(UPDATE 6:57 PM)- The Senators announced today that Erik Karlsson will not participate in this year's World Junior Tournament. Seems like the right call for his development as an NHL player.
(UPDATE 12:49 PM)- Here is the weekly Prospect Update from the Sens Twitter feed.
(UPDATE 12:25 PM)- Bob McKenzie is reporting that Carolina defenceman Aaron Ward has been placed on waivers. McKenzie expects Ward to clear and then be place on re-entry where someone could take him for half price. Ottawa has been rumoured to have an interest in Ward in the past.
The Ottawa Senators will shoot for their third straight victory tonight when they pay a visit to the suddenly competent Leafs at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
The Leafs are 7-3-0 in their last ten and have been much better as of late. They now sit just 4 points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and have been playing much better lately.
However, they do still sit 29th in the 30 team league.
Meanwhile, Ottawa is coming off wins over the Flyers and Hurricanes and will be looking to continue their winning ways against the hated Leafs. The Sens played a strong game at home against the Canes but will need to be better against an improved Leafs squad.
No line up changes are expected for the Senators meaning the combinations will look something like this.
Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson
Kovalev-Fisher-Foligno
Ruutu-Kelly-Cheechoo
Regin-Winchester-Shannon
Phillips-Volchenkov
Kuba-Karlsson
Picard-Carkner
Brian Elliott will make his 13th straight start in the Senators net. Vesa Toskala is expected to start for the Leafs.
Here are the game notes for tonight's game courtesy of the Senators Official Twitter feed.
If you're looking for a place to discuss issues related to Team Canada, stop by Gold Rush. Today we'll talk about Mike Fisher and his chances of making the team.
Lastly, a reader sent this survey to me yesterday to see if some SensChirp readers could help him out. Fill it out if you have a chance. Takes 5 minutes tops.
Much appreciated!
80 comments:
Lets knock em dead tonight boys, GO SENS GO. Nothing destroys a streaking leafs team like a loss to the senators. Hope they choke tonight and we rack up some goals. More than likely will be a tight, hard fought game though. HATTRICK 4SPEZZA!!
tonight is going to be a difficult game - yes the Leafs suck, but they don't suck as much as people think and they certainly don't suck as much as sens fans hope
Yes, Ottawa is a much more talented roster but the Leafs work very hard, forecheck and backcheck aggressively and fight for everything - traditionally that sort of team has always proved difficult for Ottawa
but they still suck
Now that L'artiste is on track it's Spezza's turn for a big night. I'm also hoping we play a physical, nasty game. Hoping Neil is back soon as we miss his intensity.
Would love to see goal production from all 4 lines, with Fisher's line getting 2 of 5 goals , one each by Spezza and Kovalev !
Other 3 lines would get another goal each, and we would then barely beat the Leafs 5-4 in a hard fought battle !!
Go Sens Go
Robert Cyr
DO NOT TOUCH AARON WARD BRIAN MURRAY!!!! I can't stress enough that the guys career is done. I would much prefer to have campoli or karlsson in the line up than a slow moving penalty taker. Not sure if anyone feels the need for AW in Ottawa. Lets crush the LEAFS!!
I agree SeanO.
I can usually find a way to justify the moves Murray makes but Aaron Ward would be a horrendous pick up.
Please don't pick up Aaron Ward...
Save the money for someone who is money...
I chucked at the last few comments.
Aaron Ward is from Ottawa and his career is done. Start ordering your Ward jerseys; he has 'character' folks, that's what management is looking for at the moment. The fact he's from Ottawa just seals the deal...
As for tonight's game, it would be an embarassment losing to 'that' team. Please don't make Ottawans sad. :)
BM may be able to use Ward in a package deal considering Ward has an expiring contract. Other teams like Chicago have expressed interest in Ward according to the Spector rumor site. who knows..
GO SENS
Mike
WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY WANT WARD? sure ward's a winner BUT STILL!! he is a former shell of himself. BAHH
either murray has finally gone senile. OR this is a bad rumor that wont go away.
i really want a win tonight against the leafs. and i want michalek to score two goals. please and thank you.
Anybody thinks Mike Hoffman could be huge for the Sens in a couple of seasons? (see prospect chart)
Also, people need to forget about last couple of seasons... Stop whinning about everything. Our team in currently sitting 6th in the East. I think this is where we all hoped they would be... Well, they're there, so let cheer our team and hope for the best.
P.S. i dont care how spezza has played upto this point this season.
he absolutely has to show up tonight, because if matt stajan shows up spezza, then that is an official insult to our top centreman.
