(UPDATE 5:24 PM)- As promised, here's the link to tonight's live blog over at theScore.com. Hope to see lots of you over there. Should be a few Oilers fans in attendance so we wanna make sure we have them out numbered.
GO SENS GO!
The off season blockbuster that very nearly sent Dany Heatley to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Dustin Penner, Andrew Cogliano and Ladislav Smid was vetoed by Dany Heatley and his no trade clause.
Even to this day, there are those in the Senators organization who cry foul over the veto as they insist Heatley had given the Senators permission to work out a deal with the Oilers. When faced with the reality of play in Edmonton, Heatley balked and instead decided to wait out a deal to Sunny California.
We'll never know how that trade would have worked out for Ottawa but the start that Dustin Penner is having in Edmonton (21 pts in 17 games) really makes you wonder what could have been. (For the record, I think Michalek was the best player in either deal so we did ok in the long run)
Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators are flat out desperate for a win. Coming off an ugly loss against the Devils, the Senators want to get back to their winning ways against an Oiler team that has struggled on the road this season.
Ryan Shannon is expected to draw back into the line up meaning that Shean Donovan and Jesse Winchester will be tonight's healthy scratches.
Here is a look at the expected line up courtesy of the Senators Twitter feed.
Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson
Foligno-Fisher-Kovalev
Cheechoo-Regin-Shannon
Ruutu-Kelly-Neil
Pascal Leclaire is expected to get the start for the Sens.
I'll be live blogging the game again for theScore.com. We had a season high turnout for the game last night so here's hoping for more of the same tonight. I'll post the link later this afternoon.
Hope to see some of you over there...
56 comments:
As good as Penner has been thus far this season, Michalek is the better player.
I think Michalek will have extra motication to show us all that we got a better trade by getting him from San Jose.
Go Sens Go!!!
We like Shannon and Cheech on the 4th line but it means Regin gets no ice again tonight a kind of benching for all three players!
As good as Dustin Penner has been this year with the Oilers... would he have been just as good with us, or just as good as Cheechoo???
How many people were upset that we had to throw in Penner's large anchor salary, just to get Cogliano, and Smid???
You just never know...
Shannnon an cheechoo are holding this team back the teams model was always play well get more ice time?
I guess unless your Shannon or cheechoo. I feel the rest of the players our pissed about this and well they should be, as a resault watch the game tonight, tell me what you think after.
I will never understand why they keep playing cheechoo, we tryed him it did not work put him on the 4th line bring up Ruutu, Shannon is just way to small for the NHL.
I wouldn't have been upset about getting penner at all. In fact I thought from the start that the oil deal was better and still do. Having said that, I think we got a good deal from the sharks as well, just not quite as good. For the record, BM LIKED penner in the deal. Maybe he's not the idiot a lot of the knee-jerk reacionaries think he is. But then, he doesn't play fantasy hockey, just watches games.
pg
@anon 11:17 what planet do you live on, while Cheechoo hasn't scored, he has by no means played badly. I'm sick of the Cheechoo bashing, he is one of the only players who consistantly plays hard every shift.
Dave
I must say, I read your blogs quite often SC, and there are a lot of Cheechoo bashers on here. I find even though he has taken a few bad penalties and has yet to score a goal, he has really been trying hard. He's always chasing down the puck and playing physical... Now I dont think he will be a 30+ goal scorer, but at least he is trying and showing heart... and that is contagious!
Go Sens Go!!!
Donovan as a healthy scratch again... *shakes head*
After watching Chicago last night I realized what made us a high flying team in the not too distant past...LOTS of speed, skill, puck possession and youthful enthusiasm. This team is nowhere near that now.
Slow footed defensemen can no longer be affective in this league unless you are Zdeno Chara with a 15 feet reach. Right now, Sens don't have enough speed coming out of the back end. This is a huge problem as it significantly hampers their transition game. Teams (like NJ) can just sit back and wait for them in the neutral zone and Sens are not an effective dump and chase team. They often turn over the puck after a dump in and the other teams seem to always transition a little better than the Sens, often creating odd-man rushes.
