The Ottawa Senators are currently the third worst team in the NHL based off their points. Based off their points-per-game, they’re the second worst as St. Louis has two games in hand. That’s where the Sens are left after losing two games in a row against a team whose roster hasn’t nearly got the skill of the Sens’ roster. I will say this for the Islanders though: they know they don’t have a ton of talent and they play the game conservatively because of it and it will pay off for them in the long run when some of their slew of young draftees begins to pan out.
The Senators have the third worst offence in the NHL. At the start of the season, I didn’t think the Sens would be the best offensive team in the league but certainly no worse than middle of the pack. The funny thing is they’re eighth in the NHL in goals against and so people keep pointing toward the lack of goal scoring as the reason the Sens are failing. While it’s just obvious that scoring goals helps win games, and I’m not disputing it would be great if this team would score more, I still think the team’s problems mainly start at the back end. The team still does not look organized in the defensive zone, they still allow opposing players to have their way in the crease, they still unnecessarily screen their goalie and they have no transition game to speak of (the number one crippler of a good offence).
The goals that are scored against the Sens this year are of a frustrating variety. More often than not, they don’t take a lot of skill to perform. They usually depend on a bad giveaway (like Chris Kelly being unable to clear the zone last night leading to the Sim goal) or they depend on shovelling garbage goals into the net or a screen on the goalie. They’re the type of goals you see when the defensive team is not forcing the offensive team to beat them but rather they’re leaving easy avenues for the offensive team to take. If the Sens closed a few holes in their defence it would take more creativity to beat them and it would give them a better transition game because other teams would stop simply trying to get the puck down low in going for garbage goals. A better transition game means the Sens won’t have to constantly fight through four or five guys to get a shot on net.
The Sens didn’t play an awful game last night, and Joey MacDonald played real well again, but they still didn’t really play a team game. Each player did a good job as individuals for spurts and so there were periods where the Sens got shots on net or even generated scoring chances. Unfortunately, the Sens were having a lot of trouble getting into rhythm with one another even when they were playing well individually. Missed passes and scoring chances and sloppy plays through the neutral zone kept occurring not necessarily because of terrible decisions but pucks missing intended targets by mere inches.
All-in-all, I liked the effort out of the roster better last night. I’m sure it had something to do with Murray having a talk with them about their effort in the previous Sens vs. Isles game. Unfortunately, despite the effort, this team still has not gelled and it’s in one of those funks that could happen to any team, no matter how good. I still think the smartest thing to do is grin and bear it. Wait for the team to get out of the funk. Give the young guys like Winchester and Foligno some time to get used to the NHL some more. Give the new guys more time to get to know one another. I think if this season has to be a write off, so be it. The team will be much better next season for it and the Sens haven’t had a high draft pick in a while. Sadly, I don’t believe that’s what will happen.
If the team continues this way, it will be split up and unless GM Murray has some compromising photos of other GMs, the pieces he will receive in return for his players will almost certainly not be as good as the player he sends out. No one player will fix this team’s problems because they are just that: team problems. The reality of the situation is that while the Sens may only still be four points out of a playoff spot, they’ll have to climb over about six teams to get to that spot and keep this roster together. That won’t happen unless this team comes together quickly. More than likely, if I were a betting man, I would say Hartsburg should keep his resume up to date and so should several of the players and possibly Bryan Murray. After all, this is the second coach he’s picked in two years and if Hartsburg doesn’t pan out, I can’t imagine that ownership would have unlimited patience with the issue.
There’s nothing worse, as a fan, than the feeling that your team is going off the rails AND management doesn’t really know what to do about it. That’s the sense I get from the club currently. While I like some of the moves that Murray has made, including re-signing Alfie, picking up Ruutu and signing Auld, I am sceptical about his overall ability to make sound long-term decisions for a team that isn’t sure if it’s rebuilding or not (another problem).
Direction is going to come from Murray soon enough if this keeps up and when it does, we will truly see what he is made of and how much or little trouble the Sens are in.
-Gerz
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