Do or Die Road Trip Begins

After the Sens last game in Philly, The Sens have a daunting task ahead of them to get themselves into the the Playoff race. The Philly game gave me heart attacks, hope, joy, elation then utter frustration. The team found yet another way to lose. Daniel Alfredsson of all people gave the puck away with a boneheaded play to gave away also a hard fought point and effectively kill the Sens comeback. The Chris Phillips goal moments before to tie the game late in the third period sent me in to an amazed euphoric happy dance only to throw myself to the ground, riling in agony mere moments later. Some strange coaching moves in this game, including pulling a successful powerplay unit off the ice after on 25 seconds of time and scoring a 5 on 3 goal. More ammunition for the Fire Hartsburg Petition, perhaps?

If this road trip yields less than half of its possible points, look for big changes on this team. Firing Hartsburg is one option as is the always mentioned and incredibly stupid move to trade Spezza. This is a guy whose talent is so rare and under the right coaching, is a superstar. He was drowning under Jacques Martin, flourished under Bryan Murray and is struggling, albeit in a minor way, under Craig Hartsburg. Spezza is what he is and when allowed to play his game, he will mature in to one of the greatest playmaking centres in the game.

What I do see transpiring and as a more sensible option is trading Antoine Vermette and Brian Lee to Florida for Jay Bouwmeester. Jacques Martin's man crush on Vermy is legendary and he may see Lee and a project who could help replace the loss of Jay Bo. If Bouwmeester is dead set against signing in Florida, which is reported to be the case be his father of all people, GM Jacques is not dealing from a position of strength and this would probably be the best deal he will see as the Sens are also dealing from a weak position. Hopefully the Sens can sign Jay Bo to a decent contract in the 3 year/$16million range after the trade. Here's hoping. Good luck in the road trip, boys. You have the tools to succeed and if you put it all together, you WILL make the playoffs and could last a round or two.

Great Effort! - Sens 5 - Stars 4 (OT)

And Gerber almost blew it. Chalk it up to another poor decision by coach Hartsburg for starting this clown. The Sens "netminder" almost completely wasted a decent performance against a struggling Dallas Stars team. Had it not been for Marty Turco being equally bad at the other end, the Sens would have lost.
Hopefully, the team can build on this moral victory and have some success on their upcoming road trip.
The line juggling continued to with varying degrees of success. Jason Spezza and Antoine Vermette both scored, however, were on the ice for 3 Dallas goals. Foligno looked super with his new linemates.
The fact that no one stuck up for the captain getting absolutely creamed speaks volumes about the team play here. Someone at least has to go talk to the offending Dallas player. Even better, someone drill him on his next shift. Alas, neither transpired.
The fact that the Sens needed overtime to beat a depleted and struggling Stars squad speaks volumes, but two points are two points and hopefully some of the slumping players can build some confidence from the effort. At least the team looked like it was trying. You have to start somewhere and that's as good a place as any.

Don't forget to visit our Fire Hartsburg page.

Fire Hartsburg Petition

We have created a petition to send to Sens management and ownership to have coach Craig Hartsburg put out of his misery and sent down to the minors.

Read the reasoning and sign the petition here.

What's wrong with the Senators

Wasn't this the coach who promised accountability? The problem of team bonding lies squarely with the coach and captain. They are the leaders. A coach giving someone like Vermette and Fisher 20+ minutes of ice time when they clearly don't deserve it. Couple that with a guy like Donovan getting 4 minutes while working his ass off will cause hard feelings within the team. Bass doing everything asked of him and getting 2 minutes of ice time, made a healthy scratch or sent to Bingo will make him bitter. Schubert's bitterness is self explanatory. There is no incentive to work hard when you do and get scratched or 3-4 minutes of ice/game. There is no incentive to work hard when you float and get 20+ minutes. Lazy play is rewarded and hard work is punished. Nice coaching.

This coach sucks and the captain should have spoken up to him.

This is essentially the same team who went to the Stanley Cup Final 2 seasons ago minus a few spare parts up front and the defense corps. Granted the defense corps back then was more mobile, this group is better defensively. Call it a wash. All of the sudden, these same forwards can't score?

There is a distinct lack of effort and teamwork evident on this team and that is a coaching issue. This coach is sending mixed and misguided messages at his players and pissing them off in droves. They don't want to work for him. It is obvious.

I would love to see some stability in the coaching ranks of the Senators, but this hiring was another mistake. Bryan Murray seems quite adept and making player moves, but sucks royal ass at hiring coaches. I hate the Paddock signing and hated the Hartsburg signing even more. Both coaches are proven losers at the NHL level. This team needs a Nolan, Quinn, Hartley or Burns. My personal fave is old Patt Burns. He's local, has a winning history, The Jack Adams Trophy and beaten cancer. If he can't get them going, no one can.

A decent coach a puck moving defenseman and a decent 2nd line forward and this team is a contender again.

Just my two cents. Something has to be done.