Tough guy Matt Kassian, who will wear #28 for the Senators, is expected to take that place in the Ottawa line up. Kassian skated on a line with Peter Regin and Kaspars Daugavins at today’s practice.
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Couple other notes from practice today include Dave Dziurzynski and Mike Lundin both skating with the rest of the team. They are both currently sidelined with concussions. Daniel Alfredsson and Sergei Gonchar, who have played a ton as of late, both had the afternoon off.
The Sens are in Buffalo on Saturday afternoon.
- Also from last night’s post, the Sens have officially announced the signing of WHL defenceman Troy Rutkowski. You can see the team’s official press release here.
- The NHL Board of Governors today approved the proposed realignment, which will take effect at the start of next season. Under the new set up, the Sens are now in a division with the Leafs, Habs, Bruins, Red Wings, Sabres, Panther and Lightning. The top 3 teams in each division make the playoffs with two wild cards spots being awarded to the two best records outside the top 3.
If this comment receives more than a -20 rating, future comments that just say "first" will be promptly removed from this site.
I leave it in your hands :)
Thats alot better than the system we have now, no more weak division leaders taking a spot away from a deserving team.
haha...pretty sure a few threads ago the "first" comment got up to -49.
Although it contributes absolutely nothing, I find it quite amusing. If anything Chirp, it means your blog has reached elite level?
See that's what I thought too! All the most popular comment sections have the first guy.
Status symbol for me, annoyance for you? Just wasn't sure how others felt about it haha
Are you really happy we got 5 of possible 12 points in our last 6 games?
Can we also "vote Tookie off the Island" ?
8 of 14 instead of 8 of 16...
Cant believe the Eastern Owners agreed wholeheartedly to that one?
@ Tookie,
Finally after all our back and forth, I agree with you, that we should always strive to get 2 points for a Regulation win or even an Overtime win.
Because of our depleted lineup, which makes it harder to win in situations where we are tied, our Sens seem to "play not to lose" instead of pushing for the win.
We have picked up an extra 6 points to keep us in playoff contention in 5th place. Without those 6 points we would be 9th-10th or 11th.
In closing, if we had all our assets we would not have to play like this !
MMuuwahahahaah!
Not if I have this!
Matt Kassian Vs John Scott
Over the past couple of years Filatov was meant to score 30 goals, Cowen, Rundblad and Silfverberg were all going to win the Calder and every other forward prospect in the organisation was going to come in and instantly dominate.
I think people continually underestimate the difference in class needed to play in the NHL vice the AHL. Truly elite prospects generally bypass the AHL completely.
I understand we all want our prospects to hit the ground running, but look at it dispassionately - when was the last time that actually happened for the sens?
It's a great lesson that patience is needed and that we shouldn't jump all over somebody because they haven't set the world on fire in their first season.
What in the?!
You can post pictures in here?
This could be dangerous.
Yes 2 pts are better than 1 and 1 pt is better than 0.
1 pt against both Mtl & Bos is good for this inexperienced team right now.
But I think McLean should shake up his SO order.
Silfverberg
Zibanejad
Latendresse
then if needed
Alfie
Turris
Daug
Hoping for wins going forward. Lots of home games next week.. and especially for me.. Mar 21, 23, 25 & 28...
Chirp, anything on Anderson. I'm getting a little concerned about the length of time he has been out. He doesn't seem like he is progressin.
I'd move Daugavins up to third in that list. Not sure what Lats would be like though. Apparenlty Daug can lift the "ringette" move - which is scary.
I think if possible - no images only links... will bog everything down.
Excalty what I'm trying to tell people over the last years or so. Every fan base tends to over value their prospects.
Its funny how many people had Silfverberg winning the Calder, along with Rundblad and Butler, same for Da Costa...lol
I was about to ask the same question.
Guess I can't, lol
We got 1 point against a couple of really tough opponents, that makes me happy. Now its time to own our 2 points against weaker ones....if we lose our next couple of games...I would be a little dissapointed.
Hmmm... interesting. Only received a -9 for being completely right.
Chirp, now this must be the record for most thumbs down.
Helps Bingo
Helps Stone
Clears a spot for Kassian so helps Ottawa
No brainer really.
Yeah, tookie's 3 year old could have made that move.
He did, on the PS3...
Does that mean Gryba gets sent down to Bingo? I'm not anti-Gryba but I think he might benefit from a breather against AHL teams where he can apply some stuff he's learned in the NHL.
I assume Dizzy goes down when he's healthy too. Or would PMac rather him in there over Regin/Daug/JOB?
Not a fan of this and I have no idea how the eastern owners approves this when the have a smaller chance of making the playoffs compared to the west
No, we will keep 7 Defensemen like we have all year and I think we keep DD up too as he was doing fairly well
Just curious how you figure it will likely be the same teams playing each other year after year?
