SB Nation - Chris Campoli

Islanders All-Decade Team: The Defensemen

Dominik — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:50:59 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - ASSOCIATED PRESS

Radek Martinek: Spans most of the decade, displaying so much potential, so much injury.

Our fabrication of an Islandes All-Decade Team for the 2000s continues with the defensemen. For the all-decade goalie post and vote, go here.

For my money, three of the better Islanders defensemen made a hell of a trio at the beginning of the decade, while the fourth one only pulled on the NYI crest at the tail end of this span but is fast rising up the decade's points and games played list.

Points -- and points per game -- isn't really the ideal way to rank defensemen, but with the discussion of blueliner quality being so multi-faceted, it's the best shorthand we've got. Plus, while the first job of a defenseman is to help keep pucks out of the net, the ones who are truly elite bring offense to the table, too. As for the balance between one and the other -- we can call that "The Marc-Andre Bergeron Question" -- that's a debate that shall rage on 'till the end of time.

After the jump (which is after the poll, if you're on the main page), some stats for the blueliners who have tallied the most points and games played. You can only vote for one defenseman in this poll, but that software limitation may have an unintended benefit: We'll simply name the top two vote getters to our team.

Speaking of the many incomplete ways to judge defensemen, the plus/minus tally on this list features some real howlers (introducing Brendan Witt, Chris Campoli, Bruno Gervais and Eric Cairns: a collective minus-162 as Islanders!) -- and speaks to how plus/minus must always be considered in the context of the roster a player is on.

For example, Roman Hamrlik and Kenny Jonsson were each plus-10 for their Isles careers, playing for four different coaches in four seasons on teams that, total, gave up 54 more goals than they scored. Brendan Witt is minus-47 for his Islanders career, playing parts of four seasons for two coaches on teams that have given up 149 more goals than they scored (as of Dec. 21, 2009). Witt's total isn't just hurt by the fact he's not an offensive defenseman and he's not a fit for Scott Gordon's system -- it's also affected by the fact the Islanders squads he's been on have bled goals.

	Player	From	To	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	ESG	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	G/G	A/G	PTS/G
1	Roman Hamrlik	2001	2004	300	43	110	153	10	325	27	14	2	9	734	0.14	0.37	0.51
2	Kenny Jonsson	2001	2004	291	31	85	116	10	102	16	13	2	2	412	0.11	0.29	0.4
3	Adrian Aucoin	2002	2004	235	33	80	113	47	186	17	16	0	4	620	0.14	0.34	0.48
4	Radek Martinek	2002	2010	389	18	69	87	-5	237	16	1	1	4	439	0.05	0.18	0.22
5	Chris Campoli	2006	2009	228	20	63	83	-40	128	14	4	2	4	285	0.09	0.28	0.36
6	Mark Streit	2009	2010	111	20	54	74	4	92	7	12	1	1	227	0.18	0.49	0.67
7	Bruno Gervais	2006	2010	238	6	45	51	-43	113	5	1	0	1	240	0.03	0.19	0.21
8	Janne Niinimaa	2003	2006	136	11	33	44	3	140	6	5	0	2	131	0.08	0.24	0.32
9	Tom Poti	2007	2007	78	6	38	44	-1	74	0	6	0	1	134	0.08	0.49	0.56
10	Alexei Zhitnik	2006	2007	89	7	33	40	17	128	4	3	0	1	148	0.08	0.37	0.45
11	Marc-Andre Bergeron	2007	2008	69	15	24	39	-9	26	3	12	0	2	151	0.22	0.35	0.57
12	Brendan Witt	2007	2010	239	5	29	34	-47	317	5	0	0	0	205	0.02	0.12	0.14
13	Freddy Meyer	2007	2010	141	7	23	30	-19	80	7	0	0	3	123	0.05	0.16	0.21
14	Brent Sopel	2006	2006	57	2	25	27	-9	64	0	2	0	0	121	0.04	0.44	0.47
15	Sean Hill	2007	2007	81	1	24	25	6	110	1	0	0	0	88	0.01	0.3	0.31
16	Eric Cairns	2001	2004	251	7	17	24	-32	595	7	0	0	1	110	0.03	0.07	0.1
17	Andy Sutton	2008	2010	112	6	18	24	-1	162	6	0	0	1	106	0.05	0.16	0.21
18	Bryan Berard	2008	2008	54	5	17	22	-17	48	1	4	0	2	87	0.09	0.31	0.41
19	Garry Galley	2001	2001	56	6	14	20	-4	59	2	4	0	0	94	0.11	0.25	0.36
20	Dick Tarnstrom	2002	2002	62	3	16	19	-12	38	3	0	0	0	59	0.05	0.26	0.31

First let me tell you, for comedy's sake it was really hard to know where to cut this list off. A 56-player list doesn't look so hot on this page, so I encourage you to go to Hockey-Reference for the full list, where you'll find promising current Islander Jack Hillen just below the cutoff, along with Zdeno Chara, whose Islanders tenure just nipped into this decade.

