Post-Game Talk: Sens @ Flyers - Nov 19, 2013

[Jot]

Someone mind explaining why you guys are bashing the owner Melnyk?

What exactly has he done wrong?

 

[burf]

Sure looked like it on the Timonen goal, or multiple other goals that have been scored against this year in which he's been coasting or just not caring in his own end.

Karlsson is very competitive just like Spezza is. He's creative just like Spezza is. He makes a higher volume of defensive gaffes and gaffes with the puck becuase he's on the ice 10 more minutes a game than Spezza is. Right now Karlsson should thank his lucky stars that he's insulated from blame by Spezza -- or maybe it's just the Spezza double standard.

The worst part is that when Karlsson coughs up the puck it's usually in his own zone and instantly leads to a scoring chance against as opposed to just killing a potential scoring chance of his own.

I love both players for what they are, but the double standard is always fun to watch.

Karlsson plays at least half the game in the offensive zone.

The reason people are down on Spezza this year is because he plays 80% of the game in the defensive zone, despite starting in the offensive zone more than anyone else on the team. It's not bad giveaways, it's simply an inability to retrieve the puck in the defensive zone, no matter what wingers are placed on his line. Being hemmed into the defensive zone so often has led to Spezza being on the ice for more goals-against than anyone else on the Sens this year (except Karlsson, but he plays 10 more minutes per game than Spezza does)

Someone mind explaining why you guys are bashing the owner Melnyk?

What exactly has he done wrong?

He set an internal salary cap of $50 million dollars in a year when the Sens traded away their first round pick and are kind of forced to go all in. That internal budget also (basically) cost us Alfie.

He's also made a giant fool of himself repeatedly in the media because of his financial issues.

 

[MiscBrah]

He stood there shaking his head disappointed and leaned on the bench while everyone was leaving.

Looked like he lost game 7 of the cup, looked like he put the blame on him which shows his maturity as a player.

Man, I love Turris.

You can't be serious. He let a little adversity ruin his night. If he was a really mature player he would overcome the adversity and not let it affect him at all, including his body language and how he's thinking about his play.

His penalty shot afterward shows just how shaken up he was, he could hardly hold on to his stick to get the shot off. That was a chance that he HAS to bury. If he isn't going to score he should make Mason perform a highlight reel save. His attempt was pathetic.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Edmonton beat Columbus 7-0 and we lost to them 4-1 on home ice.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

You can't be serious. He let a little adversity ruin his night. If he was a really mature player he would overcome the adversity and not let it affect him at all, including his body language and how he's thinking about his play.

His penalty shot afterward shows just how shaken up he was, he could hardly hold on to his stick to get the shot off. That was a chance that he HAS to bury. If he isn't going to score he should make Mason perform a highlight reel save. His attempt was pathetic.

No he didn't... that's why he actually got the PS afterwards. He was hustling out there trying to get it back.

Lmao, he shows emotion and all of a sudden it's adversity ruining him? Also, Mason made a great save on his attempt. How the hell is that pathetic. Have you seen Michalek and Spezza in the shootout compared to that attempt?

 

[HavlatMach9]

Someone mind explaining why you guys are bashing the owner Melnyk?

He became too involved, i.e, he said she saids, in the Alfie drama this summer. He tried to leverage his ownership of the Sens to win support from the city to build a casino and he was shot down and reacted poorly to it. Spoke on radio in Toronto putting down Ottawa (the city) by praising Toronto, withdrew a key figure in the Sens organization from the city. That he didn't get a casino he punished the Sens saying he has no option but to have a cap. And although we are bottom 5 or 10 in spending, he came out and said we're over budget.

 

[MiscBrah]

He set an internal salary cap of $50 million dollars in a year when the Sens traded away their first round pick and are kind of forced to go all in. That internal budget also (basically) cost us Alfie.

He's also made a giant fool of himself repeatedly in the media because of his financial issues.

Why is it Melynk's fault when Cowen, Wiercioch and Greening decide to forget how to play hockey? He gave those guys good money to stay in Ottawa, he paid these players to perform and they haven't. I find it difficult to blame Uncle Eugene right now. It isn't like we're dominating, but we just don't have that one missing piece to hang with the big boy in the league and Melynk won't open his wallet.

He's paid excellent money to get quality players in Ottawa, you can't say it's the owners fault when those players don't show up.

