Pre-Game Talk: Flyers @ Sens 10/10 7:30

[NyQuil]

What’s also happening is that we are getting wrecked by teams with elite #1 lines.

We just don’t have an answer for them defensively.

I know that the pain will be continuing with Dallas and Boston in two of our next four games.

Oh well, different bar for success this year.

Frustrating to know that any one goal lead will be held for about two minutes.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

What’s also happening is that we are getting wrecked by teams with elite #1 lines.

We just don’t have an answer for them defensively.

I know that the pain will be continuing with Dallas and Boston in two of our next four games.

Oh well, different bar for success this year.

Frustrating to know that any one goal lead will be held for about two minutes.

dorion said ceci was taking a huge step forward. this problem should get taken care of

 

[Tuna99]

dorion said ceci was taking a huge step forward. this problem should get taken care of

I think he meant a huge step forward towards a trade.

 

[Viletho]

dorion said ceci was taking a huge step forward. this problem should get taken care of

Even if Ceci would take a step forward, which is not happening, there is still 4 others guys on the ice that need to defend.

Ceci is not a good defender, but the overall team defence, defensive awareness and decision making when they get the puck is not good has a 5 mans unit.

EK would have help with the 3rd parts. His strength was when he had the puck, i don't know if we would be better without the puck even with him.

 

[Larionov]

If you want to win in any sport at any level, your best players need to be your best players. Last night Stone and Duchene were not our best players to say the least. Duchene was meh, and Stone was downright awful - that might have been the worst game he's played in some time. Smith was a net drag on the team last night, creating nothing offensively and taking yet another stupid penalty 180 feet from his own goal. Wideman looked really weak and tentative out there - I had hopes for him bouncing back after the injury, but so far he looks like he's barely hanging on as an NHL player.

It's good news/bad news with this team. Good news - our kids have been our best players. That's a very hopeful sign for the future. Bad news - our veterans look mediocre to terrible, which is a dangerous sign for the present. I look at it this way - at least we have a clear path to a brighter future, whereas six month ago that path was less clear. Let's go enjoy Chabot's emergence as an elite NHL defenceman, having two legit Calder candidates in Lajoie and Tkachuk, and knowing that there are better days ahead for this franchise within the next couple of years.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Lmao I hope uncle Euge pays you well for your service.

13000 today, guess you aren’t getting your bonus, not that he pays them anyway.

Just for some perspective ........ last night's attendance was 13,215

Last Season, on October the 7th (a Saturday), the Wings were in town, and the attendance was 14,883.

Last Season, on October 17th (a Tuesday), the Canucks were in town, and the attendance was 13,430.


This season the Capacity at the CTC is 18652 ( as reported in the local papers today)

 

[GWNR]

I've actually been happy with the team.

I mean what can you expect on defense? They just don't have the talent there. They have the talent offensively, but we don't have a single shutdown D-man. Chabot and Lajoie should be good, productive, offensive players (Chabot could get there as a two-way guy), but really what do we have defensively? Ceci is terrible. DeMelo would be a fine 3rd pairing guy. Boro is not an NHL player. Wides is a 3rd pairing offensive guy.

And if the plan was the rely on goalies to steal games, well Craig is old and Condon sucks, so what did you expect.

I guess you can't be disappointed when you expect to lose high scoring games. I think our forwards have been quite solid and I'm impressed.

 

[NyQuil]

The interesting thing about our D is that they are young and underdeveloped physically and it shows at times against big forwards.

I wonder if the Leafs youngish D will have the same issues when things tighten up in the playoffs.

Tough to be a D these days. You can be big and lumbering or small and nimble. Hard to have both it seems.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

When will Gustavsson be ready?

Anderson and Condon are no longer NHL quality. One is too old, and one isn't good enough.

 

[Calvin123]

I got some of the free tickets to the game, so I took my kids.

First off, it was probably the most entertaining game I've watched the Sens play in several years. It's great to see a forecheck creating some havoc and an aggressive attitude from some of the players - something we sorely missed for the last few years.

The things that stood out. We still look small and weak, regularly getting out muscled. Some of this will be fixed as some of the younger kids grow, but we need to be able to win one-on-on battles if we ever hope to control the play. Speed is the way to go, and wins games when you have the puck, but you have to be able to get the puck back when you loose it.

I can't remember the last time we had a power play that held on to the puck and moved it around this well.

Players that stood out:
Tkachuk & Formington - But I still think Formington should go back to junior. He's simply too small for the game he plays at the NHL level. Give him a year to grow & control the game and he'll be better for it.

Chabot and Lajoie - Love their offensive games. I think if we can find a solid , grumpy stay at home defender for each of them they can form the basis of two good pairings for a long time.

Ryan - No speed & seems unable to use his size to protect the puck in order to move it to someone with speed. Essentially a power play specialist at this point.

Andy - At his peak I think he was a top 5 goaltender in the league. I get it, he's not there any more, and will let in some weak goals. But I can't figure out how it's still a tire fire every time he tries to play the puck.

 

[Viletho]

The interesting thing about our D is that they are young and underdeveloped physically and it shows at times against big forwards.

I wonder if the Leafs youngish D will have the same issues when things tighten up in the playoffs.

Tough to be a D these days. You can be big and lumbering or small and nimble. Hard to have both it seems.

I agree but at the same time, I saw Chabot on a PK prevent 3 goals from Simmons by being strong on his stick and right after that he went to the board and battle physically with him, won the battle and clear the puck with a backend. It was Simmons of all player.

