I hope that was rock bottom anyway.
Absolutely inexcusable effort in Phoenix tonight. Not entirely surprising I suppose but still unacceptable. Latter half of the third period was a little better for the Sens but too little too late obviously.
I don't think Jason Spezza is a bad hockey player but I do think he was one of the worst players on the ice tonight and probably has been the last three games.
Clouston, I am begging you to put Cheechoo or Kovalev on a line with Speeza. I know you hold a special place in your heart for Ryan Shannon but putting him on the top line is ridiculous.
For the second straight game I thought Cheechoo was far and away the best player on the ice for Ottawa. This was pretty much a 3-0 game if not for the effort of Cheechoo in the last 5 minutes.
The only thing that made this loss worse was having to watch the game on this ridiculous patch work broadcast using the scoreboard feed in Phoenix combined with the Coyotes radio call. The NHL should be embarrassed that this product is associated with their league.
Mike Brodeur should be in the goal tomorrow against the Ducks. Elliott struggled again.
Back at it tomorrow.
52 comments:
I don't even know what to say....
Mike
I agree Chirpy
I only caught the final half of the game, and if the first half was worse, I am glad I did.
The boys looked either uninspired, or outmatched or tired. Maybe the end of the long road trip they are tired, but then what is the excuse for the beginning of the trip? Outmatched? Granted I dont see many Yotes games, but even if they are better this year, the fact we decided to score twice in the last minute makes me wonder why we werent doing that the whole game?
SO that leaves uninspired, and that confuses and scares me. If anything most games in the Clouston era have had the boys playing hard and creating chances, if not finishing, but tonight they looked like they were going half speed. And as much as I love our boys, we arent NEARLY good enough to win games at half speed.
I agree with you on Cheech though, maybe we can get him to get Spezza going.
Who thought 30 games in we'd be saying that?
Hopefully, we lose a couple more so that Murray and Clouston get fired.
Great another blogger that has turned his back on the coach. Here is an idea for you SC. Why don't you apply for the head coaching job for our hockey team?
Great game by Cheech. Spezza needs to wake up. Brodeur needs a shot. Simple enough.
-SX
Time to fire clouston???? How many games will he go before relizing that the top two lines have no chemistry. Spezza-7mil and only 2 goals. Kovalev-5 mil and 4 goals. In desperate need of another top d-man. Phillips and Volchenkov can only do so much. Kuba is an overpaid useless d-man. Time to make some trades before we lose too much ground.
To Anon at 12:42 AM,
Haven't turned my back on him at all. I think Clouston is a terrific coach.
Just don't understand the way he has handled Ryan Shannon and feel putting someone different on Spezza's wing might get him going.
A good coach should be able to light a fire under his players. Why bench foligno when he is one of the hardest working sens. Bench spezza and kovalev a few games. What is the worst that can happen, they are no doing anything anyways.
Its a good point, most other teams would see that one-two punch and see its a no brainer... i dont fully understand Cloustons motivations either, but if he is playing favorites rather then be strategic with his players abilities, its a huge flaw as a coach.
On the bright side, the sharks lost to the flames 2-1
Murray is going to panic and fire Clouston, I can feel it.
How can a team that missed the playoffs be this unmotivated? Look, I'm not expecting the 100 point seasons of yesterday but...a full game effort? Brutal stuff...
I really don't think Murray gets to make any more coaching changes.
SC, I believe you and was only halfkidding but I expect it at the back of my mind.
There has to be something wrong with this team if it can't continually compete with teams like this...even given the odd early or bad goal.
Maybe murray needs to go then and start with new management and coaching staff.
Man Spezza is on fire!
0 pts, -1, 1 shot on goal. At least he won 1/2 his draws tonight.
Murray is going to have to make a move soon and I hope it's a big one because his 9 lives are almost up.
I think because Ottawa has a few high-skilled players the fact that we're not getting many PP's is the reason we're not getting as many goals as we did a few years ago when the ref's were calling every single infraction they saw. Kovalev and Spezza do so much better on the PP and we just havn't had any opportunities for them to get it going so I believe that is one of the reasons they are struggling so much.