 

[MiscBrah]

Just saw that the Oilers beat Columbus 7-0..

How did we almost get shutout by the Blue Jackets? Think about how bad the Oilers are defensively, then think about how they just dominated a team that we were dominated by a few nights ago.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Just saw that the Oilers beat Columbus 7-0..

How did we almost get shutout by the Blue Jackets? Think about how bad the Oilers are defensively, then think about how they just dominated a team that we were dominated by a few nights ago.

That's just how this league works, the best teams don't always win.

We beat Detroit 6-1, Boston 4-2.

This league is unpredictable.

 

[harvey]

Karlsson plays at least half the game in the offensive zone.

The reason people are down on Spezza this year is because he plays 80% of the game in the defensive zone, despite starting in the offensive zone more than anyone else on the team. It's not bad giveaways, it's simply an inability to retrieve the puck in the defensive zone, no matter what wingers are placed on his line. Being hemmed into the defensive zone so often has led to Spezza being on the ice for more goals-against than anyone else on the Sens this year (except Karlsson, but he plays 10 more minutes per game than Spezza does)
.

This has been Spezza's problem since he joined the team. why is his line always hemmed in? when Alfie was on Spezza's line, he was the one to bring it out of the zone and start the offensive thrust. Spezza just cannot do this.

 

[Slow Hands]

You can't be serious. He let a little adversity ruin his night. If he was a really mature player he would overcome the adversity and not let it affect him at all, including his body language and how he's thinking about his play.

His penalty shot afterward shows just how shaken up he was, he could hardly hold on to his stick to get the shot off. That was a chance that he HAS to bury. If he isn't going to score he should make Mason perform a highlight reel save. His attempt was pathetic.

He doesn't get that penalty shot if he doesn't skate hard to reach the pass from Spezza. He's also not shooting on a shooter tutor, shooting on a live NHL goalie is probably a lot harder than we think. Do I wish he buried it? Yeah of course but you don't get half a goal for forcing Mason to make a highlight reel save.

Frankly, I'd rather see him upset at the loss after the game than laughing it off.

 

[ErikNorrisson]

Other: We play tomorrow. On to the next one.

 

[Philadelphia Collins]

Other: We play tomorrow. On to the next one.

Heatley's gonna pot 5 on us

from the 4th line

 

[ErikNorrisson]

Heatley's gonna pot 5 on us

from the 4th line

Cooke will step on EK again

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Honestly, thank goodness we play tonight. I don't like having that non-goal debacle festering for days.

The worst part about last night is that TO, MTL and Boston all won.

 

[Synthetek]

Cooke will step on EK again

Boro will clean his clock before he gets a chance to.

 

[Tundraman]

Lehner didn't play as well as he had before being benched after his wins. His rebounds were atrocious you could see they lacked control. He seemed so focused on just stopping the puck that it bounced off him in unpredictable directions. He was overreacting to plays by over committing to one side or the other pulling himself out of position. I think he felt the pressure of needing to win after the Anderson losses and overplayed the game. That said the guys in front of him both forwards and D didn't do him any favours either.

However I still mostly blame MacLean for over thinking the goalie situation and not letting Lehner carry the team while he was hot. Good vibes and mini winning streaks mean a lot to a team. MacLean consistently breaks the tempo by changing out winning combos for no reason and it has a negative domino effect on their play. It might work with a more experienced team but this team is fragile.

 

[Yokai]

I stopped there because I'm not really interested in actively participating in this board anymore but that post caught my eyes.

All I have to say :

Jason*Spezza Ottawa(2001)1,2
Kyle*Turris Phoenix(2007)1,3
Mika*Zibanejad Ottawa(2011)1,6
Milan*Michalek San Jose(2003)1,6
Bobby*Ryan Anaheim(2005)1,2
Jared*Cowen Ottawa(2009)1,9
Erik*Karlsson Ottawa(2008)1,15
Chris*Phillips Ottawa(1996)1,1

How many high picks should a team need? And considering we have guys like Lehner (I know he was a 2nd round pick but he easily has a 1st round skillset), Ceci, Wiercioch (2nd but very nice skillset), Lazar, Puempel, etc. Is it really a lack of talent?

