(UPDATE 11:49 AM)- Erik Karlsson and Peter Regin both missed practice this morning. TSN's Brent Wallace says they are both sick. There was some speculation this could be a demotion coming for Karlsson but that does not appear to be the case.
Filip Kuba is on the ice with the team this morning.
We are just nine games into the 2009 season and already we've seen a little bit of everything from our Ottawa Senators. We've seen them win the close ones. We've seen impressive victories, heartbreaking losses and amazing comebacks. All this in just a small nine game sample.
So its understandable that so many have been asking; which team is the real Ottawa Senators? Is it the team that ran over the Tampa Bay Lightning or is it the group that let a two goal lead slip away late in the third against the division rival Bruins.
At this point I think its safe to say they are somewhere in between. If the Senators can continue to beat the teams they are supposed to beat and at least stay competitive against the stronger teams in the East, they seem poised for a return to playoff hockey.
What is impressive however is that the team has got off to this 5-2-2 start without their best all around defenceman in the line up. Filip Kuba's absence has hurt this line up more than most realize and having him back should be a huge boost for this hockey team.
The hope is that Kuba will make the trip to Florida and return either against the Panthers or the Lightning.
The Senators have been awful on the power play so far this season and that largely has to do with the lack of a consistent PP quarter back. A guy who can run things from the back end and distribute the puck to the team's talented forwards.
Kuba was that guy for Ottawa last season. He put 40 points from the back end and his absence through the last 8 games has left a huge hole on the back end. Having Kuba back in the line up should jump start that PP and stabilize the Senators defence as a whole.
The Senators power play is currently ranked 29th in the NHL clicking just 11.4% of the time. Ottawa has as many shorthanded goals as PP goals (4) so far this season.
Picard has struggled the last couple games and would likely be the odd man out when Kuba is ready to return.
Until Kuba returns and our defence and more importantly power play get settled, I dont think we truly know what this Senators team is capable of.
Ottawa returns to action Wednesday against the Florida Panthers.
35 comments:
We need KUBA back and we need Kovalev out there on the PP. That's his bread and butter.... Shannon on the PP is horrible. I really wish Clouston would stop putting Shannon out there. He can QB our PP in Binghamton. Also we need Kuba back so we can stop Carkner from playing 4 on 4 in OT. I like Carkner as a 6th defenceman. Not as a top 4!
Brent
Looking forward to seeing how Karlsson does once paired up with a reliable puck mover like Kuba.
I still think the Sens need to pick up one more Kuba type top 4 dman to be a playoff calibre team but Kuba's return will help in the meant time.
I would say its a toss up between Pickard and Campoli on who sits, both are pretty terrible so far this year.
seems to me like the Sens should just take a penalty every couple minutes. We'd probably score more often!
I'm kidding, of course. Even our super-powered PK can't keep this up forever.
I'd like to see Campoli sit out a few games when Kuba gets back. Let Picard play to redeem himself, or to play himself out of the lineup.
Picard has had a couple bad games, but looked fairly poised early in the season. Plus, I think he has more upside than Campoli.
Personally, I'd rather have Lee up here than EITHER of those guys, though.
Kuba better get back soon... I have him in my pool and I am close to the top still without him...
I am very happy with our start and hope we can keep it up... once we build more confidence we will be able to beat the top teams more often and move up the standings... 6th place finish..
With the return of Kuba, this should give Phillips and Volchie some rest. Phillips has struggled when playing the last minute of a close game. Him and Fisher had some brain cramps against the B's. I can't figure it out how 2 experienced players like them can't make those easy zone clear outs. It costs us 2 games so far. I hope Clouston is taking note on this with those 2.
It is time that Kuba come back. Instead of taking Picard out of the lineup, I would take Campoli out. Overall, so far Picard has played a lot better than Campoli.
Sens twitter saying that Regin and Karlsson are not skating at practice today.
Injury ? Back to Bingo ?
Yea I just saw that. I would assume bumps and bruises. Haven't heard anything about anyone heading back to Bingo.
Kuba has turned into a nice return for Meszaros, and that fact has been driven home with his recent injury.
With Kuba's return expect him to provide a calming presence to the powerplay, as he has the capability of slowing down the powerplay and allowing it time to set up, as opposed to force low percentage plays that lead to turnovers and clearings.
