You respect a team that tries hard but loses. There are very few Sens who play hard and try night in and night out. ZJ, Turris, Pageau, Prince, Lazar, Methot, Chiasson, and Boro. Hoffman also fits into that category but he's in a league of his own as he's playing with an unsupporting cast. I used to think Hoffman was a bust after 5 rookie camps and being sent down to Bingo 4 times but clearly he was developed properly, and unfortunately that will come back to bite the next GM because he will fetch a high price on the open market.
EK, Stone, 9MM, Smith, Neil, Cowan, Ceci, and Puempel fit into a category where they have flashes of excellent play or hard work but even it out with technical failures: inability to get to the puck, overthinking, bad passes, and general poor decisions. EK, Stone, Smith, and Cowan tend to be on the better side of this category, while the others suffer more negatives than positives.
Then you have the absolute worst work ethic of all - Ryan, Weircoch, and Ceci. I don't say this to bash them - I support them every game and I hope the best for them - but they're simply not meeting expectations. Ryan picks up points but still tries to do more than he's capable and fails. Weircoch can only go up at this point, and Ceci is just shy of the 2nd category.