Post-Game Talk: Sens Win Super League Cup over Price's Team

[BonkTastic]

I was told that these games were our Stanley Cup.

No, when we win the regular-season series against the Habs, THAT'S our Stanley Cup... according to Habs fans.

C'mon now. They've told us this ad-nauseum for the last decade every time we take a regular-season series against them, it shouldn't be hard to remember.

 

[Samsquanch]

They looked very "Paul Maclean-ish" as a team...Bad habits creeping back in?

Uggh this is what I saw as well, unfortunately. Too many shots against, and too much line juggling. We still don't even know what to expect for opening night yet in terms of line combinations.

Still no need to worry yet, we still haven't even seen the actual full roster play a game together.

 

[Xspyrit]

So based on HF Habs, Sens are a dynasty team?

I'm amazed at how Stone has progressed over the last year. He went from decent prospect to regular NHLer to top 6 to bonafide first liner in the span of 12 month or less.

He's looked like the best forward on either team easily over the last two games.

Depends for who, he has been more than a "decent prospect" for a while now. And the major knock on him that was skating has been fixed for over 2 years now. The hands and hockey IQ were abvious... What was surprising for me is that he was able to produce and dominate at that level right away. This guy is a gem.

That line right here: Hoffman-Turris-Stone

Is absolutely insane. They are so fun to watch and Turris finally gets some more creative guys to play with. I hope they keep this line together but then again they might want to even out the first two lines to get production out of both. I'm not sure what to think about Zib and Ryan right now, it's just preseason but they've been invisible when the other guys have been phenomenal.

MacArthur??? PPG Michalek? Not too shabby... I mean Hoffman is insanely skilled but he is more a player "on his own". Him playing with Turris & Stone wouldn't make him that much more productive. I'd rather get Macarthur or Michalek going and let Hoffman produce from another line. Like with Zibanejad and Ryan. This way you have more guys that get it going...

Right now, and from midway point of last season I'd give Stone 7M and Ryan 3M. Stone has just been THAT much better than Ryan in every single way possible, it's not even funny.

RFA vs UFA, don't make the same mistake as most HF does... That being said, even as a RFA, Stone is already worth 4-5 Millions... Ryan is more of a 6M$ player, but unfortunately that's the price Ottawa has to pay to retain talent (small market, weather, taxes, etc.)

Whatever happens this season I will always remind the good people in Montreal about the two times we beat them in the pre season.

I don't think they post on HF...

No seriously people in Montreal are really great, those fanatics that are annoying on HF are just a very small portion of the population... Even normal Habs fans are actually great to talk hockey with. It's those fanatics that make it bad on everyone.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

They looked very "Paul Maclean-ish" as a team...Bad habits creeping back in?

Yup and it's mostly the players you choose to play. That's what made Cameron more successful over MacLean.

I just think its the players who are playing actually. That was MacLean esque lineup.

Having Michalek top 6. Having Neil with Smith and Chiasson again. The defense with Fraser, Boro and Wier.

 

[OmniSens]

Stone gonna hit 70 points... im sold.

Sorry it took me so long.

Finally, you make sense.

 

[Canadian Time]

Any update on MacArthur? I'd hate to see him miss more time.

Simmer down with the player and team projections from pre-season. My gosh, must there be constant teenage girl drama.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

Mark Fraser is a completely awful player.

 

[H2O]

MacArthur??? PPG Michalek? Not too shabby... I mean Hoffman is insanely skilled but he is more a player "on his own". Him playing with Turris & Stone wouldn't make him that much more productive. I'd rather get Macarthur or Michalek going and let Hoffman produce from another line. Like with Zibanejad and Ryan. This way you have more guys that get it going...

That's the opposite of what we saw the last 2 games. I mean it's only 2 pre season games, but I'm intrigued to see if Stone and Hoffman have chemistry together. Personally, I think MacArthur has been holding back the top line for a while now.

 

[maclean]

My gosh, must there be constant teenage girl drama.

YES YES THERE MUST - quick, ilndberg vs paul, one becomes captain the other gets encephalitis, go!

 

[Cosmix]

Hopefully we won't see Wiercioch behind the opposition's net again any time soon.

3 on 3 is so weird.

Only if he is playing for them!

 

[Cosmix]

So we were down 18 shots to 4 at some point in the 1st...

