Loss doesn’t cloud Sens’ bigger picture
Sometimes, it really is hard to see the big picture.
When a terrible Toronto Maple Leafs team saunters into Scotiabank Place, steals the show and embarrasses the Ottawa Senators organization — I’m not just talking about the no-show from the Senators’ top players, but also another no-show from Senators fans during Saturday’s 3-1 loss — it’s easy to lose sight of how shockingly successful the team’s season has been.
The energy level might have been low, as coach Paul MacLean suggested after the team played consecutive games on home nights and three games in four days, but the pride didn’t kick in on the ice and in the seats, either.
Ultimately, though, the game will be forgotten (outside of Leaf Nation, at least) when the Senators are in the playoffs in a few weeks time and when the boatload of future prospects are brought in to get a taste of big-league excitement and conditioning.
More on the present in a moment. But let’s pause to remember that only a few months ago, this season was supposed to be all about setting the groundwork for the future.
In the next few weeks, much of that future will be here. Jakub Silfverberg, Mika Zibanejad, Mark Stone, Robin Lehner, Mark Borowiecki, André Petersson, Stéphane Da Costa, Stefan Noesen, Shane Prince and Jean-Gabriel Pageau — who all figure to play some type of role in the next wave of the team — could all be witnesses to the postseason, depending on how long their current teams stay alive in their respective seasons in North America and Europe.
“The thought is that the most obvious ones, if we’re playing for any length of time, we would bring them here as Black Aces and let them work out here,” Senators general manager Bryan Murray told the Citizen on Saturday. “We’ll give them a little bit of time with our strength-and-conditioning team.”
Lehner, Borowiecki, Petersson and Da Costa might expect to be here once Binghamton of the American Hockey League ends its season on April 14, which falls somewhere in the middle of the first round of the NHL playoffs.
Stone, Noesen, Prince and Pageau will start the playoffs with their respective Canadian Hockey League teams in the next week or two, but if their clubs are bounced early, the Senators will give them a first-hand look at NHL playoff fever.
Then there’s the case of Swedish stars Jakub Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad, both of whom are in the midst of the Swedish Elite League playoffs.
Zibanejad, who turns 19 on April 18 and is already pencilled in to start the 2012-13 season with the Senators, will be back once Djurgardens is done. Silfverberg, named Swedish league MVP after scoring 24 goals and 30 assists in 49 games, will come overseas once his season with Brynas is complete.
The Senators have oversold young players in the past — defenceman David Rundblad quickly comes to mind — but Murray is cautiously optimistic about Silfverberg.
“I’m not going to suggest he’s a star or anything like that, but he’s a very good player. He’s a high-level kid. He’s got skill. He’s a responsible player. It looks like he’s got some real good offensive ability, so he’s got to be a candidate to be on this team (next season),” Murray said.
In the unlikely event that the Senators go on an extended postseason run and suffer a series of injuries, there’s also a remote chance that one of the youngsters could see action.
“You never know that,” Murray said. “If there’s a need or an opportunity for them, I don’t think we would be reluctant to put them in, but that’s not the goal.”
Silfverberg is a top candidate to play for Sweden at the world championship in early May and it’s possible that Zibanejad and or Lehner could join him.
All of that provides promise for the fans wondering where the Senators could be in a year or two.
As for the current situation, Murray and MacLean are banking that Sunday’s day off allowed their players to re-charge for the stretch run to the playoffs.
His leaders look tired. Daniel Alfredsson hasn’t scored in his past 10 games. Jason Spezza has one goal and four assists in his past nine games. It’s no coincidence that the Senators’ power play has scored in only one of its past eight games, going only 2-for-24 during that stretch.
“We didn’t play our best game,” Spezza understated after the loss to the Maple Leafs. “We’re not quite as sharp as we were two or three games ago. We had a little more poise before and now that we haven’t scored, we’re pressing a little bit and forcing shots and getting a few too many blocks. For us, it’s time to take a breath and look at what we did right and talk about what we did wrong.”
Fatigue can’t be an excuse from here on in. Compared to their rivals, the Senators have plenty of down time during the final three weeks of the regular season. Perhaps the biggest bright spot is they don’t have to deal with the mental block of playing the Maple Leafs.
The hockey side future looks very hopeful, having seen all these players already. Might also get a really good prospect this year with our first pick, around number 15. In the meanitme, Eugene needs to mkae it a top priority on teh business side to develop a ticket sale strategy to keep more tickets in the Ottawa market, when the leafs are here, instead of releasing so many to agencies in Toronto, and Montreal too.
