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It's Saturday afternoon, and much like every other Saturday afternoon this season, I'm doing absolutely no prep-work for a game on Hockey Night in Canada. Although it seems logical that a team from Canada would play on Hockey Night in Canada, the NHL scheduling gods have deemed otherwise.
Seriously, though - it's a bit annoying. What's with all of these Sunday afternoon games? Trying to hold my main man Erik Karlsson down with regional coverage. Sly move, Gary Bettman, et al.
Either way, it gives me an opportunity to empty out the mailbag and answer some questions that Ottawa Senators fans have kicked my way recently. So, let's get into it.
First, though, let's take a quick glance back at a piece of last night's column - one that'll (hopefully) answer many of the questions pointed in my direction re: secondary scoring. I'm going to refer back to this often in the blog:
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Kyle Turris(17:14) - White-hot coming into Ottawa, but he's cooled off mightily, with just one goal and two assists since January 31st. Oh, and the goal? It was an empty-netter. For a second-line center, he isn't doing much of anything on the offensive end on the stat sheet.
Kaspars Daugavins(11:34 per) - One goal since November 26th in the infamous 'Party City' game v. Florida. Literally, that's it for him. He's added a couple of assists on the way, but is it even remotely possible to score so little? Probably the main reason why he's found himself in the press box, playing second fiddle to Jim O'Brien.
Erik Condra(14:41) - Sheesh. He'll probably never live down that wide-open miss against Boston at TD Garden, but even more damning is his lack of production. He's scored just one goal since December 21st, and has just seven points since the turn of the new year.
Colin Greening(15:39) - He's lucky to have picked up an assist in the 5-2 beating of the New York Islanders last Saturday, or he would've went the entire month of February without logging a single point. That's mind-numbing for a guy with his skill set in twelve consecutive games.
Nick Foligno(14:49) - Although I wouldn't peg him as the most disappointing forward right now, a quick Twitter poll of Ottawa Senators fans suggests otherwise. Fans are growing tired of his game, and he too has cooled off demonstratively. Do you know he hasn't scored a legitimate goal since the turn of the new year? His two tallies - against Philadelphia in January and Washington in February - were empty-net scores.
Zack Smith(14:37) - Even my ace has hit the skids. Zack Smith has just a pair of goals in 2012, and he seems to be losing a bit of his bite and intensity in the offensive third.
Bobby Butler(11:34) - Early-season whipping boy has gained back some respect with the fans for his play on L1, but for a guy on Jason Spezza's wing, shouldn't he be scoring goals? I'm sorry, but when you're on the side of #19, you have to be finding the back of the net. Butler has just one goal since January 11th.
The one positive thing I can say regarding all of the above-mentioned? Singularly and collectively, they remain defensively committed. Credit to both them and Paul MacLean for working through adversity and still playing a team game, even if the points aren't coming.
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@madskeez72 When is it time to end the Bobby Butler experiment!? #Sens
When I polled fans on Twitter and here on HockeyBuzz as to which forward(s) outside of the big guns were disappointing them the most, the usual suspects - Colin Greening, Kyle Turris, Nick Foligno, et al. - turned up frequently. And, rightfully so.
One name that seemed to get a free pass? Bobby Butler. And why, I'm really not sure. Butler's level of hockey has marginally improved since getting back on L1 with Jason Spezza, but the goal scoring simply isn't there.
Again, I find it incredibly tough to buy into a player who can't score goals on Jason Spezza's line. Believe it or not, Jason Spezza -as a point producer - has been one of the best this season. Right now, he stands at fourth in the NHL with 72P(28G/44A), and has a real shot to finish inside of the top three.
You can pump in all of the rhetoric about there being more to hockey than goal-scoring. Look, I get it. A player in Paul MacLean's system has to be defensively responsible, and Butler can certainly provide sparks of energy in the offensive zone.
But, is this exactly what we want from a first-line forward?
He has to wake up.
