Pre-Game Talk: Hawks & Habs vs SENS (Friday & Saturday night)

[Puikiou]

DEFENSEMEN

1. Thomas Chabot: Much much improved defensively and still mesmerizing offensively. The one bright spot (along with Lajoie and Jaros) on the blueline so far. He will come out of the season as a legitimate young NHL superstar.

2. Chris Wideman: Looked like the same Wids to me. A great 3rd pairing PP specialist the will struggle and at times be over-matched if you expect more out of him.

3. Erik Burgdoerfer: Best game he played dating back to last season in Belleville. A smart, steady presence on the backend at both ends of the ice tonight.

4. Dylan Demelo: Not sold. Through 2 games, speed (both skating and decision making) look like a concern.

5. Ben Harpur: Still more size and after the whistle gimmicks than actual hockey talent.

6. Andreas Englund: Even if you love character, at some point you just have to recognize when there are no NHL skills. This is one of those cases. Guy struggles to complete a simple pass.


GOALIES

1. Mike Condon: I was never sold on this guy as a legitimate NHL backup. Saw nothing new tonight.

2. Filip Gustavsson: First taste of NHL hockey for him and it showed.

 

[Sensung]

I also found it interesting that BG said that EK representatives obviously talked between November and the trade, and believes that the deal offered was $88 million. Sounds like from his perspective that the relationship between EK and either PD or EM or both was the issue here, and that EK was not actually interested in negotiating a contract. As is often the case both sides tend to try and grab the high ground after a break up, so let EK say his bit to feel better, I would prefer that management stay quiet on the subject and kept their eyes facing forward

Management is not staying quiet anytime Garrihack the shill is speaking.

 

[Beville]

Inspiring is not a term I would be using.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Inspiring is not a term I would be using.

I’m inspired to vomit in my mouth looking at our D lineup.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Looking like the latest failure in a long line of pro scouting failures.

It's almost as if we only scouted Boedker when he played against the Sens

Personally I think it is just because Dorion/Melynk have completely stopped caring about the quality of returns and are only focused on saving money.(see Karlsson trade)

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

He can continue his education, he would just become ineligible to play in the NCAA.

Well I assume he's on a scholarship, and if he's not playing for the University, I think the scholarship would be revoked.

 

[Larionov]

Batherson had an opportunity to make this team, but that window is closing rapidly. Looks like he'll be heading to Belleville with Brown, while Formenton stays here. It might not be the worst thing in the world for them to go figure out the pro game there. (Formenton skates so well that he can do his learning on the fly here.) My hope is that Smith has a better year, thus allowing us to dump him to a contender in Jan/ Feb. That then clears a spot for one of the kids.

 

[Calvin123]

I got free tickets to the game last night so I went. Missed the first period, but here's my thoughts in watching the 2nd & 3rd periods.

Duchene - a large cut above everyone else on the ice

Chabot - NHL ready. Great vision in the offense zone. Still a long way to go defensively. Still weak and lankly (relative to must of the guys he's going to be playing against in the NHL). Fantastic tools, but still a couple of years away from being a top paring defenseman in the NHL.

Chlapik - NHL ready. Worked really hard to get to pucks and fight through checks (probably the hardest working Senator on the ice). No where near ready for effective 2nd line center duties yet.

Formenton - I don't see him as NHL ready. Very weak and easily pushed around. Like almost all the Senators, lost almost every board battle, and unable to muscle through the Chicago players.

Harpur - Slow, and uses his size very ineffectively. Lots of bad decisions with the puck on his stick.

Demelo - Lots of poor defensive decisions. Unable to contain players. Ok once he had the puck on his stick.


No one else stood out enough to comment on. In general, the Senators looked young and weak compared to the Chicago team. Chicago won almost every puck battle in Ottawa's zone. Ottawa players were more individually skilled, but tried a lot of stuff that probably worked against junior players, but doesn't work in the NHL. Chicago did the small stuff well - being in position, smart safe passes, good coverage in their own end, Ottawa failed at most of this. On the last two Chicago goals, all 5 of the Ottawa players were watching the puck carrier, leaving the eventual goal scorer uncovered.