Interesting take. I didn't consider that as a trade strategy, but why wouldn't carolina get a deal done with chicago? do they lack the cap room for a guy like sopel or barker? cause they could difinitely use the help. Sure hope that ward does not come here as a character booster, is that really necessary? seems like more of a deadline pickup in that case. Oh well, im sure what ever happens, or doesn't, is for the best...i hope.
Anyone know what the deal is with Cody Bass?
He has 5 points in 27 games and is team worse at minus 13.
I liked his play with the O-Sens before he got injured. Has he not been able to come back from the injury?
PL
insidemanhockey.blogspot.com
running a cool poll about all time team canada... so far the goalies have been picked: Brodeur, Roy and Sawchuk. The defencemen are up today!
He was also posting about Ottawa's interest for Ward this morning and thinks that we might be in for Franzon from Nashville!
Any thoughts Chirp?
Richardson
Smith
Ward?
Very similiar pattern, I could definetely see Murray grab him, but at least he's not signed next year and were not giving up assets to get him as was rumoured before, I guess it would be in the range of $1mill if he was taken on re-entry waivers.
I would think if he does get claimed then Carkner is pretty much out?
Bad Luck for Gerber
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=302337
To Anon at 1:25,
Yea I mentioned that on here the other day.
Franson has been sent down by Nashville.
Filled out the survey by the way, interesting stuff and it won't take more than five minutes, help the person out.
Karlsson and Ruutu will be huge here. Karlsson should be able to spring Spezz in nicely while Ruutu can get Orr/Schenn etc off their games for a nice powerplay.
This is the most important game of the year so far, I can't bear the thought of losing to Toronto. Make or don't make the playoffs but beat the Leafs!
Unless it takes 4 6th/7th (Campoli, Picard, Lee, Ward) defencemen to trade for a top 4 defenceman, please do not go anywhere near ward.
why would carkner be out? he's playing solid! we don't need another slow defensive d! we need another shooter so we don't have to rely on picard and karlsson!
Cowen and Hoffman's numbers are amazing. Cowen looks to be a steal and is probably NHL ready right now. Hoffman is already 20-years- old, maybe a darkhorse for next years team?
Cowen may well be a steal, and considering he went 9th overall, thats saying something.
I'm from Saint John, NB, so i get to see Mike Hoffman play regularly for the sea dogs, and let me tell you the guy has wicked talent and is a natural scorer. His wrister is something special. Apparently the knock on him is that he can be immature with the puck, try to do it all himself a la many young russian prospects, which is why he was available so late. but if you look at his career, he just keeps getting better, so lets hope it continues! If anyone besides Ken Holland can find late round gems, its Bryan Murray.
p.s. GO SENS, CRUSH THE LAUGHS SPIRIT!
Call me crazy here, but anyone else think that Elliot mind end up being dealt at the deadline/offseason? He's been up and down since Leclaire went out, but his GAA and SV% is decent, and he shows flashes of brilliance...and a 24yr old who is capable of making 13 straight starts has to be of interest to a few teams around the league (Philly, Columbus, NY Islanders come to mind).
Just speculation, and don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Elliot, but I just think Leclaire is the guy going forward, and it's all about maximizing value.
so.....does Kovalev show up tonight, or has he done his work for 10-12 games?
hey Rizzo, you're right and I think he is signed only to a one year deal if I am not wrong. nhlnumbers still shows him being RFA at the end of 2010/2011. i thought elliot had signed a qualifying offer in the summer?
SC, what are the details on that, you probably know better.
but yea, even if he is RFA, he makes for good trade bait. and you can add Detroit to the list of teams that might be desperately calling around for goaltending at deadline time.
However, Lehner is still atleast a year away from the big club, although he looks like the main steal of the draft compared to cowen. with leclaire's affinity to get injured, whether by legit injury or freak injury, a backup like elliot gives the sens a very much needed peace of mind at only 1mil/yr on the cap at most.
so i won't suggest trading him at all.
hey SC, also any news on Brian Lee?
Rizzo, I do think that Elliott is the odd man out. Leclaire and Lehner are most definitely the goaltending of the future. If we are able to deal him in the offseason/deadline and get maximum value in return I dont see the harm. There are many capable backups Ottawa can pick up to play 20 games until Lehner is ready to make the big club.
