I was just looking at the schedules of the Eastern Conference teams down the stretch. In the month of March Boston, New Jersey and New York have to play 17 games in a 31 day month. Philly, Washington and Florida have 16 games. Toronto and Pittsburgh 15. Ottawa on the other hand plays 13 games in the month.

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I just love the exuberance after the goal. Just amazing seeing that explosion of enthusiasm. A great day to be a Sens fan that's for sure. I had been hoping that Z-Bad would come up big in the final, but even this was beyond my expectations.

I love how the play develops. Zibanejad takes a cycle along the boards, swoops in out of nowhere with speed and finishes the game without any hesitation. That is our future right there. I think he just proved Murray wasn't crazy drafting him 6th overall.

The thought just crossed my mind about the dire preseason predictions many people had about the Senators ability to score goals. Last year we had the second worst goals for in the league with 192. This year, despite the overhaul last season of many proven veteran scorers, this team has found a way. The veteran leaders of this team, namely Spezza, Alfie, Michalek, Kuba and Gonchar are all having solid bounceback seasons. Karlsson is well on his way to being a superstar in the league. But it's the secondary players that are really filling in the gaps, with Foligno, Smith and Greening that are proving to be NHL worthy players and not just guys along for the ride.

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I just had this thought occur to me and was wondering if it were even possible. Could we somehow manufacture a trade between Djurgarden and Brynas to enable Mika Zibanjad and Jakob Silverberg to play together?  Could we kick some money to both clubs and make something happen? Both are premium prospects for the Sens and it would be pretty cool if we could get them familiar with each other before even coming over to play for the Sens. I figure it would make that extra year in Sweden really count and help their advancement toward being NHLers.

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I've been mulling this one for awhile and can't help but wonder.  Did the Sens extend Bryan Murray for 3 years so he could act as a bridge to the long term plan of bringing back Peter Chiarelli?  Both contracts expire at the same time and it would probably make for a pretty smooth transition given his success with the Bruins and history within the Senators organization.

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Before the start of the 2009 season I recall looking at the Colorado Avalanche roster and thinking they could surprise, having a young roster, a few veteran presences in the lineup and an upgraded goaltending situation. I remember being told I was crazy, that they were too young to make noise yet.  Craig Anderson had been a good backup, but was unproven in the starters role, while a player like Matt Duchene wasn't even projected to be NHL ready when compared to highly touted John Tavares and Victor Hedman. The team went into the season, entirely unheralded, especially after the retirement of their longtime captain Joe Sakic.

They proceeded to finish 2nd in the Northeast division and make the playoffs, losing in the first round.  Craig Anderson stood on his head for much of the season, keeping the club competitive sometimes in spite of itself during spells of the season.

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http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Ottawa/2011/01/22/16997611.html

"At this time, it makes no sense to make managerial or coaching changes," said Melnyk. "We'll let the season play itself out and look forward to building for the future."

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Greatest NHL Players By Jersey Number - #11

I've long thought Alan Muir is a dickbag, but I find it ridiculous that he name drops a 2 season Maple Leaf instead of actually acknowledging Alfie.  I can't say I know every #11 in the league to know who else is being slighted, but that seems like an intentional slap to the face. I don't feel Alfie deserves the spot over the moose, but given he justifies every other nod on the list it seems glaring.  After reading through the whole list I know he did a fair amount of research doing that piece, so you know as well as anything he did that on purpose.

I've long held the guy has a hate on for Canadian teams and the Sens in particular.  His slight of Mats Sundin at #13 is pretty bad too.  No disrespect to Datsyk, but Sundin was a hell of a player.  Datsyk is still partway through his career and I'm not sure I'd say he's a Hall of Famer quite yet.  Quite a few times throughout the list you'll see good players on Canadian teams passed over for guys on US based teams.

Looking further along in the list 1 Senator makes the list, Radek Bonk, and he's falling and grimacing in his picture.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Brennan/2010/09/16/15369826.html

I thought this was rather amusing.  I think we all hope he proves doubters wrong and absolutely lights it up this year.  That was the first I had heard of Kovalev's wrist injury, so that could be a rather good reason why he seemingly refused to shoot last year.  If he's fully healthy and has something to prove it could bode well for us.

I've always been fine with players playing as long as they can in sports.  If they can hack it at the top level, keep doing it until you can't.  Just don't put everyone through retirement drama like Bret Favre every off-season.

Reading that article I couldn't help but think I wish it was Alfie saying he wanted to play until he's 50.

In the light news period that is the summer I can't say I've heard anything about Michalek or Kovalev's knee issues. Also Kuba had back surgery to end his season, has anyone heard any updates on that.  People keep talking about our opening day lineup with Kovy in the fold, so I definitely wonder whether his recovery is going smoothly.  Being 37 and recovering from ACL surgery is going to be no small feat.

With the playoffs now over I can't help but wonder if the Sens should be seriously looking at some of the assets Chicago has available.  Chicago is up to their eyeballs with cap problems and needs to move bodies and salary out.

What kinds of deals do you think Ottawa could put together and who would they want?  Players like Sharp, Versteeg or even Hossa could be had with the right offer.  Could Ottawa make a bold move and grab a good player on the cheap?

After watching last nights loss to the Pens it definitely got me assessing this year and thinking of next year.  I haven't seen anything that makes me think this team will rise from the ashes and come back from 3-1 against the Pens. 

Going into this season the Senators had obvious flaws at defense and in goal, while more then likely packing less offensive punch without Heatley.  Many people didn't even think this team would make the playoffs, yet they showed some backbone, grit and determination on their way to securing a playoff spot.

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I was just reading on Canoe that Kovy is already back and walking with a fully torn ACL.  If the Sens get past the Pens in the first round, I bet he's back and playing in the second round.

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I was just pondering the idea of repicking Canada's men's hockey team based on the last month's play in the NHL.  My metric is pretty simple, go to Yahoo Sports, sort by all players, using stats from the last month, then sort by rank.  Obviously this method is inexact by nature, but I think it is rather eye opening with regards to which current Olympics players picked in December were actually on form come the Olympics.

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I was thinking about this after the Sens got skunked by the Leafs this weekend.  Could Ottawa have made that same trade for Giguere?  The Leafs traded an overpaid, veteran winger and an off form goalie for JS Giguere.  Could Ottawa not have offered Kovalev and Leclaire and got that same deal done, maybe even got another player back in the deal?  Even though Jiggy has been off his game the last while, he's still only 32 and has previously shown form that got him to 2 Stanley Cup finals.

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