Remember That Hockey Thing? It's Right Around the Corner

That's right, the newest version of the Ottawa Senators will open their pre-season on the 21 of September against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

That's only five days away.

This has me, well, decidedly more excited than just about anything else in the world right now. For serious.

Pre-season is a fun time of year for me, because historically I've been someone who gets really excited about young players, and I like that they get mixed into the games along side veterans and give us a taste of what it will be like when they finally make it to the show.

Now for every Erik Karlsson, who had his highlight reel assist, banked off the boards from two zones away against the Bruins last year (which I couldn't find on youtube), there is a Brandon Bochenski. But at the end of the day, after watching the final game of the rookie tournament, I'm interested in seeing how those kids do on a line with Jason Spezza, or in a pairing with Chris Phillips.

The obvious ones that we will all be watching of course are Butler, Wick, Hoffman, Gryba, Weircoch and Cowen. But even a kid like Jakob Culek intrigues me, and I'd love to see how far off he is from being a professional, or if he will end up a professional at all.

Because the fact is, this is a league that has been taken over by young players. Every year the top 4 or 5 scorers are not over thirty, and many of them are closer to 25. This has become a league where one year you are playing major junior, and the next you are counted on to be a top contributor on a professional NHL team (like Tavares and Duchene of last year).

So watching how these young players fit in with the existing group of veterans and existing systems at the NHL level, even in pre-season is both interesting and important.

Me? I'm intrigued most by Roman Wick, so that's who I will be watching closest.

Who do you have your eye on in training camp?

So Rookie Camps Are Fun, but Are There Any Spots?

As of this writing, the Ottawa Rookie Senators are currently winning 7-3 in the third period to Chicago's rookies. Yesterday, the Rookie Sens lost to Pittsburgh 5-3.

One very bright spot in the loss to Pittsburgh was the play of Bobby Butler, who picked up two goals and was all over the ice, having excellent chemistry with Mike Hoffman.

BOBBY BUTLER

Click Here for Video

Bobby Butler, the Hobby Baker finalist and top NCAA player from last season is a player the management are very high on, and who looked quite promising in two games last year. Bryan Murray describes him as a very smart player who is "a goal scorer". We know he can put the puck in the net at the collegiate level with 29 goals in his last year, and appears to be able to put the puck in against his prospect-peers.

So the question is simple, can he do the same at the NHL level? Oakes did a sweet piece back when the Sens first signed him that can be found here, that talks about what we might be able to expect.

ROMAN WICK

Another, exceedingly intriguing prospect is Roman Wick. A similar type of player to Butler in that he is an offensive winger (an area where the Sens are not so deep), Wick is a prospect from the past. He was brought back into the consciousness of the fanbase while playing for the Swiss at the Olympics. He is big, strong and could look good on a line with someone like Milan Michalek.

The question with him is, can he bring the success from the Swiss League, playing for the Kloten Flyers, to North America? And if he cannot right away, how long is he willing to stay here improving in the AHL?

Now I would say these are the two most NHL-ready forward prospects the Sens have (assuming, as I do, that Zach Smith is a lock for the 4th line, and is therefore not a prospect), and they are exciting because they offer at the chance for some offence. But is there even a roster spot for either of these gentlemen?

Well let's look at the roster. Under one-way forward contracts, the Sens currently have

Spezza, Kovalev, Alfie, Fisher, Michalek, Regin, Kelly, Ruutu, Neil, Winchester, Shannon, Foligno.

That's twelve, and technically, that's all you need. But if you remember, I said I believe Z. Smith is our fourth line centre, so now we are at 13, which is the number most teams carry. So let's look at line combos with these thirteen.

Regin--Spezza--Alfie

9MM--Fish--Kovy

Ruutu--Kelly--Neil

Foligno--Z.Smith--Shannon

Winchester

This is, in all likelihood, the most safe bet as to how the lines will start this season. I'm not Winchesters biggest fan, I think Z.Smith does everything Winchester does, only better and with more intensity. I'm also not a huge Shannon fan.

