rest of the season might look bleek but they are extremely close to being on top of the East.

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.

And a Right handed Dman if possible, please.

RH D man is so important, hopefully Gryba can show he can play in the NHL and maybe can lean on him next year being the #6 guy.

I think we need weircioch back for tomorrow. The team has obvious problems on The front end and he's got a great breakout pass.

Think the devils destroy us tomorrow....

asq2 wrote:

NEELY wrote:

LeKing wrote:I am more interested about giving Bishop some playing time to get a 2nd round pick at the deadline. Gonchar should net a 2nd rounder as well I think.
We played hard tonight, but not enough skill is not enough skill. Continue to draft well.

Yup, getting some picks or prospects for Gonchar, Bishop, Lundin, Regin, and Greening. Giving the Sens managment a chance to look at the kids in the NHL and see who and who doesn't belong is a luxury if expectations are somewhat realistic.

Take you top 5 pick, hopefully make a good off season signing to help out he forwards, and turn the corner into a contender next year. The rest of the season might look bleek but they are extremely close to being on top of the East.

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.

The Sens have 3 of their top 4 guys next year set in stone... maybe Gryba can be paired up with Cowen if he shows that he can play at this level. Only 1 game but he looked like he can hang. Phillips is a bottom pairing guy at this point but he is a player that will be needed as well.

Does Ceci make the jump right away? Maybe but he probably needs the year.

Just gotta play out the stretch of the year now and hope to get a way better idea of what you can expect from the kids in the organization at the NHL level. Makes for easier choices with guys like Greening, Daugavins, and Benoit.

Yeah we have a lot of candidates for the bottom pairing IMO but to hang with the best teams in the league it'd be terrific to get a really good top-4 RD opposite Cowen. Then you can be confident sending out either pairing against the opposition's best and you don't have to play Karlsson for 30 minutes.

Hopefully then having Spezza, Turris, Michalek, Alfie, Silfverberg, maybe a forward from the draft/Zibanejad up front can be enough offence for the start of the year and you add another top-6er at the deadline. Bam, one of the elite teams in the league (potentially anyway).

asq2 wrote:Yeah we have a lot of candidates for the bottom pairing IMO but to hang with the best teams in the league it'd be terrific to get a really good top-4 RD opposite Cowen. Then you can be confident sending out either pairing against the opposition's best and you don't have to play Karlsson for 30 minutes.

Hopefully then having Spezza, Turris, Michalek, Alfie, Silfverberg, maybe a forward from the draft/Da Costa up front can be enough offence for the start of the year and you add another top-6er at the deadline. Bam, one of the elite teams in the league (potentially anyway).

fyp. Da Costa is going to be top 6 IMO, he looks ready.

NEELY wrote:RH D man is so important, hopefully Gryba can show he can play in the NHL and maybe can lean on him next year being the #6 guy.

I think he took a massive step in showing that's he's an NHL D-man yesterday. Did a lot of things right.

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?

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.

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.