Unless Lehner makes leaps and bounds, i don't think ottawa will consider getting rid of elliot. especially since leclair is a bit injury prone it is important to have a guy in the organization that can play 20-30 games in a season. i agree his value is pretty good as he is young and will only continue to improve but i think it would be a mistake to get rid of him now. that being said i haven't seen any of our goalie prospects in action but i don't expect any except lehner to develop into an nhl goalie. elliot has been strong and will get tougher mentally as he matures, i think the tandem of leclair-elliot will be a good one for the future. GO SENS GO
hey....would the senators interest in franson (if they even do have an interest) have anything to do with karlsson possibly being sent loaned to team sweden for the WJC?.
3 of us in my office an 2 of them are Leaf fans, I hope but I don't think it is going to be a fun day at work tommrow, this is not the same leaf team as it was at the begaining of the season.
Lehner turned 18 four months ago. To say he will be ready for the big club next year is over doing it. Goalies take a very long time to develop, which is what makes them so hard to draft. Give him 2 or 3 years minimum.
On a more relevant note, Go Sens Go, kick some leaf ass!
My point was more that, if the plan is to have elliott be the backup to leclaire, a 32yr old back up in the FA is worth a lot less than a 24yr old with upside...we can go get an auld something to pair with leclaire if need be.
Again, I'm just talking about maximizing value. If we can swap elliott in a deal for a young top 6... I say go for it.
yeah, if the right deal comes along where philly or another team in need of goaltending is willing to give up a key peice to get him it should be done, especially while his value is on the rise. you never know where a young goalie will go in his career. maybe BM will use elliot as bait and see what sort of interest is out there but i really think we have a good tandem once leclair is healthy. these games are great experience for elliot and i think his game will continue to improve with these high pressure opportunities (LEAFS). its true his value will probably be higher around the deadline than it is now and could help us coax a contender into dropping a lofty prospect. for now i hope elliot continues to build confidence and steals one in T.O.
rizzo, you're right about the salary point that a older backup would be for less, but right now luckily, elliot isnt earning a lot. i think his one year qualifier that he signed to avoid RFA is 1 million/yr. which isnt bad considering we were paying Auld 1mil/yr too. I dont think there are a lot of backups in the game today who will toil for less than that. the injury rate for starting goalies is higher, plus, teams want to be winning all the time, so they want their backup to be almost just as good as their starter.
Elliot is that for us right now. Sure he would make super trade bait on the deadline, but I dont think it should be this deadline. I get the whole thing about his value being higher, but he is valuable on the team right now.
Stay Away from Ward!! The money can be spent on somebody way more useful then Ward. On another note, the prospects are looking good and who is this hoffman dude?? Anyways go sens go!!!! and shame on some of you bloggers thinking Ottawa cant beat Toronto. We did the exact same thing to the caps like the laffs did to em' on Saturday.
I could see Murray getting rid of Elliot and I know that Lehner is the next big goalie.... but what about Brodeur, Glass and Chiodo?? Maybe trade some away for picks or someting..
Ottawa wins 4-2 and Kessell gets nailed by the A-Train!!
K
Did Lehner get invited for the WJC?
TSN.ca has an ice chips up that mentions that the call was going to come down today as to whether Karlsson would be going to the WJC
Any idea if it did? with 7 NHL ready defenceman (maybe 8 if you count lee), I think its worth sending him for the experience, though I hope he only wins silver haha
no live blog tonighT?
Nope sorry guys. Wasn't asked to do one tonight.
Updates from different a couple different people's twitters:
- Erik Karlsson won't be loaned to Team Sweden for the WJC.
- Ottawa will not be looking at Ward if he's put on re-entry because they can't afford him (per Don Brennan).
I would also like to add on Elliott: They signed him to a 2-year contract. Considering we have no other quality goalies and Lehner is still too young and a couple years away from even backing up in the bigs, Elliott doesn't get traded unless it's for another, cheaper NHL back up.
Thing is, though, Elliott's pretty cheap so we're sticking with him. I don't know why people are always looking to trade away all our players.
:\
Well decided to make the drive in from Oakville to catch the game..picked up a scalper's ticket for $60 below face. Alfie looked great in the warm-up and Chechoo still has a hard to score even in practice:)
Blah down 1-0 in a fairly lifeless game. :( Powerplay coming up though Go Sens!
As for why we want to trade players, no Cup means you need to change the mix, trading Elliott would be crazy though.
the leagues worst pk unit 2 years running makes the sens pp look like an echl team go figure
Sens are playing good but no match for the new leafs, damit.
Picard needs to keep his skates moving and play more physical...really frustrating to watch!
Don't look good for our boys, 3rd coming up.
hey SC, no liveblog?
Not tonight.