They are still not physical dman but they are smart with there body to win battle. They will get stronger with saisonning and summer workout.

What bother me the most is how after 4 games you can already find sequences where the 5 players on the ice are puck watching instead of taking a man. The peripherique vision of this team is not good aside from a few.

It is defence 101 right? Be aware of your surrounding.

I think if a was GB, i would make a practice where there is 5 man attacking 5 guys without stick or stick backward.. they have to choose a guy and stick with him at all time.

The offensive team would try to make confusion by moving and switching place.

It would A) help bring aware of your surrounding
B) Help at closing gap, chassing and putting pressure.
C) Communication.

 

[aragorn]

While it is still early the sooner PD starts to move out some of the UFAs in this organization & replace them with the better prospects the better for the team moving forward IMO. PD could start with dealing Pyatt, Paajarvi, Carey, Wideman & Sexton & replace them with Paul, Chlapik, Brown & Harpur for the time being. If Harpur, Paul & McCormick do not work out trade them too by the deadline, Smith & Condon too if they can get someone to take those two contracts, I doubt it. The extra money could go to new contracts for at least two of the players they need to re-sign Stone & Dzingel. Formenton should be returned to junior & I would replace him with Chlapik. Of course, this would leave Belleville with virtually nobody.

It took a while for Duchene to start producing pts when he first arrived in Ottawa & he seems to be off to another slow start so far this yr. Still not sure about him & whether it's a good idea to re-sign him or if Ottawa would be better off to move him & get as much as they can for him. Still think they should put Stone & Duchene together. Below Ottawa has a playmaker on every line with Stone, Ryan, Tkachuk & Brown. The defence IMO needs more size, toughness & grit, Harpur or Jaros could help to fill that role. Would Ceci & Boedker for Nylander work? Don't know if Jaros or anyone else could handle the minutes that Ceci plays, Ceci's got stamina.

Chlapik - Duchene - Stone
Dzingel - Tierny - Ryan
Tkachuk - White - Boedker
Paul - Brown - Batherson/Rodewald/McCormick

Chabot - DeMello
Lajoie - Ceci
Boro - Harpur/Jaros

Anderson - Condon - these two need to be replaced soon.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

There was talk about Duchene being doubtful against Toronto. I think there is a reasonably high probability that he is playing injured.

 

[Engineer]

ok

 

[Do Make Say Think]

In other words, with the team giving out free tickets to give the allusion of ticket sales, they still couldn't even meet last years extremely low attendance.

I'm hardly surprised. Some of the most die hard Sens fans I know simply do not care about the team anymore.

Its pretty sad.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Still lots of work to do but really nice to see that attendance level getting down there, can't wait till we break the 10k threshold that will be glorious.

As for the game, summed up nicely above, a few bright spots from the youth but generally caved in all over the ice for most of the game, more soft goals, poor defensive play and a penalty parade is all she wrote, anyone expecting different results from this roster as it is composed is a fool!

 

[Viletho]

I have rewatch the 5th goal ( the one Anderson slide outside of his net. )

What was Tierney doing? If he is aware of the player he should be taking, there is no goal.

Flyers player enter the zone, then make a quick turn to create separation with chabot, chabot follow him.

If you watch the replay you see Hagg coming for a second wave. Tierney when entering the dzone instead of A) applying pressure on the player who have the puck which is not to far or B) position himself for Hagg who is coming, decide to cut to the middle where there is another Sens player already covering.

At allow for Hagg to have a clean slapshot and it allow him to skate freely to the slot after that.

When looking again, you see that Colin White is able to touch the puck in the slot so i would not put the fault on him.

IMO, that goal could/Should have been prevent by good positionning when entering the dzone.

 

[swiftwin]

dorion said ceci was taking a huge step forward. this problem should get taken care of

Ceci has taken a huge step forward so far.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Ceci has taken a huge step forward so far.

Too early to say.

He was much improved last night but we still got crushed.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

In other words, with the team giving out free tickets to give the allusion of ticket sales, they still couldn't even meet last years extremely low attendance.

To whom are they trying to "give the illusion of tickets sales" to, and why?

Who do you think they might be fooling, and what would they have to gain by fooling them?

Could they just be rewarding the STHs and the first responders as they said?

Could they've perhaps learned from their mistakes, when they stopped giving away tickets, and tarped over some seats?

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

When will Gustavsson be ready?

Anderson and Condon are no longer NHL quality. One is too old, and one isn't good enough.

You could bring in either Mason or Lehtonen and give them a try. I think we have the cap space.

 

[SensFactor]

The interesting thing about our D is that they are young and underdeveloped physically and it shows at times against big forwards.

I wonder if the Leafs youngish D will have the same issues when things tighten up in the playoffs.

Tough to be a D these days. You can be big and lumbering or small and nimble. Hard to have both it seems.

This exactly. Our young D can score and that's a huge plus. However, they aren't physically mature enough to handle heavy forechecks from teams like the bruins or flyers. They are simply getting overwhelmed. On the other hand Boro and Wideman, experienced dmen, are showing they are not top 6 potential. A lot of teams would have those guys 7 or 8 in their lineup.

 

[Engineer]

ok

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

You could bring in either Mason or Lehtonen and give them a try. I think we have the cap space.

Or grab some guy from the KHL on a PTO.

 

[NyQuil]

Wideman has been disappointing.