Boucher could play Chabot with Karlsson. He has plenty of options superior to Oduya
I don't know bout that... Chabot is 20 y/o and has very little experience. I wouldn't want to put too much pressure on him too fast, we have to develop him correctly as he is key for the future of the team. Oduya is just a cheap stop gap after losing a veteran like Methot.
Problem with Oduya is that you can't expect him to be solid every game. The guy is 36 y/o and should be sheltered on the 3rd pair. It's not his fault that he is being asked to play over his head at this point in time of his career. Don't know how much you can fault Dorion, it depends on what was the asking price to re-acquire Methot from Vegas. But I think there was a period of time that he wasn't possible anyway
Claesson or Harpur playing with EK is asking them too much too. Boucher is running out of options, playing top pairing in the NHL is not the easiest task. Maybe he should :
Phaneuf-Karlsson
Chabot-Ceci
Oduya-Claesson
Let's forget total points, for the sake of argument, and focus on playoff chances.
Look, I'm just being realistic about Ottawa's (9.2%) playoff chances.
I repeat, this % of playoff chances is silly at this point of the season... Just over 1/3 of the season played for C's
I think it's a little early to be doing math for a playoff spot, maybe thats just me though.
Of course... How long have we followed the NHL? It's a given.
Whoever finishes third in the Atlantic won’t be a tough test for Toronto in round 1. It won’t be Buffalo or Florida, so it’s Boston, Montreal or Ottawa. Detroit aren’t as bad as Florida and Buffalo, but they’re not a good team. Boston is probably the best in the division after Tampa and Toronto.
The fact that Ottawa may have a chance to finish third, shows how crappy this division really is.
Ottawa should be battling with Toronto for the 2nd spot but they have been really under-performing in that 13 games stretch (1-10-2). If they are really out of it, then things should go well as they played 0.694 the rest of the season (10-3-5). They currently have 29 points and if they play 0.694 in the remaining 51 games, that gives them 100 points on the whole season. Not saying it's likely to happen but it's possible. One thing for sure, they have to play solid hockey all the way, no more slumps. The margin for error is thin.
If our goalies are more solid than they were during the first 20-something games, if EK and Ryan injuries are behind them and if the players believe in Boucher's system again, then everything is possible. Need Duchene to produce more too and team chemistry to be much better that it has been since the trade.
Hats off to the NHL & our Ottawa Senators!
