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Senators Reward The Faithful
by SENShobo on 10/21/09 at 09:51 AM ET
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Moving out, moving sideways, but first, moving forward..
From the Ottawa Sun, on no-longer-career-AHLer Matt Carkner’s two-year, one-way, $1.4 million extension,
Before training camp, GM Bryan Murray thought he might have to go out and get a rugged element, but, with the way Carkner has performed, the search is over.
“He stuck with it after being in the minors for a number of years with maybe not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel,” said Murray. “He’s a community guy. He’s a team guy. He does anything and everything to be important in the group. He came to camp after spending the summer doing a lot of power skating to develop his stride.
“Every player sees how hard he works. When you have people like this, you should definitely make sure you keep them.”
He was drafted a decade ago in the second round by the Canadiens, and has become the Senators’ definition of perserverance.
From pressconnects.com,
Total number of AHL games over his first eight seasons: 524. Total number of NHL games over that same stretch: 2.
So what makes this the season?
For starters, there’s his comfort level and familiarity with Clouston, and vice versa. The two spent a season and a half together in Binghamton, where Carkner was a popular, well-respected presence in the dressing room. Clouston was promoted to his current role in Ottawa earlier this year.
That may have helped open a door initially, but Carkner also has made the most of his opportunity back on defense. He’s toughened up the Ottawa lineup—three fights to date—and Clouston noted he’s made overall improvements to his game as well.
...
Later, after he fought Tampa Bay’s Steve Downie, who had taken out former Ottawa forward Dean McAmmond with a nasty hit two years before, Carkner said a fan at a local gas station “handed me a free car wash (coupon), and said, ‘Thanks for taking care of Downie.’”And then on Monday, when 3,400 students from Ottawa-area elementary schools attended Senators practice, one group came bearing a huge banner reading: “Rideau Vista Loves Matt Carkner.”
“People think that up here it’s a good story that I made the team, because I stuck with it,” said Carkner, who turns 29 on Nov. 3. “But I think that there’s no other choice for me. I love hockey, and I would have played anywhere for sure.
He’s pulling his weight in all ways, especially for a defenceman originally slotted as a gritty winger; tied for fourth on the team with 2 hits per game with Ruutu, behind Phillips (2.1), Volchenkov (2.6), and Neil (4.6). He’s right behind A-Train (3.4) in blocked shots per game with 2.7. Along with Picard (1), Carkner (1) forms the only defence pairing to record any goals. 18:03 per game, 2:50 per on the penalty kill, is nothing to scoff at either.
Ask Neil about what Carkner’s done for his game, and you hear that he’s lightened the only other fighter’s load; Neil has just a lone fighting major compared to Carkner’s three, and has gone 2-1--3 in 7GP, much improved over 3-7--10 in 60GP last season. Picard, originally thought to be as much bubble as anyone, now leads the back end with 1-3--4 in 6GP (albeit with Kuba injured). When Leclaire gets a little too much loving from opposing forwards in his crease, there’s a legitimate shot that Carkner’s gloves will come off, unlike Phillips’ or Volchenkov’s, or expecting Neil or Fisher to see all the events and arrive speedily. If Clouston wanted or felt he needed to, he could legitimately ice three pairings that have a rock defensive element to free up the more dashing offensive counterparts.
Certainly says something about determination, doesn’t it?
On the flip side, from pressconnects.com,
The Ottawa Senators on Tuesday loaned disgruntled forward Ilya Zubov to Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, officially ending his time with the Binghamton Senators for this season.
...
“It’s just a loan agreement,” Ottawa assistant general manager Tim Murray said. “It’s like the Ottawa Senators loaning him to Binghamton, except we’re loaning him to a Russian team to play there for the season. And then going forward, we’ll see where he fits in the organization, but we still own his rights.”
He joins such players as Dmitri Kalinin, ex-Leaf draft pick Maxim Kondratiev, Viktor Kozlov, and the ever-popular Alexander Radulov. On one hand, I can’t put Zubov in the same class as Nikulin, who didn’t stick around to train in North America and had wildly different views of himself than any organization’s management. Even though Carkner’s long journey was all in North America, he signed with and played a game for San Jose, about as far from his hometown of Winchester, ON, as you can get.
It marks a new course for the organization: reward the faithful, especially the older dogs who show they can learn new tricks. It sets a new bar for the team in terms of dedication and patience, a step in the right direction towards an organizational model like Detroit’s. On one hand, signing Carkner so soon means that he cannot become more expensive ($700,000 cap hit), more intriguing to other teams, not that the team that gave him a chance nor the coach that believed in him were small factors in his success. On the other, it gives Carkner this season and the two following it to feel safe and at home, hence his move from Ottawa hotel to family home search, rather than waiting for the end of the season and a one-year deal, not at all enough to feel like a home purchase would be appropriate. I hate to put it this way, but it would appear as though the Senators are turning over a proper new leaf.
And in sideways news, from the Ottawa Citizen,
So who will sit when Regin returns?
It will be a tough choice for coach Cory Clouston, but one likely candidate could be Ryan Shannon, who has been practising for the past two days with the fourth line.
The problem is that the three regulars on the fourth line—Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Kelly and Shean Donovan—have been playing better than Shannon, who doesn’t have a point in four games and is minus-three.
Clouston says Shannon’s game has been inconsistent, but that there are extenuating circumstances. He got hurt in the team’s season-opening game against the New York Rangers (a slight concussion) and the three games he missed dulled his timing. Plus, with Regin out, Shannon has had to play centre, where he’s not as comfortable as he is playing the wing.
It’s getting a bit crowded in here, for sure, and with Winchester and Kuba on the mend, both still out but improving, the roster battles will only continue to heat up.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
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Who is SENShobo?
Fully addicted to hockey, Andrew Dodds finds it safe to live in the alleys, considering his allegiance to the Ottawa Senators in the middle of Leaf County. He tries to bring you as many worthwhile Sens stories as he can find, along with his musings on the team and the NHL in general; musings indeed since he is but a humble hockey hobo.
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