By the way loved how our boys played last night very proud. Still think Tookie has no clue what a good hockey player is. Just heard McGuire say that Zibby will be for sure a 25 to 30 goal scorer(now I can take or leave McGuire but I agree with him on this one).
That's what I said! Whooohooo! Party!
I know it can make moderation tougher, but it can certainly have positive uses as well, I for one hope we can embrace the idea. :)
It doesn't bog down jack. Nothing is even hosted on a Chirp server.
not sure why youd think that..the 1st round will likely be the same as it is now and with the wild card spots, we should be seeing a pretty different 1st round every year.
Over the past few weeks the conversation as greatly declined with people bickering, counting posts, name calling, and generallly going way off topic ( excluding the story about the young girl that was truly incredible and wish all the best for the family). Adding pictures into the mix will turn this comment section into something similar to the hockeybuzz comment section ( which is totally off topic unreadable garbage)
Sorry to be a downer, but i really hope we can bring this site back to its glory and avoid all the trash. I know this becomes difficult as the site becomes more popular but it can be done.
Go sens go... Cant wait to drive from halifax to see them in person easter weekend!
Nice to hear from a fan in Halifax, and hope you enjoy your visit to Ottawa and the Senators Easter Weekend.
Hope that pictures do not take over this great site. Your point of view will surely be read by Senschirp.
yeah Gods treated this team this year about as good as he treated the jews in the old testament....
Done. Thanks. Will also be removing the picture feature for now until we can find a better way to moderate.
But you're just as bad, you're just on the other side of the problem. You lay into players like Silf and Zbad bemoaning them for lack of production without appearing to give any concession to the fact they are merely finding the way in the game.
Because the 3 teams in each division make the playoffs and there will be at least 1 divisional playoff series (likely 2) in each division. Because there is only 2 wild card teams, there will be too much divisional matchups. My point is that we could play a team like Boston nearly every year in the playoffs which would get boring after a while
But it's ok for Apostle to call him a moron...
What the fuck is this world coming too?
I'm stunned. I think I'm done coming to this site.
Haha I think you may be misreading things a little bit. It was a joke about the trend of people posting "first" as the first comment in threads all over the internet. I really don't think anyone was actually upset and this has absolutely nothing to do with the poster, who by the way has contributed some excellent comments lately.
And no, personal insults are never ok on here and I do the best I can to prevent them. Unfortunately some do slip through from time to time. Hope you understand.
The issue I have is the divisional playoffs. It will be Boston & Detroit for how long being the ones with the best chance to get out to the conference finals..
With the current system... you get a chance of playing just about anyone in the top 8. With the divisional playoffs it would be Boston, Detroit, Mtl/Ott then one of the rest.. for as long as the realignment lasts. I personally don't like that..
in my opinion other than the goaltenders zibanejad has been our best player and hes getting better every game.
In other words, Mexican Baby Jesus is this guy:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hfrct-kpss0/T46q24zkWUI/AAAAAAAABqw/Kj6im_RZRP8/s1600/1973776-southpark_wow2.jpg
Always sitting on his ass waiting for SensChirp to make a new post.
It is tough for Ottawa cause we are in a very good division. Even the FLA teams are up and coming. I dunno, personally I think it will make for very intense hockey for more of the season which can't be a bad thing.
I also don't like the two extra teams in the East vs West. It should be even. I'm surprised the NHL went so far to accommodate Columbus. I imagine they have something in mind down the road to even it up
Why?
Who in the Bruins division is going to beat them out to get to the conference finals. Detroit is always good. Mtl & Ott are up and coming.. but can anyone take the Bruins in 7 games?
LOL. Yep pretty much. TBH I am in Edmonton and when I wake up I lounge on the net for an hour on my beautiful Z10 smartphone. With the 2 hour time change, Chirp usually updates the site 9-12am for me... (11-2pm EST).
Back to hockey...at first I thought we were in a hard division, but when you look around at the other division, there are no easy ones. I think parity in the league is greater than ever. There are very few teams I see as going nowhere if any.
Agree with previous poster about "old school", winning your division then conference for chance at cup.
Like it was btwn the sens and laughs 4 tilts in 5 yrs from 99/00 to 03/04 (sorry to bring bac bad memories - but that's what makes a rivalry)
I am happy Lehner who has a 1-0-4 record got us 6 out of a possible 10 points
Actually in last 10 games, our record is 4-2-4 = 12 points out of possible 20.
After 28 games we are in 5th place with 32 points, and still at win ratio of 60%.
Sens are on track to end up with 57-60 points, and qualify for the playoffs.