There is one on theScore.com but I'm not hosting it. Mostly Leaf fans. Quite miserable.
i hate losing to the leafs 1/2 way though the 3rd ...
i say we lose 4-2
Is this a wrestling match I'm watching?
The refs have let every elbow, roughing, and boarding go. Despicable.
i stand by what i said.. kuba sucks i would rather have ward.
the Sens are just not that good...Leafs ARE the better team, don't blame the reffing!!!!! geez no wonder we are seen as whiners...Leafs clearly beat us and we whine about the reffing...
wow well thats embarassing. can this team not put a string of wins together? pathetic.
Karlsson had a tough game... Winchester is really getting somewhere though.
Otherwise, just some bad luck.
The Sens Blueline is fucking horrible! No improvements have been made by Murray to bolster their inconsistent D. This team will continue to play one goal games all year...so fucking annoying!!! Lets hope he can get something done by the deadline or next summer. Another loss to an inferior roster. Inconsistency rules again.
worst performance EVER...
why was the sens goal called off???
Positive notes...
I thought Spezza played another solid game...if he had a true finisher with him...
Fisher again was solid. Just a monster year thus far.
Foligno is becoming a really, really solid two way guy. Hope we sign him long term.
Negatives:
The entire blue line. Just terrible.
Cheechoo - was he even out there? Totally invisible.
Coaching - not only was it a brutal line change on the Kessel goal, but what are Carkner, Picard doing out there against that line? Makes no sense to me. Brutal change was more to blame, but that doesn't seem to be a good matchup for me.
Oh well, can't win em all.
Leafs fans will be littering this comment section with garbage....Sens let this one get away...Leafs are definitely improved...Elliot looks tired...Leclaire please come back soon...oh ya and nice retribution by Carkner!
God Bill Watters is a fkn fossil!
yikes.....i dont think the leafs had a powerplay all game long.....
only one goal to show for i think what? 3 or 4 powerplays.
man, this game should have been over in the first with the kind of chances ottawa was getting, but alas....
elliot was soft. the D was slow beyond recognition. can't blame the forwards really on this game. maybe spezza trying to pass to much and a few turnovers, plus kovalev really being just a little invisible at times. kuba is clearly in a major slump. also too many bad pinches by picard, and volchenkov. fumbles by phillips. the picard pinch was particularly painful since it caused the kessel goal.
i really think BM needs to clean up the assistant coaches on this team. the PP is just not able to do it game after game.
still i think was pretty even game in the end. lost it because didnt capitalize on the chances in the first.
Hey everyone and SC,
So...it was a pretty fast paced game tonight. I just dont like the way Elliott plays the puck so casually. I wanted to throw my control at the screen when he let in that pathetic goal. We should have won this game, hands down.
I miss Leclaire...
Also, the "Distinct" kicking motion rule should be revamped. To me, a distinct kicking motion means winding your leg back, and swinging your foot forward. that was more of a tap then a kick. i dunno...the league is really sketchy with rules.
Go Sens Go!
-Carlos
good thing philly won though, otherwise those stupid leafs would have jumped a spot haha.
Rizzo Cheechoo was once again fantastic tonight. He plays on the third line. Which by the way might have had more offensive zone time than any other line tonight. They were absolutely a force on the forecheck.
A solid 4-line performance by all the forwards tonight. It is a pity Elliot and the defense wasted it with horrible unforgivable gaffs. All three goals were direct results of mistakes.
1. Horrible soft goal
2. Horrible defense change
3. Horrible Kuba stick in the lane
Generally speaking though the Sens dominated a Leafs team that has been tearing it up.
Anyone else notice how badly Kuba has been playing since paired with Karlsson. He seems very distracted by all of Karlsson's rookie errors and it's taking away from his game. We were a better team with Lee and his speed in the lineup. At least Kuba didn't have to constantly second guess himself when Lee was playing accross from him. Karlsson quite frankly isn't ready and its not like he's dominating on the PP so we should for sure swap him and Lee. Rushing him in isn't helping us win games. We're what 2-4-1 since we swapped the two of them? So annoying especially when Lee has played so much better this year. If we lose a guy who could turn into a great top four defensemen over this shit I'm gonna be pissed - speaking about Lee here not Karlsson.
/End Rant
When Kuba was signed, he was meant to be our point man on the powerplay and help our transition game. Will he ever live up to that. He is clearly slow and weak, and makes terrible passes our of the zone.
Why is ottawa having so much trouble scoring? They have so many talented forwards in the line up. It must have something to do with the fact we don't have any good offensive defenseman to get the forwards the puck!
