Ottawa Senators

Numerous rumor mills are suggesting that the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild are talking trade, leaving NHL experts to speculate on a number of possible scenarios.

The Senators are off to one of the worst starts in the history of the franchise, going a paltry 1-4-1 in their first six games, leaving them tied for last place with the fledgling New Jersey Devils.

Heading into Thursday night’s game action, the Sens own the 26th-ranked power play, 17th-ranked penalty kill, and still have all kinds of questions between the pipes.

On-again, off-again sniper Alex Kovalev has yet to find his stride, and many of the Senators' top prospects look far from ready to compete at the level GM Bryan Murray expects.

The Wild are off to a rather ordinary 2-2-1 start. That said, the team currently owns the top-ranked power play in the league and the 14th-ranked penalty kill; they sit second overall in goals for and 10th overall in goals against.

As good as the Wild have been five-on-five and on special teams, there is still plenty of concern that this team may not have enough firepower over an 82-game season. In the Western Conference, they may miss the playoffs for the third straight season.

With fan interest climbing and the team's nucleus looking ready to make a move this spring, the Wild may be looking to shake things up for the long-term. This may mean entertaining the idea of a roster move or two.

The Wild currently have a total of $58,240,654 committed to 24 players, leaving them with approximately $1.2 million to add players (all numbers courtesy of capgeek.com).

Defensively, the Wild feature a very good stable of talent, including Brent Burns ($3.55 million through 2011-12), Nick Schultz ($3.5 million through 2013-14), Marek Zidlicky ($4.0 million through 202-13), Cam Barker ($3.1 million through 2011-12) and Greg Zanon (just under $2 million through 2011-12).

Offensively, the Wild feature the likes of Martin Havlat ($5 million per year through 2014-15), Mikko Koivu ($6.75 million through 2017-2018), Andrew Brunette ($2.33 million—UFA 2011-12), Matt Cullen ($3.5 million through 2012-13 with a no-trade clause) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard ($4 million through 2012-13).

Of those players, one would have to assume that Koivu, Burns, Brunette, Zidlicky, and Havlat are all but untouchable.

That said, with trades often contingent on making the numbers work, perhaps one of them would be made available to the Senators for a significant return.

On the farm, the Wild have centre Mikael Granlund (who may emerge as a star one day), but other than that their prospect cupboard is void of any future stars, which is alarming considering where the Wild have drafted over the past decade.

Sure, Colton Gillies may emerge as a solid third liner, and Justin Falk has shown signs of improvement, but many of the Wild's prospects are going to be long-term “works in progress,” with many of them at least another 2-3 years away from helping the big club.

The Senators have a number of high-priced talents on their roster that they may be leaning toward trading for the right price.

As it stands now, the Sens have a total of $58,434,723 committed to 22 players, leaving them with approximately $1 million with which to acquire another player or two at the deadline or via trade.

Jason Spezza leads the pack with an alarming $7 million contract through 2014-15, with elder statesman Daniel Alfredsson’s $4.875 million contract through 2012-13 looking equally ugly at times.

Mike Fisher’s $4.2 million contract through 2012-13 is another head scratcher, while Milan Michalek’s $4.33 million cap hit through 2013-14 is also looking a little on the overpaid side.

Paying $5.5 million for aging, frail defenseman Sergei Gonchar looked more like a desperation move than anything else this summer. And the loss of Anton Volchenkov looks to have destroyed this club’s confidence.

It is hard to imagine the Wild being interested in any of these players unless the Sens wanted to ship the likes of Alex Kovalev and his $5 million salary (which expires at the end of the 2010-11 season) over to the Wild in return for Martin Havlat ($5 million per through 2014-15).

If the Wild could get rid of Havlat’s huge salary, they could put themselves in a tremendous position to attract the likes of Brad Richards and other potential high-profile free agents next summer, which may prove beneficial on the ice and in the PR department.

