Ottawa Senators TIDBITS & QUICK HITS!

NEELY wrote:
Pretty sure the playoffs are all about winning 2-1, 3-2 games... which the Sens are doing. The Sens could beat anyone in the East aside from Pitt and Boston with the lineup they have now in the 1st round.

We're barely scoring goals now, a lot harder to score in the playoffs. 3 of our last wins are shootouts which don't exist in the post season. Our PP is so bad we should just decline them.

Any decent playoff team will shut us down because there is so few players which are a legit scoring threat.

We could absolutely beat Montreal in a 7 game series. Discussion over.

People need to remember that we'll have Spezza and Michalek and maybe an extra forward via trade come playoff time. There will be offense available, and our goaltending is incredible. No reason to think we wouldn't be a competitive playoff team. Why the negativity...jesus, look at the past few games.

tim1_2 wrote:We could absolutely beat Montreal in a 7 game series. Discussion over.

not a chance, they thoroughly dominated us last time. We had barely any scoring chances and DD's goal was a fluke that Price messed up on.

They had the puck most of the time and it was in our zone most of the time. If we somehow got the puck out they brought it right back in. For a puck possession team we don't possess the puck a whole lot without EK and Spezza.

If it wasn't for Bishop, 2 posts and a crossbar we'd have been blown out.

tim1_2 wrote:Why the negativity...jesus, look at the past few games.

It's not negativity, just realism. Do only homer opinions matter now ? Do shootout wins somehow indicate our chances of playoff succes ?

I am not saying they can't do it, just that there is huge void with EK out that they haven't addressed.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:
Pretty sure the playoffs are all about winning 2-1, 3-2 games... which the Sens are doing. The Sens could beat anyone in the East aside from Pitt and Boston with the lineup they have now in the 1st round.

We're barely scoring goals now, a lot harder to score in the playoffs. 3 of our last wins are shootouts which don't exist in the post season. Our PP is so bad we should just decline them.

Any decent playoff team will shut us down because there is so few players which are a legit scoring threat.

Lets see what happens in the next 28 games before you write the Sens off totally, especially with Spezza, Michalek, and Anderson all in the fold. Who knows what else might happen with Zibanejad and Silferberg as well, they might find a scoring touch on a regular basis as well as it's looking like they are on their way.

Hoags wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:We could absolutely beat Montreal in a 7 game series. Discussion over.

not a chance, they thoroughly dominated us last time. We had barely any scoring chances and DD's goal was a fluke that Price messed up on.

They had the puck most of the time and it was in our zone most of the time. If we somehow got the puck out they brought it right back in. For a puck possession team we don't possess the puck a whole lot without EK and Spezza.

If it wasn't for Bishop, 2 posts and a crossbar we'd have been blown out.

Ah yes, and last year there was no chance NYR wouldn't sweep Ottawa under the rug like an after thought. I remember those discussions very well. Fact Ottawa is 2-1 against Montreal this year and they didn't have Spezza for any of those games. Ottawa's goaltender was better than Montreal's, usually the story of the playoffs as well.

Montreal is no screaming hell of a team. They are playing well right now, much like the Sens. Team like that in the playoffs could very well get ridden out of the building when the whistles go away.

tim1_2 wrote:We could absolutely beat Montreal in a 7 game series. Discussion over.

Haha seriously. Not sure when the Habs became some dominate force in the East.

NEELY wrote:
Lets see what happens in the next 28 games before you write the Sens off totally, especially with Spezza, Michalek, and Anderson all in the fold. Who knows what else might happen with Zibanejad and Silferberg as well, they might find a scoring touch on a regular basis as well as it's looking like they are on their way.

I am not writing them off and I'm not even going to try and predict what happens in the next 28 games. I am just saying the way I see things right now.

NEELY wrote:
Haha seriously. Not sure when the Habs became some dominate force in the East.

They dominated us last game and the other win was against Budaj who is probably the worst backup in the NHL.

We're icing an AHL team every night right now.

NEELY wrote:

Ah yes, and last year there was no chance NYR wouldn't sweep Ottawa under the rug like an after thought. I remember those discussions very well. Fact Ottawa is 2-1 against Montreal this year and they didn't have Spezza for any of those games. Ottawa's goaltender was better than Montreal's, usually the story of the playoffs as well.

Everyone on this forum knew very well NYR would not sweep us. But we still had trouble scoring, so much that we had Rob Klinkhammer in our top-6 and we dropped Silf in straight from the SEL playoffs not to mention Stone.

I still don't see how we score with any kind of consistency without EK, what he brings to the team is beyond words.

