- Ya know who has turned into a very ordinary hockey player is Jason Spezza. To go out there NIGHT AFTER NIGHT AND DO NOTHING. Disrupt (Break up) the PP time after time...to charge Fish with 3 turn overs and "Rocco" with only one is an insult to your (our) intelligence!!
- I know that the scouting staff has been all changed but we want the goalie scout fired anyway!
- "EriK's" speed is increasing...he's gone from faster than most to the fastest recovery in the league...he tracks everybody down!
- At least Coach Clouston cut #17, Philippé's ice back a little tonight...PK and regular.
- Poor old "Sarge", he just wants to go play golf some where warm!
- Boy, when Alfie misses early we're done.
- If you don't respect your young coach ya can play dirty and think you can get away with it (read 9MM; Jaarko and to some extent 1x)...
- So put the college kid in the Limo to Bingo for twenty games, shoot the f*&%^n' dog, Number 33, he's got a broken mind and let's start over again in goal!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
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My great uncle has always maintained that Spezza is the problem with the Sens. Though he's a Leafs fan, he has no problem with any of the other Senators. He just thinks Spezza is a pussy and he's reason they lack mental toughness as a team. Though I don't think that this is the only serious problem with the team, I can't disagree about how soft a player Spezza is.
ReplyDeleteSpezza does seem to go out of his way not to get hurt, even it seems, handing the puck to the opponent to avoid getting hit. Contrast this with great top line centers like Yzerman and Sakic, who led their teams to the cup in recent history.
If he wants to be a champion, Spezza will have to man up some day. Get stronger mentally and physically, and make the physical sacrifices necessary to win in this league. Alfie has been doing this on the wing for years, and Fisher has done a bit of this at times on the second line, but we haven't had a top line centre do this in Ottawa, and maybe that has been one of the biggest things hurting our chances. Maybe my great uncle and Mark Rycroft are on to something...
Nik:
ReplyDeleteNeed a tonic to get over an eight game winless stretch - play the Ottawa Senators! No killer instinct - a team with a bruised psyche and we hand them the game in less than half a period. Was at the game tonight: the vault got pretty quiet about 4 minutes into the second period - could feel the momentum shifting.
Some people complain about secondary scoring, but it seems that's all we are getting! The top six are nowhere to be found. How can we win when the go-to guys aren't going-to?
I wish they would have thrown Brodeur in - it couldn't have hurt.
On the bright side, the "Pup" is starting to look like the "KIng" - no fear in this kid - some of the"retirement contracts" should try to imitate!
JL
The future is bright... that's about the only positive thing I have to say right now about the Senators.
ReplyDeleteI'm at the point where I don't even want to watch the games anymore, and that's terrible. I've been a Sens fan since the day they were announced as one of the new expansion teams. I even had my dad go out and buy me one of those horrible parliament building jerseys.
I just can't seem to get excited about this team anymore.
Next year, we see a ton of cap space some off the books... some young players get the chance to step up, and hopefully one or two moderately successful free agent signings.
Of course, if The Euge renews BM's contract, we might be in for another overaged, overpaid -20 d-man coming in for 3 or 4 years, and another ancient forward. Modano's only on a one-year deal, right? Maybe Murray will pay HIM 5 or 6 million a year to score 8 goals.
Sorry for the mini-rant... I'm just becoming incredibly frustrated, and I'm just not used to this feeling. I should talk to some of my Leaf fan buddies to see how they handle the constant disappointment so well.
Rob R.
Oman:
ReplyDelete"Rocco" has been bad before but nothing like this...ya just like to stangle the bum...
JL:
ReplyDeleteThere should be a performance clause, if you are over 26 and younger than Alfie, if you don't show up...Thou shalt not get paid!
Rob R:
ReplyDeleteI have my Parliment Hill sweater from day 1, I usta to wear it, proudly for pick up hockey...now it hangs in the far corner of the basement amoung a bunch of old dusty wedges...