Plus, you've got your Deron Quints, Brett Skinners, Mathieu Birons and the Great Alexander Karpovtsev. So you've got that goin' for ya ... which is nice.

As for who deserves your All-Decade vote? I'm not sure what criteria should push you over the edge. Longevity? Number of years in a uniform? Who was absolute best in an Isles uniform, regardless of time? Or simply who is the best defenseman you'd want in his prime (in which case Chara enters the debate)?

I'd probably have three different answers for each of those questions. While "longevity" and "Radek Martinek" rarely appear in the same sentence, he has ironically had the longest tenure both in years and in {shock!} games played; in some ways he aptly represents the decade. For lengthy stellar tenure, I'd give the nod to Kenny Jonsson -- though I can see a compelling argument for Hamrlik and Aucoin as well. I may be choosing Kenny over Roman strictly for likability reasons.

(Speaking of Aucoin, when I whine about the summer 2009 missed opportunity to upgrade the blueline, he's who I most have in mind. While you never know where a player is interested in heading, for my money if Aucoin was willing to go to the uncertain desert, he could have been talked into returning to the Island, allowing the Isles to twice buy low and potentially sell high on the guy. Just imagine the powerplay with him and Streit at the points.)

Anyway, for the final question of who is the best defenseman overall, despite his regression this year I'm still tempted to say Mark Streit. He's the highest points-per-game producer of the bunch, he's an undeniable two-way threat, and although he's only been with the team for a year and a half, he's got the sixth most blueline points on this list and has already logged 111 games. But again, I'm prone to a recency/likability bias.

I can't tell you how to vote. Favorite player? Representative of the decade as a whole? Best pure guy? It's your call. Write-ins, explanations, and remorse over what could have been are also encouraged in comments.

Poll

Who is your first pick for defense on the Islanders 2000s All-Decade Team?

Senators shut down Sabres in 2-0 victory

PeterR — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:25:37 -0000

More photos » by Fred Chartrand - AP

Judging by the expression I can read from Jonathan Cheechoo's eye, he's thinking, "How did that go in?" while Alex Picard is saying, "Yeah! I totally planned it that way!" Ryan Miller is thinking the same thing as Cheechoo.

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The Ottawa Senators' 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres may look like it was a boring game if you're just peering at the scoresheet, but anyone watching the game would certainly disagree with that. There were big hits--and controversial ones--and plenty of scoring chances, with the vast majority of them stymied by either Brian Elliott or Ryan Miller, probably the first and second stars, respectively, for most people who watched the game. It was certainly one of Ottawa's most impressive start-to-finish efforts of the season, and it paid off on the scoresheet--all it took was a significant injury to the team's top centre for the Senators to find their rallying cry.

Sens heroes: Brian Elliott, Peter Regin
Elliott the pendulum was back on the favourable side tonight, and was outstanding for the most part. His glove was right on, his rebound control was strong, his reaction time was light-speed, and his luck was there when those assets failed him. He may have only faced 22 shots, but he stopped them all, and you can't ask for much more from your goaltender.

I'm going to give Regin some love here, too, in part because I've been hard on him recently, and also in part because he looked like the force he'd been earlier in the season. He had one assist on the night, and could very well have had two goals against most other goalies in the league. He finished with a game-high five shots (tied with Tim Connolly) in 13:21 TOI, and it`s a pretty good bet he'll play a few more games as a winger rather than a centremen in the near future.

Sens killers: Ryan Miller
People have been saying Miller's been the best goaltender in the league so far, and I didn't realize just how good he was playing until I saw him tonight. He may have only made 26 saves on 28 shots, but there were plenty of good chances in Ottawa--especially early in the game, and Miller gave the Sabres every chance to take the lead and win the game.

Sens zeros: Jarkko Ruutu
I'll let Mark take care of this one, because he obviously feels strongly about it.

