Just a quick post as the Senators get set to host the Bruins tomorrow at SBP.
A few guys missed practice today including Pascal Leclaire, Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Filip Kuba and Jesse Winchester.
Spezza is expected to play tomorrow but the status of Michalek is unknown. He suffered an upper body injury and will wait till tomorrow to decide if he can go. If I had to guess I would say he plays. If he cant, expect Donovan to draw back in.
Still no word on Kuba but obviously he won't play tomorrow. He has been skating on his own but there still is no timetable on his return. Nobody seems to really know what the problem is with Kuba at this point. Clouston is hopeful that Kuba will be able to practice with the team in the near future.
Meanwhile, according to Bruce Garrioch and the Ottawa Sun, Jesse Winchester will head to Bingo for a two week conditioning stint. Good move that should help Winchester get back up to game speed before jumping in the line up.
47 comments:
After last night's debacle, I hope we can now stop kissing Matt Carkner's a**. Nice guy who after seven (and only seven) games signed a nice, secure, two-year contract for himself, then goes -4, a goal into his own net off his sjate, and a stupid penalty in OT that argaubly decided the game (why was he out there in the first place)!
Matt - consider yourself under the microscope. TM
Personally, I think Winchester would be better served with an 8 month conditioning stint in Bingo. For that matter, he should take Picard and Carkner with him. They would save on gas.
Good to get Winnie the stint in Bingo. If/when he draws in we need him to be ready, not working off rust.
No word on Cheechoo? Is he hurt or was he benched yesterday? I think he's been steadily improving so kind of surprised he wasn't out there at all in the last half of the game.
Starting to worry about Kuba a bit - I hope he truly is back soon but we've been hearing that for a while now.
I expect a better effort to start the Bruins game for all the guys. Bad luck magnified our poor play in the first period last night - I'll call it a blip if we can refocus for the Bruins.
Go Sens Go
Kuba's injury is listed as hip/groin/pelvis by TSN. If it's his pelvis, he's probably gonna be out a few months.
OK...a couple of players had bad games, but don't crap all over them. What's with this city? Looking at the bright side of life won't blind you.
TM - which goal went in of Carkner's skate? Are you talking about the second goal of the game that went in off Picard's skate?
And for 700k per year, we're not asking a lot of Carkner - he'll provide more than what Schubert did and for less money. Why do you feel you have to dump on the guy - it's a great success story.
Nobody is saying he's a top 4 guy, but sadly with Kuba out and Phillips in the box - he's a guy that we need out there. Who else are you going to put on D in that situation? Karlsson? Campoli? Yikes.
LOL, leave it to the I told you so crowd...
Matt Carkner signed a 700K per year contract, your gonna start to cry because he had one bad game? The guy has been an absolute beast in the first few games this season, sure maybe giving him a contract right away wasn't the ideal situation, but come on it's for 700K.. I'd still do it today..
He's gonna have his bad games..
Honestly some people here just love to whine and that's all they can do, of course under the anonymous tag...
Last nights game was by no means a good game for the Sens, but clearly they had some positives which is a lot more than what we'd be saying last year... A 3-0 deficit going to the 3rd was game over last year. So what we had a couple people play badly, we ain't gonna win them all.. Now I expect all you whiners to be mysteriously absent again on our next victory...
I'm not sure that Murray should give half of these gutless pukes yet another chance. Send cheechoo to the echl and Picard, shannon, and carkner to bingo. Bring up bass and lee.
One bad game by Picard and we are already calling for his head. Relax people. As for Carkner, other than the bad penalty, I think it is somewhat unfair to hang him out to dry at this time. He has been solid on our team this year. We did not sign Lidstrom to a contract. I expect some ups and downs from him, Picard and Karlsson. We should be focused on the team's ability to come back from a 3-0 deficit and earn a point. I would be hard pressed to think of examples from the previous two years where our team came back to make a game of it. We are currently sitting ahead of Boston and I expect a better effort from Ottawa who might have been shaking off 4 days of rust against a very desperate Nashville team.
Wow, lots of Carkner bashing. I think some of his play last game could be attributed to come coaching errors. It almost looked like he was told to do some things that made him step away from his style of play. I would like him to work on some aspects of his game, but little steps. He doesn't all of a sudden need to be a pinch master.