As far as prospects go, the Senators have a very respectable stable of young defensemen in their system, including Erik Kalrsson (who will likely stick with the big club this season), Jared Cowan, David Runblad and Patrick Wiercioch.

As good as the Sens' defensive prospects are, there is still some concern that they are lacking depth in their forward group, which is where the Wild may be interested.

Unless the Senators are talking about depth players, I just cannot see how or why they would bother to entertain making any bold moves.

So it seems any chatter between the Sens and Wild will ultimately go nowhere.

Enter David Hale, exit Zach Smith.

Consider the slump vanquished.

Consider me skeptical.

The fact is, this team is struggling mightily with finding its rhythm in this new season and with every loss comes mounting pressure.

This skid isn't an issue of skill or work ethic—it's about a team consistently failing to executing a game plan. 

Not a 7th defensemen.

If the Sens have learned anything over the last three seasons, it's the value of all pulling together on the same rope. When Clouston came aboard near the end of the 08/09 season, he inherited a team in disarray—a team playing very much as it is now. 

This wasn't a team incapable of winning, as their improved record indicated, once Clouston managed to get them playing as a team.

Even more indicative of this fact is the team's fifth place finish the following year with much the same roster, as in the previous year.

And here they find themselves again, with only minor tweaks to the roster (add Gonchar, delete Volchenkov) but mired in a losing streak predicated on poor team play.

The question now is, can Clouston work his magic again? Unlike in the first instance, Clouston doesn't have the advantage of coming on board when, for the most part, the season was already a lost cause. 

This time, Clouston has to get this team all working together, when his is now only one more voice among the many clamouring for change with a season of play still looming over the team's head. 

Can he do it?

Guess we'll find out.

Six games into what many predict to be the Ottawa Senators' rebound season and already the fans are weary, the coach is frustrated and the team is looking fragile.

The Senators are now 1-4-1 and 27th in the league on the power play, 29th for goals against and 27th for taking penalties.

The finger-waving is strong and furious, drawing attention to the goaltending crisis, the sloppy defensive play in their own end and the always popular lack of secondary scoring.

The goaltending situation seems to grow larger with each game.  In the past three outings, we have seen three different goaltenders.  

Ottawa's season starter, Pascal Leclaire, has missed two games due to a groin pull and it is unsure when he will return.  In his absence, Brian Elliott has a disappointing 4.62 GAA and a .863 save percentage and 19-year-old prospect Robin Lehner has been pushed to experience his first 34 minutes of the NHL.

After the Senators 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Monday night, coach Cory Clouston singled out the team's defensive play as another area of concern.

“They came out hard," he said. "We were almost like waiting for something to happen."

“We have to be more physical on the back end. I didn’t think that we were strong enough on the puck in our zone."

“I thought that they were just a little bit too much for us physically at times, whether it was competing for pucks or just being pushed off pucks."

“We didn’t battle in those areas, whether it was in the corners or in front of the net. If there was a loose puck, they seemed to be on it.”

Defenceman Sergei Gonchar agreed.

"System-wise we should be doing a better job," Gonchar said.  "There are a few things missing I would say"

The lack of secondary scoring is also a major concern.  Alexei Kovalev, Peter Regin and Nick Foligno are all without goals this season and all three have seen their on-ice time reduced as a result.  Kovalev's lack of production is especially worrisome considering he is ranked as one of the veterans who should be providing leadership in these frustrating times.

"I can't be OK with my game because I want to contribute and put up points and help the team," Kovalev said.  "We're not scoring as much as we wanted to, but the chances are there and eventually it's going to go in."

Everyone seems to agrees that nothing is going right for the team and that the responsibility falls to the veterans to set the example and battle through this slump.

"When things are tough, when you are struggling, you need your older players to step up and take charge," Clouston said.

"The young guys will follow us," added team captain Daniel Alfredsson.  "If we take charge and lead the way, they are going to follow."

"We know in the locker-room what we are capable of.  It's up to us to come out of this, and when we do, the fans will be with us."

Christopher Smith runs senspedia.com, an Ottawa Senators fan site.

