Crib Notes - Ottawa Senators

Ottawa Senators
Finished 4th in the Northeast. Did not make the playoffs
Signed Alexei Kovalev via free agency
Signed Martin St. Pierre - the guy who uses the Chara-sized stick
Resigned Brian Elliott and muscle Chris Neil
Traded unhappy Dany Heatley and a 5th round pick to San Jose for Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek and a 2nd rounder.
Grizzled dman Jason Smith retired before training camp

Questions going into 2009-2010:
Did the team do enough to replace Heatley's 50 goal potential?
How much will an unhappy teammate's absence help team spirit?
Can Pascal Leclaire regain that 2007-08 mojo?
Is his ankle healed?
Is he even good enough to be a #1 goaltender?
Did anyone else look at this roster and see goaltender M. Broudeur and do a double take?
Can the Senators rely on 36 year old Alex Kovalev to carry a big offensive burden?
When your top Dmen are Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov are your team in huge trouble?
Is a change of scenery and some time with Jason Spezza enough to make Cheecho start scoring again?
Is it unrealistic to expect him to get near 56 goals again? 37 goals again?
Has Cory Clouston lost the lockerroom already?

Poised for a breakout season:
Tough call here. I'm not sure any player will really breakout this season but I'm rooting for Chris Campoli to make the leap.



If you had to buy one Senators sweater:
If are reading this crib note, for this team, on this blog then you are a big enough steakhead to pull off wearing a Chris Neil in public.
Just make sure it's not the terrible "Sens" 3rd jersey.

Player whose game you sneaky like:
Jarkko Ruutu, like many annoying players, would be a fan favorite on any team.

I'll look for any excuse to show this video:
The time we crashed Ryan Shannon's Cup party.

Old guys:
Daniel Alfredsson and Alex Kovalev are 36
Shean Donovan and Jarkko Ruutu are 34

Young guys:
Nick Foligno is 21
Brian Lee is 22
Erik Karlsson (last year's 1st Round pick) is 19

Tough guys:
Chris Neil and Cody Bass provide the muscle. That's pretty much it.

Favorite old school Senator:
Tie: Bob Kudelski and Robert Byrd



Goaltending coach:
Eli Wilson

What I had for lunch today:
Italian Combo on white bread

Nostalgia:
A picture of Alexei Yashin wearing the turtle neck off the ice.


Interesting?:
Assistant GM Tim Murray is the nephew of GM Bryan Murray.

NHL 94 players:
Bob Kudelski, Sylvain Turgeon, Jamie Baker up front.
Norm Maciver, Brad Shaw on D with Peter Sidorkiewicz in net - warm up the bus.

YouTube:
There was no way I was getting through this preview without a Carrie Underwood mention.


- Nemmy

What you missed last night while you were blowing off meetings to go look at apartments in Park Slope

New guys with new teams last night and below are the haikus to describe how that went.... or something else, completely.


Flames beat the Flyers, 5-1:
Flames new additions
had a great night. Flyers' new guys -
not sure if they played.

Maple Leafs beat the Capitals, 2-1:
Gerber's helmet now
looks stupid. He should go to
all white or sell ads.

Senators beat the Oilers, 4-2:
Spezza scored quickly and
new additions mike and chris
scored. MacT was mad.

Rangers beat the Islanders, 4-2:
Antropov got a point
There are a thousand new guys
on the Islanders.

Wild comeback and beat the Sharks in OT, 4-3:
Where is Nabakov?
Sharks came out on fire and
then a bad bounce/loss.

Coyotes beat the Bruins, 2-1:
Upshall scored for his
new team. The Bruins have lost
9 of the last 12

Kings comeback to beat the Stars in OT, 5-4:
Handzus capped his hat
trick with the game winner. Its
wild in the west.

Predators win over the Blue Jackets, 4-2:
Weber fought again.
Thats 3 fights in 3 games. And
the preds have won them.

Penguins beat the Panthers, 4-1:
Crosby and Billy
team up and Crosby gets a
goal. Splits D and snipe.

Weekend Wrap Up OR Frost/Nixon was robbed!

Friday night I was back at my folks house, so forgetting that there was a free preview of the Center Ice Package, I got all my updates via a DVRed NHL: On the Fly on Saturday.

Zetterberg really did the most damage to the Ducks Friday night, but I really love the cherry on top (appropriate because Draper has read hair) that Kris put on the game by beating Giguere with the slap shot on a breakaway.


Am I the only one surprised by Joe Corvos cannon? He had 2. Heres the final one versus the Lightning



Saturday was Hockey Day in Canada. So for me it was Hockey Day on my Couch watching the NHL Network.
Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie were traded to the Senators on Friday and both were in uniform on Saturday afternoon. The Comrie addition gives the Senators a dynamic duo of girlfriends with Duff and Underwood. Can't wait for that CD.
Anyway, Comrie probably felt good being back and Campoli must enjoy dishing passes out to guys that can finish. However, Mr. Kovalev was back and killed penalties well and also dished:


Other Saturday games included Marty Biron dropping the ball (or puck) with this mistake that lead to Penguins win

There were Flyers highlights, like this so subtle, so sweet move from Mike "I love being shorthanded" Richards.

Quite possibly the worst D-to-D pass ever.

Is the Nashville/St. Louis "Rivalry" the lowest scoring rivalry in history. God, even the "highlights" from the game are boring: Kick save from Rinne... Onto the 2nd period, great breakout pass to Tckachuk... and a goal... Onto other action from Saturday.

Jimmy Howard is NOT NHL ready. How much more "rest" does Osgood need?
At least t2MA! man crush Owen Nolan scored by simply crashing the net.


Johnny Toews and the Snake Bitten Weekend:




NBC could have renamed "Game of the Week" to "The Ovechkin Show"
Enjoy:







What did I miss?

-Bress