@BonksMullet (cc: @JakeSinfield12, @RLevitan1, etc.) How about your take on any of the SEL guys coming back to finish the year. Any other guys you'd like to see called up?
It's a bit amusing, no? The idea of burning an entire year off of a guy's entry-level contract seems ridiculous, but with how poor the secondary scoring has been over the past couple of months, one has to seriously wonder if Bryan Murray is kicking around the idea of bringing Mika Zibanejad - or another name - back for a stretch run.
Burning an entire year for a player who's only going to add marginal value to the Ottawa Senators down the stretch does seem like a bit of a waste, but the option is right there with Djurgården of the SEL dead to rights.
Is Zibanejad a game-changer? Eh. Would he improve the team heading forward in 2011-2012? Well, yes. As we've exhausted here, the team's really lacking any kind of punch outside of the high-profile forwards, and Zibanejad's a committed two-way player who's probably(definitely) going to be with the team next season anyway.
The experience might be a positive for Zibanejad, too.
In twenty-four games with Djurgården, Zibanejad scored five goals and seven assists, improving from a 0.34 PPG average one year ago to 0.50 in 2011-2012. And remember, he's still eighteen years old.
For those who don't want to burn a year off of Zibanejad's ELC but do want to raid the SEL for additional talent, one other name names - Jakob Silfverberg - is also worth looking at. There's issues, though.
Silfverberg has been absolutely sensational this season, and might very well be the most NHL-ready prospect outside of Ottawa right now. The kid's torn the SEL to absolute shit, with 23G/27A in 47 GP with Brynas IF Gavle.
So, what's the hurdle? His team's pretty good. Actually, really good. Unlike Zibanejad's club, Brynas has a decent shot to make a deep run in the post-season, which means Ottawa couldn't get their hands on him - at best - until late in the season.
@kriskok Do you think Lehner was ready this whole time? Or is he stepping it up because Bishop is on the scene now?
Here's what I think I know about Robin Lehner: One, he's an absolute gamer, and rises to the occasion in these big spots. Two, he was probably tired of getting picked apart on a pretty horrible Binghamton Senators team this year. Three, he's
Four? The kid still needs work. Pretty ridiculous thing to say after what we've seen, eh? It's the truth, though. Lehner's saving himself with his obscene size and athleticism in these past few games. Nothing wrong with that. But, teams will begin to exploit his weaknesses with more and more tape.
It's not to go all Negative Nancy - the kid can play in the NHL right now, and I think he's proven as much. All I'm saying is that he's still a far-from-developed product, which should scare the living shit out of the Northeast division.
And, to answer your last question - I don't think there's any doubt about it. How would you feel if your firm hired an additional employee to complete the same work you do? All with an air of doubt that one of you might be taken to pasture (read: traded) if productivity dips?
Lehner knows what the Bishop deal was about.
@DomT91 Goalie situation next year: what if Lehner and Bishop have excellent camps and Anderson fails terribly? what do you do?
The good news here is that - thanks to an almost decade-long sample size - the possibility of this actually happening is slim. Even Craig Anderson's biggest detractors know that he's a capable NHL goaltender. But, for argument's sake, let's assume that regression due to a variety of reasons happens, and Bishop/Lehner begin to push.
Reality: You're stuck with Craig Anderson temporarily, because he's signed through 2014-2015 on a $3M cap hit. One of Lehner or Bishop will win the NHL job and steal more and more starts away form Anderson until the #1/#2 eventually flip for Paul MacLean.
Again, though - I don't think this is reality. Lehner and Bishop are going to have to be lights out in the next year to steal Anderson's starting role. As much as we like the two prospects, neither - right now - are as good as Anderson.
@gosensgo101 Can you explain why Ottawa's secondary scoring has all but dried up?
Going to hurt some feelings here, but I think it's a combination of factors.
First: I think the talent for some of these mid-level prospects is a bit overrated. I'm buying Colin Greening's skill set, but he's been an unmitigated disaster over the past month. Others prefer Erik Condra as a player, but there's no one on this planet who's going to sell me on this notion that he's a top-six forward right now.