What can I say?

No doubt I could pan the outcome and continue harping on the fact that the Sens are digging themselves into an early season hole.  But no doubt you'll have many an opportunity to read similar throughout the media.

No, instead I'm going to focus on the positive, albeit what little there is.

The fact is, as frustrating as the loss was, the performance was surely an improvement over the first two games of the season.  And ultimately, in considering the season as a process, that has to at least give some reason for encouragement. 

I'd argue that, if this loss had come at a less negative time, it could have been fairly easily dismissed.  In fact, if you were to exclude the first two utterly embarrassing performances of the season and instead have this loss come on the heels of a 1-0-1 start, the mood would be less critical.

But it didn't.

So don't get me wrong, ending a game pointless, in which you led by two goals, with less then half the game remaining, is wholly unacceptable. If that performance represents the teams best effort, improvement or not, then the future looks bleak indeed.

But, I for one (and at this point, maybe the only one), remain absolutely convinced the Sens have yet to play at even half of their ability. 

Why?

I suspect a combination of insufficient preseason play for the full roster, poor play by certain individuals counted on to be impact players (Regin, Karlsson) and a general dysfunction by the defensive corp.

The defense has been, in a word, terrible.  I blame some of this on the coaching.  We have seen, in only five games, every combination of pairings possible.  No wonder every defenseman is playing like he's on an island, he has no idea where his partner is or even who his partner is from shift to shift.  Combine this mix and match system with choosing to play your best offensive defenseman on his off side, to accommodate a rookie, and you have the makings of one big cluster...

In order to win, this team has to play to win at all times.  There can be no protecting a lead, because this team isn't built to play "Kitty bar the door" hockey; it's built to rush the puck and cycle in the offensive end.

Unfortunately the defensemen are not rushing the puck; instead they're being forced to attempt long outlet passes, telegraphed so clearly due to the enormous gap created by the forwards, that opposition defenders can easily intercept the futile effort.

Are the Sens improving? Absolutely.

Are they improving fast enough to remain postseason contenders?  Tick, tock.

GN

Four games into the regular season and already the Senators find themselves out of the post season.  Or at least that would be the case if an NHL regular season was the same length as an NFL regular season, fortunately, it's not.

The reality is, despite the Senators bumbling 1-2-1 start, they find themselves in a pack of teams they also hope to be in come the end of the regular season.  For the most part, the teams tagged as legitimate post season contenders, have gotten off to poor starts, while many of those not expected to see post season play have leapt out of the gate.

This leaves only two possibilities; The pundits got it all wrong or, statistically, three, four or five games is not a large enough sample size from which to alter any long term projections.

To look at the Eastern Conference standings as of today, the playoff picture has first place Toronto facing off against the Islanders, Lighting vs Thrashers, Philly facing Carolina and Alexander Ovechkin's fourth place Caps squaring off with fifth place Montreal.

Outside looking in are the Pens, Rangers, Sens, Sabres, Devils, Boston and last place Florida.

Yeah right!

Time for a little perspective for all those gloating about their previously derided teams current standing, or those weeping over their previously lauded teams poor performances.

The Hawks started their Cup winning season 2-2.

Pens started their Cup winning season 4-4.

Detroit started their last Cup winning season 2-2.

So much for the first few games predicting the season.  The fact is, statistically, it requires 20 games before you have a sufficiently reliable sample size to re-adjust your preseason predictions.  Making too much, or too little of small sample sizes is all well and good for establishing bragging rights, but only a fool would count on it to last, one way or the other.

Yes the Sens, along with numerous other teams tagged as post season contenders, have gotten of to a rocky start, but this is nothing new in the world of pro hockey. 

In fact, it may well be that a poor start can help a team focus on what needs to be done to win, not on the glowing preseason reports surrounding their impending play.

No doubt the Sens will continue to struggle as, like the slow start, one win does not make a definitive change, but I for one will not let my acute frustration temper my chronic optimism.

