"No Relation" Still With Senators Organization

YaHoo (amongst others) reports that Mike "No Relation" Brodeur has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Senators organization.

(This isn't really earth-shattering news; it is just an excuse for me to giggle. I just like referring to him as "No Relation" Brodeur. I like that nickname better than "Not Martin", which currently seems to be the most prevalent.)

Return Of The King

So Alfredsson was good to go in Montreal on Saturday night. And was he ever -- one goal, two assists, including a nice little helper on Zack Smith's short-handed goal.

It is amazing how one guy can make so much difference on the ice. Alfredsson made an impact most of the time he was on the ice, and that dandy little poke-pass to Smith gave Ottawa the confidence that good things will happen.

But one guy I want to mention is Cheechoo. I thought that Cheechoo was definitely trying hard throughout the game on Saturday night. While his rushes seemed a bit labored compared to some of the other more fleet of foot on the team, Cheechoo was willing to put in the effort and I think generated some nice chances. I really want to like Cheechoo and I hope that if he keeps this kind of effort up that the goals will come.

In general I thought the Canadiens were faster on the ice than Ottawa was, but Ottawa held firm in discipline. "No Relation" Brodeur stood tall, including some scary looking scrambles in front of the net. Ottawa seemed to monopolize more time in the Montreal end than the other way around.

Overall it was a nice win on Saturday and a reasonably entertaining game. Word is that the team will continue to ride "No Relation" as his hot streak continues, although Boston seems to own Ottawa pretty well the last few years and we should not be surprised if this afternoon brings a loss.

The Savior Has Come

If the rumors floating around are true, LeClaire is not just a fragile goalie, he is a ridiculously fragile goalie. The story is that during practice yesterday morning in New York, Mike Fisher fired a rocket into LeClaire's mask, with the result that LeClaire now has a concussion (or as it will be explained on the press releases, an "upper body injury"). This could keep him out indefinitely. Isn't having a fragile goalie fun!

(Maybe Mike Fisher just doesn't like LeClaire, as the shot which broke LeClaire's cheek in November came off his stick, too. I jest...)

So with Brian Elliot battling the flu instead of the puck for a change, the team made an emergency callup of Mike "No Relation" Brodeur. And lo, did the savior do his good work: Ottawa bounced the Rangers 2-0 in their own rink.

So from two career starts, Brodeur has two wins, one shut-out, a 0.5 goals-against average, and a 0.982 save-percentage.

Clearly Ottawa has found our new franchise goalie.

</sarcasm>

Both times Brodeur has been called up, the team has been struggling with a sudden injury. Most of the time such a shock will prompt a team into playing over their heads for a game or two, and I think that these examples fit this general scenario quite well.

If LeClaire is out for a while, clearly Brodeur will have to stay while Elliot acts as the primary goaltender. But my feelings about Brodeur are the same I had last year about Elliot: bringing him along too quickly will not be in his best interest.

If only Ottawa fans could tolerate some adversity without jumping up and down for immediate fixes.

Update: The word now is that yes, it is a concussion, but it is probably a concussion that was originally inflicted in the earlier injury and was just aggravated yesterday. So LeClaire is not fragile -- just hurt. And probably really hurt, which means he will be gone for a long period again.

LeClaire Watch, Day 3

LeClaire didn't show at practice this morning, and Mike Brodeur has been called up from Bingo to backup Elliot. So, this isn't likely to be a short injury.

We knew an injury-prone goalie would be a fun ride, but who saw him getting taken out while riding the bench?

(Update: TSN says a broken cheek bone that requires surgery -- he's gone until after Christmas. Nice.)