Mark's take: Ruutu has to play smarter. There's no other way to say it. On his own, he accounted for nine of Ottawa's thirteen penalty minutes on the night. Think about that. Almost seventy percent of Ottawa's penalty kill time tonight was Ruutu's fault. One a night where the team was so depleted that a defenseman was playing as a forward, that kind of sloppy play is flat out unacceptable. We have repeatedly seen this team outwork more skilled opponents and then give away hard-earned leads with untimely, sloppy penalties. Thanks to Ruutu, Buffalo had a great opportunity to continue that trend tonight. That they weren't able to (with a big assist from Connolly in the middle of Ruutu's major) is a testament to the effort of his teammates. He should be made juice boy for the month with the way he forced everyone else to bail him out.

Ruutu can be a good player, and I realize his game is playing on the edge, but he has to play intelligently, and that means being aware of his reputation. Just like we've seen Carkner reign in the fists as he becomes more integral to the team, Ruutu must also be aware of when to push the envelope and when not to -- and a one-goal game against the division leaders is not the time to.

The bottom line: This depleted roster cannot afford to take stupid penalties at any point. Ruutu took three tonight. I hope Cory Clouston tells him to shape up.

Plenty of credit to: Chris Campoli, Jesse Winchester
I'm not sure whether or not Campoli was excited at the prospect of playing as a forward, or just at the prospect of playing at all, but he sure made the best of his chance. He finished with 7:26 in ice time, more than many expected, and he looked like he was excited at the chance to punish opposing defenders as unforgivingly as he's often been punished when backchecking himself; he was tied for the team-lead with three hits on the night. No shots credited, but he created an amazing scoring chance for Ryan Shannon in the second.

As for Winchester, it was a strong statement that--although he's no replacement for Jason Spezza--he's not going to look too out of place in an increased role, especially if he's with any of Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher, or Milan Michalek. His faceoff dominance continued tonight (he won 11 of 17 faceoffs), so now we know it wasn't just because he was against weaker opponents--a lot of his wins tonight came against Derek Roy. Winch won third star from NHL.com, despite registering no points and no shots in his 18:55 TOI; that ought to say something about how effective he was at what he was asked to do.

Not a bad start: Josh Hennessy
Hennessy only had 6:47 TOI, but he was strong--especially in the first period, in between Campoli and Shannon. I'm actually a little surprised Cory Clouston didn't give Hennessy and Shannon more of a chance to get something going, considering how strong they were for him in Binghamton, but the guy's got his game plan, and he's sticking to it. In his limited ice time, Hennessy had a shot on net and two hits.

First big hit: Erik Karlsson
Karlsson took what, if memory serves, was his first big NHL hit when he was plastered by Tim Kennedy in the first period. It looked like he was labouring at first, but Special K bounced back and finished off with a pretty solid game. Not as impressive, in my opinion, as the last two games, but he's really appearing to be more confident now--especially in asserting himself in front of the net.

Unnoticed greatness: Ottawa's defensive support
I'll once again refer to the CBSSports.com shot chart to demonstrate a pretty telling trend for the Ottawa Senators; this time, look at where the Sabres took most of their shots from on the night:

Compare Buffalo's shots to Ottawa's, and you'll notice the defensive support Ottawa offered Elliott, and the lack of defensive support the Sabres offered Miller. There's but one shot within the Senators crease, and five or six in the immediate area of Buffalo's. It's especially impressive on the left side of the Senators' end, covered mostly by Matt Carkner, Filip Kuba, and Chris Phillips--Ottawa's strongest positional defencemen on most nights.

Silver Nuggets: Spezza has torn MCL, Foligno injured, Campoli to play forward

DarrenM — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:57:45 -0000

More photos » by Ryan Remiorz - AP

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Good afternoon Sens fans, and welcome to another highly anticipated edition of Silver Nuggets, your collection of all the Ottawa Senators headlines fit to print:

According to Ian Mendes, Jason Spezza has a torn MCL in his right knee and will miss 6-8 weeks. Clouston said they'll be lucky if he's back before the Olympic break. Uh-oh. (Mendes)
To make matters worse, Nick Foligno is out for tonight's game with a lower body injury. At the skate this morning, Peter Regin took Nick's spot on the second line, and on the fourth line with Ryan Shannon and call up Josh Hennessy was... defenceman Chris Campoli. It makes sense, I guess, as he's the best d-man on the team at joining the rush, but it's still worrisome. (Mendes)
Other injury updates: Clouston hopes Leclaire and Neil can return next Wednesday for the game against the Penguins. (Score)