While the rest of the Senators took to the ice for practice, Pascal Leclaire instead applied ice, beginning the slow process of rehabbing from a groin injury.

While speaking to reporters, the oft-injured Leclaire shared his disappointment in suffering another injury.

"I just kicked my leg out and I heard a little pop," said a disappointed Leclaire. "To me, it was almost like a routine save. I felt great in warm-up, and being in the game I didn't feel stiff at all. Maybe it was an awkward kick or something like that. I'm not really sure. " 

Unlike pop and corn, pop and groin are not good together, no matter how much butter you add.

To date there is no clear timetable on his return. Pascal will not join the Sens on their road trip to Montreal or Pittsburgh, but he was hopeful the injury will not be long-term, adding, "I can walk all right (today), so we'll see"

In Leclaire's absence from the locker room, rookie goaltender Robin Lehner will get a chance to put his freshly minted U.S. work visa to good use. Here's hoping Brian Elliott plays well enough to keep Robin on the bench, or else I'll have to dust off the ready-made "Ottawa Goaltender Controversy" story.

The other pop star making headlines today is Nicky "The Chin" Foligno.   

After Foligno popped Patrick Dwyer with a nice open-ice hit, the league has chosen to punish The Chin's defensive play with a paltry but precedent-setting $2,500.00 USD fine. That's going to seriously cut into his Rue St. Catherine lap dance budget.

Sorry Janelle, I couldn't resist—no doubt he'll return to his room immediately after the game and, with the help of Peter Regin, begin sorting through the sample invitations you sent along for his consideration while on the road.

I, for one, wholly understand the need for the league review of the hit. It was a lateral, blind-side hit, and due to Dwyer's leaning out for the puck, it made contact with his head.

However, I'm left wondering what Foligno was supposed to do instead of making physical contact. It is a hockey game after all, right? Was he supposed to just sweep his stick? Unfortunately this would do nothing to mitigate the fact Dwyer was moving in the same direction as the puck and away from Foligno's line of trajectory.

I believe, rightly or wrongly, the hit Foligno made, and the force with which it was applied, was entirely within the spirit of the game and was not "predatory."

To be fair, I contrast this with the hit by Chris Neil on Chris Drury of several seasons ago. Although deemed legal at the time, there is no doubt Neil's hit had considerably more force, and unlike Foligno's hit on Dwyer, it came after Drury had released the puck, greatly diminishing the defensive value of the hit compared to that of Foligno's.

Foligno separated Dwyer from the puck, which is exactly the intention of allowing contact in the game. He didn't bury him, as he could have. If doing this, in a controlled fashion, is still considered illegal, what is the reasoning behind allowing a player to be hit along the boards three seconds after he has released the puck? Don't say the risk of injury, because a lot of players are injured when checked along the boards—I'd bet more than in open ice hits.

Do we really believe every player hit along the boards is aware of the incoming check? No way, so that's not the issue either. I truly think, in the hopes of looking committed to player safety, the league went from good, honourable intention to blatant over-reaction. 

To me, Foligno's hit should have been promoted as an example of the perfect time and way to throw an open ice hit in order to make a sound defensive play. Alas, the league has once again failed to establish any clear definition for hitting in the game, or at least a definition that stands up to the test of reason.

At 13:47 of the third period in Thursday night's game of the Ottawa Senators versus the Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa's Nick Foligno collides with Carolina's Patrick Dwyer in open ice, sending Dwyer spinning and down to the ice.

No penalty is called on the play, and Dwyer immediately gets to his feet, makes his way to the bench and doesn't miss a shift the rest of the game.

Seems rather harmless, doesn't it? A hard open ice hit that results in no injury is part of the game of hockey and happens hundreds of times throughout the NHL season.

Yet this is not the end of the story.

Enraged that no call was made on the play, the Carolina bench goes wild with the slapping of sticks, and head coach Paul Maurice and associate head coach Ron Francis are furious on the bench.

In an effort to calm the Carolina bench, Ottawa's Milan Michálek is on the receiving end of a make-up call for interference on the very next face-off. Carolina gets a power play, and their first goal of the game is scored.