HQ they were 1 for 3 on the PP. However yeah the first two 5-on-4 PP's were awful. I also believe we could use a better assistant coach.
Clouston has done well but he could use the help of an experienced coach who has previously held bench boss positions.
hq,
The power play was 1/3? That's about as good as you can ask for.
Certainly not cause to fire the assistant coaches..........
I guess for 3mil I expect more than a good forecheck out of the guy. He wasn't near as invisible as Kelly...
Why hasn't Murray dealt this guy yet?
Another game for elliot, another horribly weak goal allowed. When will he start playing consistant. If he saved the Blake goal, things would have been different.
If the team can not trust the goalie, there will be less offensive oppurtunities and denfenseman will not be worried about making mistakes and therefore will make less.
We need leclaire back, when he was in nets the team trusted him..
the first 2 pps were embarassing the goal was on a 4 on 3 I don't think that salvages how disturbing the 5 on 4's looked
WHy hasnt Murray dealt Cheechoo yet?
Maybe because we got him THREE MONTHS AGO so we could get a real solid player in Michalek and could actually unload a whiny bitch you might remember.
As for Mr. I love Lee up there. Look, I get your opinion, but if you watch the game, more often that not (and I watch VERY closely) KUBA makes a bad pinch and KARLSSON is hung out to dry, not the other way around
Lee had his chance the last few years. Now Karlsson is getting his. Simple as that.
And I think hes doing well. Notice it was his shot that almost tied it at the end.
Trade for Campbell. Yeah a lot of money for a long time, but we desperately need a bonafide top 2 d-man, especially on the powerplay.
Kuba,Cheechoo, Campoli for Campbell.
Chicago would get cheechoo for only one more year.
Chicago has been looking to unload Campbell contract for a while now, so.....
Was talking about Kelly, not Cheechoo.
Dave I won't disagree that I'm a big fan of Lee. I've been watching his development closely and he's much better this year.
Kuba may be pinching but all our D do that. All I'm saying is I think we were better with Lee in the lineup. Especially because of his footspeed. Karlsson isn't going to get back in time to cover for that but Lee sure as hell has the speed to do so.
rizzo, i dont know if you are totally correct on the karlsson-lee speed comparo, to me they look pretty even on the speed factor. except karlsson has a few stick skills, can make slick passes on the PP and also create some plays.
which leads me to my earlier point which SC took exception to
regarding the assistant coaches. I don't know, but since the loss of mesjaros, redden, corvo, preissing and chara, the powerplay has been in steady decline no matter who are the three forwards up front. i dont think the assistant coaches have changed over this steady decline. they did go 1/3 on the PP tonight, but that stat is overly deceptive considering toronto is the worst penalty killing unit in the league and we made them look good until we had them cornered in a 4on3. These guys make more bad decisions when they are on a 5on4 than they make 5on5, which is just shocking. so my point is SC, that i get they dont have an abundance of PP QBs in the back like detroit, but they shouldnt be as bad on the ice as they are either. So maybe its not the players, maybe its the message coming from the staff and the message not being effective.
i dont know about you guys, but I think Kovalev and Spezza are coming around, their games are picking up. atleast spezza's is, he had that extra spark in his legs today, he wanted it more out there, you can tell that on any given night from his stick movements and the way he hunts the puck and steals it. the one guy thats just not pulling in the same direction to me right now on this team is Kuba. sure picard and a few others have had their share of gaffes, but I just feel Kuba is not pulling the same way as the team. and its not really bad decision making on kuba's part thats bothering, its the total lack of urgency at any given moment. its not good for the senators if karlsson shows more urgency than kuba.
Full value for the Maple Leafs in defeating our Sens !!
Guess when Pascal Leclaire has a few games under his belt, maybe starting this weekend, and also when Chris Neil returns, we will find out what this team can seriously accomplish, with a healthy & full roster !!
Should start winning on regular basis, and climb back on top of our Division ! Maybe we will even challenge for Conference near the end of regular season !!
How far will we go in Playoffs is directly related to our 4 lines working 60 minutes of every game !!
Robert Cyr
I never said anything about Karlsson vs Lee, you must be thinking of another guy.
really not sure about Spezza anymore, I know he is a nice guy and he is italian, but really don't think he should be making 7mm a year, I hate to say it but we lost the best part of Spezza with the heatley deal, it would be best if the trade rumors are right and he is traded be for his value drops even more.
Elliot needs to sit a few, start Brodeur and lets see what he can do!
I just cant stand these bad games by Elliot!
SM
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