Hoags, you're telling me Ottawa would have no chance against Montreal in the playoffs. We beat them last game with an AHL roster and our backup goalie. Yeah, it was in a shootout, but there's not telling how it would've turned out if it had been continuous OT. I also remember putting up 5 goals against them earlier in the season.

By the playoffs we'll have Spezza and Michalek back in the lineup (and EK, but you didn't hear that here), and (best goalie on the planet) tending goal.

I agree that Montreal is a good team, and would have the edge right now in a playoff series, but things will be different in a couple months.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:
Pretty sure the playoffs are all about winning 2-1, 3-2 games... which the Sens are doing. The Sens could beat anyone in the East aside from Pitt and Boston with the lineup they have now in the 1st round.

We're barely scoring goals now, a lot harder to score in the playoffs. 3 of our last wins are shootouts which don't exist in the post season. Our PP is so bad we should just decline them.

Any decent playoff team will shut us down because there is so few players which are a legit scoring threat.

Who cares? As long as they're winning, why be so negative?

tim1_2 wrote:Hoags, you're telling me Ottawa would have no chance against Montreal in the playoffs. We beat them last game with an AHL roster and our backup goalie. Yeah, it was in a shootout, but there's not telling how it would've turned out if it had been continuous OT. I also remember putting up 5 goals against them earlier in the season.

I am not saying no chance, I am just saying we're at a big disadvantage right now. The 5 goals were against Budaj who is awful.

Yes Spezza, Michalek and hopefully Stone will inject some offense to the team.

This team has a hard time getting the puck out of the zone and getting it into the opposing team's zone. They are playing dump and chase a lot of the time because no one can bring it in and set up a cycle.

And (hopefully) there is no way they risk EK's long term health and speed by rushing him back in, although i could see him insisting on it.

Maybe if BM swings a deal for a guy like Boyle who can fill EK's role on the team somewhat and can fill in behind him next year I'll feel better.

Hoags wrote:I am not saying no chance

Sorry, I must have misinterpreted you when you said:

Hoags wrote:not a chance

tim1_2 wrote:

Hoags wrote:I am not saying no chance

Sorry, I must have misinterpreted you when you said:

Hoags wrote:not a chance

Not a chance that's worth discussing There's always a chance, nothing is zero or 100% in hockey.

We technically have a chance against Chicago in an SCF matchup but I wouldn't put any of my money on it.

I will revisit this discussion on Trade deadline, a couple losing streaks and I'm sure 90% of you will do a 180 degrees

I wonder if Murray would do a MPS for Bishop trade...? I still like the kid and think he would be the absolute perfect shut down winger at some point in his career.

NEELY wrote:I wonder if Murray would do a MPS for Bishop trade...? I still like the kid and think he would be the absolute perfect shut down winger at some point in his career.

That's been my thinking as well, assuming Tambellini actually wakes up.

Bishop will probably get dealt at the draft. Columbus or Oilers, whoever makes a better offer. I think Jarmo will make a strong push.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:I wonder if Murray would do a MPS for Bishop trade...? I still like the kid and think he would be the absolute perfect shut down winger at some point in his career.

That's been my thinking as well, assuming Tambellini actually wakes up.

Bishop will probably get dealt at the draft. Columbus or Oilers, whoever makes a better offer. I think Jarmo will make a strong push.

MPS is very much the Regin type player than MacLean loves. He can skate, decent shot, knows how to play the game, doesn't back down, and works hard. I don't think he ever becomes much more than a 20 goal scorer at his peak but that's not what you bring him in for. He obviously doesn't have the value of top 10 pick anymore or even a to 20 but I would say the value for him is about the same as Bishop... don't think anyone would have to add.

NEELY wrote:

MPS is very much the Regin type player than MacLean loves. He can skate, decent shot, knows how to play the game, doesn't back down, and works hard. I don't think he ever becomes much more than a 20 goal scorer at his peak but that's not what you bring him in for. He obviously doesn't have the value of top 10 pick anymore or even a to 20 but I would say the value for him is about the same as Bishop... don't think anyone would have to add.

I totally agree, MacLean could do wonderful things with MPS here, he is so misused in Edmonton.

I don't think Bishop gets traded by the deadline unless a playoff team loses their #1 goalie long term. In this case Murray can pretty much name his price.

As for Edmonton, Khabibulin is gone after this year so they'll make a move in the offseason I think. It would still depend on Tambellini/Lowe swallowing their pride on Dubnyk but there is so much wrong with that team beyond goaltending.

Both Mason and Bobrovsky are RFA after this year in Columbus as well. Jarmo will move one (if not both) out of there.