So in reality, in Training Camp, Wick or Butler only has to outplay Ryan Shannon for a roster spot.

Now there are pros and cons to this. Would Butler and Wick benefit from 4th line duty? Or is it better to give them more minutes at the AHL level and use them for injury call-ups (remembering that Locke and Keller will also be in line for call-ups)? In addition both players need new contracts after this year, and you want to keep them happy and around for the not-so-distant future when Kovalev and Alfie retire leaving huge holes in the top six for wingers.

So how do you handle these two young players?

Remember Us? Well Like Our Team, We've Got Something To Say

Remember us?

We're a little blog that started up in March of last year. Followed the team down the stretch and into the playoffs and like the Sens, after a little break for the summer, we are back and ridiculously pumped to see how this year's version of the Ottawa Senators tackles the NHL from Pre-Season until Post-Season.

I say UNTIL Post-Season because I am sure (like Dion Phaneuf about his Leafs, but better looking and probably smarter) that this year's team is as good if not significantly more dangerous than last season's version.

THN says 10th in the East. Tenth. From a leading hockey publication. Pre-season NHL power rankings over at TSN aren't complete but I'll put money that the Sens barely crack the top 20 in their esteemed opinion.

And yet there is optimism among Sens fans. Look over at SensChirp and he says second in the East. Yost? He thinks the Sens need Thomas Vokoun to do it, but predicts a second round appearance. Canucnik goes as far as to call the Sens the BEST TEAM IN THE EAST. "Bar none".

So how could there be such a divide between the "experts" and the true fans in the blogs and message boards? Homerism and Kool-Aid gone wild?

Maybe.

Or maybe because the Sens don't have the sexiest, most exciting team in the league, so most people don't bother to look twice at the talent assembled here.

We don't have a Crosby or Ovechkin. Hell we don't even have a Kovalchuk, Luongo, pair of Twins or a Stamkos.

We don't have highly touted young stars like Doughty, Toews, Kane, Duchene or Ryan.

We don't have a fancy exciting starting goalie like King Lundqvist, Miller or Halak.

But does this mean we aren't a talented team?

The exact opposite actually.

We instead have a 26 year old true point per game centre, the longest serving captain in the league (who is 3rd in points since the millennium), the 2008 NHL shutout leader, the leader in rookie scoring for the first round of the playoffs, and the 2nd highest scoring defenceman since the lock-out.

Not to mention the supporting cast.

Kovalev? One of the most skilled players around, his SKILL cannot be argued.

Regin? Couldn't be contained in the playoffs.

Michalek? Couldnt be contained at the beginning of the year before losing his centreman and his knee.

Fisher? A serious consideration for the Men's Olympic team playing with Kovy last year.

KellRuutNeil? A third line that gave the Penguins absolute fits.

The Big Rig? The better, more steady half of Philchenkov. How do you think Volchy was able to go out of position to block all those shots and make those hits?

Get the point yet?

Look, I'm not saying we have the best team in the East. I'm not even saying we will finish second. My honest opinion is 3rd or 4th. I think Gonchar frees up room for Kovy and Spezza on the PP, I think Leclaire has a career year knowing that if he doesn't his career is over and I think that Karlsson produces at the pace he did at the end of last year.

Or we could end up with injuries. But I think healthy, this is a fantastic, VERY dangerous team, and I'm actually starting to enjoy that everyone else doesn't notice.

It'll feel better when we rub it in their faces later. The high octane Sens are back, and we're back. Now let's get some hockey discussion going on here, and let's get this season started.

Here's the Deal on that Shocking Deal

I will start by saying one thing.

As much as we bleed red, black and gold and love our team, none of us has been in the NHL in SOME capacity for the better part of 3 decades.

Bryan Murray has.

The fact is, in a league with such short attention spans, and such changeover in management and coaching personnel, that is quite a feat. This leads me to believe he knows more about running an NHL team than I, or any person who frequents blogs and/or writes blogs does.

So let's look at this.

