Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Playoff Dreams Die

With last nights loss to the Florida Panthers, the Ottawa Senators are officially eliminated from playoff contention. I know most Senators fans accepted this fact over a month ago but I'll admit I had hope a lot longer than I probably should have. I suppose it was just hard to admit that there would be an NHL playoffs without the Senators involved. Ah well.

The focus for this team now shifts to playing out the string and looking ahead to the NHL entry draft. The most pressing need for the Senators has to be a power forward type at the draft in Montreal but recently Sens GM Bryan Murray has been talking about a defenceman who he thinks is actually a better prospect than Victor Hedman. Asking around it seems the player Murray has his eye on is Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Ekman-Larsson has shot up the draft rankings in the second half of the season and is a guy Murray and his scouts really like.

My condolences go out to Ottawa 67's fans in the area after what must have been a heartbreaking Game 7 loss last night. The 67's held a 2 goal lead in the third period only to see the Ice Dogs tie the game in the third and score :13 seconds into overtime. The game turned out to be legendary Brian Kilrea's last behind the 67's bench. Kudos to Killer on an amazing career.

Lastly, there is talk former Senator Alexei Yashin is looking at making a return to the NHL and the Senators have an interest. It's not known what kind of contract the former Sen might be looking for but I'm sure he would be quite affordable. The Senators are also looking at inking European star Sloof Lirpa.

25 comments:

xInSafeHandsx said...

hahaha lmao. that's such a good one! Yashin coming back and the Sens actually being interested. Lol, nice one :P

On the playoff dreams, I have to agree, I too am disappointed and probably believed longer than I should have. I think the Sens will come back stronger next year, especially if they keep pace with the last part of the season.

Anonymous said...

Sloof Lirpa is amazing. I saw him play last year with Czech star Ekoj Lacitcarp. They have great chemistry.

Anonymous said...

I had the opportunity to see Sloof Lirpa play last year with Lacitcarp. They had incredible chemistry - could Murray possible sign both? There was a Hockey News article on Lirpa saying that could be a 35-40 goal man in the NHL given top 6 minutes.

Exciting times for Sens fans!

504Heater

Acilladon said...

i have never seen or heard of Sloof before.. but I hope he comes here. just because his name is so awesome!

Anonymous said...

ha ha that Yashin rumor was on TGOR this morning. Don't worry everybody, it was just an April Fool's joke.

I'll admit though, they had me going for about an hour

Alan Martin said...

If you really want to hold out hope longer than you should, how about this: The Sens are still not mathematically eliminated!

If the Senators were to go 6-0, the Canadiens 0-6, and the Panthers 0-4-1 or worse, there would be a tie at 88 points and 39 wins. It might seem that the Sens would lose the tiebreak - but they could actually win it if the Buffalo Sabres went 2-3-2 to make it a three-way tie.

(And no, this isn't an April Fools' joke, although that scenario is about as likely as winning the lottery...)

Cassie said...

The rumour about Yashin wanting to make a comeback is relatively true, I've heard it myself. But rejoining Ottawa is just a joke. I think fans would try to rip the guy apart anyway. :P

This Sloof Lirpa guy sounds cool. His name sounds cool actually. Can you imagine if Ottawa inked the guy and he scored at home? The crowd would have so much fun screaming out "LIRPA!!" after Stuntman Stu.

And since we're on the topic of updates...Daniel Alfredsson has been nominated for the Bill Masterton trophy for exemplifying perseverance and dedication to hockey.

Anonymous said...

guys come on, Lirpa is fake. read "sloof lirpa" bachwards. yeah, you see it now dont you.

Anonymous said...

Ah, Sloof. Good player, but doesn't show up to play most days. Just one, in fact :)

Anonymous said...

oh I also heard a rumour that Murray's interested in picking up Kcuf Prihcsnes, the up-and-coming Kazakh star forward. He's tearing it up in the Kazakhstan juniors, could post top-6 numbers given the opportunity.

Anonymous said...

wow anonymous at 12:26pm


your really an idiot

Anonymous said...

The Yashin thing was an April Fool's joke on Team 1200. Check your sources.

Anonymous said...

u got me sens chirp wow im such a sucker, but lets get real about the draft we need another top six forward because Comrie hasnt been great, fisher hasnt been great, kelly hasnt been great. its a sad fact our best player has been ryan shannon. i do admit we need that puck moving d-man but why not draft nazem kadri, i just dont have faith STILL, in my secondary scoring

Anonymous said...

anonymous at 12:47, you're a dick.

Anonymous said...

12:47

humour?

SensChirp said...

Anonymous at 2:40pm

Thought it was pretty clear I was joking.

They also arent signing Sloof Lirpa.

MyLittlePwny said...

jesus christ you guys are lame.

johnnyholmes said...

I don't think Yashin is a bad idea at all. He could be our 2nd line Center easily. It would be the former prodigal son returning home to make ammends story.

Disney Movie stuff. Tony Mandarich pt.2

Assuming the price is right and everyone is onboard with it it could work out.

CurfewOttawaAirport said...

Just a heads up that the Leaves just lost a 4th round pick in the upcoming draft ... related to Jonas Forgren's contract.

SensChirp said...

I saw that! And a hefty fine to boot. That organizations just loves giving draft picks away.

Anonymous said...

amazing how people are still commenting on the yashin/sloof rumors and thinking they are real hahahaha

SensChirp said...

Yea I took some heat for it. I thought it was pretty obviously a joke but perhaps not.

I am working on an update on a real potential signing for tomorrow's blog though. Not Sloof Lirpa related.

Cassie said...

BOOOO. I wanted Sloof Lirpa! BOOOO.

I still think that there is probably a guy out there in the world name Sloof Lirpa. And boy won't he be in for a treat when he realizes what his name is backwards. :P Good one though SC. ;)

In other news...Peter Bozak. Is this the guy you're talking about?

Anonymous said...

Too late, guys, the Leafs already signed Sloof... It's already a team full of jokes, so they figured they could use another one.

Apparently, he signed for 3.5M/year over 3 years. That's JEFF FINGER kind of money, baby!

Anonymous said...

sorry cassie, no real sloofs out there that I can find :P