I don't really think the future is that bright for this team. We definitely have a couplke promising d prospects, and a goaler. But that's it. We have no blue chipper forwards, and we've been saddled with a bunch of overpaid dinosaurs. We have money coming off the books, but that doesn't mean anything. The only way to get players who want to play here (under the current climate) is to overpay them, or to draft them. There is no quick fix or easy way out of this. This team needs to rebuild. Starting from the GM down.
ReplyDeleteDon't re-sign expiring contracts. ANY of them.
pg
pg:
ReplyDeleteBryan Murray's blood pressure was sky high, blood red in the face...he may have recieved the word from on high..."Don't...do not do anything to this team, let them play it out!"
We are bringing in Shai Agassi, he doesn't play hockey but he just figured out the Electric Car! "We need some new technologists on the ice!"
Spezza needs a finisher to put the puck in the net. He is not the bruiser that Getzlaf is.. nor the hitter like Thornton. He doesn't claim to be.
ReplyDeleteHe has improved his skating tremendously. At least he is trying to get better.
He was not at his best last night -- but neither were any of the top 6 players.
You build around Spezza. Kelly also is kept. You can't trade your best defensive forward and most all nights your hardest worker.
Be sellers at the deadline. Bring up the best prospects from Bingo for the rest of the season. The GM (whoever that is) can evaluate how they perform and what kind of players you need in free agency (that are under 30).
The defense & goaltending is set for the future. At least 2 of these D prospects will be with the Sens next season. Lehner needs to stay in Bingo at least one more season.
Get a decent goaltender (that is consistent) in free agency. A gritty forward that can score (like Upshall) and hope that in the draft you can pick top 3 and get that potential winger for Spezza.
Draft good forwards in the draft.
Maybe with rugged wingers with good finish, Spezza could be effective. I have been watching him his whole career though, and for the first time this season, I am starting to question whether or not you can successfully build around this guy.
ReplyDeleteYou can't win without a true first line centre, but you also cannot win with a highly talented first line centre who tends to turtle in danger zones and/or high pressure situations. This was also the knock on Yashin. I'm sure most of us can remember him turtling when Pat Quinn sicked Shayne Corson on him...
We tend to focus on Ottawa never having a real starting goalie, but how often do we wonder whether we've ever had a first line centre with enough heart to carry us to the cup. This will always be why Spezza will be ranked behind guys like Staal, Getzlaf, Richards, and Toews (obviously he doesn't compare on any level to Crosby). Spezza just doesn't have what guys like that bring to a team, and my hopes that he ever will is fading fast.
correction: *are* fading fast.
ReplyDeleteI wish it was fall 2011 already!
ReplyDeleteJason Spezza was a great young prospect, never rough but never asked to be...a cronic bad back forced him to play hurt and therefore "Light" early on...he developed this style over many seasons with some success...now I'm afraid he not only cannot change I think he's "DONE!"
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting take on it Nik. You could be right. But then you have to think of the chronic issues so many of the greats had to play through. It may have shortened their careers to play "hard" through it, and they may hurt every day now because of it, but they were also champions because of it.
ReplyDeleteSpezza would be a great 1b centre at 4-5mil a year.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed when BM gave him 7+longterm+NTC. What you see is what you get with him/he is what he is.
The contracts to Spezza & Heatley were right after the SCF run. They shared the point total in the playoffs with Alfie I believe.
ReplyDeleteThey came as a 'package'. Everyone knew the chemistry they had playing together.
Then Heatley screwed the team when he left.. Murray could not foresee that was going to happen.
That is an interesting point Sandy. It did seem like that line was unstoppable for a while. ...right up until the SCF when the Ducks were allowed to manhandle them.
ReplyDeleteOman you are correct on that.
ReplyDeleteOnce the 'top' line was stopped there was not enough depth or toughness in the rest of the lineup to overcome that... hence to loss.