Ottawa Senators (present and past) TIDBITS & QUICK HITS!

Flo The Action wrote:Ryan with a fractured finger... Diddle me.

Apparently it may not be that bad....

Big game tonight!  Gotta get things on track.

Flo The Action wrote:Ryan with a fractured finger... Diddle me.

I remember them saying that he had a sore wrist from a sash a while back, which is why he hasn't been shooting well or often. Now the finger. Is he getting targetted?

At least it's a good draft year.

Our team is just too slow.

Oglethorpe wrote:Our team is just too slow.  

The players are fast, especially the forwards. Team game is what is Cussing slow. It's either the system or the Defensemen.

I wouldn't mind getting a top 10 pick this year that's for sure. Skill is still lacking.

LeCaptain wrote:

Oglethorpe wrote:Our team is just too slow.  

The players are fast, especially the forwards. Team game is what is Cussing slow. It's either the system or the Defensemen.

I wouldn't mind getting a top 10 pick this year that's for sure. Skill is still lacking.

Overall the forwards lack foot speed. better than last year but still slow as a group.

Oglethorpe wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:

Oglethorpe wrote:Our team is just too slow.  

The players are fast, especially the forwards. Team game is what is Cussing slow. It's either the system or the Defensemen.

I wouldn't mind getting a top 10 pick this year that's for sure. Skill is still lacking.

Overall the forwards lack foot speed.  better than last year but still slow as a group.  

It's easy too look slow when by the time you get the puck there's already 4 opponents in front of you. Think about it, who is slow on the roster? Certainly not McArthur, Turris, Hoffman, Zibanejad, Lazar, Chiasson, Michalek...heck even Condra is pretty fast.

LeCaptain wrote:

Oglethorpe wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:

Oglethorpe wrote:Our team is just too slow.  

The players are fast, especially the forwards. Team game is what is Cussing slow. It's either the system or the Defensemen.

I wouldn't mind getting a top 10 pick this year that's for sure. Skill is still lacking.

Overall the forwards lack foot speed.  better than last year but still slow as a group.  

It's easy too look slow when by the time you get the puck there's already 4 opponents in front of you. Think about it, who is slow on the roster? Certainly not McArthur, Turris, Hoffman, Zibanejad, Lazar, Chiasson, Michalek...heck even Condra is pretty fast.

Hoffman has great speed.
Zibanejad, Lazar and Condra have good speed.
Turris, MacArthur and Greening are average.
Chiasson, Stone, Michalek and Smith are below average.
Neil, Legwand and Ryan are slow as dirt.

Only Karlsson and Ceci have good speed on the back end. Phillips and Wiercioch would lose a race with Jason Allison.

Go through other teams and you'll see the exact same pattern (for the forwards I mean).
And MacArthur is not average. He has good speed.
Go back to the Boston team that won the cup and tell me who has blazing speed there. They just move the puck so well they look fast.

Maybe the pundits were right. Most of them predicted Ottawa at 7th in the division and that is where they sit. Speed is part of it but the talent at C and D is just not there. There is some promise but that is about two years away from being talent that is good enough to contend in the division.

LeCaptain wrote:Go through other teams and you'll see the exact same pattern (for the forwards I mean).
And MacArthur is not average. He has good speed.
Go back to the Boston team that won the cup and tell me who has blazing speed there. They just move the puck so well they look fast.

Exception with Boston. Look at Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA.

I would argue that with all four teams they have had:

1. Teams spending to the cap
2. Top end young talent on team friendly contracts
3. Incredible depth down the middle

Ottawa is 0 for 3 by my count.

Oglethorpe wrote:

LeCaptain wrote:Go through other teams and you'll see the exact same pattern (for the forwards I mean).
And MacArthur is not average. He has good speed.
Go back to the Boston team that won the cup and tell me who has blazing speed there. They just move the puck so well they look fast.

Exception with Boston.  Look at Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA.

Go through LA's last cup team and tell me who are the fast guys there. Definitely not Jeff Carter or Anze Kopitar who I consider LA's best 2 forwards. It's not like they score their goals on breakaways. Good speed but not faster than a Clarke McArthur or a Zibanejad.
Go look at their games if you have Game Center. They look fast because each player keeps the puck for 1 second and their forwards receive the puck while they are speeding through the neutral zone. Our forwards receive the puck 2 feet from the net after the defensemen have cycled it back and forth between both of them.

dennycrane wrote:I would argue that with all four teams they have had:

1. Teams spending to the cap
2. Top end young talent on team friendly contracts
3. Incredible depth down the middle

Ottawa is 0 for 3 by my count.

We need better defensemen. Wiercioch cannot be on an NHL team. Philips is done.

Oglethorpe wrote:
Hoffman has great speed.
Zibanejad, Lazar and Condra have good speed.
Turris, MacArthur and Greening are average.
Chiasson, Stone, Michalek and Smith are below average.
Neil, Legwand and Ryan are slow as dirt.  

Only Karlsson and Ceci have good speed on the back end.  Phillips and Wiercioch would lose a race with Jason Allison.

Zibanejad may have good top-speed but his two-step acceleration is poor. Maybe the result of bulking up in the summer, who knows.

MacArthur is very fast, not sure why you said that. He's been a bit invisible recently, so maybe perception is affected by recent play?

Greening once won the Sens' skills competition fastest skater. If he's not skating fast now it's conditioning, game-shape or perhaps even not being sure of his role.

I agree on the rest, though.

But the fastest skater cannot beat a pass and we are not in the right places to receive a pass half the time. Bad decisions and decisions and late decisions are killing this team.

dennycrane wrote:I would argue that with all four teams they have had:

1. Teams spending to the cap
2. Top end young talent on team friendly contracts
3. Incredible depth down the middle

Ottawa is 0 for 3 by my count.

Ottawa could get better while spending less.

Replace Smith ($1.88), Phillips ($2.5), Greening ($2.65), Michalek ($4) with Pageau ($0.613), Claesson ($0.623), Robinson ($0.925) and Puempel ($0.863).

Methot comes back and that is a better team than what you've got now. You can make even more changes but with Methot back Wiercioch is benched, so why bother. Neil can be replaced but he's trying and producing, and with better forwards he could go back to playing fewer minutes and be used properly. Plus you have to keep some vets (that's one reason for not touching Legwand).

The changes above reduce the cap by $8M, by the way.

LeCaptain wrote:

dennycrane wrote:I would argue that with all four teams they have had:

1. Teams spending to the cap
2. Top end young talent on team friendly contracts
3. Incredible depth down the middle

Ottawa is 0 for 3 by my count.

We need better defensemen. Wiercioch cannot be on an NHL team. Philips is done.

I think the biggest issue right now is that Karlsson cannot trust whomever they stick in as his partner. As a result he tries to do it all by himself. I almost feel like you could put Karlsson out there with five forwards at even strength and it will be better than what we have now.

Last night I saw him skating circles in his own end both with and without the puck. Half of that skating should have been Phillips. We need Methot back in a huge way.

Just saw Murray tell Lazar in the hotel lobby he will be named to the junior team tomorrow.