My question is what will the Sens do once he is back and healthy. with Kuba, Phillips, Volchenkov, Carkner, Karlsson, and Campoli will the Sens move Picard.
I posted a rumor about the Sens trying to pry Frolov away - but I don't see it happening. I also posted that I would make a move to acquire Frolov if I could, but that would be contigent on him signing an extension. I stand by that, as I think Frolov would fit in nicely.
But...I wonder what are the Sens most pressing needs? Or is it simply too early to tell? From a defensive pwerspective and a powerplay persepective As Senschirp says - " Until Kuba returns and our defence and more importantly power play get settled, I dont think we truly know what this Senators team is capable of." I tend to agree as it is very early and we have yet to see Kovalev and Cheechoo deliver as expected. (I personally expect to see Kovalev turn it on, and become a powerplay force for the Sens very soon.)
At the beginning of the season I thought with spezz, alfie, fisher, kovalev, etc, our PP would be top 5 in the league not 29th!! If Kuba comes back and we could get our PP going we are easily a playoff team. I agree with the thought we need another top 6 d-man, lets all face it, karlsson, pickard, and campoli are border line nhl'ers right now.
Looks like Leclaire has spread his Flu germs around the dressing room, not sure why they even dressed him as a backup on Saturday given his condition.
Why is Kovalev never on the top PP unit? Is there something wrong with Clouston? Any fan would be able to put better PP units on the ice... Kovalev is your PP guy, keep him on for the full 2 mins if you have to... not on the 2nd unit with less than a minute to work with... some things like that will hurt our PP, and most importantly, not make Kovalev happy... a big problem if he aint!
I think Kuba coming back will have a pretty big impact. Guys will be slotted into their proper rolls. What this shows is just how thin Ottawa's Defense really is. We may have extra bodies on Defense but nothing that can replace Kuba, even for a short time.
I've railed against Kuba every chance I've had for the past little while, but even I admit that Kuba's return should boost the Sens. Unfortunately both Picard and Campoli have not played well at all. That wouldn't be so bad if they were only relied upon for 5-6 D-man minutes. But unfortantely we have two other guys who should also be given 5-6 d-man minutes (one because of his role - Carkner, and one because of his age/rawness - Karlsson). Therefore Campoli and Pickard have 'assumed' the 3-4 d-man role and have failed miserably. Kuba will at least push one of these two guys out of this role.
I still maintain however that next year is a different story...with more experience in the young core and the addition of Cowen, I would test the trade market for the big soft Kuba as I think the return will be pretty decent and will free up much needed cap and roster space.
What are the odds that Kuba plays on the upcoming trip (what does "the hope is" mean)?
Hopefully, the few days off will allow the players to get over the bumps and bruises/ flu/ injuries. All the teams are starting to (or should anyways) develop some chemistry and it would be nice to have the full line-up in OTT to do the same.
PL
PL,
Clouston mentioned Kuba in the post-practice scrum and said that if he feels good tomorrow they hope he will be ready to go Wednesday.
Clouston also said that sometime in the next 24-48 hours they need to make a decision on what to do with Karlsson.
Everything from Murray's end has indicated Karlsson will stick around but I guess we'll find out in the next couple days...
How many games can a player play before it is officially considered his rookie season? 9 or 10 isn't it? I think that is what they must be mulling over for Karlsson. Put him down to Bingo to learn the NA game and log a lot of minutes and then come back next year ready to go for his official rookie season. Or keep him up and hope that Kuba will help stabilize the defensive end.
How are we going to fit Campbell under the cap?
I agree, keep our best PP guy happy and leave Kovy out there for 2 minutes. The more you allow him to play the more he performs.
As well, kuba will be a very welcome return. Maybe we should try Carkner in the Chara front of the net role for PP. Not sure if he's got the hands of the big man though.
I don't think Bingo is an option for Karlsson. While I can see the benefit of him learning the North American game and ice size etc, everything I've ever seen seems to talk about him going back to Sweden if he's not in Ottawa - which to me is no help. Plus if you add in the idea that Cowen and possibly Wiercioch might be rookies next season, it seems we have to "break Karlsson in" this year. Kuba is a huge part of that I think.