From his comments, The Bryan probably wanted Jaden Schwartz. The young talented USHL'er went much higher in the draft than many thought that he would go, but is the young forward that the Sens could very well have been targeting. Ironically the Blues picked him at the 14th spot, so Murray was Shit-Outta-Luck.

Now, with the prospects Murray has picked (trading up to get Karlsson when he was relatively unknown, getting Lehner and Weircoch second round, getting Hoffman 5th round) I tend to trust him and his scouting staff.

It is possible he saw Emmerson Etem and Austin Watson as nothing more than future third line NHL'ers, and while I love the Senators from the bottom of my heart, the Senators have more "bottom six" players than any team in the league, so picking another does not make sense.

It is also true that he was wary of taking Russians after the Sens have been royally screwed by Russian prospects in our recent history (Zubov, Kaigorodov, Nikulin etc, etc)

So he gets a call from the Blues. They have Pietrangelo, and a need for forwards. They already have a good, safe pick in Schwartz, but they are feeling risky and want to use another first round choice on Tarasenko (easily the best player still available, but one Murray is afraid of). So what does Murray do? He gets another FANTASTIC Swedish defenceman (and you know how much we liked the first one) who is one year farther in his development, has size and would have gone before the likes of Dylan McILRATH and Derek Forbert.

So what is everyone up in arms about?

I believe in Bryan Murray, and I believe that in a few years I will be looking at a top four D of:

Cowen (6'6) - Karlsson (5'11)

Weircoch (6'5) - Runblad (6'2)

That has great mobility, great offence from the back end and good size. I also believe that this means

Bryan thinks that Butler, Wick, Hoffman and Petersson are good offensive prospects or that

he has his eye on somebody later in the draft that nobody else has seen.

Either way, we look strong on D and in nets (Lehner) for the foreseeable future. With Jason Spezza,

Milan Michalek and Mike Fisher leading the next group of Sens forwards, I for one, am excited.

Aren't you?

Drafty Time-Emerson Etem

Well after weeks of mourning the loss of the Senators Season, I, like many of my blogosphere brethren, have come out of hibernation to start talking about the most exciting day in hockey (for me at least).

The Draft.

Now I say its the most exciting day in hockey because the playoffs are not just a day, they are months long, deadline day is always kind of disappointing, as is July 1st.

For me the draft is the most exciting because I love young players. I think they are exciting, I think they provide hope. Not to mention plenty of deals go down at draft day itself.

Thanks to the ridiculous run of the Jaro Halak's (might as well call them that), the Senators will in fact be picking 16th overall and the consensus is they will be looking for a forward.

Now, we could pretend that all GM's are idiots and that Nino Niederreiter or Mikael Granlund will still be around 6-8 spots AFTER they are projected to go, or we can start looking at some real possibilities. One that intrigues me is Emerson Etem.

Emerson is a 6'0 190lbs natural centre that can play the wing. He was born in SoCal, but played junior hockey in Medicine Hat. The Hockey News has him projected to go 17th overall.

According to their draft preview, Emerson has all world speed, and has offensive tools, he just needs to refine them. However, he DID score 37 goals as a rookie in the WHL this year. The hockey news says that he will translate into a good two-way forward in the future, but I think he has the capability to be a good offensive prospect for the Senators.

The Senators website has an excellent article you can find here that talks about him, and I will leave you with the Top Ten Goals scored by the medicine hat tigers this year, and keep an eye out for Etem in a few of them.

So, what do you think? Is he a good fit? I will be looking at other players, but he has caught my eye first.

Off Season Planning: If I was The Bryan!

Like I said, I submitted my thoughts on what ideally the Sens should do this offseason to The 6th Sens, and if you didnt get a chance to read it, DO it! Its awesome. For the few of you who do not get here by way of that beautiful site, this is what I had to say!

Here's how I see the summer unfolding for the sens. As a preface, Im not trading Spezza (the idea is ludicrous, you'd never get full value for him, and Ottawa won't support a bottom feeder for 5 years a la Pittsburgh/Chicago) and I'm not signing Volchenkov. I've made my opinions clear on his contract before, and I cannot bear the thought of him turning into the next Jay McKee.

