News Article: Mark Borowiecki is done for the season.

[slamigo]

He is a serviceable 6/7 at best. That's not a bad thing.

However, he has not been utilized as a 6/7 and that's the problem.

 

[BonkTastic]

This is more an indictment of Cameron than anything else

Honestly, there are a lot of coaches that would absolutely use him as a #6, it's not just Cameron. Maybe they wouldn't play them as wingers as well, but whatever.

Some people fail to understand sometimes that the pool of defencemen in this league is not deep, and that most teams #6 guys are usually pretty bad compared to the rest of the league. If you ask fans of most NHL teams, chances are they'd say they're not happy with the guy they currently have as their 6th blueliner. That's just the way it is.

I dislike Boro, make no mistake - I am not a fan at all... but I also understand just how similar most #6/7/8 guys actually are as far as their impact on the game is concerned, and just how much a gap there is between these 6/7/8 guys and legit top-4 blueliners.

 

[leftwinglocker]

Worth asking if everyone on the Sens had Boro's determination whether or not they might have 6 or 8 more points this year.

That's what Cameron is asking for - show that kind of determination to maximize whatever they've been given. Has absolutely nothing to do with playing style

 

[Micklebot]

Honestly, there are a lot of coaches that would absolutely use him as a #6, it's not just Cameron. Maybe they wouldn't play them as wingers as well, but whatever.

Some people fail to understand sometimes that the pool of defencemen in this league is not deep, and that most teams #6 guys are usually pretty bad compared to the rest of the league. If you ask fans of most NHL teams, chances are they'd say they're not happy with the guy they currently have as their 6th blueliner. That's just the way it is.

I dislike Boro, make no mistake - I am not a fan at all... but I also understand just how similar most #6/7/8 guys actually are as far as their impact on the game is concerned, and just how much a gap there is between these 6/7/8 guys and legit top-4 blueliners.

Agreed. The vast majority of 6th Dman have some pretty big warts in there games. Boro is no different in that regard.

I'm sure we could trade him for Sbisa if that would make people happy...

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Honestly, there are a lot of coaches that would absolutely use him as a #6, it's not just Cameron. Maybe they wouldn't play them as wingers as well, but whatever.

Some people fail to understand sometimes that the pool of defencemen in this league is not deep, and that most teams #6 guys are usually pretty bad compared to the rest of the league. If you ask fans of most NHL teams, chances are they'd say they're not happy with the guy they currently have as their 6th blueliner. That's just the way it is.

I dislike Boro, make no mistake - I am not a fan at all... but I also understand just how similar most #6/7/8 guys actually are as far as their impact on the game is concerned, and just how much a gap there is between these 6/7/8 guys and legit top-4 blueliners.

I wish more people would just acknowledge this. Spending so much energy tearing a 6/7/8 D down when you win or lose by how your top players play for the most part. I mean you've got Brendan Smith, McQuaid, Petrovic, Gudas, Brian Strait, Jon Merrill all playing the same roles.

People get too much wrapped up in the Sens bubble instead of looking at the big picture around the league, why not benchmark other 6th and 7th D compared to Boro? Is it really leaps and bounds different?

 

[mcnorth]

Nah. I think it's more indicative of the kinds of players coaches want at 6/7/8. I'd wager if you took the 40 best puck moving defencemen from across the AHL and elite European leagues you'd find much better quality hockey players. Those bottom pairing guys are 1.) cheap, 2.) the right age (the contract sweet spot), 3.) big, 4.) possibly developing into more. But they are certainly not the best players available. You can find a 32 yr old puck mover out of the NHL entirely while lesser 24 yr olds are holding down the 6/7/8 spot. But what sense does it make to have that guy when you're team building? Most teams are constantly building towards something and dealing with contracts etc. so we rarely, to our frustration, see the absolute best team iced. The Sens have many defenceman who are better than Boro who aren't on the team. There are a lot of reasons why that's the case... but measuring hockey ability is not how it happened.

