Does a short season hurt or benefit the Sens?

[HappyGilmour]

Hey all,

Do you guys think that a short season will hurt or benefit the Ottawa Senators?

Personally, I think it will benefit them. We have many players that have been playing over in Europe, and a few players who will join the club who have been playing all year in Binghamton. So we have alot of guys who have been skating/playing regularly and are close to being in NHL-game shape.

I feel like the experience that our young players acquired last year along with the fact that alot of our veterans won't be too rusty really gives us no reason to get off to a slow start. Obviously, the same can be said for several teams thought.

I'm looking forward to what my new friend Nyquil will have to say about this.


Discuss.

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[saskriders]

Half a year of strong AHL is great for Silf and Lehner

 

[TheBradyBunch]

Hurts us. Shortened season means less emphasis on stamina, one thing this team has in spades.

 

[EJsens1]

Having Anderson playing well from the get go will be huge. If he is shaky, I wonder how long they will wait to go to Lehner/Bishop. I give it 3 games, max, if Anderson struggles out of the gate.

 

[Larionov]

I worry about Anderson's lack of activity, and I worry about Alfie and Phillips looking slow out of the gate...

 

[derriko]

We will have a good amount of rookies, I bet more than most teams, so easing them into the show will help us I believe. Though, ultimately it might not make much of a difference in the end.

 

[General Granny*]

We will have a good amount of rookies, I bet more than most teams, so easing them into the show will help us I believe. Though, ultimately it might not make much of a difference in the end.

We will have Silfverberg and maybe Lehner, who else?

 

[Yokai]

We will have Silfverberg and maybe Lehner, who else?

Wiercioch, Borowiecki, Gryba, Hoffman, Stone, and Grant? The list goes on. It has already been stated that they will use all Binghamton has to offer if people are not ready to go from the start of the year. Obviously everyone will not be out there at once or for long, but I would expect to see lots of call ups.

 

[Berserker*]

I am not sure about the impact it will have this season, but I think it will help us tremendously in the long run. The vast majority of our prospects have very little NHL experience, and with the shortened season their initial exposure will be a more intense version of what is expected at the NHL level. Each game is more important and there is less room for error/ slumps when given opportunities. Therefore in the off season, the prospects that got opportunities to play in the NHL will have set the bar higher for themselves in regards of what is expected of them to play at tis level. In many ways I see it as having similar benefits to letting Stone and Silfverberg make their NHL debut in an intense playoff series. IMO that exposure has helped both of them develop into better players.

In terms of prospects who I expect to at least get some games this season, they are as follows:
Silfverberg, Lehner, Stone, Hoffman, Zibanejad, Wiercioch, Borowiecki, Gryba, Dziurzynski, Grant, Prince, Da Costa and possibly Noesen and Ceci.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I don't think it will either hurt nor help the Senators: every team is in the same boat.

 

[benjiv1]

Benefit.

The only players not expected to be in game-shape are:

Alfredsson
Latendresse
Methot
Phillips
Neil
JOB
Anderson

Out of an entire starting Roster, that isn't bad at all IMO.

I would like to see a comparison of the number of players per team that played overseas or on the A.

I reckon Ottawa would be near the top.

 

[Patvolcom65]

It will hurt Condra as he will not be able to showcase is extreme stamina level. amidointhisright

 

[Benjamin]

Condra's elite stamina does not have the ability to lessen.

Silfverberg's 30 whatever games in the AHL are gonna be huge for his development.

 

[mranderson]

<wishful thinking>
Here's hoping that teams with young stud "goalies of the future" will be most succesful since those goalies can both carry an entire team and will be warmed up from the AHL.
</wishful thinking>

 

[Flamingo]

We should be wary, the Leafs are in our division, and when it comes to playing fewer games, they are year-in-year-out the champions of that. They play the fewest.

 

[ShutDownDefense]

Probably hurt the Sens, a lot of people have been practicing, but if we get off to a slow start season's a waste especially with only 48 games.

 

[source]

It hurts us. We are lacking in NHL quality dman as it is, and there is a good chance that we suffer another injury or two on the back end due to the condensed schedule.

 

[OmniSens]

I think it benefits us. Guys always seem to get injured at the 60 game mark.

Most of our stars are ready to roll. Alfie and Andy are the only 2 I'm worried about to shake the rust off. Alfie to get lower body injuries, Andy finding his game.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Benefit. We have a team full of young and healthy players ready to go. Turris, Karlsson, Spezza, Greening, Smith, Michalek will be flying out there, most of our team has played during the lock-out and they can't wait for the real thing after a great year last year.

I worry about Anderson's lack of activity, and I worry about Alfie and Phillips looking slow out of the gate...

LOL, not sure if serious... If there is one thing I have never questioned Alfredsson on is his consistency. He always leads the charge, seems to score our first goal or pivotal goal early on the year every year.

 

[MiscBrah]

Definitely a benefit IMO.

Less chance for players to get hurt.

The guys who needed the rest (Alfie, Phillips, Neil) got it. They are older and need more time to recover from the last season, more time to get over minor injuries etc. I have no doubt that they will arrive in top level condition minus all the ailments that might have been bothering them had the season started months ago. They will also be able to give more of an effort knowing that they won't have a marathon season ahead of them.

At the same time the shorter season benefits a streaky team that I expect the senators to be. While other teams may be better than us over an entire season I think our young players will be able to keep up for a shorter period of time. Think of how many players start extremely strong and then slowly taper off as the year goes on this won't be a factor this season.

They younger players who needed extra development were able to receive it with no pressure from the NHL level. Lehner is a good example. I am sure that he would have not been playing this well if he was bouncing between Ottawa and Binghamton. It's not secret that he is diying to be a full time NHLer as I'm sure Silf and others are as well. This lockout allowed them to focus solely on development without worrying about impressing the coaching staff and getting a shot with the big boys.

Not worried in the slightest about the goaltending situation. Ottawa has a leg up on almost every other team in that department.

Shortened seasons is plus for the sens, no doubt about it.

 

[HappyGilmour]

Hurts us. Shortened season means less emphasis on stamina, one thing this team has in spades.

We will have to wait and see.

Condra's elite stamina does not have the ability to lessen.

Silfverberg's 30 whatever games in the AHL are gonna be huge for his development.

This is an elite level quote.

 

[tony d]

It benefits us as we are a younger team and our players shouldn't tire from the 2 games in 3 nights that will be played during this season.

 

[SanderSen]

Benefit.

The only players not expected to be in game-shape are:

Alfredsson
Latendresse
Methot
Phillips
Neil
JOB
Anderson

I bet Alfie is pretty well there. He has one of the best conditioning and training regimes going.

 

[Northern Neighbour]

I bet Alfie is pretty well there. He has one of the best conditioning and training regimes going.

There's a huge difference in being in good physical condition and in game shape. Alfie is going need time to get into game shape as well as the timing of the game, and he won't have the benefit of many, if any, pre-season games.

As for the question, I think a shortened season hurts the team due to Anderson's inactivity and uncertainty on the blueline. And with several new faces on the club, chemistry could be an issue.

 

[SelleckStache]

They're basically going to be playing every other night. We'll be relying on AHL depth and goaltending to win a lot. Sounds like last year!

I bet ALfie only plays 30 games.