Post-mort

Update (10:10 AM)

Look, at the risk of sounding overly anti-Kovalev, I've really really really wanted to love the guy. I remember all those times when he used to drive the Senators defence nuts in an opposing uniform and was hoping he might be able to bring some of that to the Senators offence. I was even willing to forgot the transgressions, like the rumours of a poisonous attitude that have followed him around for his whole career.

But really this is getting ridiculous. The guy looks downright awful out there, which I would be okay with as long as he was still doing his best. But it's kind of hard to mask the fact that you're dogging it out there when you go around praising the other team at every opportunity.

And while I'm at it, send Karlsson back to the minors. Good lord. He looks like a 10 year old kids who shows up at the outdoor rink ready to play with the 30-somethings. He really has displayed very little upside during his tenure with Ottawa, and we're now getting to the point where having a 19 year old not only hurts the team, it also hurts the player's career.

I've always been a big fan of letting players develop in the minors before bringing them up, which is one of the reasons why the Sens had such a good development system in the late 90's. I'm not sure what Brian Lee's done to piss off Bryan Murray this time (the man must be the most sensitive person in the goddamn world), but it would be nice for a change if the latter would swallow his pride and do what's best for the team instead of trying to build a team of his own personal rec-room buddies.

Original post

Okay well it turns out this prediction was wildly incorrect. Maybe Kovalev was still feeling a bit too sentimental about playing against the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge, or maybe he was distracted by promoting his fitness video.

I guess Spezza must have been busy promoting a fitness video too, huh?

Murray gives it to the dressing room

Some pretty revealing comments from Bryan Murray today about his managing philosophy. He's looking for more players to go to the net and he says that so far only Cheechoo and Michalek, the players he got in the summer for Dany Heatley, are doing so.

Seems odd, if that's what we're going for here, that we would go out this summer and sign Alex Kovalev to $10 million deal for two years, especially considering his penchant for doing all kinds of great things everywhere but between the hash marks and the net.

Given the downward trajectory that this team has been on since they made the cup final in 2007 has almost directly mirrored Murray's tenure as general manager, at some point we're going to have to start asking whether these kinds of decisions make sense.

I'm willing to accept the possibility that a lot of the problems we're experiencing right now is because of some of the poor decisions Muckler made, the least of which was selling the farm and scouting system down the river while he was here.

But at least he got results. And Murray's excuses are quickly running out.

Game tonight

Expect a big game from Alex Kovalev tonight. Number 27 traditionally has a great game when Ottawa and Montreal are the teams competing, and, given that he is one of the best in the league when he decides he wants to be, he'll be playing for his pride tonight.

Oh and by the way he's still in love with the Canadiens. Just what you want to hear the day he's about to suit up against his old team.

Hopefully Cheechoo keeps up his good play as well.

Cheechoo's night out

The Senators must have really wanted Milan Michalek, mused a Twitter post the day after he scored twice against San Jose. After all, they agreed to take on the salary of Jonathan Cheechoo to get him.

Cheechoo hasn't gotten off to the greatest start this year, which has basically been the least surprising development to date this year. After winning the Maurice Richard trophy a few years back, the forward's production has steadily declined to the point where he produced his lowest output of his career last year with San Jose.

Everyone seems to cheer for Cheechoo while quietly grumbling about how increased production from him would also really help the team. Coach Clouston regularly brings his name up as one of the hardest working players on the team.

But as an observer who doesn't get to see what goes on in the weight room or to see who shows up to practice first, I have to say that Cheechoo has appeared sluggish during games so far this year. For whatever reason, it always seems like he's going at half-speed.

That was, until last night's game.

Cheechoo took his game to another level against the Kings. And that performance, more than anything else, confirms to me that he hasn't been playing up to his abilities so far this year.

Last night, he was dominant. He battled for the pucks along the boards, went hard to the net at every opportunity, and skated like a madman.

Clearly, injuries have taken a toll on Cheechoo's body, particularly his skating legs. And up until now that's been a good enough excuse for his mediocre performance.

But last night, he raised the bar, proved that he can still take charge of the game, and was rewarded for his efforts with a goal.

From now on, I think that the "trying hard" excuse is no longer sufficient. Cheechoo can still play, and the Senators need him to continue playing the way he did last night.

Some of us are able to get by on ability alone. Cheechoo, for better or for worse, is not one of them. If he wants to keep playing in this league, he's going to have to keep playing the way he did against the Kings.

piecing together lee's demotion

Update (6:28 PM): Foligno out, Keller stays in

Apparently, Clouston isn't happy with the way Foligno's been playing lately, which is saying something given that he was one of the head coach's darlings after being promoted from the Binghamton coaching job last season.

He'll sit for at least tonight's game against the Kings while recent call-up Ryan Keller stays in. Keller's been playing well since he came up form Bingo last week, so it's kind of nice that he'll be keep playing. Hopefully this will be the kind of jump-start that Foligno needs.