Though commentators on Sportsnet and TSN have speculated as much, Canada's Olympic team assistant coach Lindy Ruff has put it on record that Mike Fisher is on the team's radar and in consideration. Fisher probably won't make the team, but I'm sure he's quite flattered just to be in the conversation. (Examiner)
It turns out prospect Robin Lehner will be a part of Team Sweden's World Junior squad -- he'll travel with the team as their "third goalie." Congrats to him on the honour, even if it just means he gets free tickets to watch some games. It'll be a good experience. (Sault Star)
Another Ottawa Senators Blog with an interesting article, crunching the numbers to show how the Senators' offence is more potent with Pascal Leclaire in net. (AOSB)
Sens players spread some Christmas cheer by visiting children at hospitals. (Senators)

Listen to Silver Seven Radio, Dec. 14, 2009

PeterR — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:00:39 -0000

Mark Parisi and Peter Raaymakers talk about the Ottawa Senators for the week of Dec. 7-13, 2009. Is Alex Kovalev the player who didn't score for 16 games, or the player who scored a hat trick? Is Jason Spezza going to get his offensive groove back? Is Brian Elliott the goalie who shut out the Flyers, or the goalie who allowed four goals to the Canadiens? Who's got the lead on the Senators roster, Chris Campoli or Alex Picard? All these questions, and a couple million-dollar questions, are broached this week.

Check out the embedded player below:

Kovalev and Spezza power Senators to 4-2 win over Hurricanes

PeterR — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:14:27 -0000

I didn't get to see the Ottawa Senators' Saturday night 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, but I did get to see the in-game reaction from the best commenters in all the land, and also got to watch the highlights of the game. And it sounds like Alex Kovalev scored some overdue and perhaps lucky goals, and Jason Spezza put on in off Manny Legace's pads. Whatever the case, it's the same measure in the standings: A full, and very important, two points.

Sens heroes: Alex Kovalev, Jason Spezza, Nick Foligno
Memo to Sens fans: This is what it's like when you have to lines that can score. I'd forgotten what it was like, but now I know. Some might say Kovalev's goal weren't of the difficult variety, and he definitely benefited from his linemates' hard work, a lucky bounce, and the fact that there was no goalie. But on his first goal, he drove to the net hard against a check, potting Foligno's centring pass, and he finally shot the puck for the second.

Spezza scored his fourth of the season, but perhaps more importantly had six shots on net--a welcome change. He's a set up man, of that there is no doubt, but there's also no denying that he can shoot the puck, too. There's a balance he'll get to, between passing and shooting and defensive and offensive presence. He's just finding it now.

As for Foligno, second very strong game in a row, and he's getting the points to show for it: Another two assists tonight. On his way to those two helpers, Foligno had five shots and was rewarded with plenty of powerplay time. He's traditionally been a streaky scorer, and the benching no doubt woke him up, but hopefully he can find some measure of consistency through to the end of this season.

Silver Seven Heroes: Mark Parisi, Dany Hea-Traitor
These guys just brought it. Bomb doors open. They kept the GameThread going for the better part of the game. Anyone else who wasn't able to watch it, you can read their thoughts on the game as it happened, without the benefit of retrospect.

(Sens zeroes, Sens killers, Hopefully back on track, There when needed, In our hearts, Mysterious injury update of the night, and game highlights after the jump... )

Sens zeroes: Alex Picard
According to the in-game testament of Mark Parisi, Picard was a non-factor tonight. He was one of few Senators on the minus side of the ledger tonight, was tagged with two giveaways (but that's a pretty subjective stat, to be honest), and only had the one shot. He also brutally lost a race for the puck against Eric Staal on Carolina's second goal, let Staal pass the puck to the slot, and stood there and watched as Ray Whitney scored to tie the game. All of which might combine to be a good omen for Chris Campoli, who was scratched tonight in favour of Picard.

Sens killers: Ray Whitney
Again, Parisi said Whitney was on his game tonight, and could easily have had even more than the two goals he did score tonight. He heeled a strong chance on a 2-on-1 in the second, and had five shots and four hits before the night was out. Sounds like a strong game for one of the Hurricanes' prime deadline-day fire sale assets.

