My Ottawa Senators roster for opening night
Ottawa Senators managers and coaches are sitting down today to decide who will and won’t be on the team’s roster when the season kicks off in Detroit next week. If perchance they come to their senses and say, “hey, why don’t we ask James Gordon from the Citizen what to do?” they’ll be thrilled to find out I’ve already done the legwork.
Ottawa Senators managers and coaches are sitting down today to decide who will and won’t be on the team’s roster when the season kicks off in Detroit next week. If perchance they come to their senses and say, “hey, why don’t we ask James Gordon from the Citizen what to do?” they’ll be thrilled to find out I’ve already done the legwork. Here is how the 2011-2012 Ottawa Senators would look if I had a say.
Line 1: Milan Michalek-Jason Spezza-Bobby Butler
Alright, I expect a lot of flak already. Bobby Butler has had a terrible camp and you could make the argument he hasn’t done anything to earn such a lofty position. Well, I’d make that argument too, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice. Butler and Spezza played well last season as a unit and skated together over the summer. Give them a few games to work it out and see if anything happens. Michalek can score too and serves as the two-way conscience of this line.
Line 2: Nikita Filatov-Mika Zibanejad-Daniel Alfredsson
Why not let the young speedsters learn from the master in Ottawa? Filatov is in the same position as Butler, having underwhelmed in camp, but if you’re not going to play him on your top two lines, what’s the point? Again, give him some time to see if he can develop some chemistry with these two. I’ve heard some arguments that the Senators are making a mistake by rushing Zibanejad into the NHL. It’s not rushing if he’s ready, and he looks ready at the moment. Three spectacular goals in pre-season, along with another tally that was called off yesterday, show he deserves this shot. It’s very, very early, but Zibanejad is showing signs of being a Calder Trophy threat. And who knows? Maybe getting some minutes with the kids will invigorate the Senators’ captain as well.
Line 3: Nick Foligno-Peter Regin-Chris Neil
Whereas you have to consider Zibanejad a pure offence type of player at this very early stage in his career, Peter Regin has some defensive sensibility. This is a depth line that can grind (if Foligno can accept that he isn’t a second liner), but also has some scoring upside. Neil will keep opponents honest in the fisticuffs and shenanigans areas.
Line 4: Colin Greening-Zack Smith-Erik Condra
There’s a great nickname here somewhere, given the players on this trio were all major contributors in Bingo last season. Depending on how they play, you might even consider this the third line. They all work hard, can chip in with points here and there and play an all-around style.
Extra forwards: Stephane Da Costa, Zenon Konopka
I know, I know. Konopka is a great dude, character guy, all that, but what does he bring to the table besides PIMs? There are plenty of potential penalty-killers on this team, including on the line I just mentioned. In case you didn’t hear, Brendan Shanahan is suspending everybody these days. Da Costa can jump in if one of the centres goes down, which is highly likely given Peter Regin’s history.
Defence pair 1: Chris Phillips-Erik Karlsson
Karlsson is the Senators’ No. 1 defenceman now and earned top minutes with his all-star performance last season. Phillips can keep an eye on the defensive zone while Karlsson does his thing. Some are predicting he’ll break Ottawa’s scoring records for defencemen. Will it be this season? These are malleable pairs of course, so if you need a true shut-down pair for whatever reason, you stick Phillips with Lee.
Defence pair 2: Jared Cowen-Sergei Gonchar
Cowen is going to be on this roster, so why not give him a running start on the second pair? He is a beast of a man at 6’5 and 226-pounds, so size isn’t a concern. He’s also considered a defensive defenceman, so it’s not like he’s going to kill you with bad decisions. As coach Paul MacLean said yesterday, he “always makes the easy play” with the puck, which is a good thing.
Defence pair 3: Filip Kuba-Brian Lee
Prediction: I will get flamed more for this than any other combo. There is definitely an uh-oh factor when you send this pair on the ice, but it is what it is: A third pairing. Lee can be used in a shut-down role with Phillips when the need arises. As for Kuba…look, I know the guy isn’t popular and he was plain awful last season. Before training camp started, I made the argument that if Rundblad and Cowen had outstanding performances, it would make sense to scratch Kuba early on. While Cowen came through, Rundblad isn’t ready. He needs time in the AHL, so use the veteran Kuba until the Swede is ready.
Seventh defenceman: Matt Carkner
Carkner’s rise through the ranks was a feel-good story, but I don’t see him as an everyday guy on this team anymore. He can drop in when the Senators’ opponents have an especially tough lineup.
Goalies: Craig Anderson-Alex Auld
No explanation needed here. This is what they were hired for. Lehner will be here next season, or earlier if injuries become a factor.
Wow! This is one of the worst articles I have read on the Citizen yet! On the note of Filatov, the guy has shown some real promise in the pre-season logging serious minutes on ice and even pitching in for a couple of points. Overall most qualified hockey reporters have been impressed with his play and the general consensus is that his play has/will improve with each game he plays.
Konopka, is an excellent face-off guy who can be counted on in the PK to win face-offs and clear the zone.
I guess I missed the qualification test for being a hockey reporter.
How does that guarantee him anything? How is it the general concensus that his play with improve with each game he plays? That’s illogical and nothing more than speculation. If you’re going to attack an article, at least use defensible rationale…
i’ll take Carkner over Kuba any day
You and many other Sens fans. Don’t think No. 17 is going to be a big seller this season.
By and large, I think these make sense. I love Greening-Z. Smith-Condra–I think that’s our third line of the future.
I think the one change I would make would be to flip Michalek and Filatov: I’d like to insulate Zibadnejad as much as I could to ease his learning curve, and give Filatov the best possible chance to succeed. As far as I’m concerned, that’s playing with Spezza. He’s shown the ability to find the open man, but it will be up to Filatov and Butler to finish their chances.
I follow this team about as closely as anyone and I don’t see a whole lot wrong with this. The line combos are going to change on a regular basis and these are reasonable. With 25 players still on the roster, I’m not sure how anyone can be certain of who will start and who won’t.
On the Kuba front, the reality is that he will play. I’ve seen some awful stuff out of him, but I’ve also seen the supposed calming influence he can have. When he plays well, he is a valuable player. When he doesn’t, ………..
Proper asset management suggests that you try to recoup as much as possible, but how much does trying to build Kuba’s value detract from developing a player like Rundblad? One is in the long-term plans and the other couldn’t have a shorter timeline remaining. Once the cap issues are resolved—in other words, once enough time has elapsed to bring our cap floor down, Kuba will be out the door.
The one thing I’m not sure about is your altogether ommission of Rundblad. Why have you left him off the scratches list, if he remains on the roster?
Because I would have sent Rundblad to Bingo. Looks like he could use more time getting used to these rinks.
David Rundblad led defenseman in points in the SEL at 20, and was 3rd among all scorers. How you think he is not worthy of NHL minutes over Kuba, Lee or Carkner is absurd. He will be on par if not better than Karlsson and should be getting NHL minutes to learn and develop. Major omission to this team is Jakob Silfverberg, future top 6 player, cannot wait for next year when he plays for the NHL instead of staying in Sweden. Reality is Zibanejad should be given a year to develop, and we need time to develop Prince and Peumpel, I say bomb the year and pick up Yakupov 1st overall, soon to be on par if not better than ovechkin Crosby and stamkos.
As a side note Kuba is garbage and we should cut our loses and buy out his salary. Give time to boys like Bowereki and Rundblad..