Jerk Them Knees

So, in evidence that trading Ben Bishop was a bad idea, I offer you this single data point:

• Ben Bishop debuts for Tampa with a shutout; and
• Robin Lehner coughs up two goals in twelve seconds enroute to a 4-2 loss.

Since this is the Internet, we can therefore extrapolate the rest of their careers from tonight and conclude that Bishop is the greatest goalie to ever play the game, and Lehner is a pinball machine.

I jest.

Sort of.

(Update: Here's an article which calmly compares the Bishop-Lehner situation to that of Chara and Redden.  I think he's on to something, and this deal will be talked about for the next couple years at least as both goalies move through the next phase of their careers.)

Shipping Bishop

And while we're on the topic of writing knee-jerk, poorly thought out headscratcher blog posts about deadline-day trades:

I'll call it right now: trading Ben Bishop is a mistake.  I know we can't keep three goalies on the team, and Anderson's return is supposedly imminent (and lets hope he's really healthy when he comes back, ankles in goalies can be tricky things) -- but I'm not sold on Lehner.  I don't think he's the man.  When he plays things are wild and exciting and he gets lit up like a pinball machine. He's one of those players who thinks his balls click together when he walks around*. I just don't have a good feeling for him.

Bishop I thought had much more upside potential.  He was more quiet, more professional, more just-get-the-job-done.  I don't think his potential will be realized terribly well in Tampa, where he'll suffer from the same problem that Ottawa goalies have had -- that being, playing behind a terrible team -- but of the two, I'd rather of kept him.

I don't even care about this rookie-of-the-year candidate we got back in exchange right now.

I will go on record as admitting that I wasn't a fan of the Runblad-for-Turris trade, and overall that worked out quite nicely.

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*: and we've played that game before, a certain Mr. Ray Emery.

Torn

So I am, as the title above says, a bit torn.

Torn because the Chicago Blackhawks came in here and while I figured they would be beatable, the demonstration they left on the ice suggests that tonight they were by far the better team. They were faster, more aggressive, tighter, looser, everything-er.

Frankly the only reason the score wasn't run up was Lehner.

That's not to say this was a bad outing for the Senators. No, the fact that they could live with -- more or less -- a demonstrably better team reflects well on them. For a first year rebuild team, this was an exceptionally good game. They lost, yes, but it wasn't a blow-out and while I felt they were running around in their own end a bit much -- as well as the neutral zone and frankly the offensive zone -- they never really stopped trying. They looked like a young team, but they never gave up.

I think with the ongoing implosion that is going on behind them in the standings (see also Toronto) the first round of playoffs is a lock for the Senators at this point. Beyond that, anything can happen. And again, for a first-year rebuild team, that's an outstanding achievement. Even if it is more of a condemnation of how mediocre the east really is.

The ever-present danger here is that the Senators won't be able to continue to build on this momentum, that management might decide to go back to trying to "tweak" the team into contention.

So I'm continuing to enjoy the games I manage to catch. I'm just not sure I'm optimistic about the long-term.

In other news:

• Good on Ray Emery to get his career back on track. The boy can play, and as long as he focuses on that, he'll continue to do just fine. I don't know why he was run out of Ottawa, but he's clearly got his act together in Chicago.
• Also nice to see ex-Sen Antoine Vermette get some attention through the game.
• Hossa still looked dangerous at times, but he kind of came across as a faded star -- someone capable of occasional flashes of his former brilliance, but not a regular super star. Sort of like -- and it pains me to say this -- how Daniel Alfredsson might look next year.

A Cut Above

Craig Anderson cuts his hand making dinner after last night's whooping of the Washington Capitals.

...you can't make this stuff up, can you.

The team has been pretty lucky, injury-wise, so far this season. Michalek was out with a concussion, and both Phillips and Gonchar spent some time on the injury list. But if there is one player who has been single-handedly carrying this team so far this season, it's Erik Karlsson. No wait, I mean Craig Anderson.