IMO, outside of top-3/5 picks (depending on the year), it doesn't really mean as much as people think for the rest of the first round. How many elite talent outside of those top-3/5 picks? Most of the time, teams get better players outside of the top-10 than the 5-10 positions, so to get that "elite talent", you really need to suck and not at the sens level, but way worse.

lol this fanbase wouldn't survive finishing in the bottom-5 for a few years, not even close. One year they drafted 6th and this board was a mess (reflected in attendance), even more than now. This franchise can't afford it because it would probably result in a relocation.

Two of those high picks, Spezza and Michalek, are both injury riddled and no longer seem to be playing at an "elite"level. Yeah Spezza is still near a point-per-game pace but can anyone really say it looks like he is controlling games this year? Phillips is thirty-six years old and no longer counts as a high pick that should be contributing to a team's success. In fact all three of those players are part the old "Ottawa Senators" and can't really be seen as part of the "rebuild".

Zibanejad is a clear example of why the rebuild wasn't actually a rebuild. Don't get me wrong he is a decent player, but he is not a game changing talent, and doesn't look like he is trending in that direction. Think of how much more of a difference a guy like Landeskog would have made during the past two years. As a retooling team Zibanejad is a nice piece. He just isn't the type of player you add to your team to lead them offensively into the future. (See Kane, Toews, Malkin, Crosby, Stamkos, Tavares, Matt Duchene)

Unfortunately you stopped reading my post before getting to the point where I said Ottawa failed to suck enough to get the shot at picking up elite talent in the 1-3 area of the draft. Ottawa does not lack talent at the prospect level. They've got plenty of prospects with NHL potential. They just don't have a lot of potential top 3/6 talent at the prospect level and that is a clear need for the team right now.

Just tired of hearing of Ottawa's supposed "rebuild" when in all reality they had one crappy year where they didn't even pick in the top 5 before making the playoffs for two years straight. The team lacks game changing forwards and that is only going to become more obvious as guys like Michalek and Spezza regress due to age/injuries and Ryan possibly walks as a FA.

 

[OgieO]

I actually thought we played really well from the MacArthur goal until the disallowed goal. Really, that was a game we win on most nights - it was a rare bad game from Lehnny. It happens. We need to get more consistent but we are getting better.

As for the no-goal. I think its the reason we didn't win but its not the reason we lost. That probably makes no sense, but I think we win that game if its called a goal. But disallowing it wasn't the reason we let in 2 quick goals thereafter. The two events are mutually exclusive to me.

 

[coladin]

Sens played well through 50 minutes. Not many chances. Not too many shots. They were moving the puck well. Turris line was excellent again. There are a lot of positives.

Puck hit the back of the skate and while it wasn't 1000% conclusive, anyone with a brain could determine that if the puck hit the back of the skate, and the back of the skate is in the net, it is a ****ing goal.

Spezza was terrible.

I think people are overreacting and this is the same group as last year. Just zero confidence right now and in a way I am glad to see them collapse after the no goal ruling.

It just proves my point. Confidence and lack of it is killing this team. once they get out of their self doubting funk, they will be the team from last year.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

Sens played well through 50 minutes. Not many chances. Not too many shots. They were moving the puck well. Turris line was excellent again. There are a lot of positives.

Puck hit the back of the skate and while it wasn't 1000% conclusive, anyone with a brain could determine that if the puck hit the back of the skate, and the back of the skate is in the net, it is a ****ing goal.

Spezza was terrible.

I think people are overreacting and this is the same group as last year. Just zero confidence right now and in a way I am glad to see them collapse after the no goal ruling.

It just proves my point. Confidence and lack of it is killing this team. once they get out of their self doubting funk, they will be the team from last year.

Good post these guys didn't become crappy over night CONFIDENCE and some success is needed to turn this around. This is especially true with our young guys, Gryba, Weir, Pageau, Conacher, Zibanejad, Cowen have all taken a step back this year. You dont just suddenly lose your ability at that age, all these guys have proven they can play effective hockey in this league.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

Time for some dodgeball at Central Park.

 

[NyQuil]

Someone mind explaining why you guys are bashing the owner Melnyk?

What exactly has he done wrong?

I don't get it.

I just don't see the wondrous opportunities out there for a team with money.

Right now.

 

[coladin]

Other than save the team from moving, paying players and trying to raise money through business ventures to help our team, nothing.

Just a convenient scapegoat for a group of fans who probably don't even know what te inside of CTC looks like.

 

[NyQuil]

This team is good enough to win hockey games as it is.

Not to compete from the Cup.

But certainly to compete for a playoff spot.