Not sure I agree with this, seems to have been written to excuse or justify the Senators performance this season.
MacArthur is 100% correct, this team just didn't work hard enough in every facet of the game to be successful.
The Senators started the year with an inexperienced defense. Every forward on the team had to be aware of this fact and should have realized it likely required some adjustment to their game to compensate.
For the team to be successful, every player had to give 100% regardless of what categorization you might believe they fall in.
There was no reason for any player to coast or hold back any effort at any time for any reason given the results.
I realize players aren't going to be their best every game over the course of six months, but too many nights it wasn't lack of skill, it was lack of effort.
Lack of effort does equate to lack of pride IMO.
Pride doesn't come from good goaltending, set pairings or categories, it comes from within each individual. It drives people to be as good as they can be.
All season long MacLean has been saying this team doesn't play hard enough or long enough to win. Now MacArthur has confirmed this to be true, but he really isn't the first to indicate effort was lacking.
Both Ryan and Methot have made comments about the work ethic, both have been much less direct therefore weren't media fodder.
Sad as it may be, it seems some players lack pride in the job they do.
Hopefully in this off-season Murray removes these guys and replaces them with players that play for the crest on the front of the sweater and not the reflection they see in the mirror.
Lastly using Chicago as a comparative to make your point is misguided at best.
Chicago rid themselves of there older talent years before adding Toews in 2006 and Kane in 2007 drafts.
At the same time they drafted a few decent players from 2002 and 2005.
Keith & Wisniewski 2002
Seabrooke, Crawford & Byfuglien 2003
Bolland, Bickell & Brouwer 2004
Hjalmarsson 2005
Even after all these quality adds the Blackhawks missed the playoffs in 2007-08.
IMO Ottawa should have used the same approach, ridding themselves of more veterans to move higher in the draft.
If Chicago is the benchmark, then Ottawa needs to upgrades on its top line, and bottom six plus needs 2 - 3 years for the defense to mature.
Based on the time requirement alone, it would make sense to move Spezza, Neil, and Phillips if the opportunity presents itself.
Uhm, I used Kane and Keith as examples of the benefits of having 1 way offensive talent, not sure what you're on about.
As for not agreeing with me, that's cool, I'm not offended, I obviously don't agree with you either.
No excuses are being made here, this is my opinion, and I think it makes a lot more sense than your "they're not trying hard because Spezza sucks" approach. I think people are using this season to support their personal agendas, which for many is to trade Spezza, fire the coach, blame Melnyk, ride Murray, and everything else. All of which is much more sexy than witnessing a perfect storm of a disarray, than stems from key injury returns and a young inexperienced club in the third year of a rebuild.
We don't need more high draft picks, we need to allow our current high draft picks to transition into the NHL and become solid players, as they are seeming to do now.
The difference between goaltending and forwards vs defence is that we have a ton of buffering and mentoring forwards which allows our young forwards a safe transition into the NHL.
Our forwards have many solid pieces, and several vets to help the young guys along. We have a lot of young forward prospects who have been given a chance this year to showcase themselves, and all of them have done well (especially DaCosta in his second call up, and Hoffman currently). The problem is that due to our unexpected success last year, it was assumed that we would go further this year because we simply add a few injury returns for a net gain. Life doesn't work that way at all unfortunately.
Perfect storm: Alfie leaves stunning everyone. This leaves a massive and unexpected void in the dressing room. Eventually Spezza is given the C, which he is excited for, but will still come to see what the added expectations and profile feels like, and that's on top of his already heavy whipping boy burden. He starts of the season recovering from back surgery, and promptly suffers another injury hampering his ability to play the game at his usual level for the first half of the season. Michalek can simply no longer score at his previous level, and looks more like a quality checking winger at this point. Spezza and Ryan don't find instant chemistry, thankfully he does with Turris and MacT so we have one real top six line, and an injured Spezza playing with bottom six wingers. Expectations are extremely high for a top six comprised of 3.5 top six players. Instead of playing a defensive style to protect our young defence, and to make up for the regression of top six talent, we go full possession. Spezza can't keep up, and Greening and Michalek can't play a top six possession game to begin with. The losses start to pile up, and so does the frustration and vitriole that follows a losing team that is falling far short of expectations, never mind how unrealistic the situation is. The one bright spot is that our young forwards get insulated and are given room to grow, despite the rash fans clamouring for them to be inserted into critical roles. In the end, slow return from injury, a huge loss in team identity, and the absolute wrong playing style for the current players lead us to the present. Hemsky and Spezza being healthy have done wonders for the top line, which is good since the second line has disappeared.
Anderson is our starter and shelters Lehner.
Perfect storm: Anderson starts the year cold. Expectations are high after making the second round, but our defence is young and inexperienced and our system isn't designed with that in mind. We give up a ton of high quality chances and our goaltending suffers. Andy isn't able to keep up and goes into a slump. By the time he's able to get his act together, we have lost to many games. His level of play eventually rises, but he is still dealing with a ton of quality chances. The pressures of not meeting last year's levels are clearly there. Fans turn on Andy early.
On D we don't have much of a buffer as we have a high risk offensive young vet in Karlsson, a blue collar defender in Methot, and an aging deffensive D man in Phillips. That leaves 3 important spots to be filled by rookies and sophomores.
Perfect storm: Karlsson coming back from serious Achilles injury, and cannot play the same game his is used to yet. Phillips regresses mightily and is no longer a top 4 defender, yet is still being asked to, and Methot is asked to play above his head. Our three young blueliners have very little in the way of quality on-ice mentorship, nor are they able to be eased into positions given that they are being thrust into important roles. ignoring the rest of the team, a defence like this would be expected to struggle as they learn the game, in the mould of a young rebuilding team filled with rookie. We shouldn't be surprised that they have. The expectations on this young D and their failure to meet them has likely undermined their confidence. I don't see a group of D men out there that don't try, I see a group that once scored on expect to lose.
The problem is that the expectations should not be much higher for this young group then how they are playing, and they defensive system should have been real simple with lots of support from the forwards (especially since this is where the bulk of the high level vets are). They should have been able to apprentice all year knowing that they were expected to grow into their positions NOT excel in them. The pressure of failing expectations is crushing, and the expectations on this team coming from last year, is one that this young D had no chance of meeting.
In sum, for anyone who read it, this is about where we should be given the number of inexperienced players on the roster, the overall inexperience of our defence as a group, the style of play based on previous success rather than current roster, slow return from injury by our two offensive stars, and too many players on the team that aren't good at anything they do.
You want to trade Spezza, when he's about the only player out there doing a ton of what he does best to win games. Try focusing on the guys sucking at what they do best, and/or the guys who don't do anything well. I'm looking at Phillips, Greening, Condra, Ryan (injured?), Michalek (not top 6 anymore), Smith, Neil.
I know, but just saying someone would be willing to buy a Canadian team.