Sens fans need to step up and buy the tickets as soon as they go on sale. That cuts out leafs and habs fans . End od problem
To you statement about the no-show from Senator’s fans I have attended Montreal and Leaf games in Ottawa , as a Sens fan I was pushed, yelled at had beer thrown at me and was called names because I was cheering my team in my house, luckily many of the unrully get expelled however it has made it so the Sens fans cannot enjoy being at their games and therefore I believe that many are not going as it poses both a danger and makes for a very unenjoyable stay. I love watching this team play just not when Toronto or Montreal are in town. Once we get to the playoffs, Montreal and Toronto will not be an issue and I guaranty the stadium will be filled with Sens fans.
Fighting in the stands? Absolutely disgusting. Hockey games are supposed to be ‘FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT’. It embarrasses me to be associated through my attendance at the event with individuals who engage in such tomfoolery. Are we not supposed to be a civilized society? I hope the individuals involved recieve a lifetime ban from SBP. Even further, I plead with team officials to determine a way to get the tickets into 18500 Ottawa Senator fans hands before allowing Toronto Fans a chance to purchase tickets. The team needs to create a campaign for next season – use the Fan Blogs, Team Website, Newspapers & community organizations. Get radio & TV stations to give out free tickets to their top 1000 listeners/viewers who do something to prove their Senators loyalty. Get the community riled up & get them involved. The only way to get the stooges out of SBP is to get the community to rally together to prove Sens Army won’t be beat.
To your statement about the no-show from Senator’s fans I have attended Montreal and Leaf games in Ottawa , as a Sens fan I was pushed, yelled at had beer thrown at me and was called names because I was cheering my team in my house, luckily many of the unrully get expelled however it has made it so the Sens fans cannot enjoy being at their games, and therefore I believe that many are not going as it poses both a danger and makes for a very unenjoyable stay. I love watching this team play just not when Toronto or Montreal are in town. Once we get to the playoffs, Montreal and Toronto will not be an issue and I guaranty the stadium will be filled with Sens fans.
I’ll be hopeful when I see these guys play 70+ games a season for the next five to ten years and produce consistently. At the moment “the next Adam Oates” (accorind to Murray Da Costa is floundering in Bingo, Greening is barely a 20 goal guy after close to 80 games…Murray got one pick right and that’s Karlsson. The forwards are still a dog’s breakfast of moderately skilled guys that are often lost on the play.
Feel terrible for Spezza having to play with Greening, Butler et al. Brutal stuff.
But hey, I might see a cup finals from these guys before I turn 85…so wait and see.
Sadly, there is nothing that can be done to stop Leaf and Habs fans from purchasing tickets in Ottawa. They have the same access to these games as us Sens fans do. The difference is is that we have 41 games to go to-they have 3. So while we are figuring out which games we want to go to out of our 41 home games, they are clamouring to buy for 3 games.
What makes me laugh is how Leaf and Habs fans don’t get this. They think its an indicator of how much better of fans they are than us.
Sounds like a bunch of sadness to me. How can you let your captain get booed in his own building. That would never happen in the big smoke or Mtl. Not very supportive Ottawa. Tell Spezza I say hi….
Greening has not been that bad. Greening may not be top 6 forward, but he can skate and pop in a goal here and there. The Sens had hoped that Silvferberg was staying this year, but he decided to go back. The Sens also had hope Filatov would decide to turn his career around and he has not.
Da Costa has had a difficult time adjusting the pro game, but he does have skill and needs more time to blossom. Da Costa is low risk project as he did not cost anything and was signed as Free Agent out of college. I do like the Sens top 4 centers: Spezza/Turris/Smith/O’Brien.
I’m a huge Sens fan but I live in Colorado so I don’t know how the ticket operation works out there. I get NHL Center Ice to watch my Sens. What kills me is the CBC announcers especially Glen Healy (who kept commenting) saying “Wow I’ve never seen this before” about the attendance. For one its been happening for years the last time was the ’06-’07 cup run where Sens fans were clearly dominant. The fact still remains is many people in that area already had loyalty to the Leafs or Habs before the Sens came into the league in ’91-’92. It’s clear to me that a big problem is season ticket sales because most of those seats wouldn’t be available to rival fans if those seats were takin up by season ticket holders. Even when they play a Boston or Philly there is a lot of rival stands in the fans.
Senators Depth Chart Next Season.
Don’t pretend if doesn’t give you a bit of a chubby…even if you’re female.
Greening-Spezza-Michalek
Regin-Turris-Alfredsson
Regin-Zibanejad-Silferberg
Condra-Smith-O’Brien
Daugavins
Karlsson-Gonchar
Cowen-Phillips
Gilroy-?
?
Anderson
Bishop
Lehner
?
Weircoch-Borowieki
Gryba-Blood
Aneloski-Schira
Pettersson-Da Costa-Butler
Hoffman-Schneider-Prince
Stone-Grant-Dzinurski
Cowick-?-?
That’s ALL Senators property. Binghampton could ice a decent line-up completely made up of Senators prospects. You can argue with line combinations..I just used the ones that I thought were best. Still, LOTS to be excited about!