Meanwhile, the first-round pick worthy Chris Campoli will sit for a second straight game. It'd be a shame to see a player who the Senators gave up so much for continue to sit in the press box.

It's really hard to tell what the plan is for the back end at the moment, given Karlsson's less-than-stellar performance against the Sharks on Tuesday and the fact that Brian Lee, who was actually improving in the past few games before being sent to Binghamton, is reportedly being shopped around.

Update (3:15 PM): The 6th Sens, who is apparently a lot less deferential to journalism authority figures than I, weighs in on the matter.

The details regarding Brian Lee's demotion to the minors are slowly coming out.

Wayne Scanlan is reporting that Lee talked back to head coach Cory Clouston during last Thursday's game against Columbus and was thus parked on the bench for the remainder of the period. One day later, Lee was sent down to Binghamton and Karlsson was brought up.

Since then, rumours have been swirling that Murray is trying to move the young defenceman and that the young defenceman wouldn't necessarily object to getting a fresh start. One of the rumours has Lee going to Columbus for Nikita Filatov, but if you ask me that's a bit far-fetched.

Overall, it wouldn't be all that surprising if these rumours proved correct. Lee's development as a puck-moving defenceman has been less than smooth since he was called up to fill in two years ago. Clouston has been unequivocal in his belief that Lee will never be the puck-handling player that he has been so far in his career, and urged him to work on his defensive fundamentals. Obviously, learning you're not going to be the next Paul Coffey after billing yourself as such throughout your hockey career can be hard to take, hence his propensity to talk back last week.

Still, this is yet another case of a hockey player "not fitting in" (to paraphrase Murray) with the Senators. Ilya Zubov, Dany Heatley, and Alexander Nikulin have all been players that simply don't match the lunch-pail philosophy that Bryan Murray has been trying to build in the dressing room during his tenure here. Perhaps Brian Lee is the latest casualty of that philosophy.

This is probably a good thing for the Senators. It's never a good idea to tolerate an ego getting too large, since that can lead to unfortunate Heatley-like situations. But still, NHL millionaires are by definition ego-centred, and those egos usually reflect proportionally the amount of the talent the player has, so it seems like there's a fine line that Murray and Clouston have to toe.

Anyways, let's hope the Senators can get back on track against a more manageable opponent tonight. The Los Angeles Kings have had a surprising season so far, but they are definitely beatable. Hopefully Brian Elliott returns to form and Milan Michalek keeps on a tear.

take a seat, dany

I was 6 years old when the Senators played their first game. Since that time, we've been through a lot. To say that our relationship has been smooth would be more than an overstatement; it would be false.

That said, I've "stuck with the team" through Patrick Lalime, Dominik Hasek, Ray Emery, Alexei Yashin, the "ugly" years from 1992-1996, the innumerable disappointments that always seem to roll around every April or, if I'm lucky, May or June, and the laundry list of other lowlights I could list here.

At times, I've even thought about jumping ship and going to cheer for another team or maybe even selling my fan loyalty on ebay like some weirdos do.

Ultimately, though, what keeps me coming back every October is the knowledge that hockey is a cyclical game and that anything that's easily achievable isn't worth achieving in the first place. Going through a rebuilding phase (as the Senators are doing now) isn't the funnest thing in the world, but we're not really in this to celebrate for a week or so in June. It's really more the reliability of there always being a game on, every week. Winning wouldn't really be worth it if I didn't have all those awful memories to look back on.

I remember when the Senators went to the cup final in 2007. It wasn't so much the cup run itself that was the best, although that was obviously pretty spectacular as well. What made it so great was the fact that it was vindication for all the less than spectacular moments in the team's history.

These are the thoughts one consoles themselves with at 1:00 in the morning as they watch the Senators' former superstar tear it up in a different sweater three time zones away.

Make no mistake, the San Jose Sharks made mincemeat of the Ottawa Senators last night. Sure, the penalties didn't help and Elliott wasn't at his best, but these shortcomings were simply indicative of the Sharks' dominance.

They have a spectacular team, particularly up front where Thornton-Heatley-Marleau make up one of the best lines the game has seen in a while.

Still, there was something oddly familiar about watching the Sharks destroy Ottawa last night. I cast my mind back to the Senators circa 2005/2006, the first year back from the lockout. The Sens dominated that year, bolstered by solid goaltending, a great puck-moving defence corps, and an excellent top-line that featured none other than, you guessed it, Dany Heatley.

I think you can see where I'm going with this. The Senators tore it up in the regular season, won a game against the Buffalo Sabres in the second round and then quickly bowed out. That was, as in so many years past, it.

Remember why Thornton was traded away from Boston in the first place? Bruins GM Mike O'Connell saw that the team needed rebuilding and apparently thought that Thornton wasn't up to the task of helping the team reach the promised land. O'Connell was lambasted for making the deal at the time, but time has, thus far, proved him correct. The Sharks have repeatedly bowed out in the first or second round of the playoffs while regularly icing one of the best teams in the league.

