Ottawa or Canada - question of the day.

Quick question this morning - when you saw that Slovakia upset Sweden last night, what part of that brings the best news? Is it the Canada doesn't have to face the reigning Gold medal winners, or is it that Alfie gets to go home and have an extra week of rest?

Discuss.

I'm pumped for Canada, but had Sweden won last night, they would have locked in two more games - the semifinal and either the gold or bronze medal game. Now, Alfie gets the extra week of recovery. That's just as brilliant, as far as I'm concerned. Especially considering Canada was like a high speed freight train last night.

Tips for (Not) Cheering for Heatley at the Olympics

While the Sens aren't in action, we're spoiled by getting to watch Canada's super power Olympic team take to the ice. This 4 year event is very special and gets me so excited. I simply love this country and this hockey team.

But as a Sens fan, there is obviously some mixed emotion about Canada's #15. It's no surprise Heatley is on this team and, given his talent, he damn well should be. But the fact that all Sens fans, and to some extent Oiler fans, loathe Dany boy makes it tricky for us to feel good when he scores. His two goal performance on Tuesday night was a prime example. And let's face it friends, he's not gonna stop scoring.

So, as we gear up to watch another game tonight, and a few more after that, Another Ottawa Senators Blog has developed tips to help you cope with Heatley's presence on Team Canada. Please enjoy...

Tips for (Not) Cheering for Heatley at the Olympics

#1 - If you own a Heatley jersey, burn it. After the party, and as the hangover's wearing off, go out and purchase a new Team Canada jersey. But who should you put on the back? I suggest Rick Nash. Not only is he a fan favourite, he doesn't pose a threat to the Sens...ever. He's a long term Blue Jacket and Columbus is a long ways away from the playoffs. And even if they ever make it, they should never burn Ottawa in the first round (let's face it, there won't be a second round). So, Nash will never be a guy we hate. And if for some inexplicable reason you hate Nash, you can also get an Iginla jersey, for very similar reasons. And finally, when in doubt, get a Gretzky jersey. Everyone will love you.

#2 - Always keep in the front of your mind that you're cheering for Canada, not any individual player. So, when Heatley scores (and yes, he will again), raise your arms and celebrate for the scoreboard, not the scorer.

#3 - Remember these words, "What a pass!" When Dany scores, it'll most likely be the result of a great set up rather than a flashy dangle. Never give him credit, but lose your mind on the set up that caused the play.

#4 - Enjoy the PK. While we'll all be on the edge of our seats, Heatley will also be flat on his. That's two minutes we can be assured we don't have to see him on the ice.

#5 - For every poor defensive play Heatley makes, say "Fisher wouldn't have done that!"

#6 - While Heatley and the other Sharks are playing 5 games, most of the Sens are mending wounds and getting rest - ready to be fresh for the final 20 games of the season. Don't forget that.


Also, please share tips of your own to help out all us in the Sens Nation! And enjoy the Olympic action. Go Canada!!

Three and a Half Defencemen to Consider for Ottawa's Stretch Run

After Murray got the ball rolling last week with the Cullen acquisition, it is widely expected that the team will look at picking up a defenceman to round out the roster for the stretch run. We needed a bit more scoring so we waived Cheechoo and replaced him with Cullen. Our goaltending is what it is - Elliott will ride it out until he falters or Pascal somehow takes his job back.

With the departure of Picard, the injury to Campoli (Karlsson will be back after the break), and the inability of Lee to keep his job, we could use another body back there to make sure we maintain our depth. I have been reading the comments elsewhere that we should get higher end guys like Kubina, Ballard, Robidas, Burns, etc. Guys, let's give our heads a shake. Whoever we acquire is a pure rental and we aren't going to give up more than a 2nd round pick (and maybe Lee, if someone will take him). Ballard and Robidas are signed to long-term extensions and are key pieces of their team's blueline. Burns is too young and valuable for Minnesota to give up on, as well. Kubina is a guy that would be nice, but I just don't think he could be had for just a second round pick and I don't think we want to throw in a decent prospect to even it up.

I think we're looking more at a bottom end defenceman that is an impending UFA, out of the race, and won't cost an arm and a leg to acquire for the remainder of the season. Three options are right here:

1. Dennis Seidenberg, Florida Panthers.

Nothing spectacular, 22 points in 61 games and a minus-1 on a bad team. He isn't huge and isn't an overwhelming presence, but he does his job. He's someone that you could drop into the 5-6 pairing and not miss a beat. Florida has said they are cleaning house and there really is no reason to think Seidenberg isn't going to be available. Moore netted them a second rounder from the Habs and so I think Seidenberg couldn't cost more than that. This is just a simple depth move. I'm aware that Eklund mentioned it on his blog today and he's usually out to lunch with Sens rumours, but this one is at least worth noting.

