Thats what i See ...

Top 6
Filatov Spezza Butler
Michalek Zibanejad Alfredsson

Defence
Gonchar Cowen
Kuba Karlsson
Philips Rundblad/Lee

Carkner Extra

gonchar-cowen is epic!

I'm also hoping for the best for Michalek this year (as everyone else is). He has the potential to be a 30 goal scorer and is always overlooked. If he is able to play the full 82 games or at least more than 75, he could put up the numbers. This will be his 3rd season in Ottawa (times go by fast eh?) and with a stacked line up for years to come, if Milan is unable to put up the numbers he should be, seeing as if he makes top dollars, then I'm afraid it might be time to start moving bodies. We can afford to in the long run seeing as Filatov, Da Costa, Zibanejad, Stone, Puempel and many others will develop into big time players for years to come. With that said, I hope Michalek sticks around for the rebuild. Good luck Milan we're all pulling for you.

It doesn't surprise me that Alfredson is with De Costa and Zibanejad. Ideally if Zibanejad does make the team having him with two veteran wingers like Michalek and Alfredson eases the stress of a 18 year old second line centre. Besides Spezza is showing he makes players around him better (i.e. Regin, Greening, Buttler the last few years) and the team is more balanced with Alfredson playing on another line.

I don't think the groups are ordered. They seem pretty balanced to me.

A little glimpse of the new sens jersey on ottawasenators. com oct. 1st cant wait.

Quoting The Apostle:

I though Noesen looked really good. Worked hard, seemed to develop chemistry quickly with Grant and Cowick. battled along the boards and was quicker than I was expecting.

Puempel was, i thought, less impressive but he is coming off a significant injury so that migyt account for the fact he looked relatively rusty.

That was pretty much my impression too.

It didn't show up as much on the scoresheet but Noeson was creating opportunities and making things happen. I thought he deserved more attention than he was getting since everyone was focusing on some of the other higher profile players. I really liked his game though.

Puempel didn't look out of place but didn't do anything extraordinary either. I would attribute it to rust as well.

Could someone please answer this for me.. If we keep Zibanejad past 9 games in the NHL, then from that point we completely buy out his SEL contract. From there we have him as our property free and clear don't we? So why after the 10 games could we not send him to Bingo? I still would rather see Zbad play 25 minutes a night in Bingo than 8 minutes per night in Ottawa (assuming he's not lights out in the NHL). Same goes for Rundblad and Cowan. If they don't impress the hell out of the coaching staff why not have both of them play 30 minutes a night as a top pairing tandem in Bingo then ship out one or two of our D (Kuba, maybe Carkner) at the deadline then bring up Rundblad and Cowan. It scares me when I see guys like Gagne/Cogliano and where they are now. Both were highly touted prospects and I think Edmonton fucked up their potential by forcing their development. They were put in the NHL too quickly and now it's gonna take a lot for them to rebound.

filatov spezza butler
michalek da costa alfie
foligno zibby regin
konopka smith neil
greening

gonchar cowen
karlsson phillips
lee kuba
rundblad/carkner

this team could make the playoffs

but do we want them to???

Phuck! Reading all the multiple line combinations from you guys is really getting all of us excited for the season! It's gonna be a great one. And no, we're not winning the cup just yet but with that many talent the only obstacle is time. And in time, we will do well.
As for people wanting to see a glimpse of the new jersey, everyone check out the Sens' main page before choosing the language. If the font of Alfie's 11 is what it will be, obviously different from the one we're used to seeing, then I cannot wait to get Spezza's. Just 3 more weeks boys!

i dont think zbad is eligible to play in the ahl due to his age same deal with stone and a bunch of the other kids.

Quoting Prusek:

I didn't watch any of the rookie games so what were peoples impressions of Noesen and Puempel? I'm sort of surprised that there isn't much said about them. Yes the Sens got Zibanejad because of how poorly they played last year and he is the more blue chip prospect, however Noesen and Puempel are the product of trading away Fisher and Kelly and are first round picks that might have had more attention if not for drafting Zibanejad. In short, if Cowen, Zibanejad, Rumblad, Lehner and Karlson turn into players they can be a good team, however if Noesen and Peumpel become top 6 forwards the "rebuild" by the Murray's could be great.

Really like Noeson, he has jam, and speed, and will be a pest to play agianst,
but Poempul did not hit my expectations, but it is stille extremely early!

Quoting miguel:

Quoting 111519:

filatov spezza

this team could make the playoffs

but do we want them to???

Sorry but this mind set is frustrating,
I cannot understand how any fan could argue with success... we cheer for them to win, so absolutely we want them to have success and make the playoffs, once there anything can happen, especially with a decent goalie who can get hot for extended periods of time

I agree, anything can happen in playoff hockey (look at Calder Cup on a smaller scale).

Plus any fan knows this has been a loooong summer so I would rather a first or second round exit then for them to tank

always, always, always play to win. what, at least 3 teams in the last ten years who finished 8th have made the SCF. Drafts arent everything, just ask Detroit.

For all those talking about Zbad in the AHL, fr what I understand there is a contractually agreement between the SEL and the NHL that stimulates that any player drafted from the SEL and under contract to the SEL can inu be taken from the SEL if they make the NHL squad at which point the NHL team involved would buy out the SEL contract. To me that means Zbad plays in the NHL or the SEL and rules out the AHL

Quoting Andrews Theory:

i dont think zbad is eligible to play in the ahl due to his age same deal with stone and a bunch of the other kids.