Also, considering how impressed I was the first 7 games, I will give him 7 bad games before asking for his head. Common guys. It is frustrating listening to player and team bashing after each loss. We're not going to win everygame.
Forgot to include. It IS bashing that is going on, not criticizing. There is a difference.
Yeah, circle the wagons and run em outta town ...
I just watched the replay on Matt's "dumb" penalty in OT. He's playing the puck, stumbles and the NSH forward runs over him. In the split second that happens he's down and bracing himself for the collision, I don't think it's interference. A shit call by the refs. I thought so when I saw it last night and TSN's replay confirmed it. Also -3 of that -4 belongs to Picard. If anyone gets the goat of the night award, it's him.
Hopefully it's a just a bad game and doesn't shake Picard's confidence too much. He'd been steady up to that point.
Disciplined and intelligent hockey needed against the Bs ...
i agree with the 1st anon, that giving carkner a deal after 7 games was a little early. However ill wait to see if he plays badly on a consistent basis as it was just one game. He is suppose to be a 6th defense and its not his fault he has to play 20 minutes cause the rest of the d (not volch or phillips) suck
I think everyone needs a good solid Friday night out to relax. Everyone seems too edgy...it was one loss people. As a dman myself I can tell you I've scored on my own net enough but it happens. Just chill people stop being so negative!
I am making an assumption that the first two posts about Carkner are people looking for attention, therefore that is all the time I am going to give them.
The team played a rough 40 minutes and there were plenty of defensive breakdowns during that time by the defensemen and forwards. In fact, that was the worst 40 minutes of hockey played by this club this year (in my opinion).
That being said, I dare any hockey fan to find a team that doesn't have at least 4-5 games a year in which the entire team comes out and stinks up the place. Well, there is no worry from this fan. They will do fine this year based on their response in the third period. Worst two periods followed by a gutsy and hard working third. Put three of those third periods together and they have something.
Sens fan through and through.
GO SENS GO!
-kgv
Carkner was -4 mainly due to Picard (who caused the 2-1 that led to the goal off his skate). Sure Carkner wasn't amazing last night, but I certainly woulnd't blame him directly on any of the goals.
Clouston was upset at Cheechoo in the first period after a give away in the neutral zone. It was demoted to the 4th line. He made another tournover in the 3rd (again in the neutral zone, no consequences) then was benched.
Guillaume
I hope Milan is Okay. Leclaire has flu like symptoms... no wonder he looked gassed at the end of the game last night.
I'm just curious, where is the best place in ottawa to get a meatball sub?
Best Meatball sub: Parma Ravioli on Wellington Street!
The Preston on Preston Street is the best location to get a meatball sandwich! Furthermore, a small beer is served in quarts and they have some of the best squared pizza in town.
Not a great night but last night showed why I think the Sens need another top 4 defenseman. Other then Phillps and Volchenkov who could you really trust? I have no problem with Karlson learning a bit at the NHL level, but for that to happen you need 4 or 5 other D you can lean on and trust. Last night with Picard and Carkner having a bit of a shaky night it wasn't like they could cut back there minutes. What were they going to do, play Karlson 25 minutes?
As for the 'Master of Puppets' theory that it wasn't a penalty in OT.. you need to clean that rose colour off your glasses. Of course that was interference and a penalty. Carkner grabbed the guy and prevented a 2-1.
Finally, I'm looking forward to Winchester getting back in the line up, I thought he was one of the better forwards the last month of the season and will push Regin, Cheechoo, Folingo and Ruutu for ice time. People seem to crap on him since he wasn't able to play with Heatley and Spezza last year but I think he is for sure a top 12 forward on this team.
Milan played in OT so whatever his injury I assume it's not severe.
I'm going to excuse most of these comments as passionate fans venting and maybe mixed it with people who are new to hockey or never really played. Carkner is a bargain at 700k for what he is (solid #6, stay-at-home D who can fight). Picard shat the bed but was also unlucky - he's fine as our #5 D. Hurry back Kuba! Outside of Phillips and Volchenkov, the rest of our D all have some weaknesses that are too exposed when they have to play 18-20 minutes.
