Love for Coach Clouston

Houses Of The Hockey gives up some love for Coach Clouston.

At the end of the day, you can’t fault Clouston for where the Senators are in the standings. If Clouston, a winning coach and the best coach the Senators have had in years, can’t win with this roster, I’m not sure any other coach would fair much better.

And the fact of the matter is, other coaches have not fared better.

I said at the time that Hartsburg left that I didn't think the team's poor results were entirely his fault. The problem was that the guys on the ice were not putting in the consistent effort every night. My view was I'd like to see what Hartsburg could do with a real team before we decided if he was to be fired.

And the same problem is happening here. I've said before, I thought the problem was that 2007 happened a year too early. 2007 happened because Ray Emery played way, way over his head for the entire playoff series, and that inspired the rest of the team to increase their level of play. As a result, everyone thought that the construction of the team was complete, and we would challenge in 2008.

Reality was somewhat different, and since then we've been slowly tweaking ourselves into the current situation. While I think the guys on the ice are not playing to their capabilities, they are definitely not playing over their heads in the way required to succeed with this roster.

The other problem that GMs face is that they generally can't fire the entire roster due to contract limitations. If the GM thinks a change has to be made, the coach is the at-will employee closest to the players that can be fired.

We are still coming to grips with this cap-centric world, so while Murray has to take some of the blame for the current situation, the fact is that none of his colleagues have really shown they understand how to work the cap-centric world either. Until that happens, look for trades to be both infrequent and one-sided. Infrequent because the cap will govern any moves made, and one-sided because one side of the trade will inevitably be forced to accept less than one might otherwise consider fair. (See also Dany Heatley.)

The bottom line is that Murray has to be better about assembling the pieces. If we have to go through a dry spell, then I for one would like to see emphasis on picks and prospects, trying to trade intelligently for a future more than just 10 games away.

Until then, Clouston is a perfectly adequate coach and I don't see a reason to fire him.

Crazy

Want a crazy thought? Dany Heatley did the Senators a favor by screwing them on his way out of town.

Now while you are casting around for your torches and pitchforks, hear me out.

Put aside your Senators-red colored glasses and take a look at this year's team. I mean, really look at them. Look at the effort put in on the ice on most nights.

Last night they fired more shots at Niemi than were directed back at LeClair. Niemi may be commonly considered one of the more porous goalies on the circuit this year, but for all this artillery... nothing goes in.

Monday they played host to Edmonton, and got owned. The worst team in the west came to visit and beat them. The only goal that the Senators could muster would be a single fluky marker that bounces off of Foligno's stick then off an Oiler skate and in.

All those other efforts?

Nothing.

And this was Darth Gerber they were shelling, allegedly the single handed cause of Ottawa's now legendary collapse in 2008. A man shielded by the worst defense corps in the west. Being attacked by a team who's owner believes are destined for the finals; a team which most fans think will get to the playoffs, even if not very far.

And? At risk of repeating myself:

Nothing.

So. Let's review. This year we have:

• no primary scoring;
• no defensive discipline; and
• at least one goalie (you pick) playing over his head without any support from the guys ahead of them.

Gut check time, folks:

How much better would this be if Heatley was still here?

It would be better, sure. But how much better? Is Dany Heatley that god among men who can make the difference between a trip to the finals, and... well, this?

Well then San Jose is sure getting screwed, aren't they?

When Heatley devalued himself so that Brian Murray was forced to take a salary dump in the form of Cheechoo just for the privilege of handing over a multi-time 50-goal-scorer, he not only deprived the Senators of his services, but weakened them further by tying up resources that would prevent the Senators from even contemplating a reasonable effort at replacing even a part of it.

(No disrespect to Michalek, but he's no Dany Heatley.)

Leading us more or less inevitably to where we are today.

The Ottawa Senators are going to have to take a long, hard look in the roster. The fact of the matter is that as the team is currently on average the oldest on the ice, they will not be getting, on average, better.

While we locked up the core of the team that got us to the playoffs, we discarded for varying reasons some of the wildcards that were the difference between trying and succeeding. And it was that whole team, together, all playing well, many playing above their heads, that got to the final in 2007.

By trying to hold on to that history, hold on to the memory that we came so close to holding that parade, we have let the possibility of that dream coming true in the near future slip through our fingers.

The time has passed on tweaking this team.

The time has come, frankly, to rebuild this team.

I'd rather wander the wilderness of no-playoffs for a couple of years knowing that we were in the process of building a youth movement that could actually carry us somewhere. It would be far better to do that than to carry on as we are, staggering around in the fringes of the wilderness, hoping against hope that some miracle tweak will make everything better.

I think that Dany Heatley got us to this point sooner than we would have otherwise.

Sorry, guys.

Bring on the torches and pitchforks.

