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Far be it for me to belabour the obvious:The Ottawa Senators were absolutely dreadful in their series with the BuffaloSabres.
In no particular order, here are my takes on why Ottawa sucked so bad against Buffalo.
1). Hasek
Now the fans of Ottawa get to feel like the fans of Buffalo and Detroit, concerning #39. Hasek is a quitter. He's a self-centered ego maniac who loves to pull the lever on theejector seat when he senses that things are not going his way. Johnny Mucks hitched his wagon to #39, knowing full well his propensity to quit on his team. Ted Nolan saw Hasek's warts long ago. Nolan is a man of high moral character and he was a master motivator. Nolan ultimately lost the battle because Johnny Mucks loved to give Hasek "get out of jail free passes". Nolan told Hasek that he was no better than the Pecas, Barnabys, Rays, Wards, Dawes, Holzingers on the Sabres Nolan refused to kiss Hasek's ass, and it got him blackballed from the NHL. Muckler, on the other hand,continues tovalidated Hasek's childlike behaviour. Hasek is used tomassaging the truthto cover his own ass, and,John Muckler is the #1 supporter in the Hasek fan club.
I spoke with Muckler last Wednesday in Buffalo, at the Game 3 skate. Muckler had confided to me that Hasek was making progress and that:
"You will see him before its all over".
Twenty minutes after that conversation, Muckler and his henchman assembled with the media to watch #39 take pucks for the first time in weeks. At that point, Hasek looked to be 70%-75% healthy. He lookedgood, not great. Emery on the other hand was an emotional mess. Muckler was toying with the notion of bring #39 back. It wasall up to Hasek. Hasek bailed on the idea, because he did not want to tarnsih his own reputation. He figured Emery got the Sens into this mess, let Emery bail them out. Hasek withheld his services and his team lost to the better team. Loser.
We'll never know what may have happenedif Hasek would've been honest with Muckler and Murray thatmorning in Buffalo.
Thankfully, Only Dominik knows what goes on in Dominik's head.
Muckler went all-in on the washed up Hasek, and he lost ---BIG TIME !!
2. Chara
Broke his hand in a fightwith Eric Cairns in March. The Sens hid the injury until it became painfully obvious that Chara could not handle the puck like he is accustomedto playing. Buffalo soft-dumped on Chara and made him play the puck. Thats like asking a pitched to throw with a broken index finger. Chara was a gigantic disappointment.You knew the series would be on by Buffalo when you saw the fearless Max Afinogenov blocking a Cahra point blast in OT in Game 3. Chara was below average, as were his D mates: Redden, Phillips, Volchenkov, Meszaros. Pothier was their only bright light on D. Chara hurt his market value with this pathetic display versus Buffalo. Good luck finding a team to pay you 8 million for five or six years!
3). Redden
I've watched the replay of Pominville's game winner thirteen differenttimes. Where was Wade Redden on that play? Redden was out to lunch the whole series. Same thing versus Tampa. Redden is like Chara in that his market value is falling fast as a result of his sloppy, uninspired play against Buffalo. I'll never forget the way that Tim Connolly abused Redden with then same move - TWICE- while shorthanded in Game 1. What he Hell was he thinking leaving his feet TWICE to make a play? My ten year old son plays better D, for crying out loud.
4), Heatley
I'll be kind...
Dany Heatley was pathetic versus Buffalo. The guy did not compete every shift. He was a floater for most of the series. No passion, no inspiration.
He didn't win wall battles; he was passive aggressive around the net; he didn't compete for loose pucks. Heatley was soft. You need more from ateam leader who score 100 point sin a season. Heatley's performance was shadowed by the ineptitude of Alfredsson. Quite frankly, Heatley looked like Alexandre Daigle in the Buffalo series.
5). Alfredsson
In a word, Alfie " sucked " in the Buffalo and Tampa series, respectively.
What a sorry excuse for a Captain. Disgarceful. Alfie will not be back with the Sens next year. why would they want him?
6). Bryan Murray
Lindy Ruff outciooachd and out-classed Murray.
Sjame on Murray for making his comments about Max Afinogenov just before Game 5. His intimation that Max is soft on the road is laughable. He himself has 5 or 6 quitters who've disappearedat key moment is these playoffs.
Ottawa have some big decisons to make in the days and weeks to come. They have 12 RFSa and 4 UFAs, that they must try to re-sign. Good luck. Even when the cap goes up next season, there won't be enough money to spread around in Ottawa.
Did you know that Ottawa forwards did not score a 5 on 5 goal AFTER Game 1 ?
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I thought that Ray Emery was courageous in defeatfor the Sens. His " All World" D played like ass. Meszaros should've been benched, as he looked overwhelmed for most of the series.
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Enough about the Losers. Lets talk about the winners.
I'll breakdown the Sabres tomorrow.They practice at 11:45 at HSBC Arena.
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That's my story and I'm sticking to it......
Garth
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