 

[Jorge Garcia]

I wish more people would just acknowledge this. Spending so much energy tearing a 6/7/8 D down when you win or lose by how your top players play for the most part. I mean you've got Brendan Smith, McQuaid, Petrovic, Gudas, Brian Strait, Jon Merrill all playing the same roles.

People get too much wrapped up in the Sens bubble instead of looking at the big picture around the league, why not benchmark other 6th and 7th D compared to Boro? Is it really leaps and bounds different?

People forget or don't know how limited the 5-6-7 guys on other teams are. Hell, last year's Cup finalists were both afraid to put their bottom pairings on the ice. Chicago and Tampa mainly went with 2 D pairs in the finals.

I like Boro's grit, guts and effort level. Transfer that into a talented guy like Zibby, get him to work as hard in the offseason, and suddenly he's a real top 2 centre.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Has successfully reigned karlsson in. He can rehab happily now.

 

[aragorn]

Worth asking if everyone on the Sens had Boro's determination whether or not they might have 6 or 8 more points this year.

That's what Cameron is asking for - show that kind of determination to maximize whatever they've been given. Has absolutely nothing to do with playing style

Good Post.

Honestly, there are a lot of coaches that would absolutely use him as a #6, it's not just Cameron. Maybe they wouldn't play them as wingers as well, but whatever.

Some people fail to understand sometimes that the pool of defencemen in this league is not deep, and that most teams #6 guys are usually pretty bad compared to the rest of the league. If you ask fans of most NHL teams, chances are they'd say they're not happy with the guy they currently have as their 6th blueliner. That's just the way it is.

I dislike Boro, make no mistake - I am not a fan at all... but I also understand just how similar most #6/7/8 guys actually are as far as their impact on the game is concerned, and just how much a gap there is between these 6/7/8 guys and legit top-4 blueliners.

Agreed but I like the way Boro plays, I like tough hockey.

I wish more people would just acknowledge this. Spending so much energy tearing a 6/7/8 D down when you win or lose by how your top players play for the most part. I mean you've got Brendan Smith, McQuaid, Petrovic, Gudas, Brian Strait, Jon Merrill all playing the same roles.

People get too much wrapped up in the Sens bubble instead of looking at the big picture around the league, why not benchmark other 6th and 7th D compared to Boro? Is it really leaps and bounds different?

Agreed.

Nah. I think it's more indicative of the kinds of players coaches want at 6/7/8. I'd wager if you took the 40 best puck moving defencemen from across the AHL and elite European leagues you'd find much better quality hockey players. Those bottom pairing guys are 1.) cheap, 2.) the right age (the contract sweet spot), 3.) big, 4.) possibly developing into more. But they are certainly not the best players available. You can find a 32 yr old puck mover out of the NHL entirely while lesser 24 yr olds are holding down the 6/7/8 spot. But what sense does it make to have that guy when you're team building? Most teams are constantly building towards something and dealing with contracts etc. so we rarely, to our frustration, see the absolute best team iced. The Sens have many defenceman who are better than Boro who aren't on the team. There are a lot of reasons why that's the case... but measuring hockey ability is not how it happened.

Well Ottawa has Wideman a PMD & the best AHL defenceman last yr as a 6th D & he makes a lot of mistakes out there, takes a lot of penalties & seems to be on the ice for a lot for goals against. Karlsson seems to be on the ice for a lot of goals against too.

People forget or don't know how limited the 5-6-7 guys on other teams are. Hell, last year's Cup finalists were both afraid to put their bottom pairings on the ice. Chicago and Tampa mainly went with 2 D pairs in the finals.

I like Boro's grit, guts and effort level. Transfer that into a talented guy like Zibby, get him to work as hard in the offseason, and suddenly he's a real top 2 centre.

Man I wish someone could do that with that guy, more so than Ryan, Zibanejad at the least looks like he is trying his hardest & can't seem to take a pass lately, makes the wrong decisions with the puck & passes up a shot on net when he has the chance. Maybe that comes with more experience but he needs to be more hungry & greedy & take more advantage of his size.