After some strong play in the American Hockey League, the Sens have recalled forward Mika ZIbanejad.
Zibanejad joined the team in Ottawa this morning and is on the ice at this morning's practice. The AHL is currently on its All Star break but there is a chance Zibanejad could play as early as tomorrow night against the Capitals.
Health has been the biggest issue for Zibanejad this season but he has finally been able to stay in the line up and his numbers have improved as a result. Zibanejad has four goals and 11 points through 23 games this season.
Should be interesting to see if he draws into the line up tomorrow night.
Alfredsson, Spezza and Smith are all absent from this morning's practice.
Stone, Hoffman, Da Costa, Grant all must be thrilled with this
I'm a prophet!
Alfie has been traded to Detroit for draft picks!
Spezza has been traded for Weber!
Smith has been traded to Chicago!
LOL - just kidding. If he can click with Spezza I will be thrilled. Though once some other true wingers are with the big club in a couple of years I think he's more likely our 3rd line center (Staal-esque?).
Those guys will get their chance eventually. Hey, Stone got to play in the playoffs, and he did great but he really needs to get faster. Hoffman, Da Costa and Grant are kinda incase bad injuries happen to the big club. They need more time to grow.
He's been on fire lately. That's what matters, and that's why he's getting called up. His numbers only don't look as good, because he was hurt/sick for the start of the season.
If you've seen any AHL games lately, you would know that Z-Bad has been one of the B-Sens' best players every night.
Really excited to see if he plays. Would love to see him get another opportunity but if he's not ready for the big leagues, we shouldn't rush him.
Also, if Spezza is taking another maintenance day he obviously has some lingering issue. Any word on what's bothering him Chirp? I hope it's not his groin or back because with such a compact schedule, he won't have much time to rest and heal up.
Spezza was visibly off his game yesterday and this explains it.
That would mean he's been about a point a game since he's back from injury?
Can somebody confirm this?
That's a little unfair of a judgement. Z-bad is one of our top prospects, he has size, smarts, and a good shot....plus he's on a hot streak right now. The brass are probably just looking for an asset that he posesses that the others don't. Or they just want to have an update on his progress (especially now that he seems to have gotten more comfortable with the north american game style).
I'm hoping Weircoch can draw back in. Maybe give Benoit a break. Ideally Phillips could likely use an extra days rest.
Methot-Karlsson
Boro-Gonch
Weircoch-Philips
Zibby is scoring goals these days.
Something Ottawa needs right now.
He is still positionally sound and strong as an ox. I'm not saying our top 6 wouldn't be better if Phillips were in the bottom pair (pushed down by better/younger guys) but I don't see any desperation there.
If Cowen were healthy you have to assume he'd play with Gonchar in the 3-4 pair putting Phillips with BenWierCop and our top six would be pretty amazing actually.
I've even heard Leaf-centric analysts say the Sens have one of the best D corps in the league.
Is it just that some fans expect players to be like Alfie and be the exact same or better each year?
I don't think it's hate...it's just chatter about concerns of him not being top 4 material. I think most people would agree with you about him being on bottom 6. It is what it is....
My bigger concern is that with his age, he will be vulnerable to tiring in this compact season and that he is already one of our slower skaters...hopef ully he won't become a vulnerability.
Meh, a "stay at home" D being slow isn't the end of the world. Ya he could probably benefit from the odd maintenance day of course.
Yes, because our team is only made up of top 10 draft picks...
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance
Our attendance is better than the Maple Queefs!!!
People are just "nervous" with him out there.
No z-bad tomorrow? :(
I wanted to see him play...dang!
Guess the boycott didn't go too well
Maybe Leaf Fans are getting tired of seeing their "product" on the ice...
either way, this is good news to Melnyk's pockets and more than likely for our team. :)
I thought Phillips was really solid yesterday. He played the body really well in the corners.
I think the biggest issue with Big Rig is that his style of play really only gets noticed when he "f**ks up". Otherwise he usually just flies under the radar and plays a quiet, solid game.
Can't wait to see the game tomorrow.
Stone is out with broken finger and Hoffman with broken collar bone
Yeah those games when we scored 4-4-3 in front of him were really shitty efforts.
We have played 5 games and have scored less than 3 goals in 1 of them.
I don't think we can really bitch about not providing goal support for our goalies when we average 3.2 goals a game, which is good for 9th in the NHL at the moment.
Last season only three teams averaged better than 3 goals a game (Pittsburgh, Philly and Boston). Sens were 4th.
Take a breath.
No Kidding! And the good news is Spezza et al will start scoring. It's only a matter of time...
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/learned-despite-flashes-old-alex-ovechkin-now-predictable-142932597--nhl.html
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130126/SPORTS/301260077/Lehner-impressive-again-Binghamton-Senators-shootout-victory
Sensfan20, we're very happy that you're a Sens fan, but we're very sad that you are clueless.
It's good that you have a boner for Da Costa, Hoffman, Stone and Grant, but Z-bad is the best of the lot, and there's zero question about that.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Murray and his staff don't worry about the other players' "feelings" nearly as much as some of the posters on here...I don't think they consult Dr. Phil before making these roster moves.
As this site gets more and more popular it's bound to happen.
Chirp: any progress on the "ignore" button? I'd hate to miss a great comment by one of the regulars or someone new because the thread got clogged with crap.
I won't take offense that you posted this right after my post....I hope you weren't referring to me when you said "clogged with crap" :)
On a random note, Ben Bishop has a new black and white mask. Check it out: http://www.daveart.com/mask-gallery/set/72157632599663793/default.aspx
I'll be there Tuesday but the chants have been sloppier than the play on the ice.
