Ottawa Blog

 

Engagement Hangover?

By Stephen Smith - March 8, 2010

Now I know things aren't always as they seem, it's just easier to act that way, but something is up with Mike Fisher. It's not so much that he's slumping or scoring at a lesser rate, as we've all seen how streaky he can be over the past years. Hell it's not uncommon to see him go 15 without potting one, but is it just me or has his game almost disappered since he became engaged to Carrie Underwood? The numbers are not his ally either. Let's look at the facts shall we.

They announced they're engagement on December 21st, 2009. Prior to that date, Fisher had played 33 games. In those 33, he had 15 goals and 14 assists, good for 29 points, or .87 points per game. To go with that impressive streak, he had 4 game winning goals, was a plus 10 and had a point in 20 of those 33 games. He was having the season of his life, even getting consideration for Team Canada, although he ultimately didn't make it. The point is he was killing it, finally earning his 4.2 million annual salary and having everyone in Ottawa and the NHL singing his praise.

The Human Side Of Trade Deadline Day

By Stephen Smith - March 1, 2010

Whoever created the frenzy that is now trade deadline day is a genius. It keeps people like me posted to my blackberry all day like the cure for cancer might be discovered, hoping to hear about some mythological blockbuster trade that will never happen or some minor inside information from a source, that rarely pans out by the way. It makes me refresh website after website, hoping to find out the latest a microsecond before someone else. In short, they make it seem way more important then it actually is. I know this, I really do and yet I can't seem to not watch. I have to. I mean what if my beloved Senators picked up a depth defenceman that will barely contribute to the team and I didn't know about it for 20 mins? I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Cheechoo Train Derailed

By Stephen Smith - February 8, 2010

To say that Jonathan Cheechoo has been living on borrowed time is a gross understatement. By all accounts, he is a great guy. He works hard, does what he's told and no one has a bad word to say about the guy. But this isn't little league, where just doing your best is good enough and you always get a trophy. This is the pro's and all that matters are results, and let's be real, he hasn't been getting it done for a long time.

In just his 2nd NHL season, he had a very unexpected 28 goals with San Jose and many were surprised. Could he do it again? Yep. The next season he lead the NHL in goals, with an unimaginable 56, playing alongside Joe Thornton, but San Jose wasn't fooled. Even after that amazing season, he was only signed to a contract of 3 million a year, hardly a fair deal for a 56 goal scorer. They knew what everyone else didn't, that he was getting lucky and his speed was a huge problem.

Are We For Real? To Buy Or To Sell

By Stephen Smith - January 29, 2010

There are many important questions we have to answer as we progress through life. Which school should I go to? Should I rent or own? I've had 3 too many beers, is she hot or not? When it comes to sports organizations, one of their main questions that needs an answer is are we contenders or pretenders? It's a question not easily answered.

Just 3 weeks ago, the Ottawa Senators had been playing mediocre hockey, barely clinging to 8th place in the East, and now, they've won 8 in a row, are comfortably in 5th place and are knocking on 4th place Pittsburgh's door, only 3 points behind. Remarkably, the Sens could even have home ice advantage in the 1st round if they keep this up (for the record, I predicted a 5th place finish in the season preview). But the question remains, which team is the real Ottawa Senators?

What A Difference 10 Days Makes

By Stephen Smith - January 21, 2010

They say time heals all wounds, and whoever came up with that soundbite sure was understating their point. Just 10 days ago, the city of Ottawa was fuming about the play of the Sens and rightfully so. I now know what it must feel like to be a Leaf fan all these years, but my frustration was 10 days, not 42 years, and counting by the way.

We looked slow, disinterested and had no heart, leading us to a 5 game losing streak. Now I know over the past years this has been common place in Toronto, but not in Ottawa. Add to the fact that 3 of the loses were very, very ugly, against some of the league's worst teams. We were shutout by Florida at home, then lost 4-1 to Carolina, who are the NHL's worst team by the way and then headed to the dirty south, only to be embarassed 6-1 by the Thrashers.

Off With His Head

By Stephen Smith - January 11, 2010

I'm sure many of you have noticed how awful our powerplay has been this season, but I don't know how many of you know that we are currently in dead last in the NHL. Yep, we're in 30th place with a pathetic 14.2% success rate.

I'm sure most of you don't really know that much about the man who's in charge of our powerplay either. Well his name is Greg Carvel, he is an assistant coach for the Sens and this is his fifth season in Ottawa, after joning the staff in the summer of 2004.

In his first season, we had the 4th best powerplay in the NHL, but given our roster at the time, I can hardly credit him for it, as I could have coached that team to finish 4th. Just to refresh your memory, our 2 PP lines that season had Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden (when he was still decent), Martin Havlat, Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Andrej Mesazros (who was good then) and maybe Mike Fisher, Antoine Vermette or Bryan Smolinski filling in as required. Not too shabby. Since then, it's been going downhill, although still respectable, with final finishes of 14th, 12th and 10th place in the league in the following seasons.

Gulp, Are We Better Off Without Alfie and Spezza?

By Stephen Smith - January 5, 2010

It seems unthinkable that the Ottawa Senators might be a better team without it's top 3 scorers from their Stanley Cup run just 3 years ago, but it might true.

Just a few seasons ago, the line of Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson were the envy of 29 other teams, and arguably the best line in the NHL. They were producing at an astonishing rate and were dominating games single handedly. It was beautiful to watch. Fast forward to the present and all 3 are no longer in the lineup as I write this, and guess what, we're doing just fine without them. Alfie and Spezza are both out another month with long term injuries and I think we all know what happened to Mr. Heatley. The Sens are trucking along just fine without them, in fact they are playing better without them. There I said it.

Let's Make It Up As We Go

By Stephen Smith - December 28, 2009

Following your favorite team can be frustrating. Your mood can be affected by the way the team is playing, hell the whole city's can be. People are always in a better mood when the local sports team is winning. No one seems to mind shelling out a few c-note's when the team is at the top of the standings. What's that you say, $12 beers? Who cares, this is the place to be and I don't care what it costs. As mastercard says, winning is priceless. But what happens when stars are being knocked out of the games by something that obviously needs to changed? I guess it depends who you are according to the NHL.

A Night Of Milestones

By Stephen Smith - December 21, 2009

Everytime you go to an NHL game, you never really know what you're going to get. Will it be an exciting game? Will it be boring? Will it be a classic? That's the thing that keeps u scoming back, it's the unknown. Just when you think you've seen everyting, something new happens. Like last night at the Ottawa Senators game against the Minnesota Wild.

It was a bizarre 24 hours for the Wild, who had their equipment burned to a crisp in the parking lot of Scotiabank Place. Their equipment manager had to fly back to the land of 10,000 lakes and get new equipment so the game would be played. That meant 11 of their players were playing with new gear, including their star netminder, Niklas backstrom. If you saw the pictures, it was pretty crazy. The gear was unrecognizable after the blaze. Just when you thought you had seen it all, that happened.

Erik Karlsson will stick with Sens

By Ben Myers - November 29, 2009

Erik Karlsson is likely staying with the Ottawa Senators for the rest of the season, after playing his 10th NHL game last night in a 4-3 SO loss to the Boston Bruins, and kicking off the first year of his entry-level contract.

It's a rather surprising move. Many believed that Karlsson would spend the year in the AHL improving his game, and keeping his pay off the Sens' books. I believe a combination of factors led the team to make this decision and start the clock ticking on the talented Swede's second contract.