Ottawa Senators

Well, now that the trials in my life are finally slowing down I have decided to post about one of the hardest things for me to do this year... support my hockey team. I don't keep it secret that I am an Ottawa Senators fan and have been for a few years which is proudly displayed on my car, "Spartacar", with a Go Sens Go! sticker in the rear window and a Sens flag which I let fly more during the playoffs. This of course is what I probably will not be doing this year if you pay any attention to the standings. At the time of writing this the Senators are the third last place team in the league. This is surprising due to the fact that the core of this team was in the final two seasons ago and has been in the playoffs eleven straight years. What indeed has happened to this organization?

The transition from the Muckler era to the Bryan Murray era at first appeared to be a promising change. The Senators changed from a defense-responsible team to a run and gun all pistons firing offensive machine. Years had passed since the era of Yashin and with Spezza, Alfredsson and Heatley now running the show the team boasts one of the best top lines in the league. With this new offense and with Murray eventually taking over Muckler's job the Senators thus began their decline. To lay the sole blame on Murray would seem unfair in one case however for the situation that Ottawa now faces. The new offense made Ottawa's depth appear more tantalizing and every player was looking for a significant pay raise. Ottawa had already dealt its best second line forward in the often injured Havlat and the deals made to make the team go all the way fell short.

The defense which had benifitted from the years of Jacques Martin's defensive approach have now been reduced to only 2 defensemen from that era: Chris Philips and Anton Volchenkov.  The exits of Zdeno Chara (who is still in his prime), Wade Redden (who is not in his prime) and Brian Pothier (who was a solid d-man who could put up points on the odd occasion) along with the short lived times with Tom Preissing (who felt undervalued in Ottawa) and Joe Corvo (whom I personally liked but go picked on too much by other fans) the exit of quality defenseman over the past few years has made a huge impact on their blue line.  (I also might note Andrej Meszaros here as well who in his rookie year was a +34 but I think he benefitted from a Redden that was still quality and a high octane offense which when it dwindled so did he - I personally think the guy makes more turnovers than McDonald's)  With the blue line now thin it reflects on the rest of the team but one of the things that I think Hartsburg really helped to develop was getting them back, a least a little, of their defensive game.  The Senators offense has been lacking and for an undersized group the defense has been performing as well as they can without the bodies they used to be able to throw around.  Picard and Kuba have been a nice payoff for Meszaros and it would be a mistake to deal either of them any time soon because they are the two best puck moving defensemen on the team currently (though Lee is making some strides).

With the defense thin this affects the forward situation and it is blatently obvious.  The Senators, when they do win, win because of their depth forwards scoring (i.e. Fisher, Foligno, Ruutu, McAmmond, Vermette, etc.) supporting their top three.  One can make the case that they are losing because the top three are not scoring and that Jason Spezza is back to his old ridiculous ways of turning the puck over trying to do too many dangles.  When the depth are not scoring the team only has the top line option so when other teams shut that down what other options do they have?  Each one of their forwards is having a down year and this can be attributed to laziness.  Perhaps the training staff is to blame...  One could continue to point the finger around the room but when it all comes down to it the GM is the one left holding the pen which just signed all these people to contracts.   Again, the players basically priced themselves out of town, a team that was rich in talent could not pay the price to hold on to it anymore and we are then left with the situation we have now.

What now?  How do we solve this?  Some suggest trading Spezza before his no trade clause kicks in next year and use that money to bolster the defense.  The usual excuse of getting a better goaltender.  Ottawa seems to have issues of not producing goalies, Glass and Elliot look like they could probably have a bright future and one of the good things this year is that Elliot is getting some decent playing time and is running with it.  I do not want to focus on the goaltending issue however as it is always the scapegoat in Ottawa but instead I will look at the youth movement.

Foligno is in his second year and his development seems to be coming along nicely.  The defense could be strong again in the next couple years if they hold on to their youth.  This is referring to Lee, Picard and Schubert.  Lee and Picard could be two excellent guys on the blueline quarterbacking powerplays while Schubert, if he plays to his size, could be a great shutdown guy.  Philips and Volchenkov should stick around for the next couple years with their contracts and so one should not worry about the blueline too much, just give them time.  Unfortunately time means that they may not make the playoffs this year and maybe the next and fans do not like that.  The issue is with the secondary scoring.  Fans often griped about Ottawa lacking grit the previous years and that is why they did not do well in the playoffs.  Now they have it and they cannot make the playoffs.  They do need gritty forwards who can get points and Vermette and Fisher can be those guys if they just get their 'A' game back.  In any case, a serious infusion of talent needs to occur which has been lacking the past few years due to Ottawa's strong regular season performances they have not been able to draft high in a long time and also trading away prospects for short term gains.

The problems could very well be solved soon and turned around quickly like things in Philadelphia last season.  Murray needs to make some tough decisions soon and Sens fans can only hope he makes the right ones.