Syndication29 Aug 2008 - 03:13:18 pm
Comparing SCF Sens to now.
2006-07 Ottawa Senators Roster
1 - Emery
29 - Gerber
2 - Nycholat
4 - Phillips
5 - Schubert
6 - Redden
7 - Corvo
14 - Mezaros
24 - Volchenkov
42 - Preissing
11 - Alfredsson
12 - Fisher
15 - Heatley
16 - McGrattan
19 - Spezza
20 - Vermette
22 - Kelly
25 - Neil
27 - Schaefer
37 - McAmmond
44 - Eaves
61 - Saprykin
89 - Comrie
So what has changed for us? Starting with goalies.
Ray Emery is gone. IMO... Good Riddance! From things that happened all through out last year I think that "Razor" is better off for the team not in the dressing room. He has potential to be a tremendous goaltender. His mind has to be in it though and i think that playing over seas should give him time to realize where his priorities need to be. If he can smarten up i think he could be a really good accusation in the future. We picked up Alex Auld, and from my experience in watching this guy play, i liked him. maybe i didn't see enough but i know that Gerber does have it in him to be a very good #1. I believe for now entering the season with this combo between the pipes will work for now and when the time comes the sens can re-assess their situation and maybe make a deadline move for a different starting goalie.
Defensive players from that list that have left us are, obvious hopefully but if not; Redden, Corvo and Preissing. Redden back in the day was a great defensive d-man with a killer shot. But lately his breakout passes have been off and has been struggling with stamina. Once again i think he has potential to be great but i think just needed a change of scenery maybe to spark something in the back of that head. Corvo had legs that carried him from behind our net to the front of theirs back to ours in a matter of seconds. But as of right now our priorities lie with getting more defense in our line up. Our top three are alot of power and we need to back that up. Bring in Smith. Speculators say that he's past his prime but what has Ottawa done for how many years..? They seem to always have faith in those that are "getting on" in age. Bondra? Tom Barasso? even Hasek, who maybe wasn't quite ready to throw in the towel but when he got injured at the olympics, needless to say I wasn't a happy camper that we didn't have a #1 goalie for a while. I think that Smith will make an impact on the line, maybe not as big as Chara but we need the size, and along with Lee who will make a big step this year (hopefully) I think that the D will be well rounded, maybe with the addition of someone with a killer breakout pass.
For forwards I'm first going to list who we lost and who we gained from the 06-07 team. Lost: McGrattan, Shaefer, Eaves, Saprykin, Comrie. Gained: Ruutu, Donovan, Bass, Foligno, *Winchester (I'm not even sure what is going on with him, all i know is that he's on official roster as per ottawasenators.com) In that list we have lost size, speed and creative playmaking. For me, the one that we lost that hurts the most is a toss up between Eaves and Comrie. Eaves was hurt for a large amount of last season, but still i thought that he had a lot of finesse and good speed to back it up. Smart player usually knowing where the puck needed to go. Comrie was the same as Eaves in the knowledge for the game department, but where he lacked in speed (compared to Eaves) he made up for in grit and determination, going into the corners whenever need be. But throw back in size speed and playmaking (to an extent). Size is obvious where its going to come from now, Ruutu, and speed is going to need to come from foligno. Like i said before, I'm not sure of Winchester and what he is capable of. I have never personally watched him play and have heard mixed feelings of what he can bring to the table. The other two, Donovan and Bass, round out our bottom two lines with great determination and a sense of wanting whats right for the team, and worrying about themselves after the fact.
So, that being said and my hands getting cramps.. where does that leave us? Once again, IMO we have replaced what we have lost from our stanley cup run season and i sometimes think that we are now better. We have lost a cancer in the dressing room, and trimmed the fat of people that were here for themselves and not for the team ( I'm saying that because when Corvo was traded, I was actually working within the senators organization and spoke with some of the players on several occasions, and the word around was that Corvo's comments when he was traded were along the lines of "Good, my family and I didn't enjoy living in Ottawa and we're looking forward to moving back down south.") I guess really my point of this whole mess of rambling is that the senators are still an amazing team, and will definitely be contenders in the upcoming season, maybe not where we would idealy like to be when the season starts, but ladies and gentlemen, there are still 65 days until the puck drops in Sweden, and another five months after that before the trade deadline. Give Murray time and i believe that we will be atleast third rounders in the playoffs. My four hundred and twenty three cents.
One thing that I left out when I was writing this was the addition of Hartsburg. This man coming in will bring nothing but good to this team. A fresh new set of morals, and a focus on hard work, and playing for your ice time. One of the things that led to our teams downfall last season was coaching, and that got rectified. When the team went down the tubes last year, it started off by some people on the team, who shall remain nameless, showing very poor commitment to the teams desire to perform as one. Fights in practice amongst each other is completely unacceptable, and there is no way it should have gone basically unnoticed.. except to the media obviously. But it did, and our unit began to seperate. And time and time again it happened last season, and nothing was done to show the players that this was not what needed to happen at all. So out went Paddock and in came Mr. Craig. Only time will tell what this team will do, how the coach will adapt, and how long it takes for us to beat detroit's ass for the cup.
Go Sens!
p.s. Once again, I would like to thank Clutch, Cronie, Heater and Jam for giving us a place to vent our anger and preach our beliefs. Thanks for taking your time to read my thoughts, as I'm sure everyone here agrees, hockey is water. Without it, nobody lives.