Their inability to move their feet for 60 min is also costing them dearly in penalties. I'm just not buying all this crap about the refs having it in for them. And if the Sens play a slow boring not-moving-their-feet east-west type of game most of the time, you can be sure the NHL will see to it that those games have some form of entertaining play and that means Power Plays for the opposing teams.
I agree with Nathan. Donovan was one of our best fourth-line players and they were winning with him. Once he came out of the lineup, the fourth line's been dead quiet and the losses are piling up.
We sadly need Volchenkov back because the PK can't last without him and his shot-blocking, either.
From what I understand Edmonton has a ton of injuries. Who are the scratches for Edmonton tonight?
honestly who cares if cheechoo is trying his hardest, the fact of the matter is he just does not have the speed to keep up in today's nhl. When his contract is up, he is done with this league... for good
i agree with dave. Can people just please lay off of Cheechoo just because hes not scoring doesnt mean he's not playing well. I think he'll break out eventually
What does Donovan have to do to crack the lineup? Insane!
Sure, Cheechoo skates hard, but he never gets anywhere. I'd take Shannon/Dono in the lineup over Cheech any day.
Don't bash Cheechoo, we all knew he lost his scoring touch, just look at his stats the pass few years. Should be bashing Kovalev and his old, slow, not wanting to be in Ottawa ass.
Wow, all this bashing of Shannon and Cheechoo and almost nothing said about Kovalev.
I am a Kovalev fan and have seen him win games himself. Unfortunately, that was as a Canadien and not as a Senator. This year he has done nothing for this club. If we are talking about why Clousten keeps playing Cheechoo, at least Cheechoo goes out and works hard each shift. Kovalev looks like he is half asleep out there most of the time.
All that being said, I'll cheer this team on each and every time they take to the ice.
GO SENS GO!
kgv
I wish people would stop bashing Cheechoo. Even though he has not scored, he is playing very well. Go Sens Go!!!
hey sc:
anything on murray's comments in the ottawa citizen regarding making a move for a forward? have you heard any names being bounced around?
keep up the good work man!
My neighbour just drove by and handed me tickets to tonights game! Woohoo first game of the year for me!! GO SENS GO!
To Anon at 1:22 PM,
Yea I was just reading that article actually. I find it interesting they would be looking to upgrade upfront before looking at the backend.
The only name Ive heard up front is Forsberg obviously but his fate is still unknown.
A forward would have to be headed out if another was coming in though. Already carrying two extra bodies up front.
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/hockeycapital/archive/2009/11/10/we-have-to-add-player-sens-gm.aspx
No Donovan, again! Absolutely Ridiculous! I don't believe this bullshit about getting players going. They can earn the ice themselves, this is a bigboy sport, isn't it? Play the guys who bring it every night, and my team includes Donovan. Sit Winchester and Shannon, and the players that have bad nights, sit.
Last night in NHL 10 I had Milan-Spezz-alfie as my first line, and I won 3 straight. This first line is going to be deadly!
Go Sens Go!
4-3 win in a shootout
Clouston must have a mancrush on Shannon:
http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/11/10/11698401.html
I dont get it...
Very interesting comments by Murray, I too thought a Top 4 dman would be the priority, He sort of hinted at perhaps another centre (mentioning the lack of production while Spezza was out). Perhaps we can do both positions in a trade?
Here's my proposal
To Ottawa:
Matthew Lombardi
Zbynek Michalek
To Pheonix:
Brian Lee
Chris Kelly
Ryan Shannon
2nd (SJ's)
I find it funny people here are saying that Clouston has a man crush Shannon. Well I have notice that people here seem to have a man crush on Donovan. Pot calling the Kettle black much?
I should say that I have a huge mancrush on Mike Fisher and have been pleasntly surprised by his excellent start to the season. He appears to have added a scoring touch to go with the heart and commitment and crash bang that he always bought.
That being said we have a big drop off at the centre position in terms of skill and guile after Spezza. This is where we need to concentrate in any possible trade.
I agree we have another drop off following the top 3 dmen but at least we have the prospects coming through to make that less of a priority.
I don't see many great forward prospects in Bingo right now, Regin might be good but has been shown to be lacking at the moment and whilst I like what Zach Smith brings to the table he's more of a Fisher than a Spezza.