A few goals/points on the PP goes a long way with the whole confidence thing.
Gonna be tough playing again tomorrow against the Ducks, they seem to be playing a bit better lately.
Murray should have traded spezza before his trade value went way down and before his trade claus started. Everyone was expecting spezza to have a great year as he had something to prove to steve yzerman. Who would have thought....
In Spezza's defence, he was quite obviously playin hurt right now.
Same goes for Alfredsson. The fact that those two are always taking "maintenance" days should tell you they aren't 100%
Then maybe they should give them a few days off to get 100%. If spezza is not producing cause he is injured, why not give him 5 games off to get better. If Alfreddson can produce while injured, then why not spezza. All the best players play injured, no excuses.
spezza needs to play with kovalev.
i think clouston was saving this idea for playoff/crunch time, but it should be happening now.
spezza/kovalev/alfredsson is Ottawa's top line.
that'll get jason going.
Has Cloustons message already begun to fall upon deaf ears ?
To Annon 1:15
Spezza had a few games just a few weeks ago, that was supposed to heal whatever was bothering him and have him come back 100% healthy. It's looking like it could be worse than "just a few games off"
Spezza's play is really starting to worry me, I always wanna give him the benefit of the doubt because I'm a huge Spezza fan, he's my favorite player, but he's been utterly atrocious!!
People who want Clouston fired are fucking morons. Do you realize that our team has a reputation of being coach killers? By firing Clouston it's going make it even harder for Ottawa to find another coach. The same goes with firing a GM. Torts, Terry Murray, and Hartley all turned the chance to coach Ottawa because they were afraid of having acid spat at them everytime they make a decision just like you idiots are doing with Clouston. Also Melynk doesn't want to shell anymore money until Hartsburgh's, Mucklers', Murray's, Clouston's and Paddock's contracts are all done.
Maybe it's time you take a long look at this roster that Clouston has to work with. That's right it's shitty and Clouston has done a good job with the hand he has been dealt with. His record speaks for it and give him another 2-3 years when the team adds better pieces to the puzzle before bringing out the pitch forks and torches. Torts and John Stevens were given at least 3.5 years to work their magic with Tampa Bay and Philly respectively.
Cheechoo the last few games has really started to skate...starting to look a lot more comfortable handling the puck.
Anon 1:15...you're right if you don't factor in the type of injury - WAKE UP!
Spezza (what I'm assuming is his back still) definitely needs some time to heal up.
I agree that the lines need to be changed up a bit...but I don't think you can put both Cheechoo and Kovalev on a line with Spezza.
Let's be honest, Kovy and Spezz are high risk/high reward players and as a result they are prone to turnovers. Personally I think if you are going to put Kovy on a line with Spezza then you need a speedster up there with them, who can play both ways.
Michalek-Spezza-Kovalev
Cheechoo-Fisher-Alfie
I think having two playmakers(spezza/Kovalev) on a line with Michalek would result in a significant boost in point production.
I agree with you Chirp.
Kovy Spezz and Cheech should be put on a line to get those guys going.. in my opinion at least. Cheechoo was by far the hardest working Ottawa player the last two games and maybe would have a positive affect on those two.
I remember last year every time Gerber was playing goal, Ottawa was totally uninspired. Maybe, since Elliott is struggling, the players don't have that comfort and are afraid to make a mistake?
What do you think?
A couple of loses and once again what do we get. Fire this guy fire that guy, trade this guy or that guy away. Give it a rest guys you act like these teams are absolute push overs and we should destroy them. And don't forget the Sens never play well out on the west coast. Hopefully they do better when they come to Edmonton in march.
It's clear this team is missing a sniper. Well Spezza is. If we had one then things wouldn't be much of an issue. The defense is fine and again what is adding one guy going to do? Will one person wether it be Barker, or anyone else make that much of a difference. That it will out weigh the cap we take on. Or pushing out one of our good d prospects next year in Karlsson, Cowan and Weiroch?