GO SENS GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
Celine Dion Phaneuf is a team worst -11. I smile every time I see that big idiot on the ice for the blue team :)
I enjoyed this
Big is the operative word. There are a lot of really big, strong, physical college free agents that are going to become available as soon as their college seasons end
The first one is Kellan Lain from Lake Superior State, a 6'6 centre. This is a guy that in the next number of days is going to choose a team, probably in the Western Conference. Teams like Anaheim, Vancouver, and Phoenix are interested, but he's not among the top three guys that I have as a consensus from NHL teams.
Danny Dekeyser, who everybody wanted to come out of Western Michigan last year. Eight NHL general managers have been in to see the 6'3 mobile defenceman in the last couple of weeks. I think that Detroit, St. Louis, and Tampa Bay are among the frontrunners for Dekeyser; he's high profile.
Andrej Sustr, a 6'8 Czech defenceman who plays at Nebraska-Omaha, is on the All-WCHA team this year. Lots of teams are lining up to get him signed as soon as his season ends.
And Montreal-area product Antoine Laganiere from Yale is a big winger – 6'4, 215 lbs – who projects as a third- or fourth-liner.
This year's college free agent crop is not outstanding, but Dekeyser is the best of that group.
Let's be honest. In a perfect world, they finish 9th every year with the exception of years where they've traded away their first pick. I especially enjoyed watching Boston take Seguin followed by Hamilton instead of the Leafs...
We are at 53 contracts, with 3 "sliding" to next year (Puemple, Noesen and Ceci)
So we are sitting at the max 50
If we want in on the Free Agency frenzy we will need to unload some contracts
I wouldn't be surprised to see Regin, Daugavins, Petersson, Da Costa or even Cannone, blood moved in the very near future for 4th-6th rounds picks
That makes sense right??? No, really, think about... does your head hurt yet?
I'm sure that if we had dropped out of the playoff hunt come 3 Apr we would be looking at moving Gonchar, a goalie and three or four of the plethora of bottom 6 forwards we have.
That's looking unlikely now. I would still be OK with moving Gonchar (even though he is playing well) if the return was a 2nd or 1st round pick (or a blueline prospect) but I don't think Murray is in that mindset.
I agree that moves are going to happen, but I think they are going to be small potatoes unless we can pull a NHL 13 and package a pile of crap with Bishop and get a superstar.
To an extent but the College FA opens up basically next week once their schedule ends, so come April 3rd it will be too late
Yes. They lost in the first round last year. Every team is beatable, even elite teams like Boston.
I think the point is that of the current playoff teams in the east, Ottawa is tied for the least wins (13). Yes, the OTL points (6) are helping us, but we really, really need more WINS - 13 will not be enough.
Any room in the car lol?
I agree he would be an awesome addition, loved him in the World Juniors
But I do wonder why Murray is infatuated with Centremen
Come on now, you're just assuming they were scouting Matthias. I'm pretty sure everyone on Florida is available with the exception of Huberdeau, Gudbranson, Kulikov, and Markstrom.
Matthias is a RFA at seasons end too. Good fit with the rebuild. I'm sure he could be had for pretty cheap.
The only other guy I could see of interest is Kopecky.
Simple math really...there are more skilled centers than wingers and centers can always move to the wing not the other way around...
Florida has 9 natural centers on their roster currently and ottawa has had 9 centers play NHL games this year. Look at Boston...half their team is centers and Montreal has a line with 3 centers on it.
I'd prefer without it... It's such an Eklund thing... ugh
Well thats the sport Sandy, its not supposed to be easy. You want to hang with them then get better. Learn from them.
The West has the same thing in CHI, VAN, etc,...
This system is alot better than having a divisional leader creep into 3rd spot ahead of better teams just because they lead their shitty Div...
Tookie is right. Can't make the playoffs? Then get better, and better.
Making the playoffs isn't supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be a time where the games get much more intense and heated BECAUSE of the few teams that make it year after year.
The fact that we bring up teams like Detroit and the Bruins speaks volumes of their success... Teams that make it in year after year.
This exactly, hardly any rivalries left in the NHL, its all mundane match ups now, who cares really if we play CBJ...I really dont want to see that, I would rather we play the Bruins 5 times and yearly in the playoffs...
Rivalries are all but extinct, bringing them back will boost the NHL back to its glory days!
The Bingo website says they signed him to an amateur tryout contract. Is this the same as an ELC or are there different rules?
Boston will more than likely not be a powerhouse forever...teams rarely are. Besides...to be the best, you must beat the best. I would hate to win the cup knowing that we only won because we dodged boston. I want to win it by beating boston in the divisional series....
Who cares about Boston? Who cares about the Cup? I just wanted to beat the Laffs in the playoffs!!!
Ok, I care about the cup, too...