I like the proposed trade from anon@2:17, we aren't really losing anything that would hurt us other than Kelly's work on the PK, I would be loathe to lose the 2nd round pick simply because you never know what that might turn into, but if we can solve our short term forward AND defensive woes I think it would be worth it.
i'm not sure about his contract status but I don't think Chicago will be able to hold on to Sharp with the rest of their pay roll, i say he'd be a great 2nd center for us. Kelly and Foligno for sharp maybe?
My comments for the day....
I saw BM's comments and I am not in total agreement that we need another forward. I think this can be answered very easliy - put Kovalev on the 1st line with Spezza and Michalek. That should give a boost in scoring. We have to remember that we are deep enough that for tonights we are sitting Donovan (who should play every night in my opinon) and Winchester.
I think our pressing need is on D. We need a top 4 guy veteran guy. Someone like Zbynek Michalek is ideal. We have to be realistic and understand that Carker or Lee or Picard are not top 4 guys. We need a top 4 d man.
I will also throw this out that Adam Mair is on waivers, and I for one think he would be a perfect fit for the Sens. He is such a gritty player, that I think he would fit in very nicely on a 4th line with Donovan and Neil. Then we could parlay Shannon, Kelly and Lee in a top 4 dman and a pick.
I don't understand either why people are still getting all over cheechoo's case when we knew he was just a salary dump by SJ.
Kovalev was picked up to be the game changer and he has played worse then Cheech in my opinion. He turns the puck over and doesn't press on the forecheck.
Tell me one instance where cheech hasn't fought hard to win the puck and instead just turned it over. Sure he can't skate as fast but sometimes the late man in is a good thing.
What we need to worry about is that Cheech can't keep up with the play so why is Clouston putting him with two linemates that are fast... By making those around him play faster he will only look slower. Why not bring ruutu up on the third to play next to cheech with regin in between.
Play shannon on the fourth with kelly and dono who actually play and create energy.
I have to add one more comment...
Is it just me, or wouldn't Ray Whitney and Joe Corvo fit in nicely into the Sens line up? I know Corvo has history here, but I think he would be a perfect fit. And Whitney is a great vet.
I would suggest the following:
Kelly, Shannon, Lee
for
Whitney, Corvo, 2nd
ya i don't understand Shannon an Clouton??? I know why Cheechoo is playing because BM job is at risk.
they keep putting out there one will bonce off him for sure.
Ruutu should be giving a shoot on a top line.
someone should stop Murray from making anymore trades, my guess is he will be out of a job soon we will have to rebuild then,
If Murray adds another fw please god let it be some one with some grit who actually hits ppl. We need more then Fish and Neil laying into ppl on the forecheck.
Im sure alot of ppl may not like the guy cus he has a history of kinda being dirty but I think Steve Ott would be a decent fit. He can score goals when given top 6 minutes 19 goals 46 pts in 64 games or sumthin like that last year, I think he would be a guy that could play 3rd line crash and bang kill penalties and fill in on the top 2 lines if sumone goes down.
Murray is looking for another forward? Can someone tell him we are only allowed to play 4 lines. A top defenceman is what is needed. We have quantity but not quality on D.
It's impossible to find the suggestion of bringing back Corvo to be anothing other than absolutely hilarious.
That's a longwinded way of saying NO CHANCE IN HELL. EVER. NEVER EVER HAPPENING. THE GUY IS -10 THROUGH 16 GAMES.
How quickly we forget...
Hutch
Corvo couldn't hack it in Ottawa first time round and asked for a trade - what makes you think it'll be any different this time.
Add this to the fact that the Carolina GM will have to be calling us his daddy for the rest of his career if he accepts that trade. We get 2 defenders that are both better than the one we are giving up AND we get a 2nd?
DONOVAN > SHANNON > KELLY
Simple. Too bad the brass doesn't feel the same way.
@ Adam
ya, let's put Cheechoo with slow linemmates so we can pretend he's skating at NHL speed.
How ridiculous.
What I find interesting is how the coaching staff keeps saying that Kovalev and Cheechoo need to up their production, but then they keep putting them on lines where it's nearly impossible for them to do that.
Look at tonights lines for example. You have Kovalev with Fish and Foligno. No offence to Fish or Foligno, but I think it's safe to say that they are far below the skill level of Kovalev. So, Kovy's bad play is probably because he's frustrated at being on a line with two other guys who can't keep up or match up to his skill.
