GAME DAY #75: Senators @ Islanders - 7:00 pm - Wednesday, March 23 2016

Hit me with a top 5 pick please

Forgot there was a game tonight. Guess I didn't miss much...

Michallica wrote:This may be unpopular, but I say we test the waters to see what Z Smith is worth.....I think that horse shoe is finally out of his butt

Oh dude, we have to test the waters with smith. Last time I checked his shooting percentage was like at 20%. Completely unsustainable production even for a real top 6 guy. You have to trade zach smith, there cannot be a better time to do it at. There is no way he will reproduce his season. No way.

Saw most of the first at the gym. Looks like we lost Lazar. Honestly I thought he was hooked just before the second goal. Just after he hurt his ankle or knee or whatever it was, guy had his stick over Lazar's shoulder from behind hooking him. I've seen that called against the Sens a million times. And then the lob pass play, how is that not offside? He was clearly across the line when he touched the puck. Or are they saying that the puck may have crossed the line while in the air and they had no way to determine whether it was across the line or not before his skate crossed the line?

In any case, if reviews are inconclusive I don't think the coach should lose the timeout. Not that it matters but it really isn't fair.

Stone is the first Sens player since The Alfie to get 60 points in his first two seasons.

Karlsson has 75 points in 75 games. Now imagine how many he'd have if the Sens had a decent PP or if the Sens, as a team, hadn't stopped scoring? I saw a tweet that when Bobby Orr led the league in assists he and his team mates were 1-2-3-4 in the scoring race. Karlsson is the only Sen in the top 20.

Stone is pretty much the second coming of The Alfie.

tim1_2 wrote:Stone is pretty much the second coming of The Alfie.

Basically, yeah. Perhaps not as offensively gifted, but in the same class of player - and that's obviously a massive compliment.

As much as we all get annoyed by this team, there are good pieces to build with.

SpezDispensed wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:Stone is pretty much the second coming of The Alfie.

Basically, yeah.  Perhaps not as offensively gifted, but in the same class of player - and that's obviously a massive compliment.

As much as we all get annoyed by this team, there are good pieces to build with.

Pierre said this morning on TGOR that he feels, with Stone's soft hands, he can be a perennial 30 goal scorer.  Would you call Alfie a "perennial 30 goal scorer"?  He topped 30 4 times (plus 29 another year) and had 40 or more two of those times.  That was the days of the CASH or Pizza line.

Stone has never played with a passer like Spezza (not on a regular basis) and let's face it, the clamp down on obstruction coming out of the lockout season had a lot to do with Alfie's goal explosion (112 goals in 3 seasons). And when Alfie first broke into the league he scored 24 and 26 goals, while Stone had 26 and 23 with 8 games to go.

Also, back when Alfie scored 26 in his Calder year there were *8* players with 50+ goals and another 4 with 45+. Last year Ovechkin has 52, then Stamkos with 43. So I would argue that Stone has scored the same (or very similar -- with 8 games to go he could well pass Alfie) in a league where scoring is down substantially.

Top 10 goal scorers last year: 392 goals. Top 10 in '96-97: 534. So Stone's 26 goals last year is like 35 in Alfie's day and age. And his 23 (to-date) this year is 31.

SpezDispensed wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:Stone is pretty much the second coming of The Alfie.

Basically, yeah.  Perhaps not as offensively gifted, but in the same class of player - and that's obviously a massive compliment.

As much as we all get annoyed by this team, there are good pieces to build with.

yeah pretty much have to agree. they both play on levels that are much higher than players around them and make those around them much better. they generate their own offense and are both great all around players with high hockey IQ. stone will likely become a 30 goal guy when this team can stand on a mature top 6 without any holes.

Stone has produced at a higher clip and his defensive prowess is trending into legendary territory (if he hadn't missed those 2 games to suspension he'd be on target to pass Datsyuk's takeaway record).

But I don't think he is as hard a player as Alfie was (except against Ferraro for some reason), and Alfie had Wolverine's recovery powers (a microfracture wouldn't even faze him).

Ok Walter. They aren't the exact same player. One is also blond while the other has brown hair. One is Canadian while the other is Swedish....
I think the point is the impact each can have on this team. It's the level of what they bring that is out of the ordinary.



And to think spezzD wanted to trade stone...

Flo The Action wrote:Ok Walter. They aren't the exact same player. One is also blond while the other has brown hair. One is Canadian while the other is Swedish....
I think the point is the impact each can have on this team. It's the level of what they bring that is out of the ordinary.



And to think spezzD wanted to trade stone...

Yep. But I'm sure he would have wanted to pick him up off waivers.

Remember when Stone played one game in the playoffs and got an assist on Spezza's goal (game winner, I believe). But they panicked and put in Silfverberg the next two games and we lost. I still remember how Grapes was all over them for that move, taking out a good Canadian boy and inserting a Euro who never played NA hockey.

Flo The Action wrote:Ok Walter. They aren't the exact same player. One is also blond while the other has brown hair. One is Canadian while the other is Swedish....
I think the point is the impact each can have on this team. It's the level of what they bring that is out of the ordinary.



And to think spezzD wanted to trade stone...

wprager wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:Ok Walter. They aren't the exact same player. One is also blond while the other has brown hair. One is Canadian while the other is Swedish....
I think the point is the impact each can have on this team. It's the level of what they bring that is out of the ordinary.



And to think spezzD wanted to trade stone...

Yep.  But I'm sure he would have wanted to pick him up off waivers.

Remember when Stone played one game in the playoffs and got an assist on Spezza's goal (game winner, I believe).  But they panicked and put in Silfverberg the next two games and we lost.  I still remember how Grapes was all over them for that move, taking out a good Canadian boy and inserting a Euro who never played NA hockey.

It was certainly a head scratcher.....even Pmac admitted that might have been a bad move. Never tinker with a winning lineup especially in the playoffs

Flo The Action wrote:Ok Walter. They aren't the exact same player. One is also blond while the other has brown hair. One is Canadian while the other is Swedish....
I think the point is the impact each can have on this team. It's the level of what they bring that is out of the ordinary.



And to think spezzD wanted to trade stone...