If Karlsson is willing to go to Bingo for a bit then maybe that changes things, but as long as everyone's healthy I think Karlsson is best served playing for the Sens and being somewhat protected in his role (i.e. moderate minutes, PP time, minimal PK or late-in-a-close-game minutes etc).
Of course, if we have another injury to our top 3 guys, we may need to either make a move or swap Lee and Karlsson or something.
WillyJ - I think if you want a front-of-the-net guy you're better to stick Fisher, Michalek or even Neil there before Carkner. Carkner's extra size is not worth the drop in offensive experience etc.
With Kuba back and hopefully 100%, it would allow for plenty of guys to choose from up front.
I am a huge Kovalev fan, and I have been watching him closely for years.
I agree with WillyJ, about leaving Kovalev out for the PP. He is magic with the puck, and given time and space on the PP it is inevitable that he will produce. I personally think the reason Kovalev is not producing right now is due to the fact that he is matched up with Fisher. Fisher is an awesome player, but he is not the right guy for Kovalev.
I would love to see Spezza, Michalek and Kovalev as our number 1 line.
If Karlsson goes down to Bingo this will still count as his rookie year. The only way this year doesn't count is if he plays less than 11 games in Ottawa/Bingo and goes back to Sweden.
I think the best thing is to keep Karlsson in N America, write this off as his rookie and watch him be what we want him to be next year.
If Karlsson is sent back to Sweden we run the risk of having 3 rookies on D next year - Karlsson, Cowen and Wiercioch and that's at least one too many.
Hockeybuzz has posted that the Hawks look to be possibily positioning to move Brian Campbell in order to free up cap space for another move (Frolov?).
The Sens and Isles are rumoured to be the possible destinations. NYI makes sense as they have over $13M in cap space and need a player like Campbell, but how could the Sens afford this guy? How would they move to free up the space? Kuba, Ruttu???
I am lost on this one...I don't see it happening at all.
Chirp, can you confirm anything about taking on Brian Campbell?
I heard something a week ago that Ottawa was trading a Pick/Prospect/Player for a top 4 D-man. Any possibility this will be BC? As of now, we will have alot of money freed up for next year so...
No way we can fit Campbell. Give it up Bryan.
i hope to god this brian campbell thing is false... know way i wanna take on that 7 year contract of 7 mil a year
Its Eklund folks, not even sure why some-one would even post this BS.
It only takes two seconds to figure out we can't fit Campbell under the cap and resign all our UFA's and RFA's this summer.
Unless they want Kovalev in return its not happening.
This Campbell thing is news to me.
Murray went after him as a UFA in the past so hes always associated with Ottawa in rumours but I dont see how Ottawa could fit in his contract.
I'll ask around though and see what I can find out.
great link i just found on the sens website for prospect updates.
http://senators.nhl.com/v2/ext/PDFs/Prospect_Update-091025.pdf
send him to bingo, let him dominate the ahl and the WJHC, call him back after when his confidence is through the roof
I don't get this "we have to keep Karlsson here in Ottawa because next year Cowen will be playing for the Sens and we can't have two rookies in our D-corps" stuff.
Cowan missed most of last year with an injury. It's totally unrealistic to expect that Cowan, who's already missed a year of development in junior, to just step in to our d-corps next year.
He's going to have to play in the AHL next year.
So, send Karlsson down to Bingo this year. I don't thing we should expect Karlsson and Cowen to play together on the Sens until 2 years from now.
im sure you were saying it was totally unrealistic to bring karlsson into the lineup this year and yet it happened. Murray already stated that it was very difficult for him to send cowen to the WHL this year because he could see him competing in the nhl at a very high level by november, so I am quite certain he will make the team next year.
Murray was so keenly aware of the lack of muscle on the Sens D this year that he was VERY tempted to keep Cowen. I really do think he's hoping he can not only make the team, but play in the top 4 next year. It's a bit pie in the sky, but BM knows that every team has holes and the only way to somewhat fill them all is to have young (aka CHEAP) guys fill big roles or have massive amounts of "hometown discounts" on the team. Aside from that, you have "musical players" (like the Sens D this year or the forwards for teams like the Laffs, Preds, Panthers, etc) where you ask guys to play in roles above their level and keep moving them around when they struggle.
Murray should trade for a puck moving forward. That should help us get into the playoffs.
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