That should be the end of it. Yet there is still more.

In a post-game interview, Maurice was both sarcastic and unhappy.

“Clearly the referees got a different view of it,” Maurice said. “They felt the hit was shoulder to shoulder. I mean, unless Patty's head is growing out of his armpit, I'm not sure how that's possible. They just missed it. I'm not sure what happens after that, they just missed the call. The upside is that they will have more video for the clip they send us next year on the head hits.”

Now this morning we have major media reviewing the play and calling for a possible suspension of Foligno for a blind-side hit to the head.

Never mind that it doesn't seem like Foligno made any effort to actually check, much less injure Dwyer. Never mind that there can be a debate made that the hit was neither blind-side nor to the head. The on-ice officials clearly thought that hit was shoulder to shoulder first with any possible head hit coming as an aftereffect.

Given the NHL's often bizarre enforcement of the rule book, however, and that it is early in the season yet and a message needs to be sent, don't be surprised if you find Foligno handed at least a one-game suspension in the very near future.

Much ado about nothing indeed.

Update: Nick Foligno was fined US$2,500 on Friday afternoon but no suspension was given.

Christopher Smith runs senspedia.com, an Ottawa Senators fan site.

Carolina's Cam Ward did everything he could to get the win, but came up short in the end.

If a goaltender can single-handedly get tagged with a loss, as was Leclaire in the game against Washington, it's only fair they get full recognition when their individual play belies a team loss. In facing 39 shots, Ward was simply outstanding.

Unfortunately for Ward, the team in front of him was less than spectacular, and when matched up against the desperate Sens, they looked overwhelmed and out-worked from the drop of the puck.

Clouston and his team were forced to face adversity just 2:06 into the first period when starting goaltender Pascal Leclaire left the game due to a lower body injury.

Although it was unclear exactly what the injury was, or specifically when it occurred, there was no doubt Leclaire was repeatedly forced to contend with net crashing forwards, with this likely leading to the injury. 

Fortunately Elliott was up to the job and stepped into the crease and posted a capable enough performance to secure the team's first win of the season.

The biggest story coming from the Sens side though, was the play of Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson. Both of these team leaders did exactly that, led by example. 

Fisher, while being matched up with Neil and Foligno, played a tremendous north-south game, and his effort was rewarded with two goals, including the game winner, scored while on the PP.

Alfredsson was a threat in each of his shifts and provided numerous outstanding defensive plays. He may have only posted one point, an assist for his part in a magnificent passing play, but his defensive game had as much more of a positive impact on the scoreboard than that of any other Senator.

Unfortunately for the Senators, the play of sophomore defenseman Erik Karlsson remained on its unsteady path.

Hopes were high for the burgeoning phenom after his stellar play in the second half of last season, but to date he has all too often been the victim of his own poor decisions both with and without the puck. 

Fortunately for Karlsson, on one particularly ill-timed pinch in along the boards, his fleet skating ability allowed him to get back in time to foil a break away attempt of his own making. 

The question now is: What will come first, a demotion to the minors, or an improvement in his play?

The Sens will next head to Montreal, with a win in the books, but potentially without the services of Foligno, pending the outcome of a league review of his marginally blind side hit on Patrick Dwyer.

Sometimes, when the going gets tough, the fingers get to pointing.

That was certainly the case after the Sens' 3-2 OT loss to Washington, when Ottowa Head Coach Cory Clouston chose to point the finger of blame at the team's lone bright spot, goalie Pascal Leclaire. The fact he did this, rather than direct derision at the team's lack of scoring or season-long "O-fer" power-play streak, left many in the media and fan forums scratching their heads.

Without the strong performance of Leclaire, the Sens would be not just winless, but downright thrashed in every game of the season. They've been so bad; a 5-1 loss to the Leafs was flattering, and a credit to the great play of Leclaire. If anything, you'd think Leclaire would have earned a pass from Clouston, but instead he earned his wrath. Let's be fair, being scored on by Ovechkin is hardly rare for an NHL goaltender. 