1 - Emery
29 - Gerber
2 - Nycholat
4 - Phillips
5 - Schubert
6 - Redden
7 - Corvo
14 - Mezaros
24 - Volchenkov
42 - Preissing
11 - Alfredsson
12 - Fisher
15 - Heatley
16 - McGrattan
19 - Spezza
20 - Vermette
22 - Kelly
25 - Neil
27 - Schaefer
37 - McAmmond
44 - Eaves
61 - Saprykin
89 - Comrie
So what has changed for us? Starting with goalies.
Ray Emery is gone. IMO... Good Riddance! From things that happened all through out last year I think that "Razor" is better off for the team not in the dressing room. He has potential to be a tremendous goaltender. His mind has to be in it though and i think that playing over seas should give him time to realize where his priorities need to be. If he can smarten up i think he could be a really good accusation in the future. We picked up Alex Auld, and from my experience in watching this guy play, i liked him. maybe i didn't see enough but i know that Gerber does have it in him to be a very good #1. I believe for now entering the season with this combo between the pipes will work for now and when the time comes the sens can re-assess their situation and maybe make a deadline move for a different starting goalie.
Defensive players from that list that have left us are, obvious hopefully but if not; Redden, Corvo and Preissing. Redden back in the day was a great defensive d-man with a killer shot. But lately his breakout passes have been off and has been struggling with stamina. Once again i think he has potential to be great but i think just needed a change of scenery maybe to spark something in the back of that head. Corvo had legs that carried him from behind our net to the front of theirs back to ours in a matter of seconds. But as of right now our priorities lie with getting more defense in our line up. Our top three are alot of power and we need to back that up. Bring in Smith. Speculators say that he's past his prime but what has Ottawa done for how many years..? They seem to always have faith in those that are "getting on" in age. Bondra? Tom Barasso? even Hasek, who maybe wasn't quite ready to throw in the towel but when he got injured at the olympics, needless to say I wasn't a happy camper that we didn't have a #1 goalie for a while. I think that Smith will make an impact on the line, maybe not as big as Chara but we need the size, and along with Lee who will make a big step this year (hopefully) I think that the D will be well rounded, maybe with the addition of someone with a killer breakout pass.
For forwards I'm first going to list who we lost and who we gained from the 06-07 team. Lost: McGrattan, Shaefer, Eaves, Saprykin, Comrie. Gained: Ruutu, Donovan, Bass, Foligno, *Winchester (I'm not even sure what is going on with him, all i know is that he's on official roster as per ottawasenators.com) In that list we have lost size, speed and creative playmaking. For me, the one that we lost that hurts the most is a toss up between Eaves and Comrie. Eaves was hurt for a large amount of last season, but still i thought that he had a lot of finesse and good speed to back it up. Smart player usually knowing where the puck needed to go. Comrie was the same as Eaves in the knowledge for the game department, but where he lacked in speed (compared to Eaves) he made up for in grit and determination, going into the corners whenever need be. But throw back in size speed and playmaking (to an extent). Size is obvious where its going to come from now, Ruutu, and speed is going to need to come from foligno. Like i said before, I'm not sure of Winchester and what he is capable of. I have never personally watched him play and have heard mixed feelings of what he can bring to the table. The other two, Donovan and Bass, round out our bottom two lines with great determination and a sense of wanting whats right for the team, and worrying about themselves after the fact.
So, that being said and my hands getting cramps.. where does that leave us? Once again, IMO we have replaced what we have lost from our stanley cup run season and i sometimes think that we are now better. We have lost a cancer in the dressing room, and trimmed the fat of people that were here for themselves and not for the team ( I'm saying that because when Corvo was traded, I was actually working within the senators organization and spoke with some of the players on several occasions, and the word around was that Corvo's comments when he was traded were along the lines of "Good, my family and I didn't enjoy living in Ottawa and we're looking forward to moving back down south.") I guess really my point of this whole mess of rambling is that the senators are still an amazing team, and will definitely be contenders in the upcoming season, maybe not where we would idealy like to be when the season starts, but ladies and gentlemen, there are still 65 days until the puck drops in Sweden, and another five months after that before the trade deadline. Give Murray time and i believe that we will be atleast third rounders in the playoffs. My four hundred and twenty three cents.
One thing that I left out when I was writing this was the addition of Hartsburg. This man coming in will bring nothing but good to this team. A fresh new set of morals, and a focus on hard work, and playing for your ice time. One of the things that led to our teams downfall last season was coaching, and that got rectified. When the team went down the tubes last year, it started off by some people on the team, who shall remain nameless, showing very poor commitment to the teams desire to perform as one. Fights in practice amongst each other is completely unacceptable, and there is no way it should have gone basically unnoticed.. except to the media obviously. But it did, and our unit began to seperate. And time and time again it happened last season, and nothing was done to show the players that this was not what needed to happen at all. So out went Paddock and in came Mr. Craig. Only time will tell what this team will do, how the coach will adapt, and how long it takes for us to beat detroit's ass for the cup.
Go Sens!
p.s. Once again, I would like to thank Clutch, Cronie, Heater and Jam for giving us a place to vent our anger and preach our beliefs. Thanks for taking your time to read my thoughts, as I'm sure everyone here agrees, hockey is water. Without it, nobody lives.
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