Then you have Cheech who's been mainly on the 3rd line...of course he's not going to produce if you're putting him in a checking role!
I say build the lines like this:
Michalek-Spezza-Cheechoo
Kovalev-Fisher-Alfredsson
This way, Cheechoo is able to play with Spezza and build chemistry with him (and that takes more than 2 games, which is how many he's played with Spezza before being demoted). Cheechoo already knows Michalek from SJ, so once he builds chemistry with playmaking Spezza, it should definitely help his numbers.
And on the second line, you have Alfie there with Kovy, who can combine their skill to create space and make good plays, along with Fish's more power-forward type game to provide a physical demension to the line.
The way the lines are stuctured now...I feel it is unfair that anyone can blame Cheech and Kovy for their production. You gotta play these guys on lines where they'll actually be able to produce!
We're getting back to previous' years tendencies in having one super-elite line and nominal 2-4 lines.
For a few games, when we did have Fish with Kovy and Alfie, I was really impressed with them.
And I know having Cheech with Spezza wouldn't create instant results - and it would be a less potent first line initially - but once the chemistry falls into place, Cheech should be able to rack up some goals on those nifty Spezza passes.
Don't blame Cheech for not scoring when he's been playing with the likes of Kelly, Ruutu, Neil, etc.
Our Defense sucks!!
Phillips, Lee, Picard and Campoli and not good 5 on 5. We are always losing the puck in our own zone, brutal first passes. Volchy not blocking shots his HUGE! like when Phillips tried to block a shot but took his foot out of the way at the last minute, then they end up scoring on the rebound....brutal!!
We need to go get a #1 D, Campbell, Regehr, Kaberle!!
SM
Time for the sens to get their shots, BMurr needs to cure the team from the H1N41 its been shifting between lines. A healthy scratch might help cure this disease.
Anyone that wants Campbell at 7.1 mill is nuts. But yes I would like to see a D upgrade just not a ridiculous contract like that.
Murray wants to get another forward simply because the defenseman we need is not available on the market. If you cant make your defense better, make your attack better.
Pretty simple stuff.
Anon 4:42
How would you like to get them, Burke just lost 2 1sts for kessel and kaberle definitely won't waive to come to Ottawa
Campbells contract is ludicrous and no way in hell Chicago takes Cheechoo just to get rid of Campbell. Regehr is top shut down defence on calgary still (even with jbo and phaneuf) so even if he was available it would be a steep price tag
No, no and no. Prefer it if Sens could get a good 2-way forward
To SM, totally agree with you! Those 4 Dmen are terrible...I like Phillips but hes at the end of his career! Our D is terrible with the exception of Volks!
I agree that Corvo to Ott is a long, long shot - but crazier things have happened - look at Comrie back in Edmonton for example.
Times change, things change...etc...
none the less, my point is clear. We can move some assets for a veteran forward and a top 4 d. That should be the focus for BM moving into the Christmas break.
Hutch
Anyone streaming the game online tonight?
Thanks
TOsensfan
wow this team is really frustrating to watch. Ill always be a die hard sens fans, but i gotta say im getting fed up with pascal leclaire. He has been nothing short of awful lately. i guess the ottawa senators goalie curse still lives on.
To watch game online (a one-time free trial on NHL Game Center):
1. Go to NHL.com
2. Move cursor over the EDM OTT game and click on Game Center
3. At this point, Game Center asked me if I wanted a free trial - I selected yes
4. Clicked on the OTT EDM game, and it started playing.
Try it out, good luck!
Wow, never mind. Game Center kicks you off after a few minutes. Dang.
@ Boris
I never said that we need to pretend he can keep up. Just suggesting that by putting him on a line with faster players it is setting him up to fail.
Good win tonight, SC how is it that the losing team gets the first two stars?
1. Staios
2. Penner
3. Shannon
When Edmonton scored their third goal, did anyone else think of Damien Rhodes ?
leclaire made some really strong saves tonight, but he also let in some very soft goals... i'm sure he will play better with a-train in front of him though. Also happy that Cheech got his first, but I really think Picard should just go. He is a liability in every way
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