As for Elliot he looks tired. Difference between this year and last year he was use to this kind of work load cause of the AHL. But since he's been a back up he's just doesn't have the Stamina for this kind of thing this season.
Not much we can do but look to maybe get a good young sniper in the draft or somewhere else (maybe Filatov). Since he does not seem at all happy with his situation in Columbus. And wait for Leclaire to get back in net. As for all you Murray haters. His contract is up at the end of the year. He'll likely take up another position and Melynk will hire someone new. Murray should at least stay to make sure that drafting group he put together stays. They've done a lot of good work so far and hopefully will continue to do so.
I have watched nearly every minute of every game this year and I don't even live in Ottawa. Even the one Atlanta game that wasn't televised, I managed to make it to the game. I don't know what it was tonight, maybe the fact that the video feed looked like it was in black and white or the fact that the boys looked like they didn't give a flying fuck, but I could just not sit through that hockey game. I turned it off halfway through, but honestly I am not concerned about this team. We're gonna go through ups and downs and im confident that when we have our full team back, we will be a strong team. I think Murray does need to make a trade though and even though everyone keeps saying top 4 dman, I think we need a scoring winger for spez. He needs a pure finisher for his playmaking abilities to be truly effective.
It's obviously not the type of injury that can...
A) Be enough to keep them out
B) Get better with a few days off
Nagging injuries that slow you down but don't keep you out can rarely be improved without months and months of rest.
While I'm not surprised by the outcome of the games lately. Nor am I surprised by how many have jumped for the "fire the coach and GM" mode. We hear it every year. We lose a few games everyone needs to be fired. It's ridiculous. I like Clouston, and I agree with Chirp about Shannon. Spezza has been hurt, and before that he was trying to adapt to playing without Heatley with him. He'll get back to normal soon, hopefully soon enough to get us back on track. And whatever moron said Kuba was over-rated should actually watch the hockey games. We all have opinions, but do these morons really consider themselves fans? Anyways, keep cheering people, road trip is about over.
I think we need to cut back and not expect so much from Spezza. True that one of the main factors for his success over the last 4 years was playing along side Dany, but to think that he'd be doing this bad really sucks!
You would think that getting an invite to Team Canada would be a motivating factor but clearly that's not it. In all honesty, if you're an (NHL) elite player, you should be able to succeed on any given night. So that means either the system is wrong or the player is wrong.
So which is it?
I hope Spezza can silence his critics and show them he can get back to being an elite player who can play with anyone. And show them he can be just as good without Dany Heatley.
I got a hat trick at pick up in my Sens jersey tonight. I just wanted to share the good news, since there's a void otherwise.
Don't give up on it now guys...it's a long season.
Go Sens
SC, spezza is not taking maintenance days. he hasnt taken one in quite a bit. Alfie takes a maintenance day pretty much every practice now. i think he does it more to help clouston's uber-man-crush on shannon probably.
didnt see the game. but read the recap and once i read that it was 3-0 with five minutes left, i kinda got the picture.
i personally dont think spezza is hurt. i think he is genuinely not interested. big time. what do they have to lose if they are playing him hurt yet they are still losing. the road losing streak is long enough for them to cut their injury losses if there is an injury to spezza.
whatever. it was only a ticking time bomb before the struggles of this team's top lines will become a major factor. since the start of the season, the biggest question mark for the team has been lack of production from spezza and the top line. while aflie has his fair share of points and so does michalek, its sporadic because of non-production from spezza. and the person who should really take responsibility for this is clouston. its his job as coach to determine what should work on this team regardless of whichever direction the rest of the team goes in. and that one thing that should work always is the top line. win or lose that top line should always be clicking/generating.
this coach is a joke. cheech one of our best players now only plays 10 fuckin minutes.shannon on the first line?the coach is a fruitcake
Panic trade anyone?
I know Murray is thinking about it...Look for one to come soon!
I'll give you 7 Million reasons why I don't feel bad for Spezza, If you want to get paid like a superstar....Then play like one!