This has been gone over soooo many times I don't see why people still don't understand. Age has nothing to do with AHL eligibility(wel l obviously they have to be over 18.), the 20-21 year old limit is ONLY for CHL players. The whole point is to make sure teams can't just pluck up all the best CHL players and leave those teams barren, so if they aren't ready for the NHL, they have to send them back to their junior team until they are 21.

Players coming from Europe or even the US are able to go to the NHL or AHL right away. The only reason Zibanejad isn't able to head directly to the AHL is due to the fact that he still has one year on his contract with his SEL team. Next year if he still isn't NHL ready he could go to the AHL, or back to the SEL like Silfverberg.

There is alot of talk about Filatov on the first line, The guy couldn't even stay in the nhl last year so why is he now all of a sudden on the top line ? I hope he pans out but don't jump on his back if he doesn't live up to these crazy expectations.

Filatov - Spezza - Butler
Michalek - Regin - Alfy
Foligno - Z Smith - Greening
Neil - Konopka - Condra

Winchester

Philips - Lee
Gonchar - Cowen
Karlsson - Kuba

Carkner

Don't rush Zibby...let him develop in the SEL and save a year off his contract.

Let Rundblad develop in the AHL anbd get used to the smaller ice.

Da Costa can be a first line player in the AHL and be the first call-up if somebody gets injured.

I think they need to give Regin a good 20 games at least to see if he can hack it at he 2C position. if it doesn't work out try to package him up for picks and bring up Da Costa.

Same goes with Kuba...hope he has a bounca back year and raises his value enough that they can get a decent return for him halfway through the year. At that point you can bring up Rundblad.

Rushing these kids to the big show is not the best strategy IMO.

Filatov-Spezza-Butler
Michalek-Zibanejad-Alfie
Foligno-Regin-Greening/Condra
Smith-Konopka-Neil
Winchester

If Z-bad doesn't make the team

Filatov-Spezza-Butler
Michalek-Regin-Alfie
Foligno-Smith-Greening
Condra-Konopka-Neil
Winchester

Karlsson-Gonchar
Phillips-Lee
Kuba-Cowen
Carkner

@ Sandy

Off topic here, in the comments section from Rookie Camp Wrap Up yesterday you were asking about Couturier and if Philly had rookie games. They don't have a tourny by the sounds of it, but they are playing a rookie game tonight against the Washington Rookies at 5PM EST. I found out it's being broadcast from the Philly website with play by play.

You can see the roster they have for it here: http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=588527

Couturier and Schenn are on the list, along with Blake Kessel on the D who just signed an ELC with Philly. Anyone else think the New York Islanders are kicking themselves now for not signing this kid after the draft? Or was there a reason I'm not aware of?

Quoting Mr. Anderson:

Unless Regin really comes out and just looks awful you got to think he's got the inside track with being between Alfie and Michalek. They obviously want to test Regin with some lesser players to see if he can make those around him better and not drag them down. As well as giving Zibanejad and Da Costa time to show what they can do between the two vets.

Also interested to see where they place Smith, Condra and Greening. Anyone else think they might move Foligno to center and have play between Condra and Greening and move smith to wing instead of making him a 3rd line guy right now? Or is that just counter productive seeing as most have him as the replacement for Kelly going forward?

Why not Greening-Smith- Condra line? I think they may be decent.

If Zibby spends a year over in Sweden ..I want Murray to get PHX on the phone KYLE TURRIS !!!

I think that it would be a crime if Rundblad plays under 50 games with Ottawa this year just because we're optimistic about Kuba having a bounce back year.

I see this as being similar to Kovalev last year: we kept him around, he didn't have the rebound year we hoped for and because of his terrible contract we got very little in return for him. The only difference was that Kovalev wasn't taking ice away from someone who by all accounts is ready to play in the NHL and who's services are essential for the team going forward.

I think that it's madness to expect Kuba to have a bounce back year (even in a contract year) and I pray that we get rid of him at the first opportunity.

It drives me mad that we keep hearing that a very bad player keeps playing b/c of their contract. How does 2 wrongs make a right? It is bad enought that we had to pay Kuba almost 4 mil for his embarrasing performances night after night-Kessel literally walking around him, as he turns the wrong way- No I do not blame Kuba, however there is no way that he deserved minutes over Brian Lee. Perhaps if Lee would have been given the minutes he deserved, he may be a better player today. Bottom line we pay $$$ to watch professional hockey, and Kuba can no longer play professionsal hockey. We have many more deserving players who belong there and can benefit from the ice time, Cowen, Rundblad, Gyrba, Wiercoch, Borowiecki. Lets do the right thing, I am not sure I could stomanch Kuba for another year!

Why can I never see comments

Quoting Johne:

HAHAHAHA

so eklund just wrote up a big long article on the sens decision to keep Redden over Chara and the entire article was based on Murray, not Muckler.

What a retard.

ok I used to think people were unfairly hard on him, but that is not a small error, and he calls himself a hockey writer, guess he is out to prove everyone right

comment

Quoting obsensation:

My guess is Gryba or Wiercioch are also traded as there is too much depth on defense.

Yeah too much depth really sucks.

You're talking about two Bingo guys who would be great call ups if we need them (though carrying 8 D we likely won't need them often). Plus after this season one or both of those guys might be needed at the NHL level.