This probably comes off as negative, but I think it's pretty accurate. Ottawa has a lot kids in the pipe line, but even those that are probably NHL ready are inexperienced and will make a lot of mistakes. The lack of goal scorers was also pretty obvious. There was some good play to get pucks to players in scoring areas, but those players were unable to actually put the puck in the net. I think that will also be a story for the senators this year.

 

[Daffy]

We have nice prospects, but nothing blue chip outside of Tkachuk. Until we get an ownership and gm change, and the philosophy changes on how to build a team, we are in for some very dark years in Sens land.

 

[Brannstorm]

We have nice prospects, but nothing blue chip outside of Tkachuk. Until we get an ownership and gm change, and the philosophy changes on how to build a team, we are in for some very dark years in Sens land.

So, at least we have nice prospects and a blue chip prospect in Tkachuk.

We also have Chabot, who speaks for himself. Gustavsson who might be the next goalie. Duchene and Stone to keep and/or trade for some potential blue chippers (especially if Duchene continues this play).

Jaros, Lajoie, Wolanin, along with Tychonick and JBD we seem to have really amped up our rebuild before they officially announced it with the Kalrsson trade.

Edit: It feels like we did everything right from 2015-2018 drafts, 4 years of drafting and mostly just developing in the minor leagues. That being said I would like to see more of these Centres we drafted take a bigger role, these guys are now in their 20s, Brown and white, Chlapik etc, I want to see them live up the the years of hype (and there was hype I swear).

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Batherson had an opportunity to make this team, but that window is closing rapidly. Looks like he'll be heading to Belleville with Brown, while Formenton stays here. It might not be the worst thing in the world for them to go figure out the pro game there. (Formenton skates so well that he can do his learning on the fly here.) My hope is that Smith has a better year, thus allowing us to dump him to a contender in Jan/ Feb. That then clears a spot for one of the kids.

Haven’t been that impressed with batherson.

 

[God Says No]

Haven’t been that impressed with batherson.

Same. I think he needs to add another step in his skating to be more effective.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Well I assume he's on a scholarship, and if he's not playing for the University, I think the scholarship would be revoked.

Yes, his scholarship is obviously tied to him playing hockey. But if he were to forfeit his NCAA eligibility and play for the Sens he'd be signing an entry level contract which would give him 92k upon signing. He could continue his studies if he wanted. Lots of guys do.

Anyways, he's going back to college that was decided months ago. He's really not ready for the NHL so training camp for him would have been short anyways.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

We have nice prospects, but nothing blue chip outside of Tkachuk. Until we get an ownership and gm change, and the philosophy changes on how to build a team, we are in for some very dark years in Sens land.

Tkachuk is not a blue chip prospect. He's a secondary guy for an NHL team. We have no blue chip prospects.

 

[Daffy]

Tkachuk is not a blue chip prospect. He's a secondary guy for an NHL team. We have no blue chip prospects.

Tkachuk is a blue chip prospect. There is no question about it. Foolish to think otherwise at this point.

 

[Xspyrit]

Looking at everyone under 27 that we could build a team with :

Stone-Duchene-Dzingel-Pageau-Tierney (5) + Tkachuk-Chlapik-Batherson-Brown-Formenton-Balcers-Norris-White (8) : need 4 of those 8 prospects to be top-9 forwards (of course if those "vets" are kept)

Ceci (1) + Chabot-JBD-Wolanin-Lajoie- Jaros-Tychonick (6) : need 4 of those 6 prospects to be top-5 D-men

Gustvasson-Hogberg-Mandolese-Hollett-Daccord (5) : need a starter and a back-up, so you need 2 of those 5 goalies to be good enough for the NHL level)

Of course, there's several other darkhorse prospects in the system that could also make it, but mostly forwards. We'll need to focus on D-men in the next 2 drafts, while keeping an eye close on how current goalies develop.

?????-Duchene-Stone
?????-?????-?????
Dzingel-Pageau-Tierney

Chabot-?????
?????-Ceci
?????-?????