So this is what I'd do:

1) Let Volchy walk, and go out and sign another, defensive minded defenceman who blocks shots but has slightly more offensive upside than Anton. The only person who comes to mind from this years crop is Zbynek Michalek. At 28 he is the same age as Anton and his career high in goals is nine, not 4. The other nice thing about Little Z as they call him is that he made 1.25 this year. I say sign him to 4 years, 3 mil per and move on with two Michaleks on the team. (NOTE: also would be open to signing Dennis Seidenberg, who is strong at both ends of the ice, but I feel he may be a touch more expensive)

2) Let Cheech play in the minors. The Euge has shown he is willing to do this in the past, and there is no sense having him count against the cap for two more seasons when he can be off the payroll after this year. Remember buyouts count against the cap for twice the remainder of the contract, and that hinders further moves.

3) Offer Matt Cullen what he made this year (2.8) for another 2 years. At his age, that's not bad, and the worst that can happen is he says no.

4) Sign Peter Regin, Nick Foligno and Chris Campoli. I KNOW. But Chris played a good playoffs and at this point he gets a tiny raise (to 0.7 mil) from us, or probably doesn't get a contract. Fact is, he is better than Brian Lee. Period. (Note: Peter Regin 3 year 1.4 mil, foligno 3 year 1.2 mil)

5) Pile all of our awesome Murray draft picks that are playing all over the place in one place: BINGO. Let them learn to play together and for them all to develop together. Give Cowen and Weircoch top minutes in all situations and let Mike Hoffman and Peterson et al play to their hearts content down there. Don't forget Lehner as the starter.

This leaves us with a similar but not same lineup as we finished with, but with some great prospects on the way. I'd like to see a forward selected first round who can also make the jump to the "A" but thats wishful thinking...

LINES

• 1) Regin-Spezza-Alfie (why tinker with it, and check out the depth it gives)
• 2A) Foligno-Fisher-Kovalev (or shannon til Kovy is healthy)
• 2B) Michalek-Cullen-Butler
• 4) Ruutu-Kelly-Neil

• Phillips-Karlsson (the kid is the future, give him big minutes and let the big rig guide him)
• Kuba-Michalek
• Carkner-Campoli

The goalies are the same.

Cap is about 200k below cap. Beauty right? this summer isn't going to be one of huge changes, that's next year when all sorts of contracts come off the book. I love this forward line-up, its really deep and dynamic.

So there you have it! What would you do if you were The Bryan?

Off Season Time; If We Were the GM's

Sorry about not doing the other two parts to my season post mortem. The wound was too fresh, and less people were popping by now that the season was done. Fact is, I think the season was a success. I showed the experience reason.

The other two are quite simple. Beginning of the year, not much was expected of the team, with the loss of Heatley and coming off a poor year. And yet they made it to the 5th seed and gave the defending champs (who have a clear road to another final) all they could handle. SO based on preseason expectations, the team had a successful season, and as long as they keep moving on up, I'll continue to feel that way.

The last way is also simple. Character. With the types of injuries the team was faced with this season, their finish was remarkable. Every key player on this team was injured for some stretch this year, with the exception of maybe Mike Fisher. ( NOTE: Chris Phillips also would be counted, but then we found out he is having surgery, so he was playing hurt)

Spezza for 20 games, Alfie for 20 games, Kuba half the season, Volchenkov 10 games, Kovalev AND Michalek for 10 games plus playoffs, Leclaire, Foligno, Karlsson.... The list goes on. Fact is through all that we made the best of it, and Im proud of them.

So for me the season was a success, what about the offseason?

The Sixth Sens (where many of you come from to get here) have a great idea to get offseason plans from around the blogosphere and put them all together. I think it's awesome, and I submitted mine tonight! So keep an eye out for that, and feel free to leave your plan in the comments section here, or at the Sixth Sens!