Hopefully back on track: Senators powerplay
Ottawa was a better-than-respectable 2-for-3 on the powerplay tonight, with Kovalev and Spezza each getting goals with the man advantage. Some keys, looking at the highlights: Net presence, as was the case with Milan Michalek pissing people off in front of the net for Spezza's goal, but was also noted from Nick Foligno and Mike Fisher; better puck movement at the points, including from Erik Karlsson, whose cross-ice feed to Kovalev set him up for the game-winner; and getting the puck on the net, as Ottawa had nine shots on their three powerplays.

There when needed: Brian Elliott
Elliott may wish he could get a mulligan for the goals he did allow, but his play when the Hurricanes were really getting their chances in the third period--in which he stopped all 12 shots he faced--made a strong statement for his ability to brush off weak goals and play well when the team really needs him. Highlight of that third period was a sick left-pad save on Ray Whitney, but there were a couple of other strong chances, too.

Not on the scoresheet, but still in our hearts: Chris Kelly
I'm usually one of the first people to rag on Kelly for his stone hands, but there's no doubting his value to this team as the go-to penalty killer and the anchor of Ottawa's fourth line. He had more penalty-killing time than anyone on the night, defencemen included, and is keeping it real. He does have to get his faceoff skills back up, though, although he was 5-for-10 tonight.

Mysterious injury update of the night: Alex Kovalev's previously unreported injury
In a Team 1200 post-game interview, Kovalev mentioned that--although he didn't want to blame injuries for his lacking production--he did have something nagging him that was keeping him from shooting the puck as much as he normally would. As a result, he was passing a lot more. Maybe if he's over it, we'll see an increased shot total from Kovalev (note to poolies) and the increased production that one assumes would follow from that.

Game highlights:

Senators bring down Flyers 2-0 as Foligno finally arrives

PeterR — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:30:11 -0000

More photos » by H. Rumph Jr - AP

11 days ago: Ottawa Senators' Nick Foligno, left, sets up for a score against Philadelphia Flyers' Brian Boucher in the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr)

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Some people might say that the Ottawa Senators 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers was a boring, painful game to watch, but I enjoy a good defensive battle every once in a while--especially when teams are still exchanging scoring chances, just not scoring them. The teams went back and forth most of the game, seemingly alternating in shots, scoring chances, and penalties, but not scoring until Nick Foligno drove hard on Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher and potted his own rebound. Jesse Winchester scored an empty-net goal to cap off the scoring, as Brian Elliott earned his first shutout of the season.

Sens heroes: Brian Elliott, Nick Foligno, PK unit
You've got to hand it to Elliott, he had a strong game tonight--as opposed to some of his recent outings. He stopped all 23 he faced, came up big on Philly's six powerplays, and stopped a big breakaway in the second period. Philly had more scoring chances than Ottawa on the night, but Elliott was there to stop them all.

Foligno, meanwhile, may have had his best game of the season. The game-winning goal goes a long way--especially when it's on a solo effort as it was tonight, where Foligno took a shot, drove to the net, and put his own rebound in the net--but he also had a game-high six shots on net, and was on. Aside from his goal, he also made Chris Pronger look silly in the second, getting around him and just about opening the scoring at that point. It was the kind of game Foligno has been and will be counted on to provide, and maybe the historically streaky scorer will get himself going with tonight's effort.

Finally, the PK unit was very strong, putting the boot to all seven Flyers powerplays. Chris Phillips (7:17) and Anton Volchenkov (6:58), as expected, led the way in short-handed TOI, but forwards Daniel Alfredsson (4:55), Chris Kelly (4:57), and Jesse Winchester (4:13) pulled their own weight, too. Volchenkov had blocked three shots on the PK, and Phillips blocked two. Winchester's empty-net goal was technically short-handed (a 6-on-4, as a matter of fact), a result of a a good defensive play and a solid read.

Sens zeroes: Peter Regin
Seriously, where'd this guy go? You could give him a break because he's a rookie, but he played 11 games last season and started this season well--he was outstanding in the pre-season. These days, though, he's regularly the least-utilized player (5:17 TOI tonight, including only 45 seconds in the third), and for good reason; he's not doing anything. At this rate, he's the first candidate for a benching when Chris Neil returns.

Sens killers: Ottawa powerplay
The powerplay was just awful again tonight. Last game, against the Canadiens, you could say it was a result of playing against a hot goaltender, but against the Flyers the Senators were 0-for-6 and had only two shots on the powerplay. Two shots, in 10:11 of time with the man advantage. Ottawa's now goalless in their last 13 powerplay opportunities, over three games.

