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Ev wrote:the D isn't depressing, it will be the strongest point of the team in the near future

I don't think the Sens D is all that bad either... team defense is awful but most of the simpletons think lots of goals against = bad defensemen.  Ottawa's team defense and general commitment (or lack there of) is why they get hemmed in their own zone and scored on way too often.

NEELY wrote:

Ev wrote:the D isn't depressing, it will be the strongest point of the team in the near future

I don't think the Sens D is all that bad either... team defense is awful but most of the simpletons think lots of goals against = bad defensemen.  Ottawa's team defense and general commitment (or lack there of) is why they get hemmed in their own zone and scored on way too often.

Exactly. It's a total team effort. When our offense can't sustain any pressure, we spend way too much time in our own end. In the Nashville game, I was counting shifts where we had sustained pressure in the Predators' zone...it happened twice over the first two periods. Twice.

5 of 7 D-men have less than 300 NHL games of experience - and I don't listen to Potvin often, but he says D-men start maturing after the 300 game mark - in other words, we're really young.

SpezDispenser wrote:5 of 7 D-men have less than 300 NHL games of experience - and I don't listen to Potvin often, but he says D-men start maturing after the 300 game mark - in other words, we're really young.

Well that's the other part of the problem, but I think it's a much smaller issue than the whole team effort thing.

tim1_2 wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:5 of 7 D-men have less than 300 NHL games of experience - and I don't listen to Potvin often, but he says D-men start maturing after the 300 game mark - in other words, we're really young.

Well that's the other part of the problem, but I think it's a much smaller issue than the whole team effort thing.

Team defence is good when Turris, Mac and Ryan are out there. Michalek was an f-ing mess until recently, he couldn't even get back to defend. Spezza is....Spezza. We didn't have a Hemsky. The Smith line is usually good for getting back.

It's a team issue for sure, but a LOT rode on Cowen blowing Donkey this year, Weircioch still not being strong enough, Phillips having a pretty rough time, Methot having that weird injury/getting sat, Karlsson's porous defensive play and Ceci being thrust into a top 4 spot pretty early on. Oh - and Gryba blowing the first part of the year as well. It seems we couldn't get all things working on the back end at once this year for any stretch.

Left Side                                  
Methot                                              
Cowen                                            
Phillips                                            
Weircioch                                          
Boro

Gotta think one or two of these guys will be moved this off-season

Michallica wrote:Left Side                                  

Right Side

Methot                                              

Karlsson

Cowen                                            

  Gryba

Phillips                                            

  Ceci

Weircioch                                          
Boro

Gotta think one or two of these guys will be moved this off-season

Don't forget we have Claesson knocking on the door (+34 and a left shot) and Wideman pretty close too. Claesson seems like he's ready for a shot NOW, which only further crams up our defence on the left side. I'd bet Borocop gets dealt.

Boro is dirt cheap, the style that Murray loves and is a good 'ol Ottawa boy. I wouldn't bet on him being the one personally. Claesson looks ready to me from what I've seen - which is VERY limited I'll admit, but he can wait another year, so I wouldn't really consider him unless there are injuries.

We have a ton of quantity - with some quality, but we could really use Dan Boyle. We can never have enough veteran presence and puck moving.

Dan Boyle isn't nearly the same player he was. We don't need him.

Michallica wrote:Left Side                                  

Right Side

Methot                                              

Karlsson

Cowen                                            

Gryba

Phillips                                            

Ceci

Weircioch                                          
Boro

Gotta think one or two of these guys will be moved this off-season

I agree, especially after BM's recent comments on Cowen I think we deal a d-man this summer.
I'm gonna go back to stewart deal between the murrays. buffalo has a few D-man prospects but no one that is a more of a PMD type of player. I imagine that on draft day we'll be moving Weir and a 2nd to buffalo for Stewart. that being the day when picks are viewed as holding the most value.

the team nest year
mac/turris/ryan
stewart/spezza(*sigh*)/hemsky
hoffman/zib/lazar
greening/smith/neil
condra

methot/karlsson
cowen/boyle(yes i said it)
phillips/ceci

gryba/boro as extras.

Yeah, I'd bet Weircioch is moved for either Stewart or Parenteau.

Borowiecki or Wiercioch will be on of the two moved for sure... unless they decide to go with 8 D-men next year which isn't the worst idea but smart money is on a trade.

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm not gonna take that as a big excuse.  A millionaire should be able to provide assistance to his spouce when he needs to workout.

I'm glad he appears to be rounding back to the old Michalek though, I always really liked him obviously.

I think it's simply the knee surgery that he had in Europe that caused him to miss significant off-season training and he hasn't found his feet until now.  The question I would have remains: is he going to remain healthy, or is this just one big risk?

He didn't have knee surgery. He had a "procedure". Not to minimize it, but it's just not the same thing.

tim1_2 wrote:
Don't forget we have Claesson knocking on the door (+34 and a left shot) and Wideman pretty close too.  Claesson seems like he's ready for a shot NOW, which only further crams up our defence on the left side.  I'd bet Borocop gets dealt.

Remember when we thought Wiercioch was knocking on the door when he was a sophomore and we couldn't wait for him to skip his third/fourth year and step right onto the Ottawa blue line? That was 4-5 years ago. Good times.