See I agree Carkner's was a penalty, but there was a pick on Michalek that went uncalled and it was an obvious call to make. If the refs aren't gonna call that, they shouldn't be calling the Carkner one either. Let's all just agree the officiating in the NHL is the worst officiating in any sporting league anywhere.
As for these people defending Picard, it's not just one game, last night just happened to be the game that it was most obvious, he's a terrible defenceman, he sucks defensively and for a "puck moving defenseman" he's pretty bad offensively aswell. I've disliked his play since last year, he reminds me too much of Meszaros, and with Picard playing Carkner has to do double the work to make up for Picard's mistakes. Like Redden had to do when he played with Meszaros. Look what happened to Redden once he started playing with Meszaros, his career started to fall apart, same thing is happening here except Carkner's career is falling apart before it begins.
To Anon 3:33PM...that would be The Prescott on Preston Street...
Wow guys take it easy. Carkner and Picard have on bad game and your jumping all over them. Did you guys happen to suddenly get amnesia and forget what they did over the first 7? As for getting a top 4 d man its a nice idea but what will we have to give up to get one. And to get one that isn't signed to big money or a contract beyond next year will be extremely difficult. Let's not forget that we have Cowan and Wieroch coming in and Lee who played extremely well last year. This defense is only going to get better over the next few years.
Stop with the "bring Lee and Zack Smith back up to Ottawa" comments already. Both are not playing well in Bingo. Zack Smith is -1 with 3 points in 7 games, Lee is -3with 4 points in 7 games.
Neither deserve a promotion to Ottawa right now.
http://www.binghamtonsenators.com/stats/playerstats/
Carkner is, and will be, fine. He fills a role on this team that can't be filled right now with anyone else. And please don't tell me we can import some toughness by calling up Cody Bass. He's -10.
While I've never been on the "we need another top 4 D" bandwagon, I'm starting to think that if we can move out two (or all three) of Campoli, Picard and Lee and get decent return for Kelly (sorry Kels, but that salary is needed elsewhere) then I'd support getting someone who can play second pairing in all situations. Tough to get as these guys don't grow on trees and when they are available they aren't cheap, but last night showed that when we have Phillps or Volchenkov in the box (or, God forbid, injured) we're short on guys to step up. Heck I'd almost rather see Alfie or Fisher line up on D with the game on the line than any of the three mentioned above.
I'm not sure it's fair to any of those three to give up on them, since they're all fairly young and have promise, but if we're really going to try and make the playoffs this year and win a round or two, we either need to aquire someone or else hope one of them really, really improves - fast!
Lots of "ifs" in there of course.
Here are some player breakdowns;
Carkner - I don't particularily blame him for last nights game, he did take a bad penalty in OT though.
Picard - Terrible, lots of giveaways combined with some bad luck.
Kelly - again, giveaways and didn't look very good at all.
Cheechoo - again, giveaways (i saw atleast 3 in 2 periods) and I'm sure this is why he got benched.
Karlsson - I saw only 1 giveaway from him last night in a game where we had way too many. He looked better but was overshadowed by the teams bad performance.
Spezza - I thought he looked solid in the second and was flying from the 3rd on.
Leclaire - Thanks for the point and not giving up on our team.
Kovalev - expect more of this effort from him for the length of his contract mixed in with exceptional games.
Clouston - he even seemed to have a bad game last night. But I do admire the fact that he is actually benching players. I haven't seen a Sens coach do that in a while. Kudos! Maybe it will motivate these guys to play harder and more consistent. I'd hate to be at practice today.
Overall, glad to see the sens got some life in the 3rd and managed FIVE goals in ONE period! How come nobody mentioned that? Too many pessimists out there for my liking.
Go Sens go!
Easy with the 'lay off Matt Carkner' posts... I'm sure he can kick my a** without your help.
We all saw the same game, and the situational and stats don't lie. 7 games + secure contract = stats from the game last night (see my first post). Not impressive, but I expect him to pick it up against Boston (as for the rest of the team).
Even Heatley had 2 goals in his first game after signing his monster contract -- TM
Does anyone know if Dan Hamhuis played for the Preds last night?