By the numbers: Ottawa missed 4 shots and had 17 blocked; Philadelphia missed 14 and had 25 blocked
Although Ottawa outshot Philly 25-23 on the night, when you factor in missed or blocked shots, Philadelphia put the puck to the net 62 times, while Ottawa only did so 46 times. You can take it one of two ways: Ottawa didn't put the puck towards the net often enough, or that Philadelphia couldn't hit the net effectively enough.

Shooting from the hip: Sens' shot map
You may remember my illustration of Ottawa's unwillingness to get into the slot and shoot from last game against the Canadiens; tonight, different story. Below is the shot map from Thursday's game, again from CBSSports.com:

You can see a distinct difference from last game, and that's based on where Ottawa's shots were taken from on the ice. There are still plenty of shots taken from the side (especially the left side, for some reason), but there are a bunch of shots taken from the slot, too. The leader in shots from right in front of the net? None other than Foligno, who took just about all of the shots you see at the top of the crease--including that goal he scored.

Take the good with the bad: Chris Campoli
There's no doubt that Campoli's under the knife when it Alex Picard returns from his injury, but he had a pretty strong game once again tonight. He drove hard to the net early in the game, bowling over Boucher and getting the Senators' started on their crease-drive, and he assisted on Foligno's game-winning goal. Then again, he took a couple senseless hooking penalties and had his shot blocked to give Scott Hartnell an easy breakaway, so he's still got things to improve in his game.

Back on track: Anton Volchenkov's hit parade
The A-Train took a couple of games to get his timing back after returning from injury, but it was right on time tonight. He had a game-high four hits, including a big one on Mike Richards,

Commercial of the night: Bonjour, madame!
Just plain terrible.

Silver Nuggets: Leclaire back soon, Daigle returns

PeterR — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:06:36 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

15 days ago: Ottawa Senators Daniel Alfredsson(11), of Sweden, and Anaheim Ducks Scott Niedermayer(27) go after the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. The Senators won 4-3 in a shootout. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Excitement! There's a surprising number of headlines I want to link to today. Here goes:

Brian Elliott is going to start again tonight, but Pascal Leclaire may be ready to return within ten days. (Sun)
It looked like Alex Picard would be ready to return for tonight's game, but it looks like he's not. Maybe that's just because Chris Campoli is playing too well to be scratched. (Twitter)
Short-lived experiment: Jason Spezza and Alex Kovalev are split up. Which means Mike Fisher has to play with Kovalev and Nick Foligno, which is kind of a bum deal. (Twitter)
Prediction panel for tonight's game against the Philadelphia Flyers: Four pick the Sens, two pick the Flyers. (Citizen)
Also, in anticipation of tonight's game against Philly, I made an appearance on Broad Street Hockey's Broad Street Radio last night, talking about the Sens and last year's No Habs No! campaign. Take a listen to the podcast, if you're interested. (BSH)
Yesterday Ryan Keller was re-assigned to Binghamton of the AHL. (Sens)
Daniel Alfredsson took the heat for the too-many men penalty last game. Pre-tire #11 already. (Sun)
One-time Senators' franchise player Alex Daigle is back in the national spotlight as a member of Canada's upcoming Spengler Cup team, and he's not the only former Senator on the team: Also there will be Brendan Bell, Randy Robitaille, and Jamie Rivers. (Hockey Canada, h/t Puck Daddy)

(Read a bunch more after the jump... )

I don't usually link to Bleacher Report, but I'm going to today to address anyone who says Ottawa shouldn't be surprised about Kovalev's inconsistency: His production hasn't been inconsistent. It's been nonexistent. (B/R)
Speaking of Kovalev, what the hell? All this "Montreal was magical" garbage is just making him sound like a jilted lover, not a hockey player. He should read He's Just Not That Into You, or at least watch the movie, one of these days. (Sun)
Not only was Brian Lee assigned to the Binghamton Senators, but he's also got a mysterious lower-body injury that will keep him out of the lineup until the new year. Am I the only one who thinks it's a weird injury? (Press & Sun Bulletin)
The B-Sens outdoor game against Syracuse is apparently the "Mirabito Outdoor Classic". What a great name... So full of energy! (The Cannon)
I just realized that former Senators tough guy Denis Lambert is head coach of Robin Lehner's Soo Greyhounds. (Sault Star)