Also, I am glad people are starting to see that Murray is the root of the problem here because when I suggested he get fired months ago, people thought I was crazy.
Unfortunately, reality sinks in eventually.
If players like Spezza and Alfie are hurt, sit them. Why bother playing them right now? We can't get a full 60 minute effort out of them and we walk away with the loss, so why bother even playing them hurt right now. I'd rather see rookies giving it 100% than our stars giving it 5%.
This team right now is lazy, disgusting and frustrating to watch. Pathetic.
I'll tell you why the league should be humiliated... the coyotes are giving away piles of free tickets during the game and people who are winning them don't even seem to care. Good call Bettman, make sure you keep the team there. Maybe those 4 tickets plus a signed puck for $45 promotion will keep those hundreds upon hundreds of fans who wear team shirts from every other sport other than hockey coming to the games.
And yes that pathetic excuse for a broadcast with announcers that sound like they are at a golf game was sad but, being the inhouse feed, my expectations were pretty low anyway.
Oh, and a free taco whenever the coyotes score more than 3 goals... you can tell that taco bell isn't concerned about giving away too many tacos - and not because of the team not scoring.
A trade I had been thinking about for a few days is this:
To minnesota:
Spezza
Lee
Kuba
Kelly
To Ottawa:
Koivu
Burns
Sykora
Numbers going each way aren't quite even but Minnesota could fit this under their cap.
BTW, can't blame Murray for this slump. It falls on Clouston. The man can't keep a line together for more than one shift and he can't adjust to other teams. Just like last year, you can tell that the other team's game plans are to be very aggressive on the forecheck. He can't adjust the game plan by capitalizing on the fact that there are usually two or three opposing players deep in the sens zone.
At what point in time do we kinda throw in the towel on this current nucleus? Realizing that trades are rare in this league due to salary cap restrictions, perhaps its time we started thinking about trades that will benefit this team 3 or 4 years down the road. With the current team in place we'll never be better than the team that went to the cup a few years back, so why not try something different? It may take a few years of missing the playoffs, but a rebuild might be needed.
I smell season ending surgery for Spezza, this seems like the type of thing that a few days off will only help temporarily..
Let me say, I'm a HUGE Spezza fan but I don't believe the style of play we're playing suits him and his skill set. With Fish and Michalek leading the way with a gritty banger style and Foligno following suit, I can't help but wonder if we couldn't get a couple of mid-high end players for Spezz. Lots of teams struggling that didn't expect to be like Philadelphia. This team needs all the oars being pulled the same way to have a chance and that's not happening right now.
The December sched is hugely heavy, and the Sens can't afford to sit a couple of their top players and bring up rookies to play in the bigs. The December sched is crucial, and the Sens need to play with what they have.
Clouston is not the source of the issue either. Like our gracious host said, I don't think Murray gets to make that call again before he gets the heave-ho himself. The Ducks game today is crucial. They are in 28th place. It's a must-win game or something will give.
Engin,
The fact is this team is spending to the cap with expectations of making the playoffs. At this point, if the Senators lose more money by missing the playoffs and having more empty seats something will have to give.
Given management's giving free passes to people from the Ottawa region (Murray is from nearby Shawville) then Clouston is the next one to fall (Alberta is nowhere near Ottawa). Will he? I don't think so for the reasons you gave.
What I do now is that Melnyk expects more from these guys. And if the BIG boss sees this team as a playoff team and potentially a home ice one (remember, he said last year they wer Top 4 material) then we should too.
If this team lingers in the 11-8 spots throughout most of the year, expect heads to roll and fan favourites to go.
No more excuses, you're paid millions. Get it done.
Guys.
http://www.senschirp.ca/2009/11/back-on-top.html
go back and look at the comments here. Ten Days ago.
yes the sens have had some poor outings on this road trip, and I too have been frustrated. But calling everyone from the coach to the gm to the team to the mascot crap, seems silly when you look at what we all were saying 10 days ago.
