Its not often that a guy takes just 8 shifts for a total of 5:49 and stands out in a hockey game but thats just what happened last night with Shean Donovan.
Donovan scored one of the Senators two goals last night and was noticeable every time he touched the ice. Skating primarily on the fourth line, Donovan was strong along the boards and showed good speed in open ice.
His second period goal seemed to give the Senators a lift and was a major factor in last night's victory.
The name of Donovan has come up in trade rumours in the past and because Donovan has been the odd man out at times, hes often talked about as a guy that could be moved. With a couple young guys pushing for roster spots this season a few veteran guys have been hearing foot steps.
Granted it was just one game and less than 6 minutes in that one game, but last night Shean Donovan showed exactly why he should be kept around. Donovan is the ideal teammate and is well liked in the Senators locker room. On a team that is tight to the cap, his $625,000 annual salary is very affordable.
When everyone's healthy the Senators will likely have to move one of the extra bodies out. Last night against the hated Leafs, Donovan showed why he should stay here in Ottawa.
Couple of quick notes from today's practice courtesy of TSN's Brent Wallace. Filip Kuba, Ryan Shannon and Jason Spezza all did not skate. The injured Jesse Winchester did skate with the team for the first time in almost two weeks.
Spezza will be fine to suit up for the home opener but Kuba and Shannon won't dress. Pascal Leclaire will start.
40 comments:
Totally agree on the Donovan front!
I got tickets to the home opener and am stuck at work until 8!!! ARRRGGG
Someone distract the cops so I can get there quickly afterwards.
Kinda makes you wonder what happened in training camp. Was Donovan lollygagging, or did he just not get a good look from BM?
Donovan is still one of my fan favourites
I was so happy he was resigned to the team for a bit longer
He has speed, grit and can play the puck when he has to
But you don't have a 500k guy like Donovan around for the points
You have him on because every second he is on the ice he is working hard and productively
and he is really ugly, thus striking fear in his opponents
Looking for to Kovalev's first goal... TM
There's no point in trading Donovan cause we won't get anything worth while for him anyway, he's on his final year on his affordable contract, perhaps not give him a new deal but no point in trading him.
So when does Elliot get a start? Atlanta on Sat. maybe?
Btw...I know I'm skipping a game here, but can anyone confirm if the game on Saturday is televised? As far as I can tell its not being aired at all, even on Center Ice.
Lets not get too high on Donovan. 1 fluke goal does not make a player.
Id still trade him to free up a spot for another player currently out.
I thought Neil had more heart, Kovalev was more active, Alfredsson took more shots, Volchenkov hit more etc... etc...
Sorry anon at 1:14...but you clearly didn't watch Donovan play last night and to say that Neil had more heart is ludicrous...Dono's board play was phenominal and he did everything coach Clouston asked him to, he drove the net, screened the goalie and kept the puck deep when he was on the ice...and Kovalev more active? what are you smoking?
I would have a really hard time giving up Donovan for a very late draft pick that will likely never dawn a sens jersey. Shean is one of those team guys that I trust when he's on the ice. He is always going to give 100% every shift which energizes his teammates. Besides, whenever I see him dazzle around a d-man to create a scoring chance thanks to pure determination, it puts a big smile on my face and I think to myself, "Where in the world did he come up with that one and why doesn't he get more ice time!?"
I think Donovan's great. But until one of the "top 12" move I still think he's a 13th forward. Which is fine - you need a guy that who can fill in when guys are hurt.
Certainly makes it easier for Bryan Murray to listen to offers for Kelly though.
I'd be fine if someone wanted Neil. Especially if Carkner stays up. I like Neil but he's a 750k player.
When a guy like neil doesn't even drop them in the "battle of ontario" he's ready for a team change.
Donovan is worth every penny of his contract (well as far as sports contracts go anyways).
On many nights last year Donovan was the only player routinely busting his ass.
During the Hartsburg era, Donovan was often the most noticeable guy on the ice (well, except for Gerber!)
1:30...agreed! I thought Donovan played great! Kovalev did show signs of why some people say he is one of the most skilled players in the league and at times I was shocked to see him being 1st man in on the forecheck and taking the body. That being said he needs to give a lot more. I also think that he needs some talent to play with. Not to be critical of Fisher or Foligno or Regin, but I just think that a guy like Kovalev should play with Spezza and Michalek or Alfie and Fisher...I think he needs one guy with the skills of Alfie or Spezza to play with. I think Clouston is trying to spread out the scoring but I think he needs to give more talent to Kovalev in order to bring out what Kovalev can do. A guy like Foligno may be that guy some day but he seems to be griping the stick a little too tight right now.