I don't care that we've beaten Montreal both times, the fact is we've managed about 40 shots over both games... That's simply not enough, it's an embarrassingly low amount in fact - and it was the same problem last year. What did Gretzky say, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take".

Part of the early shot count against was caused by a penalty; however, I agree with you that the team needs to play better defensively and cut down the shots against. I am sure the coaching staff wants to do that too. Our goalies have played very well against Montreal which is good but you probably can't outscore your opponent in the long haul if you don't outshoot them too. Cutting out stupid penalties, like Neil's last game, would be helpful.

 

[Minister of Offence]

I'm amazed at how Stone has progressed over the last year. He went from decent prospect to regular NHLer to top 6 to bonafide first liner in the span of 12 month or less.

He's looked like the best forward on either team easily over the last two games.

The main reason you think it's so amazing is that you only thought he was a "decent prospect" 12 months ago. He was quite a bit more than that. Stone's basically in the process of becoming the best case scenario if someone was projecting him 2-3 years ago.

Not many wingers win Selke trophies but....

 

[NyQuil]

Well, he's been Ottawa's best forward for half a season and now the pre-season.

 

[Cosmix]

Loved O'Connor's game...looked like a true pro. He's so big, and long-armed...he looks like a big OCTOPUS in Sens gear. I hope he gets a real game before going back to Bingo.

He looks as good as Lehner has ever looked. He will get a lot of experience at the Pro level in Bingo this next year and hopefully develop further. I am hoping he does real well and can join the Senators in the next year or two, replacing Anderson as he ages and his skills deteriorate. I hope Hammond does well too; however, his track record in Bingo is cause for concern.

 

[NyQuil]

He looks as good as Lehner has ever looked.

I wouldn't go that far.

During the season of the three-headed goalie dragon (Andy, Bishop, Lehner), he looked very strong.

That year, he was NHL player of the week back in November of 2013. Lehner had a 3-0-0 record over the stretch with a 1.33 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.

It's a good part of the reason why Bishop was traded (he was closer in age to Andy and Lehner still looked like a promising future #1 goalie).

I'm not a big booster of Lehner, but he had his moments.

 

[The Waffler]

I wouldn't go that far.

During the season of the three-headed goalie dragon (Andy, Bishop, Lehner), he looked very strong.

That year, he was NHL player of the week back in November of 2013. Lehner had a 3-0-0 record over the stretch with a 1.33 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.

It's a good part of the reason why Bishop was traded (he was closer in age to Andy and Lehner still looked like a promising future #1 goalie).

I'm not a big booster of Lehner, but he had his moments.

memories are often short.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

From what I saw last night and previous games, the 4th line and their usage is a problem AGAIN. Any line that has Zack Smith and Chris Neil on it is going to get hemmed into our zone for long periods of the game. It was no coincidence that the team turned the season around when those guys were out of the line up. Now we'll find out if Cameron was just lucky enough that they were hurt or whether he's actually smart enough to keep them off the ice. These two should never be in the line up at the same time unless there are a ton of injuries.

The bottom pairing could be an issue as well if its some combination of Cowen/Boro/Fraser. They can't clear the zone well enough. Wideman should be a regular in this line up as being a legit 3rd pairing PMD or we'll have some issues.

I don't think these are particularly big problems for the club. We have better players who can actually contribute in those smaller roles its just a matter of Cameron having the balls to actually play them over more established vets making more coin.

 

[Pronto]

From what I saw last night and previous games, the 4th line and their usage is a problem AGAIN. Any line that has Zack Smith and Chris Neil on it is going to get hemmed into our zone for long periods of the game. It was no coincidence that the team turned the season around when those guys were out of the line up. Now we'll find out if Cameron was just lucky enough that they were hurt or whether he's actually smart enough to keep them off the ice. These two should never be in the line up at the same time unless there are a ton of injuries.

The bottom pairing could be an issue as well if its some combination of Cowen/Boro/Fraser. They can't clear the zone well enough. Wideman should be a regular in this line up as being a legit 3rd pairing PMD or we'll have some issues.

I don't think these are particularly big problems for the club. We have better players who can actually contribute in those smaller roles its just a matter of Cameron having the balls to actually play them over more established vets making more coin.

This.

Putting Greening on waivers gives me confidence that Cameron and co will make the right decisions at the right time.

 

[Pronto]

That's the opposite of what we saw the last 2 games. I mean it's only 2 pre season games, but I'm intrigued to see if Stone and Hoffman have chemistry together. Personally, I think MacArthur has been holding back the top line for a while now.