I'm still wondering why Ovechkin was able to get a shot off when being "covered" by Phillips, the Sens' "shut down" D-man. I won't even mention the fact the Caps' Alexander Semin was left completely alone in the slot.

But the fact of the matter is, weak goal or not, most fans were happy for the lone point. Sure, a win would have been far better, but a loser point certainly beats the rotten goose egg served up every other game this season. It has to be noted that the Sens played their best game thus far.  It wasn't a thing of beauty, but compared to the absolute gong shows of the previous games, it was an improvement if nothing else.

Now, of course, it's turned into the "goaltender controversy."  Will Leclaire get another start Thursday night at home, as one would expect of a No. 1, when a team is in need of a win? Or will it be Brian Elliott, the player many believe to be Clouston's boy?

A strong case could be made for either.

Leclaire, who has kept the Sens in games, no doubt has earned the right to keep getting the starts. But what would it say about Clouston's observations after the Washington game? That he was wrong? That he was misunderstood? 

Elliott, a goaltender expected to get at least 30 starts this year, has not played yet this season, and no doubt is due for a start. Nobody would blink if he got the start against Carolina. Check that, nobody would have blinked. You see, now that Clouston has stirred the pot, even what would have previously been viewed as a non-issue, suddenly becomes one.

Not only has Clouston erroneously asked Leclaire to shoulder the blame for the team's 3-2 loss, but he's also fanned the flames of an issue that, prior to his statements, wasn't one. In fact, he turned a bright spot, into a spotlight.

But winning solves everything.

Clouston better hope for some wins, and soon.

After a promising preseason start, the Ottawa Senators are now 0-2-1 to start the season, 0-for-14 on the power play and have been out-shot 100-75 and outscored 10-4.

The numbers are worrisome.

Pushing the panic button after only three games played may seem like an overreaction, yet in an unforgiving league where postseason hopes are decided by one win, these three losses may come back to haunt the Sens come the playoffs.

General manager Bryan Murray is obviously feeling the frustration.

“A tough start is tough,” Murray said. “It's hard to catch up, and you do have to win a lot of games. ... if you get behind the eight-ball very far, the league is pretty even and to have long runs is difficult.”

“It's very disappointing,” coach Cory Clouston added. “We felt we had a pretty positive preseason, we had a good week of practice, but we've come out and been outworked, out-competed, out-executed in all areas. We're going to live and die as a team, and we have to attack and defend as units. Right now we're getting efforts, but it's individual efforts.”

Everyone agrees the team needs to start playing better and that it has to start now.

The one bright spot in the first two games was goalie Pascal Leclaire, who kept the game close in a 2-1 opening-season loss to the Buffalo Sabres and who was the best Sen on the ice for the embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Toronto Leafs on Saturday night.

Ironically though, it was Leclaire who let his team down on Monday night against the Washington Capitals. With the Senators finally acting responsibly on defence and generating some good offence, Leclaire allowed a soft goal by Alexander Ovechkin with just 31.1 seconds remaining in overtime.

“He made some saves, for sure,” said Clouston after the game, “but we need him to make that last one. It’s very disappointing.

“To me, if you’re thinking of Ovechkin’s shot, he didn’t get all of it. There wasn’t a whole lot on it and I’m not sure how it even ended up beating (Leclaire) five-hole.”

The one good thing to come out of the loss to Washington, however, was that we saw a glimpse of what the Ottawa Senators can do when competing against one of the best teams in the league. If the team can play like they did last night and if Leclaire can hold steady like he did in the first two games, then this team has a chance to compete with the best of them.

“We made some mistakes,” Leclaire said. “I think it's some stuff that's going to be easy to fix and not panic. I think that's the most important thing. We know what we're doing wrong, and it's up to us to fix the little things, but I don't think we're that far off at all.”

Christopher Smith runs senspedia.com, an Ottawa Senators fan site.