Sound familiar?

As Bryan Murray seemed to suggest this week, Heatley's problem with Ottawa wasn't so much that he was slighted, but that he simply didn't want to wait a few more years before having a crack at another championship. Given the Sharks vastly talented squad, he figured he would have a better chance with them than sticking it out with lowly Ottawa.

Well I've got news for you Dany: In taking you on, Sharks GM Doug Wilson has rolled out a red carpet all the way to the exit. The Sharks will win the Western conference, you and your new linemates will clean up in the statistics columns, and your team will promptly make their way to exit when the weather north of the border turns a little warmer.

Time has proven Joe Thornton to be a lackluster playoff performer, and, with the exception of three rounds back in 2007, Heatley isn't far behind. Wilson has simply taken another player that knows how to rack up the points during the regular season but can't get it done in the playoffs.

And, given the amount of parity in today's game, the Sharks roster will eventually become a shadow of its former self through free agency and you'll be looking for another team that you can cling to in the hopes of finally winning a championship.

Sour grapes? Yes.

But when you witnessed what those who were up late last night witnessed, you have to take what you can get.

Michalek dominant

Just so this entire post isn't dedicated entirely to Heatley, I'd like to point out that Milan Michalek really took his game to another level last night. We knew this kid was talented, but last night he really showed us why Murray was interested in him in the first place. Now, if we could only get Cheechoo going...

another late night

I started out this post by waxing majestic about Dany Heatley's first game against his former team tonight. But this thing has been beaten to death already, both in the summer and in the blogosphere leading up to tonight's game.

Heatley's an asshole who happens to score a pile of goals. Now let's move on.

Karlsson in, Campoli out

Twitter is reporting that recent Binghamton call-up Erik Karlsson will be playing tonight's game while the subject of last year's trade with the Islanders, Chris Campoli, will sit in the press box. Bryan Murray gave up Dean McAmmond and a first-round pick acquired from the Sharks in the trade, which also included Mike Comrie.

McAmmond abruptly left the Islanders in the offseason and resigned with New Jersey this fall. Meanwhile, Comrie signed with the Oilers, leaving what appears to be a straight up deal for a first-round pick so Campoli can sit in the press box.

This scratch doesn't speak to the organization's larger plans for Campoli, but clearly this is a sign that he has to play better. After ostensibly being traded for a first-rounder with Comrie leaving in the offseason, he's going to have to improve.

Speaking of Comrie, has anyone else noticed that his arrival last February coincided almost directly with Clouston's? Given the excellent record the Senators produced under their new coach last year, it seems logical that at least some of the reasons for that success should be attributed to Comrie.

Comrie also played a big role in the cup run of 2007. It was only after they traded for him in January that they managed to turn around a mediocre first half and make a spirited run to the playoffs.

Which brings us back to Heatley, unfortunately. It's well-documented that, had Heatley been bit more clear in his demands, Murray may have been able to manage his budget appropriately and re-sign one of the key components of last February's deal.

But, well, here we are.

Twittering the Sharks game tonight

I'm going to try to stick it out and watch as much of the game tonight as I can. I usually twitter while I watch, so check me out to the right of this page.

Go sens.

shades of patrick lalime

I'd like to preface this post by stating that I do not actually think that Pascal Leclaire is as bad as Patrick Lalime.

As with many other Senators fans, the memory of Lalime's game 7 meltdown is still, and will always be, fresh in my mind. But like the Afghanistan vet who returns home and winces every time a car backfires in the grocery store parking lot, I can't help but feel as though I've seen some scary "flashes from the past" with Leclaire in the net the past few days.

This man, remember, was supposed to be the long-awaited answer to the problem that's seemingly as old as Frank Finnigan himself. He had the talent of Emery, without the attitude problems, the style of Hasek, without the unreliability, and held as much as promise as Lalime did before Joe Nieuwendyk fired successive beach balls between his legs.

I'll admit that, in giving up Antoine Vermette to get him, Bryan Murray wasn't exactly selling the club short. Vermette was going nowhere with the Sens and, thanks to a change in scenery, has managed to turn things around in Columbus this season.

But still. Come the fuck on. This is just getting ridiculous.

I was a skeptic about the acquisition at first but quickly had my mind changed by Leclaire's stellar play early in the season. Then he gets the flu. Then his save percentage drops below .900 and, while, here we are.

I think what is most frustrating about this is the fact that Leclaire could be so good. He displays flashes of brilliance all the time. Without him, the Senators would be even more mediocre than they are right now.

Is it so much to ask for the Senators to have a reliable goaltender for once? Someone who shows up to practice on time, gives his team a chance to win, and doesn't let in the softies.

And the fact that Ray Emery was at the other end on this one - while I just can't think of a more ironic kick in the fucking balls.