Great point Dave.
Nobody thought this West Coast Trip would be easy. If we can steal one tonight in Anaheim it should settle things down a little bit.
Chirp of the Week feature comin up soon....
Andre, you got to be kidding. Minnesota or any organization would make a deal like that. The value of hockey players in that deal is way one sided. wed have to give lee kuba kelly to just get burns and 2nd round pick or something.
Why am I left with the feeling that these anonymous posters calling for Murray and Clouston to be fired are Leafs fans?
Worry about your own team dude(s?).
I don't want to blame scheduling because everyone has it hard this year with the Olympic break but scheduling is nuts! I just hope the other teams in the eastern conference have that hard of a schedule (game+travel every second day) when they go on their western road trips...
And believe me, this ain't going to be any better in Anaheim folks. These guys are burnt and demoralized. Anyone would be.
This won't be any prettier in Ottawa on Tuesday against the Habs. Which is a shame because there's no worse feeling than being ridiculed in our own building with half the crowd being shit face Habs fans.
Other than Carolina Ottawa has the fewest road wins in the eastern confrence. I know they have played a few more home games but that is bullshit.
I think it is ridiculous to think Clouston should get the axe already but I am questioning his some of his moves/ if he really has the players ears and respect.
The ducks surely will give them some pp chances tonight if they play with anykind of energy.
Hope they can squeak one out.
For anyone who is a fan of a good scrap go watch Yabo's scraps with Jon Nasty Mirasty from the back to back wtih Syracuse 2 beauties
dropyourgloves.com
Boy, before this road trip.. everyone was saying -- team is great.. yeah Spezza's not scoring.. but we are winning -- so what.
Now after a bad road trip. Spezza is a bum... teams no good.. fire the coach, fire the GM.
Some of you so-called fans are idiots. Every team goes through ups and downs in a year. We knew this was coming. Did you think this team was going to go 82-0? Of course not.
Teams learn to play tough from adversity. It what makes a team. They will get through this.
What I do find worrisome is the effort or lack thereof. If they would start the games they way they finish them -- maybe it would be a different outcome.
Leclaire got injured at the worst time possible for this team. But it is a long season with over 50 games remaining.
We all knew that this team would have to fight and scratch to get a playoff spot. Now it's our turn to get behind them and cheer -- instead of jumping off the bandwagon everytime they lose.
I agree that the NHL should be embarrassed with the coverage. Why is Bettman fighting so hard to keep this team in Phoenix? Would it not be in the NHL's best interest to move them to a market that can actually get a local network to cover the game? To a market that has fans that will actually go and watch the games?
Ohhhh wellll....
michalek spezza kovalev
alfie fisher cheechoo
foligno winchester shannon
regin kelly rutuu
Why is this so hard.
Aside from the "Fire the coach/GM" comments, the obsession with line combinations is all too predictable. Michalek and Fisher are scoring by the bucket-full...if playing with them isn't enough, nothing is.
Before the season, many people said that the Sens would go as far as Pascal Leclaire carried them. Well, after a cheekful of vulanized rubber changed plans, we see what's left.
To paraphrase Dennis Green: The Sens are who we thought they were.
The Sens can't hide the D holes much longer. With Elliott struggling under pressure, the forwards are playing too "Hartsburgish"...afraid the other team will get a break.
This isn't a Sens team that can win too many games when the other team scores 4+ goals.
I just hope Murray was in Glendale with the team and trying to make a deal with Don Maloney.
The scoring issues with Spezza, Kovalev, etc will sort themselves out. If they could land a legit 3-4 D-Man, the Sens would be a force to be reckoned with when Leclaire, Neil and Donovan return. A blue line of Phillips-Volchenkov-New Guy-Kuba-Picard-Carkner would be great. Kuba excels when he can be his "offensive" self and Carkner has shown that the "AHL" label no longer applies. He can be a 5-6 guy in this league, but struggles with more than that.
The absence of Neil shows how much the team misses him. His contract is worth every freakin penny when the guy is in the lineup.
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