Are the Ottawa Senators not as bad as people expected them to be?

Zalos

Berktwad
Feb 2, 2009
1,804
1,185
Quebec
Looking at the Sens since the pre-season and I gotta say they are pretty surprising. It does not look like Karlsson left. Chabot has more points than Erik. ;)

Seriously, give props to the coaches and the players. Their GM threw them under the bus, but they answered the call.
 

Alex1234

Registered User
Oct 14, 2014
16,076
6,236
Brady Tkachuk with 6 points in 4 games while playing good defence and being an excellent forechecker is certainly shutting up a lot of draft snobs.

I still think they were crazy to keep the pick, but at the very least, they know they have one excellent player locked in moving forward. Getting Stone and Duchene long term could turn Ottawa's long term outlook around.
Odds are they will finish dead last
Then COL will undoubtedly win the lottery










Or not...
 

Sensinitis

Registered User
Aug 5, 2012
15,934
5,526
Yea I don't really think he's a good third line winger either, he loses scrambles incessantly, sucks defensively, and just generally seems glued to the boards. I mean, he's certainly a guy that's got plus puck skills for the third line, but last year is the only year I can really think of that he was productive in his role. Maybe I'm too fixated on his time in the desert, but I'll always remember him as a guy that got fed superstar type minutes and never really did much with them.

Boedker isn't a good third line winger? Lol, come on dude...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mattb124

Korpse

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Feb 5, 2010
20,725
9,570
Mostly the D
Chabot is young, expected to do well but not this early. Borocop isn't too good normally. Lajoie is doing stunningly well for someone like him. Up until this season the only quality name would have been Ceci.

That’s just your own ignorance. Who said Chabot can’t do well this early. What do your mean someone like Lajoie? I’ll admit I’m a little surprised he made the jump so quickly but I personally never had a doubt he would be a solid nhl player. Get use to it though.m because there’s still Wolanin and Jaros coming through who both should make an impact at the NHL level sooner rather than later.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gab6511

Samsquanch

Raging Bull Squatch
Nov 28, 2008
8,224
4,965
Sudbury
Mark Stone is the most underrated superstar in the league.

Without a doubt. He creates so much with his thievery of the puck, and his hockey IQ in both zones is in the top tier of the league. If he was more than a very average skater, he could definitely be a top 10 player.

If the Sens decide to trade him it would be the final straw for me. He makes everyone around him better, and his value to our rebuilding team is almost immeasurable.
 

Ser Grogu

Dank farrik
Aug 6, 2009
2,631
1,340
tA7IzvB.jpg

Possibly
 

agentblack

Registered User
Apr 11, 2011
13,224
756
New York City
Teams adding a lot of youth sometimes play well for stretches. Ottawa also has the benefit of playing with a chip on their shoulders since most people counted them out.

Once the grind sets in, I suspect Sens will drop off.

Maybe, but those fresh young legs might carry them through all those "dog days" of... Mid Jan to March?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alex1234

Samsquanch

Raging Bull Squatch
Nov 28, 2008
8,224
4,965
Sudbury
Maybe, but those fresh young legs might carry them through all those "dog days" of... Mid Jan to March?

By that point some of the 4 big prospects in Belleville (Batherson, Brown, Balcers, Chlapik - all ripping it up except the injured brown) should be ready to step in, along with the return of Pageau that will all hopefully help them if anyone is struggling or hurt.

Then there is Jaros and Wolanin also looking and playing like NHL ready Dmen, and 7 other capable Dmen in the NH already.

Ottawa's depth has become surprisingly good all of a sudden.
 

Nithoniniel

Registered User
Sep 7, 2012
20,913
16,749
Skövde, Sweden
I don’t know how sustainable their early success is, haven’t checked the numbers yet, but they are thoroughly enjoyable right now.

I was pretty harsh on them before season start. Looks like I might have been wrong.
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,363
59,270
Ottawa, ON
I don’t know how sustainable their early success is, haven’t checked the numbers yet, but they are thoroughly enjoyable right now.

I was pretty harsh on them before season start. Looks like I might have been wrong.

Still early days but it’s a nice way to start the season after the doom and gloom.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skipee

ole ole

Registered User
Oct 7, 2017
11,937
6,015
I don’t know how sustainable their early success is, haven’t checked the numbers yet, but they are thoroughly enjoyable right now.

I was pretty harsh on them before season start. Looks like I might have been wrong.
That makes 2 of us. I had OTT than the Habs locking up the bottom 2 spots. Both are proving me wrong so far.
 

Pierre from Orleans

Registered User
May 9, 2007
26,101
17,276
To be fair it’s way too early. I usually look at a teams record around the 30 game mark and get a better idea. But for sure I like the way the Habs and Sens look so far this early.
Fair assessment.

Pleasant surprise for most Sens fans seeing how they've played. Will be interesting to see how they fare when games get tighter and more meaningful
 

Eltuna

Registered User
Nov 12, 2017
2,240
1,913
One thing I’ve been pretty surprised by is the power play. I expected it to be a lot worse since Karlsson is gone but it actually looks a lot better. The movement is a lot more fluid than it was last year and has genuinely good chances pretty consistently. I think their old coaching style was to drive play through Karlsson so maybe it was a little too predictable. Conversely, I think Kalrsson might not be having the kind of season we all expected him to have now that he plays in a system where there’s more than one cook.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gab6511

Samsquanch

Raging Bull Squatch
Nov 28, 2008
8,224
4,965
Sudbury
One thing I’ve been pretty surprised by is the power play. I expected it to be a lot worse since Karlsson is gone but it actually looks a lot better. The movement is a lot more fluid than it was last year and has genuinely good chances pretty consistently. I think their old coaching style was to drive play through Karlsson so maybe it was a little too predictable. Conversely, I think Kalrsson might not be having the kind of season we all expected him to have now that he plays in a system where there’s more than one cook.

Ive maintained for a long time that I dont think that Karlsson is one the better players in the league on the PP.

Everything that makes him special tends to come off the rush at ES. When he's running the PP he always tends to hang on to the puck longer than he should, and it always slowed things down to a crawl as every player on the ice was watching him to see what happened next.

Now we see short quick passes all over the zone constantly, and its the best looking PP that we have seen in Ottawa since the pizza line days. Hopefully it can last..
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->