Too many people starting the chant at 11:11 instead of doing the countdown first. Unless someone has officially changed it.
Hopefully the RSU will be in full voice and get folks straight because when it was working last year the chant was amazing.
That Bishop mask is a beauty! Love the black and white and the 2D logo on each side is awesome.. Bishop has good taste.
Nah boom, you're one of the posters I try to read if I see it. More the usual list of ZZR and others.
Before last night when we ran into a hot goalie we were top 5 in the league in goals per game.
Not saying we couldn't use more, or some guys couldn't contribute more, but we're so completely not the Rangers it's barely worth pointing it out.
Zibanejad is finally putting up points at a decent clip. When's the last time you could say that? Wouldn't it be better to leave him alone for a while and let him put his game together?
I would just assume Alfie and or Spezza are going to be missing a game or two and they need to replace that with pure skill? Good point though
Ahhhhhh,,,, A bromance.. : )
Not hockey related, but Sens related: Not the greatest finish for Brad Fritsch today but still, props for his 3rd PGA tournament. Not officially over but should finish around the 20th spot, hopefully better.
Funny, I read a different article that said Spezza played his best game of the season. http://www.silversevensens.com/2013/1/27/3923066/senators-fall-2-1-in-shootout-to-penguins
LOL I knew that was coming. Almost deleted my post.
Yeah if Spezza is "off" then he's better than Crosby when he's on. He was great last night.
It's possible that he's just up to practice with the team a bit while the BSens are off for the break no? He'd be around if anyone does need a night off but I'm pretty sure this is more about PMac getting a closer look at how he's developing than any kind of permanent call-up.
MacLean has been saying all along that he's building a foundation and Zib should be penciled into that future plan, so why not bring him up for a look now and then? Keep him hungry too.
Maybe people are just rusty, like the players are. I found the link on hfboards that reminds us of how it's supposed to work. http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showthread.php?t=1146617
To my knowledge, and please correct me if I'm wrong, this is the gist of it:
Step 1: Start the countdown at 11:11 during the first period.
Step 2: Start chanting "Alfie, Alfie, Alfie, Alfie..." at the top of your lungs after you reach "1" of the countdown.
Step 3: Clap and cheer after the Alfie chants to acknowledge other fans.
Step 4: Repeat during the second and third periods.
Michalek Spezza Perry
Silfverburg Turris Alfie
Zibenejad Regin Greening
Condra Smith Neil
Obrien
Methot Karlsson
Alberts Ceci
Cowen Phillips
Wiercoch
If you could have two UFA's this summer, who ould they be?
BSens well rep'd plus Brust, McElhiney, Butler etc. Not to mention a few ex-67s.
Pretty cool.
Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman - that's how silly it is to start drooling over UFAs this early. Most of them won't ever make it to the open market and the competition for the few that do will be insane with the new CBA.
I do not believe Jessica is a natural winger and I doubt Natalie will add much grit but hey, would make the post game shower more interesting....
Quoting Hax:
I gotta go with Scarlett Johansen and Jody Vance circa 2001. I don't think I need to explain why.
If not them, then NO UFA's!!! Our cupboards are stacked to the brim with talent, so there's no reason to screw with that (unless we're talkin about Scarlett and Jody, in which case 'I'd totally screw with that, yeah, you know it...
#PelusolovesJody
~Peluso
Was just thinking my comment might have made me sound like a douche - glad you didn't take it wrong.
But I bet attendence would go up if we signed either of them.
Sorry Chirp!!
Wankers and Haters and Charlatans
OH MY !
Cripes
Actually, this deal seems about perfect/fair for both sides. If he's as good as he thinks he is his next deal will be close to the max.
Plentiful of goals, like yesterday's game eh?
LMFAO
Leafs Suck!
I'm really surprised they got him for under 3 million. At that price, he's a great deal.
With a healthy Markov, that's a scary tandem. Im definitely looking forward to seiing the HABS on Wed, should be an awesome game.
It's like the NBA all-star game on ice.
The only all-star game with a hint of competition is the MLB all-star game. All the other are glorified showcases.
Sorry to burst your bubble but this is a sample size of 2 games and both arenas are sold out.. Scotiabank place seats 800 more people (with standing room) than the ACC.
Our building was more sold out (see the percentage comparisons). In addition, we sold more tickets in a smaller market. So it is impressive thus far.
Sorry to burst your negativity bubble.
Rings a bell. Can't recall the specifics but it was something like a guy near the benches yelling obscenities all game or something like that. Could be wrong though. Of coures, Domi and Tucker were always so respectful though.
Sorry to burst your negativity bubble."
That wasn't negativity its the facts you presented. If both buildings sell out 2 games Ottawa will be on top simply because the building holds more people. If you wanna get excited about a 2 game sample size of 2 buildings that are not equal in capacity have fun!
Go Sens Go!
Cap Alfie, if you can't see the positive in a small market team surrounded by powerhouse markets selling this many tickets...then. ..well who cares really. You aren't bursting any bubbles with your "reality check", I'm just glad that the fan support is off to a good start. I believe what Wolf was trying to say is that the percentage of our tickets sold is higher than the leafs (percentage doesn't care about who has the most seats). So our arena was more packed then theirs, does that mean anything to me...nope, I'm just happy to see large crowds chearing for the sens.
On another note...BRING ON GAME DAY POST!!!
Did we actually SELL more tickets???? or did we give out THOUSANDS of free tickets, and have higher attendance because our building is larger?