2. Andy Sutton, New York Islanders

This is simply a big dude. He has had some injury problems over his career and he has basically zero playoff experience, but he's huge. If we are worried about being pushed around in the playoff run, then this is the guy. That being said, we're already icing Phillips, Volchenkov, and Carkner as defensive players out there, so this might be overkill and hurt us in puck movement. He's a good ole Kingston boy that has been stuck in the Isles system for a while and maybe they are ready to part with him, plus we know Murray has worked with Garth in deadline deals. I'm just not sure Sutton is exactly what we'd need, but he is NHL caliber and can hit a dude into the 10th row, if we need it.

3. Milan Jurcina, Columbus Blue Jackets

If you are looking for points, keep looking elsewhere. Jurcina, like Sutton, is a huge guy that can hit hard and clear bodies. The catch here is that the Jackets just acquired him a few months ago from the Caps when he and Chris Clark were traded for Jason Chimera. Jurcina is basically a cheaper, younger version of Sutton. The Jackets are out of the playoffs and again, we've worked with them before in trades. Jurcina should be available as he isn't really a part of the long-term plans in Columbus. If we don't mind parting with that second rounder, Jurcina would be a cheap guy to pick up and fill a hole in a tougher series where maybe Campoli doesn't have the strength.

I guess it really depends on what type of defenceman we need, right? I've named off some defensive guys because they always seem to cost a bit less as far as trade returns. One other name that will get me laughed off the Internet is Mathieu Schneider out of Vancouver, who is currently coming back from injury in the minors. He's 40 years old, but he's a warrior that has seen it all and could be a nice 7th defenceman that we could plug in to run the second powerplay unit. There's no role for him in Vancouver and could either be had on re-entry waivers or via trade. Again, we're looking for a low end guy that can play 5-6 minutes in case someone gets hurt. Depth move.

We have two weeks to think about it while we watch our boys go for Gold in Vancouver. After that, Murray has less than a week to pull the trigger. If the two games over the weekend are any indication, we probably need to get something done that helps us from having to drop Lee back in there during the playoffs.

Thoughts on a Busy Friday

Quick note: was anyone else pissed off and embarassed with the Canadian national anthem tonight at the Olympic Opening Ceremony? I'm not trying to pick on the 16-year old that sang it, but the version was brutal. Most of the world watching tonight has never heard our anthem so it would have been nice if we could have had someone sing it proudly and properly. Instead, we paraded out some kid that recorded it a month ago in some lame-ass pop rendition that makes me sick. I truly found it embarassing and it made me furious that we would want to represent ourselves to the world in such a stupid fashion. Get someone to sing the effing song right and make us proud.

Finally, a chance to sit back and digest a busy day in Hockey Country. Let me get a few thoughts out before getting to Cheechoo.

1. The Murray extension. I'm indifferent to this. I don't think he's been amazing, but he's done his job. He has made some great signings and draft picks and he's made some bad ones. At the end of the day, his team is leading the division and that is better than anyone expected. During the five game losing streak, I never got to a point where I wanted him gone, but I did point out that this is officially Murray's team. The only contracts on this team that he didn't sign or acquire were Phillips, Alfie, and Volchenkov. Now that we've won 13 of the last 14, I will give him credit because THIS IS his team.

2. The Cullen acquisition. I love it! I had just told Pynch last night that I really like every player on this team right now...except the fact that Picard and Cheechoo make me nauseous (more on Cheechoo later). Picard, apart from Canuknik's love affair, hasn't really struck a true chord with the fans in Ottawa. He showed flashes of top four potential where he could move the puck up the ice or make the brilliant pinch down low. The problem, though, is that he is a poor positional player and is too picky on when to take the body. The Washington game was a perfect example - he can rub you out on the boards on one shift, or let Semin walk around untouched for a goal on the next. There was just never a sense of urgency with the guy and I, for one, am excited that we can move on from the Picard era. Cullen, as I know him, is like a Fisher without the fan club or the celebrity fiancee. He is fast as hell, can manage the puck very well on the point on the PP, and laughs at putting up 45-50 points. No sign on whether he is possible to extend in Ottawa as Murray acknowledged he is only focused on this year (code: he is not re-signing), but we should be able to get a legit second liner here that can produce. He was also huge in the Canes' Cup run, which is nice to know that we have a guy that produces in the postseason.

3. Lee and Derek Smith are recalled. Wow, we're really going into two big games this weekend with Kuba and Lee as our second pairing. Lucky for us, we're playing two reeling teams. Unlucky for us, our defence is subpar this weekend. Murray said today that Karlsson should be back when the games resume in March, and that he will look to address defencemen at the deadline. With a bit of money to spare now, I wonder if he'll try and pick someone up without moving a roster player. I'm curious to see if he wants an offensive defencemen, something like picking up Matthieu Schneider off of waivers, for example. Or will we just find a cheap guy that is NHL-ready like Sean O'Donnell?