That's what I think too. I like Mac and his intensity and the chemistry he has with Turris but he doesn't belong on a top line IMO.

 

[Xspyrit]

That's the opposite of what we saw the last 2 games. I mean it's only 2 pre season games, but I'm intrigued to see if Stone and Hoffman have chemistry together. Personally, I think MacArthur has been holding back the top line for a while now.

You said it yourself... pre-season is nothing.

I agree thy could be a very dominating line, but Hoffman on lower lines is even a bigger threat.

Michalek-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Macarthur-Pageau-Chiasson/Lazar

What about that? Important to get the most possible guys going to spread out the scoring. That's our strenght

Part of the early shot count against was caused by a penalty; however, I agree with you that the team needs to play better defensively and cut down the shots against. I am sure the coaching staff wants to do that too. Our goalies have played very well against Montreal which is good but you probably can't outscore your opponent in the long haul if you don't outshoot them too. Cutting out stupid penalties, like Neil's last game, would be helpful.

Shot count is not that important, it really depends on quality of shots

http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/gamecast?gameId=400814634

I honestly could have saved most of those shots in both games and I suck compared to those goalies. No angle shots have low %

 

[God Says No]

From what I saw last night and previous games, the 4th line and their usage is a problem AGAIN. Any line that has Zack Smith and Chris Neil on it is going to get hemmed into our zone for long periods of the game. It was no coincidence that the team turned the season around when those guys were out of the line up. Now we'll find out if Cameron was just lucky enough that they were hurt or whether he's actually smart enough to keep them off the ice. These two should never be in the line up at the same time unless there are a ton of injuries.

The bottom pairing could be an issue as well if its some combination of Cowen/Boro/Fraser. They can't clear the zone well enough. Wideman should be a regular in this line up as being a legit 3rd pairing PMD or we'll have some issues.

I don't think these are particularly big problems for the club. We have better players who can actually contribute in those smaller roles its just a matter of Cameron having the balls to actually play them over more established vets making more coin.

Yip, I see it the same way. What was compounding the problem was also that Cowen and Boro were on the ice at the same time. Simply that mix of players can't be on the ice at the same time.

 

[BonkTastic]

memories are often short.

It's also kind of weird to compare one pre-season game from one goalie against 4+ years worth of games of another.

Regardless: O'Connor looks good. I think that's the main takeaway we can embrace here.

 

[NyQuil]

Regardless: O'Connor looks good. I think that's the main takeaway we can embrace here.

If we're completely objective, he was shaky in that first game (rookie tournament?) and good in his subsequent appearances.

Overall, pleased with his pre-season.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

2 for roughing

 

[bert]

MacArthur??? PPG Michalek? Not too shabby... I mean Hoffman is insanely skilled but he is more a player "on his own". Him playing with Turris & Stone wouldn't make him that much more productive. I'd rather get Macarthur or Michalek going and let Hoffman produce from another line. Like with Zibanejad and Ryan. This way you have more guys that get it going...

How do you know this? I am curious? I mean Hoffman has never had a chance to play with them and clearly has game breaking ability why wouldnt he produce more with better players? With more opportunity to use his shot and game breaking speed.

Say what you will about Hoffman's defensive game his back pressure is the best on the team.

With Stone playing possum in the neutral zone and Hoffmans back pressure they should be able to produce off of turnovers.

From what I saw last night and previous games, the 4th line and their usage is a problem AGAIN. Any line that has Zack Smith and Chris Neil on it is going to get hemmed into our zone for long periods of the game. It was no coincidence that the team turned the season around when those guys were out of the line up. Now we'll find out if Cameron was just lucky enough that they were hurt or whether he's actually smart enough to keep them off the ice. These two should never be in the line up at the same time unless there are a ton of injuries.

The bottom pairing could be an issue as well if its some combination of Cowen/Boro/Fraser. They can't clear the zone well enough. Wideman should be a regular in this line up as being a legit 3rd pairing PMD or we'll have some issues.

I don't think these are particularly big problems for the club. We have better players who can actually contribute in those smaller roles its just a matter of Cameron having the balls to actually play them over more established vets making more coin.

Great post, same goes for Prince up front as Wideman on D. Cant have Chiasson playing out of position like that he just isnt comfortable on his off wing.

Hoffman
MacArthur
Michalek
Prince