A Return to Glory - The Ottawa Senators Rebuilding Dynasty (NHL 2011)

[bthomp05]

Batting for 440, least its better then the real Sens...

[SENS_AK27]

Yes, it's been a struggle to say the least but what fun would a dynasty be without any challenges. Big mid-season report coming tomorrow.

[SENS_AK27]

SENS INSIDER

December 31st, 2010


What a difference a month can make. After struggling for most of the season the Senators have managed to turn around their season and now sit in 3rd place in the Eastern Division; tops in their division. Spurred on by solid defensive play and stellar goaltending, Ottawa went 9-5-0 in December.

Grade: B-

While Ottawa had a solid December they will now come into a busy stretch of their schedule which will see a lot of back to back games and a lot of travel. Combine this with the fact that they are missing 3 of their top 6 defenseman on a team that just started to get it together in their own end could spell trouble. They have also lost top forward Daniel Alfredsson up to 3 weeks which could further hinder their scoring. Time will tell as we see which team shows up for the second half of the season.

Results:



Team Statistics:





News & Notes:

On December 7th, during a 5-0 Loss to Montreal forward Daniel Alfredsson was checking into the boards by D Hall Gill. Alfredsson lay still on the ice for several moments before being helped off the ice.

Daniel Alfredsson out 3 to 4 weeks with a Hip Pointer injury

Nilsson has been activated to replace his roster spot.

After December 9th, the most hated man in Ottawa right now is RW Enver Lisin after he injured 2 of Ottawa's players in the same game. Early in the 1st he checked D Gonchar from behind into the boards, which knocked him out of the game. Then late in the 3rd Karlsson was coming up the side boards when Lisin leveled him with a late hit. Karlsson had to be helped off the ice. When Lisin served his time in the penalty box he was challenged by Neil, then by Mirasty and both times declined the challenge, which resulted in his teammate Brandon Prust dropping the gloves several times.

D S.Gonchar out 4 weeks with a broken rib
D E.Karlsson out 4-5 weeks with a broken leg

D Bannister and Kudelka have been called up as replacements from the AHL.

To add to the Senators injury woes, the next night in New Jersey D F.Kuba suffered a knee on knee collision with C J.Arnott. Arnott skated off the ice under his own power but Kuba was in visible pain.

D F.Kuba out 2 weeks with a sore hamstring

D B.Lee was called up on emergency basis but was reassigned to the AHL after the Senators signed a contract to M.Skoula.

In light of all the defensive injuries, GM Guy Ladouche' had to go to the Free Agent Pool to add some depth on defense as both the NHL and AHL teams were being depleted.

Ottawa signs D A.Delmore to a 1 year contract for a league minimum $0.5M
Ottawa signs D M.Skoula to a 1 year contract for a league minimum $0.5M

[SENS_AK27]

Division Rankings:

[apalmer30]

Man, this is awesome! I'll definitely follow!

[bthomp05]

Love the setup as always. Great work in december, way to climb the ladder, but nasty situation on your blue line.... Yikes

[SENS_AK27]

Big mid-season report coming this weekend.

[SENS_AK27]

Sens Insider - January Report

After a strong showing in December, it appears injuries at key positions have hindered the Sens in January. After peaking and leading their division at the New Year break; Ottawa has gone 3-5-2 in January and has sunk back to the bottom of their tightly packed division.

Grade: C-



The downward spiral began with key injuries to the top defensive pairing of E.Karlsson and S.Gonchar. That was followed by an injury to F.Kuba and forwards C.Locke and N.Foligno. At this point in time Ottawa just didn't have the depth to overcome these injuries and have had a disastrous January, which ended with a current 3 game losing streak.

Goalie G.Anderson was sent to the minors but claimed off waivers by Anaheim, freeing up a spot for prospect M.Brodeur to earn a spot in the starting rotation. The goaltending woes for Ottawa continue after LeClaire suffered what seems to be a hamstring injury in a 7-2 loss to Anaheim, in which he let in 7 goals on only 21 shots. With Anderson shipped out it would appear that the brunt of the goaltending duties will fall on Brodeur. A source close to the organization is that they are close to signing journeyman goalie Kari Ramo to a one year contract to help fill the void.

Here are the current team leaders:


The 3 Stars for Ottawa this month are Michalek, Mirasty, and Nilsson. Michalek and Spezza continued in January what they have been providing all year and that's stellar offense. Michalek is almost averaging a point a game with 21 G and 26 A in just 50 games. He is currently on pace for a career high 80 points.

2nd star for the month, Pugilist Mirasty was brought in to start enforcing and protecting the stars of the team. Even though Ottawa already features such tough guys as Neil and Carkner; with Neil's scoring production and powerplay minutes, and Carkners penalty killing responsibilities; couch Clouston has been reluctant to let them fight. Thus far that responsibility has falled on Mirasty who has definitely taken advantage of his position. Currently in 23 games he has amassed 121 PIMs, including a 3 fight night in a recent game against Anaheim; which saw Ottawa dominated on the scoresheet and on the physical aspect of the game.

January's third star is a bit of surprise considering he was once in Clouston's dog house and was benched for his poor performance. Winger R.Nilsson has picked up his play, as he took the place of injured captain D.Alfredsson. Playing alongside of Shannon and Fisher, Nilsson has found the score sheet several times and has improved his play significantly. In the 17 games he has played since returning to the line up he has scored 10 G 16 A will posting 0 PIM and a plus/minus of -3. With Alfredsson nearly set to return it's going to be tough to deny this young forward a roster spot after his performance.

The last sore spot to mention in this report is still the horrendous plus/minus of the defensive core. With the exception of Phillips, Kuba and White the rest of the defensive core are playing terribly. Below are the Minus leaders of the teams defensive core:

S.Gonchar -11
D.Bannister -5
M.Skoula -5
E.Karlsson -5
J.Kudelka -4
M.Carkner -4