Pre-Game Talk: SENS in Tampa tonight, 7:30 pm on TSN

[branch]

Losing as much as possible does not equal Dahlin, just like losing as much as possible doesn't equal handing Colorado Jack Hughes. This isn't 1993. The worst team in the league now has a better chance of picking 4th than they do picking 1st, 2nd or 3rd [happened to Colorado last season].

The worse you finish, the better odds you get, but the odds are at least 80% for every team to not get the 1st overall pick.
Now, there's the argument that since you can't drop more than 3 spots, the lower you finish, the better since you'll at least get a top 4 pick if you're the worst, or a top 5 pick if you're 2nd worst. That I understand. But too often people will comment on how we need to tank to ensure Dahlin, or how stupid the Duchene trade was because we might've handed Colorado Jack Hughes [never does anyone mention anyone else in that draft that Colorado might get, even though they will have, at best, a 20% chance at Hughes].
I'm sure you understand how it all works and maybe you were just oversimplifying things, but inevitably with these draft lottery rules, it's partially about being a bad team, but so much more about getting lucky. I've focussed on Ottawa getting every top prospects not named Dahlin and Svechnikov, just because the odds are so far against us, even if we do finish dead last.

Yes but finishing dead last increases our chances compared to say 4th last by an order of magnitude. There is luck that goes into it and also the percentages mean something as well. I do agree that it is not cut and dry like years past when the lottery didn't exist.

 

[The Lewler]

Hey.... this isn't pre-game vs Bolts talk at all!

 

[Xspyrit]

Honestly that is not an encouraging lineup up front. There's no balance. 1st line is fine, 2nd line would have a hard time generating anything other than countering on turnovers, 3rd line is throwing kids to the wolves without any support and MVP can't be the only vet in the bottom six.

If that's what comes out of training camp next year, better hope the Sens deferred their 1st rd pick.

I'm not saying they will win the cup but I don't get your balance thing.

Hoffman-Duchene-Dzingel : all very fast, and a great amount of skill, even Dzingel who could score 25-30 playing with them all season.

Ryan-Pageau-Stone : they have shown some great chemistry before, they can create chances in the counter but also from turnovers in the offensive zone, those 3 are good to create havoc in the opposite zone and would have good possession numbers. Look at the Ryan and Pageau production when playing with Stone.

1stRoundPick-Brown-White : all course not a lot of experience but we have seen kids lines do well before, and not just with the Sens. It all depends on who is that 1st round pick but I'd be thrilled if it was Zadina or Svechnikov. That's a lot of skill on your 3rd line, not very proven but I believe they could do well.

Paul-Chlapik-Pyatt : Pyatt is an excellent veteran 4th liner. Chlapik has a lot of skill and smarts and Paul has a nice toolset to be an efficient 4th liner. I believe those 3 together would be hard to play against.

I understand the point of not having enough vets in the bottom-6, and it's surely won't happen under Boucher so it also depends on is he really back coaching?

But would you prefer if I included Gaborik, Burrows, O'Brien, Paajarvi?

Yes they will. They will also keep Cody Ceci, and Tom Pyatt in an effort to, as Euge put it, to become "faster and more skilled"

Pyatt and Ceci are fast enough and enough skilled IF they are in the right chair.

I have no problem with Pyatt 1 more year IF he is the 12th forward in TOI/GP (and McCormick the 13th)

I have no problem with Ceci if he is the 4th D-man. You need 3 better D-men and Ceci might be able to do good. Karlsson if he stays, Chabot if he keeps progressing and? Need a prime Methot or something like that. Or Dahlin lol

By the way, since the Phaneuf trade, Ceci has much more respectable advanced stats.

NHL.com - Stats

SAT Rel% of -0.12

I believe it would be in the positive if he'd play with Chabot only.

 

[Shruggs Peterson]

I'm not saying they will win the cup but I don't get your balance thing.

Hoffman-Duchene-Dzingel : all very fast, and a great amount of skill, even Dzingel who could score 25-30 playing with them all season.

Ryan-Pageau-Stone : they have shown some great chemistry before, they can create chances in the counter but also from turnovers in the offensive zone, those 3 are good to create havoc in the opposite zone and would have good possession numbers. Look at the Ryan and Pageau production when playing with Stone.

1stRoundPick-Brown-White : all course not a lot of experience but we have seen kids lines do well before, and not just with the Sens. It all depends on who is that 1st round pick but I'd be thrilled if it was Zadina or Svechnikov. That's a lot of skill on your 3rd line, not very proven but I believe they could do well.

Paul-Chlapik-Pyatt : Pyatt is an excellent veteran 4th liner. Chlapik has a lot of skill and smarts and Paul has a nice toolset to be an efficient 4th liner. I believe those 3 together would be hard to play against.

I understand the point of not having enough vets in the bottom-6, and it's surely won't happen under Boucher so it also depends on is he really back coaching?

But would you prefer if I included Gaborik, Burrows, O'Brien, Paajarvi?

The first question I should have asked is that the forward corps you see with or without EK in the lineup? The personnel could be close without (but the lines would look different) but if he did come back I can't see that being the lineup. My balance comment refers to putting 5 rookies in the bottom 6 and not changing the top 6 as you said. I would at the very least swap Brown and Pageau to have JGP anchor the bottom 6 in his natural spot and give Brown a shot playing top 6 minutes, but of course this is all hypothetical. I'm expecting Gaborik to be back next year but would be happily surprised if he retired/was bought out. Burrows should be dumped in the off-season, JOB's on a two-way so he can start in Belville and Paajarvi might get a contract similar to what he has now. All of them won't be gone since management would happily take vets over rookies.

I'm also not so sure Bocuher's job security is up for debate with this management. However it plays out this summer I think one constant will be Guy behind the behind the bench to start next year, justified or not.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

This is not true. You just made it up. Teams travel on the same day all the time.

After last night's game, the Sens went directly to the airport, to fly to Columbus for their game tonight.