As for Donovan, yes it is only one game but you can't take heart and character away from someone and he brings that character shift by shift evry game. He's cheap, well liked and relatively speaking he was one of Ottawa's most effective players last night.
CHUM!
Seems to me that Fisher has been playing really physically too. People just seem to be bouncing off of him....
WE SUCKED again last night. If not for Alfie's PS goal we likely would have lost this game to the lowely Leafs.
Yuuuuck. Looks like another long year and really long summer.
I would much rather move Kelly and his $2 million contract than a hard-working, playoff performer like Shean Donovan.
dono is uber fast and hard on the puck.
he's the perfect guy to build a forechecking fourth line around to give the big guns a break.
dono-kelly-ruutu is a golden fourth line...as long as ruutu doesn't take any stupid penalties.
2:19PM:
Definitely going to be a long year for you. Imagine the torment you will have to go through every time the Sens win a close one. While you are wallowing in pain from all the hard fought wins our team puts together.
Do yourself and all those another you a favour...turn your frown upside down!
When was the last time the Sens won a tight game 2-1? We now have a shutdown goalie and our D's can only get better with this guy in the net.
Kovie was Kovie. No signs of life for a bit and then, boom, perfect play. I still can't believe how Foligno missed the goal on the perfect set-up from Kovalev.
Is it just me or it looks like Clouston was ordered by BM to put Mihalek on the first line and leave him there. I would like to see how Cheechoo would manage to play with Spezza and Alfie. There is no chemistry between Spezz and Milan.
For the comment about Neil not fighting last night. He didn't have too. The Sens were dictating the pace of the game. The Leafs looked intimidated. House of pain, you say ???
Totally agree SC. He's relatively cheap, hard working, gritty, not shy to drop the gloves ... why on earth would any want to trade him. I've always like him as a player. Also, looking back on the trade that brought him to Ottawa, we got the better of it.
- Anon 2:19
"we sucked" (thanks for the specifics), yet the leafs had 13 shots over 2 periods. I'll give you that it was not the most exciting game ever though. I am happy to see that there was no 3rd period collapse.
- Already tired of Pierre McGuire. He always repeats himself. Make a point then repeats himself. Over and over, he repeats himself.
Anon 2:19,
Way to complain after a WIN!
We don't need your negative nancy approach to this season.
Maybe you should join the leaf fans in their bitterness.
Eat shit Anon 2:19, we don't need ya!
What a surprise that game was last night. The tough Leafs looked anything but tough. Burke built them to be a large bruising squad but it certainly looked to me like Ottawa gave as good as they got and I don't think many would look at us as that rough a team.
I was also pleasantly surprised to hear the number of fans who cheered when Alfredsson scored on the penalty shot. As much as we hear the Leafs fans when they are in our house, it was good to hear quite a bit of noise from the Sens fans in Toronto.
To all the Sens fans fans in attendance last night, you did us all proud! Way to go!
Finally, while they were far from an elite team last night, every one of them put forth a great effort which was the element missing from last season. I am excited to see the drive and grit they have under Clousten.
No fairweather fan here, I will cheer the same cheer whether they win or lose.
GO SENS GO!
-kgv
The next time Clouston talks about accountability, he should think about Donovan. It works both ways, you have to reward the guys who work there ass off as well as demote the guys who don't. Donovan always works hard but never gets an opportunity, what a fuckin joke.
That was a horrible game last night, tough to watch. What is this team's identity? A forcheck puck pursuit team? A trap team?Because that's what they played last night, the trap? So, which is it?
One additional note. Watch the second period again and I think you will find a few of the players that are most complained about on this blog did a good job. Specifically look for Campoli and Cheechoo who do a lot of the right things with the puck and away from the puck.
I know that one period of hockey does not make a good overall game for the players. I do believe that if we spent as much time looking for the positives as we seem to when looking for the negatives that we can find quite a bit that we can get excited about with this team. They are still learning to work together and will only get better.
GO SENS GO!
-kgv
Wow, seriously, now were gonna speak about Neil and how he should be moved? Sad...
PS. Im tired of always writing my name over and over... let's get accounts!
