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

Emelin gets 5 and a game for this hit on Spezza. Looked like Spezza turned. Anyhow, nasty cut on the nose (visor?).

http://gfycat.com/BonyFlamboyantHagfish

Not sure this was discussed, but Cameron split up Turris/MacArthur at practice. Lines were:

MacArthur-Zibanejad-Ryan
Michalek-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Pageau-Lazar
Condra-Legwand-Neil

Chiasson was extra.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:A lot of rumblings, chatter, things trending and most of all.... Swirlominos a plenty brah. A veritable bonanza if you will.

FINALLY!!!!

wprager wrote:Emelin gets 5 and a game for this hit on Spezza. Looked like Spezza turned. Anyhow, nasty cut on the nose (visor?).

http://gfycat.com/BonyFlamboyantHagfish

Yeah, Spezza turned which made things worse, but Emelin lead in with a classic crosscheck. Don't think there will be a suspension though.

Why is Hoffman not with Turris?

Hoffman seems to be a guy that you move around to get the offense going so I like he was moved with Pageau and Lazar. Team are going to start to focus in on him a little more so keeping him beside 2 guys that are somewhat struggling to find offense is a great move at this point IMO.

Basically Hoffman is the spark plug in Ottawa... you need a guy like that. To me that's his role. If Turris line or Zibanejad's line fail to find any success this way you will see Hoffman moved there at some point.

I absolutely love the job Cameron has done to this point.

Plus we'll likely see Hoffman with more PP time if he's not quite getting the 5 on 5 minutes.

Exactly... never worry about lines 1-3, ES minutes are usually pretty evenly distributed among the top 3 lines no matter the team. PP mins is where a lot of guys make bank.

Ha, no one will ever need to tell me about having an equally distributed top 9.

My point was it would be nice to see Hoffman play with a guy who is really struggling in Turris to see if they can mesh.

SpezDispensed wrote:Ha, no one will ever need to tell me about having an equally distributed top 9.

My point was it would be nice to see Hoffman play with a guy who is really struggling in Turris to see if they can mesh.  

Instead of potentially dragging down Hoffman by putting him with Turris, I'd sooner see Turris dropped to Line 3 or 4 to see if he can find his game there.

SpezDispensed wrote:Ha, no one will ever need to tell me about having an equally distributed top 9.

My point was it would be nice to see Hoffman play with a guy who is really struggling in Turris to see if they can mesh.  

I would say offensively no one is struggling more than Lazar. I think Hoffman being on the other side is absolutely worth a try and see if they can get anything going.

NEELY wrote:

SpezDispensed wrote:Ha, no one will ever need to tell me about having an equally distributed top 9.

My point was it would be nice to see Hoffman play with a guy who is really struggling in Turris to see if they can mesh.  

I would say offensively no one is struggling more than Lazar.  I think Hoffman being on the other side is absolutely worth a try and see if they can get anything going.

No offense to Lazar (haha), but Turris getting going is way more important than Lazar getting going right now. Without Turris and MacArthur contributing the way they were and can, we're in trouble.

Putting Lazar with Pageau is an instant neat duo anyway IMO. Perhaps it's even a better excuse to put a guy like MM with them for some extra drive to the net and veteran experience.

Whatever though, gotta love Pageau, Lazar and Hoffman for everything they bring, so from that respect that line is gonna be fun to watch. Plus, MM has been playing well lately, so maybe he gets hot(ter).

Stone creates a lot of offense as well. Point being is with the offense distributed like that up and down the lineup it's impossible for the other team to focus in on one line so someone will get weak matchups and whoever that might be will have to produce.

I am happy with the changes to the line combos but would have preferred they leave Hoffman-Zib-Ryan alone.

I thought we had some nice chemistry with Hoff-Zib-Ryan and Michalek-Pageau-Chiasson.


Reuniting Stone with Lazar and MacArthur could have been an interesting line combo as well.

No line stays together forever especially on a team that depends on depth vs a couple all-stars.

NEELY wrote:Stone creates a lot of offense as well.  Point being is with the offense distributed like that up and down the lineup it's impossible for the other team to focus in on one line so someone will get weak matchups and whoever that might be will have to produce.

Yeah, perhaps this'll take some heat off Turris. I'll be watching with interest tomorrow to see if this sparks all three lines.

Turris is just little, and he plays little. He's muscled off the puck easily, and obviously doesn't play physically. He's also not great in the faceoff circle. So if he's not clicking and setting up his linemates, he isn't worth much. He's really slumping right now.

I think Stone is this team's darkhorse. I don't think he's quite ready for L1 minutes, and with BFR on L2, Stone is relegated to L3. IMO he's the perfect player to anchor an offensively productive, defensively responsible L3. Not sure if Puempel or Lazar are capable of handling L3 minutes next year, but they would make a very interesting L3 for the Sens -if- the Sens find a top 3 RW.

Mac-Turris-XXX
Hoffman-Zib-Ryan
Puempel-Lazar-Stone
Michalek-Pageau-Chiasson

I think that's a real solid lineup if Puempel and Lazar live up to expectations and the team rolls all four lines.

The question then becomes who best compliments Mac and Turris. The obvious answer is to acquire someone via trade but I'd also be willing to move Stone to L1 and see if Prince can contribute at the NHL level on L3. I think Prince is perfect trade bait, but assuming he stays with the Sens I'd like to see if he can contribute.

Same goes for Claesson and Wideman, which IMO, makes Phillips and Wiericioch expendable.