Let's all eat some crow!

[YouGotAStuGoing]

Oh, lord, where do I begin? Aside from the streak, the only thing I had right this entire season was defending Melnyk's refusal to spend, saying that this team was strong enough and we'd need to open the pocketbooks later.

Otherwise...

Maclean's effectiveness? Wrong.
Cameron's lack thereof? Wrong.
Hammond, a sub-par goalie who would suck in the NHL? Wrong.
Pageau being anything more than an energy forward? Wrong.
Counting this team out? Wrong.

I'm eating a ton of crow and loving it.

 

[maclean]

This season turned out pretty much exactly the way I expected at the start of the year

 

[Johnny Hanson]

This season turned out pretty much exactly the way I expected at the start of the year

Me too. I also had the winning lottery picks correct I just didn't feel like buying a ticket

 

[Do Make Say Think]

You think playing an extra 7 games is gonna turn this team around?

I don't mind being a bubble team

We were a dominant team once and that didn't get us the Cup

 

[sens2k9]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sens2k9
I thought it was cute that Hammond was talking about "the long road to the NHL" and that he thought he was actually an NHL player now.

LOL, wat?

I was referring to this video :
http://video.senators.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=756289&catid=1141&startTime=162
fast forward to about 2:40


I laughed, and laughed. And then he started winning games...

 

[DrEasy]

Oh, lord, where do I begin? Aside from the streak, the only thing I had right this entire season was defending Melnyk's refusal to spend, saying that this team was strong enough and we'd need to open the pocketbooks later.

Otherwise...

Maclean's effectiveness? Wrong.
Cameron's lack thereof? Wrong.
Hammond, a sub-par goalie who would suck in the NHL? Wrong.
Pageau being anything more than an energy forward? Wrong.
Counting this team out? Wrong.

I'm eating a ton of crow and loving it.

Much respect for you for owning up.

 

[saskriders]

I didn't think Hoffman could be a top 6 player

 

[arglebargle]

Currently we face a tough MTL team with home ice, it's crazy people went to the airport just to congratulate the team on squeaking in the playoffs. Has that happened in NHL's history?

I hope to eat crow sometime in June, I'm still not convinced this team is good after a 2 month run with rookies playing out of their minds.

Hopefully you're forced to come back and post in this thread in about a week and a half.

 

[Super Cake]

Currently we face a tough MTL team with home ice, it's crazy people went to the airport just to congratulate the team on squeaking in the playoffs. Has that happened in NHL's history?

I hope to eat crow sometime in June, I'm still not convinced this team is good after a 2 month run with rookies playing out of their minds.

Dude, the Sens have done something that NO other team in the history of the NHL was able to accomplish. So excuse me if people actually went to the airport and congratulated them on it.

 

[Answer]

At least, I am not eating any crow.

I was right about everything that is happening this season, except for I still believe that we need a top 2 Dman

1. Phillips, Greening, Smith, Neil and even Cowan, to some extend, should not be on our playing rosters (checked)
2. Paul Maclean should be shown the door, he just lost it as a coach (checked)
3. Wasn't excited with Cameron's hiring, but had a good feeling about it, for some reason (checked)
4. Anderson should not be our #1 goalie (checked)
5. Once Hammond got on a role after the west coast swing, I realized that Hammond should start each and every game if we are serious about the playoffs (checked)
6. Despite being a top2 Dman short, we are still a playoff team and should make it (checked)
7. Karlsson is a dominant player, but like any elite Dman, you're only as good as your partner (checked)
8. This team will be significantly look better with Methot's return (checked)
9. Lazar and Pageau should be a part of this year's team (checked)

10. To go deep into the playoffs, this team needs a legit top 2 Dman (wait to be seen)


I guess I am still wrong about 1 thing and that is I predicted Lehner to be the real deal.. will be the undisputed #1 by the end of the season

 

[alfie follower]

Lehner will be my big crow, (despite some people thinking I don't like Anderson, which is wrong), but that will have to wait until next year, when he kicks a** in camp or whatever... Unless Hammond, and Andy go down in the playoffs and Lehner rises from the dead to win the final series for us, in which case i'll be back sooner rather than later....

 

[LynxBud]

At one point I was hoping Ottawa would just lose and get a future star in the draft, so that about sums up the amount of crow I have to eat. Bursting at the seams with crow, really..

Didn't think Cameron had a shot at turning this team around.
Would never have thought Hammond would be as good as he's been.
Didn't think Stone would be anywhere near this good.
Never would have thought Karlsson could turn his season around to the point of Norris contention.
Even started to give up on the team after their quick 3-game skid, thinking they folded under pressure and that they would not make the playoffs.
I believed we were destined to suck this year simply because of our internal budget. Never thought THIS group of players would be playing this well so soon.