Senators can't convert powerplays, lose 4-1 to Canadiens

PeterR — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:03:21 -0000

More photos » by Adrian Wyld - AP

14 days ago: Montreal Canadiens' Josh Gorges tries to clear Ottawa Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson away from the puck in front of Montreal Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak and defenceman Hal Gill during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Adrian Wyld)

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In another frustratingly effete effort, the Ottawa Senators made Jaroslav Halak look like an all-star and made their powerplay look like the feeblest in the league, walking out of the rink with a very disappointing 4-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens. After the loss, Montreal pulled even with Ottawa in the standings, a very tough-to-swallow fact despite the fact that the Sens still have two games on hand. Most disappointing was the Senators impotent powerplay, which went 0-for-7 on the night despite 13 shots--which hearkens back to the criticisms of Bryan Murray earlier this week, when he said the Senators lack the grit to drive to the front of the net, force rebounds, and score some dirty goals.

Although there have been calls for Mike 'Not Martin' Brodeur to see some action one of these days, little blame can be placed at the feet of Brian Elliott for the loss. The first goal came after a linesman accidentally (or was it?) kicked the puck around Chris Phillips and right to Tomas Plekanec, leading to a two-on-one that Anton Volchenkov misplayed; Elliott was square to the shooter (Plekanec), while Volchenkov left Mike Cammalleri wide open to tap in the cross-ice pass. And the second was a doubly-tipped powerplay goal (which, apparently, are possible).

On to some finer points of the game...

Sens heroes: Mike Fisher-Milan Michalek-Daniel Alfredsson
The Senators' top line was dominant for much of the game. Fisher had the lone Senators goal early in the second period, and also had four hits and seven shots--second only to Alfredsson on the night, as the captain fired eight at Golden Jaro. Michalek had three shots, meaning that the three had 18 of Ottawa's 46 shots on the night. They also combined for four takeaways. Long story short, they brought it.

Sens zeroes: Alex Kovalev
Kovy did one good thing tonight: He injured Jaroslav Spacek with a shot late in the first period (Ed.: I'm joking, Kovalev didn't do anything good Tuesday night. And I hope Spacek is back in the lineup for next game, he's a well-respected person and a solid player). After that, he did little else: He floated either just inside the offensive or defensive ends, rarely venturing deep enough to contribute to the play, and didn't meaningfully contribute to the game in any way. Which you may say is characteristic of Kovalev, but most expected he'd at least bring some intensity to the team that let him walk for nothing. More unfortunate was that, since it was a one-goal game for most of the night, Kovalev could have made even just one play that would have had the chance to completely turn the tables, and he had plenty of powerplays to do it on. But he just didn't.

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Sens killers: Jaroslav Halak, Sens' powerplay
Whether or not Halak was actually great isn't the point; he looked great. Look at the chart below (from CBSSports.com), which shows you where Ottawa had most of their shots from, and you'll notice one thing in particular: Little to no shots from the slot. The bulk of the shots are low-percentage ones from awkward angles at either side of the net. That has as much to do with the Senators' unwillingness or inability to get to that part of the ice and not have their shots blocked as it does the Canadiens' ability to clog up the area.

As for the Senators powerplay, it was just not pretty. I was actually surprised to see Ottawa had 13 shots on the powerplay, but they seemed unable to really get much going on it--unfortunate, because the PP had been clicking for quite a while leading up to this game. Ottawa was unable to get the puck off the perimeter and into the centre of the ice, where key scoring opportunities are truly generated. We complain about not getting powerplays some games, but when you can't score on them anyway, it's basically a moot point.

Credit goes to: Erik Karlsson, Chris Campoli
You've really got to handle it to Campoli after his scratching: He's taken it as a constructive criticism rather than a personal insult, and his play has improved as a result. And he's earned the trust of Cory Clouston, given 21:24 in ice time--the second-most on Ottawa after only Filip Kuba. You might think the PP opportunities had a lot to do with that, but more than 15 of those minutes were at even strength. He was -1 tonight, but he had a shot on net, three more fired toward the net, and looked like the player Murray was expecting when he traded a first-round draft pick for him last season.

Similarly, since being recalled from Binghamton, Karlsson has really looked strong. He had some strong poise in the first period, particularly of note being a confident play to use his glove to settle the puck and another to use his body to protect it--all in the defensive end. His confidence to play very high in the offensive zone can be nerve-wracking at times, but it hasn't yet cost him big time. But defensive play isn't what Ottawa needs from him, and that's not all he provided tonight: He had five shots on net, third best on the team, and played 21:12 on the night--fourth-highest on the team.

