SENShobo
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Sens Stepping Up, Away From Point Of No Return
by SENShobo on 12/08/08 at 08:31 AM ET
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Ottawa pitching woo to Sundin yet again, and the Sens looking at an uphill battle, but first…
From the Ottawa Sun, on Jason Spezza’s reemergence,
“I think he’s been good. It’s been a tough start for Jason,” said Hartsburg. “The good thing about it for me with Jason is he hasn’t tried to avoid it. When you talk to him, it’s not like, ‘Oh, no, that’s not true.’ He knows. And the good part about him is he’s trying to do something about it. In the last little bit, his game, his work habits, his competing have been higher, which allows him to have the puck more. I’ve said to him since Day 1, ‘I want the puck on your stick every time you’re on the ice.’ The more he has the puck, the more he’s going to create.
“Early in the year, I think he was waiting for the puck to come to him, but I see a guy now who is hungry to go get it and hold onto it in traffic. Even the big hit he took (Saturday) he kind of got up laughing from it, which is good. To me, that shows he’s willing to pay a bigger price for us and that’s good.”
A period of hat-trick goodness in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Pittsburgh is not quite up to the consistent onslaught of players such as Malkin and Crosby of late, but there’s no denying Spezza’s game has undergone changes.
From last year, on the stat sheet, he’s already dishing out twice as many hits, blocking an extra dose of shots while taking more for himself, and while he’s still in the top 15, he likely won’t have the most giveaways per game crown as he did last year.
On the ice, he’s become far more involved with the game. Fans are used to seeing Spezza try to skate around opponents as though they were pylons, waiting for a pass as though he was taking part in a practice drill. This season, he’s starting to put the little plays to good use. He’ll chip the puck at the blueline to avoid being stripped of it, and he’ll go in hard on the forecheck to dig it out from behind the net. Without the puck, he will be in as good or better position to pick up the play, but more importantly to be able to help slow down the play should it start back the other way.
Like it or not, the Sens seem to be at their best with the pizza line intact (currently owning 31 of the team’s 60 goals), so as long as they can keep one-upping each other, keep the intra-line competition high, there should be much to look forward to, hopefully including tonight, with an aim of pushing back Craig Anderson’s numbers in net with Florida en route to a win. For the eleventh straight time, Auld will start, and having battled with pneumonia after his sore throat, McAmmond is a few days away from returning.
From the Ottawa Sun, on Sundin,
“I don’t know if they’re still considering us, but they should be,” Senators GM Bryan Murray said yesterday.
....
“We are going to talk to them again,” said Murray.
....
“We would make room,” said Murray yesterday.
Considering the facts: that the Sens have more than enough centers, that they have only around $3 million in cap space, that they are Sundin’s former team’s chief rivals, that there are bigger offers of cash and Stanley Cup hopes elsewhere, and that this story has only those three quotes. It would be lovely to land the big Swede, but the Sens have bigger concerns.
Concerns, some say, that should and possibly will be fixed with a trade for Bouwmeester or Ohlund, but I’ve got more cold water for you. Despite unsubstantiated rumours that a major deal is impending, consider that a continued hunt for Sundin, who will not make a decision until a week from now, will hold up any cap-filling trades.
Consider also that Martin was the GM who wouldn’t trade Gary Roberts to the team that canned him, so why would he offer up Bouwmeester in advance of the peak value time of the trade deadline, let alone to the Sens? Ohlund may get around the too-familiar aspect, but heading to UFA status in July with Bouwmeester, and in possession of a NTC, Ohlund will likely want to hold out for the best opportunity to showcase his skills and increase his value, should he feel like being traded at all.
Finally, rest assured that with games tonight, Wednesday, and Friday, and with the roster freeze deadline a dozen days away, there is little time left for such moves.
From the Ottawa Citizen, on the Sens reaching .500,
“We’ve gotten ourselves back and we’re playing a respectable game and we like the way we’re playing,” Hartsburg said yesterday. “But now it’s to continue doing it and get better. Throughout the course of the season, there are going to be some downs and ups, but you don’t want your downs ... to continue for three, four, or five games where you’re not playing very well.
“You’re probably not going to play 25 great games in a row, but, at the end of a 25-game stretch, you’d like to say, ‘Well, that was a pretty good stretch of games. There were a few (poor) games here and there, but for the most part we stayed with it’.”
Seven games in 13 days starts tonight against stingy Florida, and will go a long way towards showing whether the Sens can play well in high-pressure hockey, no team in the League having played fewer than Ottawa’s 24 games so far, and will also likely find out how well they can play in front of Gerber, who will likely start Saturday against Tampa. With an eight game road trip over Christmas, as Ottawa host the World Juniors, the team will get a chance to bond further, united in their goal.
24 points, and 58 games left to play, the Senators are facing the tough tests now as they back away from the point of no return. It took 94 points to make the playoffs last season in the East, and 22% of games went to overtime that season; it’s now over 25%, meaning the requirement is not likely to drop. That’s 70 points that the Sens need, and with 58 games left, .500 hockey will not cut it.
You can be wishful, and think that of the 29 losses they have left to face with .500 hockey, they would only need to turn half into OT losses to make the playoffs, but that would leave the Sens with only 27 regulation losses, putting them in the top half of last season’s playoff teams. Reality is, the Sens will need to play at over .600 hockey, losing only another 23 games or 46 points (though 33 regulation losses would put Ottawa more reasonably at the tail end of last season’s playoff teams). However you do your math, this is a season that no trade or free agent signing can save. At this point, it’s all up to the hard work, tenacity, and dedication that the team can put in.
Oh, and headed for 180 goals this season, lower than all 30 teams last season, a few more mucking and grinding goals wouldn’t hurt the cause either.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
Tags: Jason+Spezza, Mats+Sundin,
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