All I was really certain of was that MacLean, Phillips and Neil were dragging this team down and holding them back. Not even something I wanted to be right about.. but there's no doubt that this team has been playing much better without them. Aside from that, I was pretty down on the team.

 

[FreakyBunny]

Ugh. Back in early February I said to my gf's step dad "I hope we lose from here on out so we can get a chance to draft Eichel". I'm pretty down on myself for wishing ill on our boys. But really, no one could have predicted this run without a monkey and a dart board.

 

[BonkTastic]

The other crow I'm willing to somewhat eat is on Wiercioch.

For like 3 years now, I've always maintained that while he has the skill, he was never going to figure out how to play in his own end, how to defend the transition back into his own zone. The last 30 games have shown me that while he is still supremely frustrating at times, he's learning to be a more complete player, and I didn't think he had that in him. The dedication, I mean. He always seemed like a guy that was happy to coast on his talent, but he's shown at times this year to be not so old that he can't learn a few new tricks.

 

[JD1]

The Sens ended up points wise pretty much where I was hoping/thinking they would. Lower seed than I thought with upper 90 points. The path to those points were VERY different than I imagined though.

I wasn't happy at the end of last year with MacLean. I didn't like the merry go round line changes. He didn't stop that at the beginning of this season so I was happy to see him get fired.

I didn't think Cameron would have the impact that he did.

At the beginning of the year I had a bunch of If statements in my mind that if they came through I figured Ottawa would be a middle of the pack playoff seed.

• across the board .925 goaltending - check
• ZBad stepping in to his role and blossoming as a solid 2C - check
• Karlsson rebounding to form - check
• Stone + Chiasson getting 50 between them

I really thought Chiasson was a 20+ goal man in the bag coming in from Dallas. He started off ok and then went in the tank and just never regained top 6 minutes. Turns out they didn`t get 50+ between them but Hoffman + Stone did. I didn`t see Hoffman coming at all. I kind of saw a smallish guy with elite type offensive that just wouldn`t ever put it together at the NHL level.

 

[Rumcajs]

Not many because my expectations are usually fairly level.

-The standard "Hammond who?"
-I thought Bobby Ryan would finish off with 65 points but his injury/play just wasn't there towards the end. But that is okay, since he carried us in shootouts and at other points during the season.
-I thought Borocop would flounder. He hasn't been amazing but he has stuck around with great play.
-I thought the Turris-Clark bromance would continue.

 

[FireMurray]

Mods can I change my username?

 

[GimmeMyJetpack]

My crow eating has to be hammond but i don't feel like it was bad. I said he was a bad goalie after the first 2 wins. The reality is he was. He turned it around though.

Never gave up on the team, Though my criticism of Michalek certainly could merit a plate of crow i suppose.

 

[DrEasy]

Crow-eating regarding Hammond or making the playoffs after being 14 points behind aren't really necessary IMO, or else the crow species will go extinct.

 

[Bileur]

I was firmly on the tank. This has been much, much better.

I won't doubt again.

Other things:

I underrated Methot's importance to the team.
I didn't see Zibanejad progressing so quickly.
I certainly had 0 faith in Hammond, his call up got me excited for the tank.
I didn't think Condra should be kept around.
I thought Cowen would play better.

Probably many more.

 

[Rals]

I thought firing Paul was dumb.

 

[StefanW]

I came up with another one that has been baking in the oven a while longer. When BM and EM had the press conference a year and a half ago when they talked about how they felt this was a playoff team, and they had too many young NHL players to fit on the roster, I laughed and chalked it up to the season ticket renewal announcement. However, it turned out they were completely right. Our system is pretty stacked right now with young players who are NHL level, the majority of whom led the team to this playoff run.

 

[arglebargle]

Our system is pretty stacked right now with young players who are NHL level, the majority of whom led the team to this playoff run.

MacLean's post in this thread:

I thought Wiercioch was the worst defenceman on the team
I thought we'd look worse if the GSN line played less than 14 minutes per game
I didn't think Pageau or Hoffman could be NHL players
I didn't think Condra was good enough to play every game
I thought Zibanejad's ceiling was 3rd line centre

 

[Silvercup Returns]

Mods can I change my username?

 

[Busboy]

I came up with another one that has been baking in the oven a while longer. When BM and EM had the press conference a year and a half ago when they talked about how they felt this was a playoff team, and they had too many young NHL players to fit on the roster, I laughed and chalked it up to the season ticket renewal announcement. However, it turned out they were completely right. Our system is pretty stacked right now with young players who are NHL level, the majority of whom led the team to this playoff run.

When Maclean was fired I was shocked to hear Murray stick to his guns and say we had a roster capable of making the playoffs.

I think I said we were closer to a bottom 5 team than we were to being a top 10 team at the time.

I also underrated Methot's contributions despite being a fan of his.

But the Sens still finished where I thought they would at the start of the season. Between 7th-10th is what I expected.