Ahh, after that, I shall celebrate the win with a beavertail, then wipe my mouth with these handy Leafs jersey napkins I discovered at a local sports memorabilia store. ^^
3:44 PM "Already tired of Pierre McGuire. He always repeats himself. Make a point then repeats himself. Over and over, he repeats himself."
No offense but speaking of repetition....
I think you just out repeated PM.
Loved the intensity from Phillips and Fisher last night. Would love for Phillips to be less of a "nice guy" and get into more scrums. He looked legit pissed last night at near the end of the game when he was pulling someone off a teammate.
If it were up to me I'd give Cheechoo's spot to Donovan, but his salary dictates otherwise.
Hey, sorry if this has already been addressed, haven't sifted through all the comments already, but can someone answer me why Donovan's not on the 4th line fulltime? Obviously he's not a point getter, and I'm not knee-jerking cause he scored last night (although as a sens fan, i have to admit, looked like a high stick :P). Is it his defensive game maybe? I mean, you don't have a 4th liner for $500k a year and expect the world. I can just never figure out why he'd not always have a spot. Just a numbers thing?
A big knock against us for a while has always been grit/heart, which donovan brings by the boatload. I dunno, never really got why he's always the odd one out
Just give them time to gel. There has been so much change on this team it's going to take a while to know what we have. I still feel very strongly that Lee should be playing in the bigs.
Carkner is doing his job as a stay-at-home D-Man but that really isn't what we need more of. A-Train and Phillips do that job just fine. The other 4 guys should be puck movers with offensive upside. Plus Lee isn't going to develop if we don't let him play 10-15 minutes a night in the NHL at some point on a regular basis. He's earned it. He looked a step faster in camp this year. What more can we ask of the guy.
I know that Donovan is constantly underrated... because I constantly underrate him! Nice work in last night's game. Not sure if he would be getting any credit if Ian White hadn't swatted that puck into his own net.
To BeJamin:
It's pretty equal between Lee, Picard, and Campoli as for who belongs with the big boys in Ottawa. Lee was the logical choice to send down because he is the only one with a 2-way contract. The other 2 can't be sent down or we eat their contracts or lose them for nothing.
I left Carkner out of that group because he is a very different player. I completely disagree with your comment about not needing Carkner in the lineup. There is absolutely no need for 4 PMD. 3 hard nosed stay at home d-men and 3 PMD is much more reasonable. We would have been dead in the water in the 3rd period if Carkner wasn't there to take care of business when Phillips and Volchenkov were catching their breath on the bench.
Lee will get his chance when there are injuries. What doesn't kill him will only make him stronger.
The criticism against Campoli and to a lesser extent Karlson is fair - Clouston did not go with either in the last 5 minutes against Toronto - although it should be noted Karlson is less exposed when playing with Kuba who is hurt
if you go with 4PMD the offense is better but the defense is softer - 3 physical D and the offense is weaker
Clouston is obviously looking for the right mix - I kinda thought Lee did both pretty well last year but he got nailed because of a poor training camp and a two-way contract - I suspect we will see him soon in the bigs
The reason Donovan didn't start is becuase of depth at right wing - i.e. Alfreddson, Fisher, Cheechoo and Neil
- but if Cheechoo doesn't start scoring then Donovan will take his place - although what BM will do with that 3 million contract is anybody's guess
if I may whine again - I think Michalek is a better fit with Fisher and Regin while Kovie is a better fit with Alfie and Spezza
I like the depth of this team. Don't trade anybody. Keep Donovan, Picard, Lee et al hungry.
Lets not get too high on Donovan. 1 fluke goal does not make a player.
Id still trade him to free up a spot for another player currently out.
I thought Neil had more heart, Kovalev was more active, Alfredsson took more shots, Volchenkov hit more etc... etc...
---------------------------------
What game were you watching? Neil was mostly invisible yesterday evening.
Are we so devoid of talent that Donovan is getting high praise?
He did what any NHL player can do; stand in front of a net and bat a puck with a high stick.
It's a sure sign our offense is struggling when the 4th line is outpointing it.
The floodgates open tomorrow:
Islanders are going down, bishes.
6-2 Senators
Donovan is getting more praise because he does more with his 5 minutes of ice time then most due the whole game.
I hate Shean Donovan.
eyeblaff - glad to hear it - means Dono is doing something right.
No higher praise for a Senator than to be disliked by laff fans.
Post a Comment