Big Hitter: Jesse Winchester
With Chris Neil and Shean Donovan out of the lineup, the supporting cast needs to step up and fill the void in the grit department. Although few seem willing to muck it up in front of the net, Winchester is stepping up his physical game. He had a team-high five hits in only 11:32 tonight, including a very impressive hit on Max Pacioretty behind the Canadiens' net. His line with Peter Regin and Chris Kelly was pretty strong in the first period, but didn't get a shot to generate momentum or dirty goals in the third--something Clouston might need to address, because I've noticed he's falling to the John Paddock-esque failing of consistently looking to the stars to provide all the offence, while making the players who are "on" to ride the pine.

Point: Blame the refs
The linesman gift-wrapped Montreal's first goal

Counterpoint: We can't blame the refs
The Senators had seven damn powerplays.

Endnote: It was definitely the kind of game the Senators need to shrug off, and they need to do so quickly; as bad as thePhiladelphia Flyers have been for the last couple months, they're still a good team. Ottawa can't play them lightly when they meet up on Thursday.

Senators' surge in final minutes not enough, lose 3-2 to Coyotes

DarrenM — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:32:51 -0000

More photos » by Ross Franklin - AP

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If you thought the road trip was looking bad after the first three games, well, it didn't get any better with tonight's effort. The Senators were outworked for 56 minutes by the Coyotes tonight, only coming on strong in the final few minutes. Though no Senators had great games tonight, the team's best players were probably Ryan Shannon, Chris Campoli, and Jonathan Cheechoo. Shannon used his speed to constantly recover the puck in the Coyotes' zone, and was the only player who seemed to have his legs under him for the whole game. Campoli responded well to his benching, creating a lot of offensive chances and being strong in his own end. Cheechoo had assists on both of the Senators' goals, and in fact created both opportunities by driving hard to the net and getting some lucky bounces.

There were also a number of Senators who had poor games, the worst coming from Erik Karlsson and Brian Elliott. Karlsson partially caused the second Coyotes goal after his shot was blocked, leading to a rush by Taylor Pyatt. Karlsson was weak on the third goal as well, and even took a penalty 16 seconds into an important Sens powerplay late in the second period, bringing the teams back to even strength. Elliott once again let in too many soft goals early, which shattered the confidence of the club in front of him.

(Read more for further analysis and video highlights)

Cory Clouston played musical chairs with his lines, especially the defensemen, but to no avail. No line managed to stand out for more than a shift, all struggling to create any chances that weren't wraparounds or shots from the perimeter.

In the end, the Sens simply could not recover from those two first period goals, and never really looked comfortable in the game until the final two minutes (when they were playing 6-on-5 with a pulled goalie). If the Sens don't pull out a win against the Ducks tomorrow night, then they will have gone winless for the entirety of this roadtrip. The team needs to figure out what it's doing wrong (which is most everything), and start playing on the road like they do at home.

Silver Nuggets: Volchenkov, Fisher in; Campoli, Regin out

PeterR — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:13 -0000

Since it's a late game tonight, why not a late news rundown for the day? Here goes, all the happenings in the world of the Ottawa Senators today:

Darren already mentioned it, but with Anton Volchenkov ready to go tonight, Chris Campoli is the odd man out. The move doesn't surprise me at all; although Alex Picard's worst games have been worse than Campoli's worst, his better games have been much better.
Also of note is the return continued presence of Mike Fisher to the lineup, with Peter Regin taking a seat to let him back in. Not sure if it's a statement on his play or an injury-related issue, but I heard on the radio Regin's out in favour of Ryan Keller. (Team 1200)
Brian Elliott will play tonight, despite an injury scare in practice yesterday. (Sun)
Speaking of tonight's game, check out the prediction panel; my call is a homerristic 5-3 Senators victory. (Citizen)
Sens prospect Erik Condra reportedly got slapped with a Disorderly Conduct charge after peeing on a police cruiser. Classy... (Sharp)
UPDATE: Goalie prospect Robin Lehner was ranked 13 in The Goalie Guild's long-term goalie prospects ranking, although that was behind four guys who are already in the NHL. (Goalie Guild)
UPDATE: The Senators fell to seven in the Eastern Conference in SB Nation's NHL power rankings. (SB Nation)