Look at last night. Craig Anderson stopped 33 of 35 shots on goal. The two Washington goalies combined to stop 19 of 25 (with one empty-netter at the end of the game). So yes, "Mister" Anderson was the man last night. But let's review: Ottawa gave up 35 shots on goal. Unless the goalie is the man, the end result could have been much, much uglier.

With all respect to Alex "back from the goalie graveyard" Auld*, the problem in Ottawa has not yet settled down to something you could call weak goaltending. Even if Auld is only average, it is going to get ugly. If he's merely human, we'll probably get the opportunity to watch "Goalie Of The Future" Lehner get lit up like a pinball machine a couple of times again.

This team has got to play better in front of their goalies. Only then can we start appreciating** how good the goaltending we have actually is.

As far as the standings go, however, I feel pretty good. The only teams with genuine chances to catch Ottawa are Toronto, Winnipeg, and Washington, and I think the gap that Ottawa has now will permit them to retain a place in the playoffs by playing only .500 hockey through Anderson's absence. It pains me to say it, but Toronto isn't as bad as the last-10 makes them look, while I think Winnipeg's last-10 numbers of 5-4-1 are probably a bit above where they should be.

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* = stupid nickname, I know, but what you going to do?

** = although it is nice to watch Toronto demonstrate that they are no better than Ottawa at refraining from fitting goalies under the bus at the first sign of trouble.

Big Steaming Pile of Meh

So yeah, I should probably do some kind of fare-well post for the dearly departed Chris Campoli, but to be honest I really can't be bothered. Campoli showed flashes of competence without being noticeably worse than his team mates most evening, and all for a relatively affordable amount of money. In other words, the ideal 3rd-pair defense man.

Problem is, this team is drowning in 3rd-pair defense players; so now Campoli is gone in exchange for a draft pick.

Meh.

In other meh news, Ottawa claims goalie Curtis McElhinney off of waivers, intercepting his move from Anaheim to Tampa. This is clearly a move to ensure that Lehner spends more time working the AHL than riding airplanes between Bingo and wherever Ottawa is playing.

With all the changes that have been happening, I find it rather hard to get excited about the team for the rest of the year. Maybe I am a "frontrunner" or a bandwagon-rider, but I look at this roster and think "so what?"

I did have the Boston game on for a while, and while it was dry, it showed a few flashes of entertainment. But only a few. It did make the perfect cap for the awful day I had at work on Tuesday: slightly painful, with only hints of joy. But maybe that's more of a commentary on me than on the game.

Goalie Of The Future

...I dunno, I didn't see it.

Lehner gave up as many as, or more than, Elliot or Leclaire have in losing efforts. Lehner's win was only granted because the Islanders are just as happless in terms of their discipline, which means that the Ottawa offense was finally able to connect.

Now yes this is only one game and yes we can't condemn him on the basis of this one outing, but to say that he has work to do would be something of an understatement.

FFS

The hot item from Brian Murray's non-conference was his comment about franchise savior goalie prospect Robin Lehner:

I would like to see him play back in Binghamton over the weekend and then see how we do and make a decision based on that. I wish Robin would have made another stop against the Russians (a 4-3 shootout loss in the semifinals) and been in the final game against Canada. That would have been a heck of a test for him. I thought he played well in a tournament.

Brian, man, no matter how desperate you are to keep your own job, DON'T grasp at straws this way. I mean, what could happen here?

• Lehner comes up, and our elite defense performs the way it has been performing, and Lehner gets shelled, then hooked, then sent back down; or
• Lehner comes up, absolutely stands on his head, and still doesn't get any wins because of a lack of offense at the other end of the ice.

The latter is the BEST case.

And this assumes that Lehner is even ready for an NHL start.

If Lehner is in any way to be of use to this franchise, then leave him down in the AHL where he can continue to develop, then we'll take a good hard look at him next year.

...but yeah, you might not be around to do that in the fall, right.

Don't do it.