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SENShobo

Always A New Change As Sens Host Ducks

by SENShobo on 10/24/08 at 08:10 AM ET
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• Auld, Sens feel pressure as they welcome Ducks tonight.
• The panic button gets hit earlier every year, no matter how little logic there is in doing so.
• Wondering what Murray’s talking about as GMs meet and greet.

• Auld has a chance to step up and into a bigger role tonight, if he can stand on his head (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun, NHL.com).

“There’s an opportunity to win a game, and that’s all I’m looking at,” he said. “It has been a while, but I’ve been working hard for this, whenever it came. I’m excited and ready, and looking forward to it.”

Auld, who has endured an up-and-down NHL career, has learned over the years how to deal with extended layoffs between games.

“I feel like I’ve been in this situation so many times before that it’s something, I guess, that you get used to and you know how to prepare for, and that’s why the last three weeks in practice have been so important for me, practicing like there’s a game the next night for me. As you get older, you learn how you have to be in those situations, and that’s just the approach I’ve been taking.”

That will be the main story of tonight, Alex Auld’s performance. How strong and able he is to take over from Gerber for a while remains to be seen, let alone whether there’s any rust, not having played since the team’s Swedish openers. The 2.14 G/G Anaheim manages, tied for 2nd last in the League with Toronto, shouldn’t pose much of a threat. Our top guns might even feel a bit relieved, as the Ducks’ top line of Getzlaf, Perry, and Kunitz has yet to score a single goal.

All the rabbits are being pulled out of the hat. First, the most unbreakable of duos was broken up with Spezza’s separation from Heatley. Now the goalie change and chance for old fashioned usurping has emerged. Even the defence has experienced its share of changes, as Lee moves down to Binghamton, and now two pairs are shuffled as Smith will line up with Richardson, and Kuba will play with Picard. I now suggest that the new, and last, most unbreakable pair is Phillips and Volchenkov, not that I haven’t suggested trying a different approach.

The Sens just can’t catch any breaks. Even though the Ducks are coming in off a win Tuesday, they were outshot 13-0 in the third against Toronto, and let in the tying goal with under a minute left, exactly the kind of motivation the team will likely display tonight. The return of Getzlaf from a mouth injury, along with Burke admitting on Off The Record recently that he’s still angry at Alfie for the dying moments puck he sent into Niedermayer’s chest in the Finals, will top off the hunger the Ducks are feeling quite nicely.

But things can be different. I wouldn’t agree with Hartsburg that Gerber’s got technical issues, but rather that he’s just had small errors from good technical skills that have wound up with too many goals in the net. Auld might stop the trend of the Sens getting scored on early, and it’s only been one game with these new lines, none with these new pairings, so chemistry still needs some time too. If a 26 shot third period against Florida is something the team can build on, even if it’s the only thing they remember, we might well have a shot tonight at starting to turn things around.

• Six games in and fans are already worried, and worrying doesn’t feel right (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Senators’ web).

Head coach Craig Hartsburg, new himself and still getting a feel for this group, continues to juggle not just forward lines, but his defensive pairings, trying to find the best fit.

Yesterday, I asked Hartsburg how long it might take before we know what kind of team this is.

“I don’t know, as far as time frame,” Hartsburg said. “I think every day we’re all evaluating it. And the players themselves are. And I guess the thing—I wouldn’t call it frustrating—but it’s kind of a teaser. We’re teasing ourselves sometimes when we play so well and then ... .”

Chemistry is something that can never be underestimated. It’s what takes the thinking out of the game, and replaces it with knowing, knowing what to do, when to do it, and where your help and backup will come from. It’s suggested that the Sens’ start last season was more due to their carryover chemistry from the Final and other teams trying to find theirs, and the latter parts of the season would seem to agree.

I’d like to think that even after Saturday’s game in Toronto, we won’t yet be 10% into the season, and that we can turn things around when we find our way again. Sure, the cap makes things a lot tighter, but if we can storm out to a 15-2 start last year on the way to a first round sweep after just squeaking in, a 2-3-1 start doesn’t preclude us from having a good year. It all starts with a single play, a single game. Maybe we can ask Toronto if we can borrow some of that 40-year itch cream.

• As GMs meet, you have to wonder what rabbits Murray might be looking to pull out of his hat (Ottawa Sun).

Trade winds started blowing in the Windy City.

While GMs gathered in Chicago yesterday to discuss things like officiating and rule changes, it was their first chance of the season to meet face-to-face—and see where they stand in terms of making deals.

Senators GM Bryan Murray didn’t go with a shopping list, but his No. 1 priority is a puck-moving defenceman.

Everyone says that it’s rare to see big trades so early in the season, and considering how little Murray has to offer up (read: how little I’d be willing to offer up in Murray’s position), I doubt we’ll see anything big. Puck-moving isn’t just hard to come by, but with Kuba rolling along at 1.25 P/G, and Picard projecting to a baker’s dozen of both goals and assists, I’d be more worried about the fact that for the first time in a long time we’re projecting a year where we allow more goals than we score, and that solution comes from within.

The real trade talk, I suspect, will be planting seeds for much later fruit, that being a potential #1 goaltender. Speculation isn’t a science, but I’d say if there’s any chance he could get one, never mind that we’ll be down to Auld next season and nobody the next, he’ll see what he can do. Elliot has a lot of faith from the organization, but at the same time the Canadiens are showing that it’s never a bad thing to be able to trust two guys at once.

The other interesting thing will be the rule changes proposed, some of which have been posted here on KK. While I’m never a big fan of drastic changes (still wishing the shootout didn’t exist), if there’s a way to make the game less frustrating, more exciting and more fast paced, then we should indeed have a look.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
 Tags: Alex+Auld, Brian+Murray,

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