4. Cheechoo is waived. One of our best moves, in my opinion. Pardon me here for probably pissing on the guy's grave, but why the hell do Ottawa fans like him so much? He came in here as 'the salary dump' in the Heatley trade. WE DID NOT WANT HIM AT ALL!!! But I think we were so desperate to tell the rest of the league that we didn't get fleeced on the Heatley deal because Cheechoo would find his touch again. I think that was a big part of why people wanted him to succeed - so we'd feel better about trading a 50-goal scorer for Michalek AND....a resurgent Jonathan Cheechoo. The problem is that Cheechoo isn't good. I took a stroll over to SensChirp earlier today to read some of the fan comments over the waiver decision and it just made me angry. Four out of five fans are saying things like how they wish him well and what a great guy he was and how hard he worked. Pardon me, but did Jonathan Cheechoo show up at your house and bake you a Shepherd's Pie and strawberry shortcake for dessert? Did he walk your kids to school when you had an early meeting at work? Did he clean your bathrooms before your in-laws showed up? No, I'm guessing that he didn't do any of those things. SO HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME WHAT A GREAT PERSON HE IS? He is a pro hockey player making $3M a year, he didn't save you from a falling through a frozen pond. Get over it, people. And he works hard? I challenge any of you to tell me that you wouldn't "work hard" if someone gave you an NHL contract and let you play on a Canadian team. That isn't enough. Everyone in the NHL works hard.

The guy cranked out a spectacular season, one of the best of our generation, and signed a whopper of an extension. It isn't his fault. If someone offered you $3M a year for 5 years, you wouldn't ask him to lower the dollar value or shorten the term. The problem is the guy isn't good anymore and is hardly NHL quality. We need to stop making excuses for him and just admit that the Heatley return was a great kid in Michalek and a second round pick. Cheechoo is nothing more than a hole in Mr. Melnyk's pocket. For the fans that say he works hard and was coming around and was a great person, all you are doing is trying to make yourself feel better about the Heatley trade. Cheechoo stinks. When this contract is up, he'll hardly be worth the league minimum and you all know it. Am I kicking a man when he's down? Yeah, I guess, but if he is reading this blog anyway, he should shut down his laptop and drive to the rink and work on his effing skating. If he wants a job this summer, he needs to figure out how the hell he scored 56 goals and then convince someone else he can do half of that again.

Face it, we traded Heatley for Michalek and a 2nd round pick. Cheechoo was awful for us, made his linemates worse, and we still don't know if he was a good person. I wish him the best of luck because I want to see hockey players succeed, but I am insanely pumped up that we don't have to have this guy dress of us ever again. He was awful in Ottawa and he is someone else's problem now...Eugene Melnyk, right now. Don't bother telling me that he is a hard worker and a great person - I'm sick of it. We didn't get fair value on Heatley, but we're still a better team now than we were in the past two years, so we all just move on.

Hooray! Picard out, Cullen in!

Sens trade 7th defenceman Alex Picard and a 2nd rounder for Matt Cullen, according to tsn.ca. This is great news as Picard has been a thorn in most of our sides all year. Also, I have a good buddy also named Matt Cullen, which should inspire a lot of bad jokes among my circle of friends.

This move puts us officially out of cap space and also takes us down to 6 NHL caliber defencemen, including Karlsson.

Cullen has 40 pts in 60 games with the Canes this season and should be a great addition to our lunch pail group.

In other news, Duff's nausea is subsiding now that Picard has been shipped out. Ironically, Picard will now reside in Duff's Carolina backyard.

Duh - One Goal Wins are Important!

Quick note this morning following last night's W vs. the Flames, which I unfortunately didn't have the luxury of watching. I did, however, note the final score and as Duff pointed out to me - another 1 goal win. By my quick count, that makes 15 thus far, Shooter. And that doesn't include wins where we pot an empty netter, which should also be considered one goal wins. So, my guess is that half or more of our wins have been decided by one grape (including ENs).

Sure, we all love to see our team win a 7-1 barn burner where even Cheechoo scores! (ok, I'll lay off him for now...) But you know where one goal wins are crucial? The playoffs. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing this group can hold on in tight games and come out on top and gives me confidence as the post season approaches.

And speaking of the playoffs, last night's win brings back our need to play .500 hockey for the balance of the season to hit that magic total of 94 points. While the 94 mark may be more than enough to get us into this post season in this year's Eastern Conference, I still prefer to use it as a benchmark that we need to shoot for (well, actually, I'd like then to shoot to win the next 22 games, but I'm not a delusional Leaf fan).

Tomorrow we host the Caps. Remember when they were bad not too long ago? Well those days are long gone as Captain Ovechkin seems poised on taking over the world. As we prepare, the hot topic for today will likely remain - will Carrie Underwood be cheering for Canada's Olympic Men's Ice Hockey team? Errrrr, I mean, the hot topic will remain who will start in net??? Should another solid performance from the BE Keeper warrant another start? Is he our #1? Or does Snoopy deserve a chance to start?

I say give it to Snoopy. I'd like to see him get so jacked for this game that he (slash, we) beats the fearless Caps. Or, he stinks it up and we give the weekend to Ells. Then again, I don't coach the team.

Oh, I nearly forgot, while I missed the game last night, I did catch the hightlights this morning and was delighted to see the post game interviews...cause the boys were on the bikes!! I love it! Reminds me of good ol' times and confirms to me that this group is the hardest working in the league.

Pedal on, boys!