Discipline

Dean Brown gets on the Call The Fucking Rulebook bandwagon, albeit at a higher level.

Leafs Lose, All Is Right With The World

You know what I thought the highlight of Saturday night was? In the second. The hometown Leafs fans started a "Go Leafs Go" chant -- and it got drowned out by a "Go Sens Go" chant.

The other random thought I had was that the hometown Leafs fans really gave the team that home-style welcome, right down to booing them in the third.

Classy.

Overall I thought that Ottawa deserved to win. Maybe Toronto didn't deserve to get shut out, but more than a goal would have been flattering to both the Leaf effort and discipline. Both Khadri and Kessel whiffed on open net opportunities, but that's what happens to most players most of the time.

For once it wasn't Ottawa making stupid defensive lapses. For once it wasn't Ottawa making turnovers on botched outlet passes. For once it wasn't the LeClaire facing odd-man rushes.

Fisher was on, collecting two pretty goals, an assist on Kovalev's marker, plus a post.

It wasn't the prettiest game, but at least the hometown Leafs fans were shut up a bit, and that's never a bad thing.

6th Sens Contest Entry

The contest, such that it is, is here.

I won't win, but I might get a cheap laugh for being one of the first.

The picture is described:

Erik Karlsson’s death stare. After Pittsburgh cheap shot specialist Matt Cooke was sent to the penalty box for running the Ottawa defenceman into the glass from behind with a late hit, Karlsson fixed his evil eye across the ice surface and pointed a threatening finger at his attacker. It was a bit like a chipmunk trying to intimidate a weasel, but kudos to the kid for sticking up for himself.

Update, 10 seconds later: Turns out I've been misspelling Erik's first name this whole time. How typical humiliating.

Profit

Sens Plan To Jack Up Price

Ottawa's favourite hockey team plans to raise ticket prices on premium games. The closer it is to game day, the higher the cost will be for some of the seats.

...and this predictably drags out the boo-birds who declare this as nothing less than unadulterated greed.

What I don't get is why these "fans" think it is OK for a third party to buy a ticket from the Senators for some price, then sell it at a higher price, pocketing the difference. That ticket still sells for the higher price. Why should that profit not go to the team for providing the entertainment?

The problem for these "fans" isn't that the Senators want to raise prices. The problem for these "fans" is that someone is willing to pay more than they are. And the team just wants an increased cut of that money.

This is basic economics, people. If someone is willing to buy a particular ticket for $300, why on earth should the team sell it for $200?

And if the team raises prices beyond the willingness of their market to pay, then they'll end up with less-than-sold-out games, and at that point they'll have to reconsider.

Refs Try To Give Toronto A Win, Leafs Can't Take It

I'm still angry about Tuesday night.

Tuesday I watched most of the game between the Leafs and the Senators. Overall I thought the Leafs skated better and and made the Senators run around in their own end, but stand-up play from Elliot and no small amount of bad luck on the Leaf's part meant that the Senators ended up winning.

But what has me angry is the just plain flat out BAD officiating that happened in that game:

• Fisher wasn't hooked. Officials have let FAR worse go FAR more regularly, and to suddenly call something like that is to raise the level of inconsistency.
• Both refs were far more interested in watching Phaneuf get up-ended on his ass than watching the goddamn puck. So even though the puck went under Kovalev, who went in the net, which is where the officials picked the puck up from after Phaneuf was helped off the ice play -- no call. Since there was no call on the ice, there was no call to overturn, and the cameras have not yet been fitted to Kovalev's ass, so -- no goal. WATCH THE GODDAMN PUCK, ITS YOUR JOB.
• The flurry of penalties at the end was more than a little ridiculous, considering worse had been ignored EARLIER IN THE PERIOD.
• That TOTALLY bogus "delay of game" penalty issued to Hale even though we could hear the puck HIT THE GLASS on the way out of the ice surface.

It felt by the end that the officials were trying very hard to give Toronto the win, but somehow the Leafs couldn't quite seal the deal.

That's not to say that the Leafs fans had nothing to complain about with regards to the reffing:

Similar slashes to the one called on Grabovski were let go, a trip on Beauchemin prior to Orr's dumb penalty was missed, and Mike Fisher interfering with Jean-Sebastien Giguere's right leg was not seen by any refs.

PPP (the author) is far more charitable to the officials that I am.

And this, I think, is what gets me. This kind of bad officiating is so run-of-the-mill that there is no serious mention of it. It is accepted that over the long haul, sometimes the refs will work for you and sometimes they will work against you and that's just considered part of the game.

Now I'm sure that because this is a fast-paced, high-pressure game where the players will push every boundary just a little bit further than they can that the refs are under enormous pressure to make split-second judgments. To get it right every time would be impossible. However I don't think they were even close on Tuesday night.