I think the idea was that at least one of these two guys could eat top-six minutes for this season, and as mentioned previously, I'm not going to write-off either - especially Greening - just yet. The fact, though, is that both are - at best - fringe top-six players.
Why is this a problem? Well, you're littered with a bunch of the same guys on this roster right now. Nick Foligno's like the kid who just found the 'X' button on NHL 12 and abuses it every time he enters the offensive zone. Does Foligno do anything but try and skate with an edge, abusively handle the puck, and in the end, do nothing? He's really been bad of late. The worst part is that his errors in the offensive zone are fairly subtle(e.g. losing the puck in the corners), which don't earn him a ton of criticism. Still, they're wasted possessions.
Jim O'Brien, Kaspars Daugavins, and Zenon Konopka aren't expected to offer much of anything in the offensive department, but it's still a bit alarming when two(and sometimes three) of these guys are all in the lineup at the same time.
Zack Smith's on a Nikolai Kulemin-esque regression, but like Greening, I'm holding out a bit of hope here. He's still a nasty fuck down the middle, and is making teams fight for all 200 feet.
Lastly, Kyle Turris and Bobby Butler. If there's two guys the team needs more offense from, it's them. I'm giving Turris some benefit of the doubt without having a proper training camp, but he's playing alongside solid wingers and hasn't made any kind of impact offensively in quite some time. Butler - well, I burned on him above.
What you're left with? A lot of guys who are struggling/regressing/whatever. They're playing balls-to-the-wall hockey, and that's why the team overall is still competitive, but the offensive output is miserable right now.
Will be ugly if Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson cool down. And they will.
@Robert_Lennox heard sens recalled klinkhammer which would cost us that seventh. Thoughts?
Haven't heard this confirmed yet, but even if it does happen at some point this year, it's not going to make a huge impact. Klinkhammer felt like a good buy from the Chicago Blackhawks organization at the time and has played well with Binghamton through thirty-five games (12G/23A), but I've watched his game a bit of late and it screams fringe bottom-six player at the NHL level.
A marginal upgrade from JOB/Kaspars? Possibly. Nothing to write home about, though.
@Deggy77 Sens quite obviously need some help in the T6. Do you pursue Parise in the off season? If so, at what cost?
Parise is the ideal fit for Bryan Murray's rebuild right now. He'd come at an absurd cost, one that'd probably inch close to a max-deal. Still, he's a winger - a trouble area for Ottawa right now - and is more than capable of potting 30+G in a season. Through sixty-four games played with New Jersey, he's already scored 27G/29A.
Couple of problems re: Zach Parise, though. One, I'm not sure he wants to leave New Jersey, which means he could give any deal the Devils put forward a slight intrinsic advantage to begin with. Two, he's a left-winger, not a right-winger. If Bryan Murray's going to prioritize, he has to find help on the right side first, especially with the impending departure of one Daniel Alfredsson.
I'd engage in a bidding war for Parise to an extent, but I'm not sure Ottawa could land a big fish like him anyway.
@Alessandroxo Ottawa's 1st round pick at the draft and your opinion on the prospect(s) you think could be in Ottawa's range
My man Alessandro still thinking long-term in the middle of a playoff race. Let's assume Ottawa's drafting in the middle of the first. Here's a few F/D names I've compiled that could fit Ottawa's interests:
Forwards
Halifax - Martin Frk, F (11G/10A in 28 GP)
Djurgarden - Pontus Aberg, LW/RW (8G/7A in 45 GP - 18 YO, SEL)
HV Slavia Praha - Tomas Hertl, C (12G/13A in 38 GP)
Defense
Portland - Derrick Pouliot, D (9G/42A in 62 GP)
Guelph - Matt Finn, D (10G/34A in 53 GP)
London - Olli Maatta, D (5G/24A in 29 GP)
I'll have more details on each of these mid-round names in later blogs.
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Thanks for reading!
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