I wanted to see him play since I think that might be one guy the Sens may look at the Deadline, but didn't see him.
I've liked his game at the worlds for sure, and could see him easily fit into our top 4 D IMO.
i think there are two things clouston really needs to clamp down on and then his system of play should be a well oiled efficient machine that will show up every night:
1. he needs to somehow cut those too-many-men calls. we get one nearly every game and it puzzles me.
2. he needs to somehow get guys like carkner and karlsson to not pinch in so often. while carkner surely is more mature in terms of pinching, he isnt the best skater on the team and last nights game winning penalty was basically him not having the legs and causing interference/holding on the breaking out nashville player, there were a few other calls similar to that in the game. for karlsson, he sometimes makes bad decisions to pinch at the wrong time, while it didnt show up last game, its shown up a few times over previous games. the guy clearly has legs to catch up to whoever blows by him, but its risky and you dont want to put your goaltender in those situations too often.
3. i dont know about you guys but alfie didnt look sharp at all yesterday. maybe im used to him always being a threat every shift and being clearly the most reliable player in our zone, but one of the first period goals yesterday was because of alfie falling while trying to clear. he made up for it with the buzzer beater even strike, but still.
while its not fair for any fan to dump on the team for its first period effort last night. at the same time, we all can agree that this team has enormous potential and certainly has amazing tools to win games nearly every night. so with that knowledge, you would expect them to show up every shift. what i am saying is that, if they can just....cut those turnovers, man we would be amazing.
we all saw that leclaire can basically shut it down. literally. while the media is all about the scoring and the buzzer beater. the one guy who really got us the point is leclaire. he shut nashville down for a good two periods, until the sens had evened the score 3-3.
so, here is to hoping that clouston while he is pumping up the boys, will make sure they also get a grilling on the turnovers.
i think with savard out in boston, we can definitely aim for first in the northeast. go sens go.
and hey....did spezza look anywhere close to injure at all? man the guy was playing possessed last night. amazing effort. reminded me of a game against detroit a few years back where he just took the game on his head and won it for the sens.
anon 1:45 PM - Totally agree Winchester needs to go to Binghamton for life.
I love all these sacks on here kissin Picard's ass. Why? This guy is way too soft and way too careless with the puck! Reminds me of Meszaros. If the Atrain or Philips got hurt this team would be in deep trouble. I want this team to make the playoffs as much as any of you but they will have a difficult time getting in with this defensive lineup. Hopefully Murray can get something done (as difficult as it is) by the deadline or during the next summer break. Right now this team will struggle to win games especially against the better NHL teams which they havent played much. Anyways, heres to next game!
Cheers
TFH
whooo boy - I think we can use the 1st period as a baseline for bad - Picard was bad and unlucky - a nasty combination but at least we learned that we can play shinny hockey in order to catch up and Leclaire will keep the Sens in the game - a real steal of a point - unfortunately against a team Ottawa should have been able to beat for 2
I can't help but think that a lot of our fans are absolute idiots.
If we had won that game last night, you wouldn't have heard a peep from some of these morons now bashing Carkner, amongst others.
Sit down and shut the hell up, we have 74 games left you nit wits.
Please, I love the Sens and I hate bitchy fans but for the love of God please stop saying "it's only been one bad game for Picard"
Are u guys watching the same game I am?
If Kuba is out any longer than another week I think BM has to make a move, at least try Lee and see if we can solve the problem within. If BM thinks Lee is still not ready than it's time to move him. He's a first round pick with some upside, throw Kelly and a pick into the mix, that's gotta get us a decent top 4 dee.
I wonder if JovoCop is available for the the Coyotes??
What you guys think?
JoeDoggs
Couple of notes:
1) Don't know about meatball subs but there sure are a few grade "A" meatballs doing some bashing in this blog.
2) In a 6-5 OT loss, there is plenty of room for the whole team to improve...let's assume that the Sens got caught with their pants down thinking too much about the B's and not enough about the Preds.
3) GO SENS GO! Playoff bound despite the bandwagon fans.