?????
?????

 

[The Lewler]

Looking at everyone under 27 that we could build a team with :

Stone-Duchene-Dzingel-Pageau-Tierney (5) + Tkachuk-Chlapik-Batherson-Brown-Formenton-Balcers-Norris-White (8) : need 4 of those 8 prospects to be top-9 forwards (of course if those "vets" are kept)

Ceci (1) + Chabot-JBD-Wolanin-Lajoie- Jaros-Tychonick (6) : need 4 of those 6 prospects to be top-5 D-men

Gustvasson-Hogberg-Mandolese-Hollett-Daccord (5) : need a starter and a back-up, so you need 2 of those 5 goalies to be good enough for the NHL level)

Of course, there's several other darkhorse prospects in the system that could also make it, but mostly forwards. We'll need to focus on D-men in the next 2 drafts, while keeping an eye close on how current goalies develop.

Tkachuk-Duchene-Stone
?????-?????-?????
Dzingel-Pageau-Tierney
?who?-????-?cares??

Chabot-?????
?????-Ceci
?????-?????

?????
??????

edited with my additions for your long term 27 and under build.

added a 4th line for you.. because who cares about 4th line players at this point when we are missing top 6 F's and top 4 D's..

None of our G prospects appear ready to hit the show, so that's fun. I realize it's early for Gustvasson, and to that point you don't want to rush and destroy a top prospect G with the worst D core in the league.

Hogberg you gotta think its time for him to get a bit more of a look, he's gonna be 24 and he's played a fair bit of pro hockey.

lol. look at all the Q marks

 

[Upgrayedd]

Sweet Jesus...figured they would win a close one not get curb stomped by an AHL roster...bottom 5 team incoming!

 

[Micklebot]

Sweet Jesus...figured they would win a close one not get curb stomped by an AHL roster...bottom 5 team incoming!

I think right now where seeing a bunch of guys that haven't yet learned the system combined with trying to find some chemistry. Getting beat by an AHL team is less indicative of relative skill level of the two teams and more about one team playing as a unit. Hopefully our coaching staff can get the guys on the same page for the reg season, because they're pretty hard to watch at the moment.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Drove home from game in complete darkness,
Visitors side, third bowl now has 2 big decks for standing on watching with ledge,
Behind penalty box, now has a new exit, where you can go, I'm assuming for refreshments area below first bowl stands.
First bowl seats in between blue lines, the seats are now red and really nice looking (from third bowl).

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

I think right now where seeing a bunch of guys that haven't yet learned the system combined with trying to find some chemistry. Getting beat by an AHL team is less indicative of relative skill level of the two teams and more about one team playing as a unit. Hopefully our coaching staff can get the guys on the same page for the reg season, because they're pretty hard to watch at the moment.

I don't see any reason to believe that this coaching staff can rally and implement any effective system. They've been a poor staff in all facets since taking over. No reason to believe things in year 3 will change.

 

[Xspyrit]

I don't see any reason to believe that this coaching staff can rally and implement any effective system. They've been a poor staff in all facets since taking over. No reason to believe things in year 3 will change.

But they got a pretty good result out of the team in the first year, 98 pts and ECF

Teams have adjusted to Boucher last year, his turn to adjust back or he’s finished in the league, and he knows it

 

[Cosmix]

I think right now where seeing a bunch of guys that haven't yet learned the system combined with trying to find some chemistry. Getting beat by an AHL team is less indicative of relative skill level of the two teams and more about one team playing as a unit. Hopefully our coaching staff can get the guys on the same page for the reg season, because they're pretty hard to watch at the moment.

This team is flying on 1 wing and a prayer with wheels locked up! A CRASH is virtually certain.

 

[BondraTime]

wrong thread

 

[Micklebot]

I don't see any reason to believe that this coaching staff can rally and implement any effective system. They've been a poor staff in all facets since taking over. No reason to believe things in year 3 will change.

They certainly got buy in to a system the first year. Don't see how you can deny that, though I had issues with the system, the team did buy in and play it.