People are kind of crazy. Ottawa showed up for one period last night. I was there. The whole game I had the feeling that Nashville was lousy. We were clearly much better than them. Kovalev and Alfie even had 4 A-quality scoring chances in the first two periods. They bury a few of those and that's a much different hockey game. The character they showed in the 3rd to not quit and work their tails off is a great sign for our boys. They know they can score the big goal when they need it. That's a good feeling to have.
Picard had a rough night. That's what you get with him. He's a 5th-7th D-man with offensive upside. Sometimes he is going to have a bad game. Kuba is hurt so we don't know the full value of Karlsson until they play together. It might be time to swap Karlsson for Lee anyways unless seeing whether Kuba dramatically boosts Karlsson or not is worth burning a year of his entry level contract to us. I don't think it is. I think right now Lee can do as much as Karlsson.
I think our best set-up would be
A-Train - Phillips
Kuba - Lee
Karlsson - Carkner
Picard/Campolli as the spare. It's a tough call though. Lee probably stays down unless Karlsson and him are swapped which may happen soon.
Either way the Sens are going to be a playoff team this year. They will surprise some people when they get in there. Tons of depth. Young guns like Regin, Foligno, starting to shine. We have a good mix this year that's for sure.
I think the Sens are going to have to be guests on "PIMP MY BUS" to ensure the best hydaulics are added to the team vehicle. This way, there will be lots of room for all the players being thrown under it!
To all those who think rash, knee-jerk roster decisions will improve the team, just calm down. In the cap era, you can't just make an all-star team of 23 guys and march to the cup.
If you want to let negative emotions get the best of you, you're reading the wrong blog...try TUC!
The Sens have a GM who makes good decisions based on a lifetime in the game, and finally a coach who keeps players accountable. Clouston knows when to push, when to back off...now if he can learn to count players on the ice for 60-65 minutes, we're all set!
Whoever said send Cheechoo to the ECHL... funniest guy ever.
@Drive2the Net - You're going to base that Lee and Smith aren't playing well on stats? The whole team is sucking crap right now, with the exception of St.Pierre's and Keller's constant offensive output. Chiodo and Brodeur have been good/great in some moments and have been terrible in others.
However, I completely agree that the Carkner/Picard bashing has to stop. Picard played terrible, but, well, what can you di? At least Spezza's play has been elevated (understatement).
If Michalek sits out next game... I don't even want to think about it. I love him, and we need him.
Hamhuis is out with an injury. Good point, though...the Sens need to look for a solid D-Man, likely from the western conference, that a GM will be motivated to move later in the season. Someone in the last year of his deal...someone from a team loaded with D.... Anyone else have candidates? (Anyone suggesting Zubov's rights for Shea Weber, don't bother...) Also, sending 4 players the other way is usually a non-starter.
Mistakes by defensemen are the easiest to spot, because they are one of the last lines of defense. Mistakes by forwards however, seldom get noticed because there are defensemen and goalies to bail them out.
Picard = $800,000
Kovalev =$5,000,000
Despite those numbers you slam Picard. Kovalev was HORRIBLE in the Nashville game with countless turnovers, a complete lack of intensity/effort, and nothing to show for on the scoresheet (including minus 1 rating).
Now I'm not defending Picard or Carkner, they had ugly games. But for a veteran forward making 5 million who has world class skill, Kovalev is getting off FAR too easy. I'd feel much better if some of you would transfer your displeasure with Picard/Carkner to Kovalev, who in my mind, was the worst performer on the ice.
kuba=groin
-alex
Not sure if everyone has seen this yet or not, but here's a recent interview with our good ol chump friend Heatley. Man some of the quotes from this interview from him are such BS. I can't wait till he comes to town next year, I think people should toss rotten tomatoes at this douche. Although I wouldn't doubt if he "comes down with flu like symptoms" before he enters Ottawa, just to rob us again....End Rant
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=502986#&navid=nhl-search
... wish they could call up Jared Cowen... TM
Info @ 8:44 is right. Had we won the game, I wouldn't have to read through all this garbage negativity.
On to tonight...
Ottawa will want to bounce back from playing a 20 min game and with Lucic and Savard injured, and no more Kessel, this is Ottawa's game to lose. They just need to solve Thomas...
Go Sens!
Does Cheechoo get 10 goals this year? I doubt it. Too bad, has lots of potential.
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