Tonight is a Must Win. Yes, it is.

UPDATE 1:04pm - I didn't do my homework before posting below but it looks like Snoopy's getting the start as Ells has been hit by the flu bug. This is another reason to WIN. If Leclaire wants to see another start this season, he's going to need to earn it tonight. Go Sens!

Can you say must win? I'm not pushing the big red panic button over here, but yes, tonight's game versus the provincial rival Maple Leafs is a must win. The pre-Olympic red hot Sens have cooled off after two uninspired performances since returning to action this past week. Tonight brings the lowly 15th place Leafs to the SBP, and if their record wasn't a good enough reason, here are a few others as to why the Sens need this one...

1. We're at home. Given our record in Kanata this season, we would certainly like to clinch top spot in the North East to give us the advantage in the playoffs. Duh. And with home games becoming few and far between down the stretch, we need to win there as much as possible. We lost to the Rags at home the other night, no need to make it two straight.

2. A good friend of mine, a die hard Leaf fan from Oakville, will be in attendance tonight. Simply, I'd like him to see that the Sens are the superior team.

3. Orr 2 - Carkner 1. While the Sennies need a W tonight, Carks needs to drop Orr like a hot potatoe. A hot potatoe that just got knocked out. (plus I have $20 on the outcome of the inevitable fight!)

4. Our next two games are against the 29th and 30th place teams in the league, respectively. I'll cringe if we don't come out with 4 points. Nuff said.

5. We need to settle our goaltending...once again. Elliot played bad, Snoopy came in. Snoopy starts, sees 5 shots, Elliot takes his place. Ugh. Ells should get the start tonight and it would be grand if he could return to his back-to-back NHL weekly star performance. We need goaltending back on track for the stretch and into the playoffs. It needs to start tonight.

6. HNIC. My buddy from Oakville isn't the only one who needs to see the Sens are the superior team.

7. I can't stand how Luca Caputi is the talk of the town in Toronto. I mean, who's Luca Caputi? Oh wait, he's an AHLer on the Leafs second line. This team is bad. We must beat inferiour teams, always. And so, tonight's a must win.

This is all pretty obvious, but I needed to let it out. After two weeks off and two poor games, all of the Sens (especially Volchenkov) need to get back on track. A two game grace period is enough. Time to get back on track. Honestly, another poor effort tonight would really start to concern me. Again, not "panic button time" but this team needs to respond tonight. I believe Clouston will get the boys rolling, so he better. If they can't get up for tonight's game...uh oh...

So I think it's a must win, but do I think they will win? Of course! Look out for the return of the lunch pails as the Sens will likely welcome the youngest team in the league with a lot of banging off the bat. This should open up room for our top two lines to return to form and find the back of the net.

I'm no good at predicting the final score, so I'm not going to. I'll leave it at Sens W - Leafs L.

Do y'all agree that tonight is a game of significant importance? Or am I over exaggerating the need to win?

Not too long til game time...Enjoy!

Sutton to Sens done

Sutton for a second rounder, which now means we've traded both of our second round picks. Fine by me as I think we picked up a pair of warriors. Sutton is massive - 6'6" and 245lbs - and has been around a while. His only playoff experience, though, is the four games he was in Atlanta when they were swept by the Rags in 06-07.

I like him. He's hard-nosed and huge and if he can stay out of the box, we are now a tougher team. I watched him a few times in Atlanta and he can certainly play well at this level and won't be a liability for us. Good ole Kingston boy, too. I assume this concludes our foray into the trade market this year, which means we can't get Comrie back. Nooooooooooooo.

Kudos to the wikipedia dude who updated his page within ten minutes of this trade breaking. Good job? Emphasis on the question mark there.

Can't We Talk About the Gold Medal Game A Bit More?

It kinda sucks that the day after the greatest hockey game in history, we have to quickly straighten our tie and prepare for the trade deadline. I know there isn't much of a way around it, but I wish we could at least have today to enjoy the win for a little longer. You know what? I'm taking that day and refusing to get into trade talk yet. My lasting thoughts on the Olympic hockey tournament, including the re-taking of the Gold Medal:

1. Like him or not, Sydney Crosby scored the greatest goal in the history of hockey. Biggest name out there, biggest game out there, biggest audience in history, overtime, gold medal on the line, home soil, avenging an earlier loss, massive pressure, blown two-goal lead that included one with 24 seconds left, and I could go on. When the Kid broke into the league and dove and whined his way to stardom, I had a tough time pulling for him. Ovie was the easy one because he was goofy and hit hard and scored amazing goals. Over time, I have to admit that my ship has changed courses and I'm now of the belief that Crosby is the greatest player in the game right now. I'm not just talking talent, because I think that is still debatable. But for an all-around player, I just don't know how you can argue that at 22-years old, he isn't the best player out there. I'm pulling for ya, Kid!

2. Speaking of Crosby and Ovechkin, and I know the detractors will say his contributions were here and there, I do think it is funny that both of Crosby's major accomplishments involved going through Ovie. Second round last year and the Caps were humiliated by Crosby's Pens. This time, the Russians were humiliated by Crosby's Team Canada. Which leads me to my next point...

3. I'm no longer scared of the Capitals. I'm sorry, I know it isn't a huge sample size, but Ovechkin is now 0-for-2 in big games. If he were the best, he'd have willed his team to victory. But both times, with the game on the line, he hasn't been there. The Capitals already suffer from mediocre goaltending and porous defence, but now the world knows that you can out-will Ovechkin and Semin in the big game. Unless he proves me wrong this year, I'm ready to say that Ovechkin will be plagued with this for years to come. The only player with more negativity to shed might be...

4. Joe Thornton. Sure, he, Heatley and Marleau are trotting back to Silicon Valley with gold medals around their necks, but it is safe to say that we won that game not because of them, but in spite of them. I kinda lost my shat when Marleau and Thornton formed a pair in the overtime and Heatley came over the boards next. This isn't sour grapes, people, those guys scare me in a bad way. Master of the long reaching stick check in the offensive zone, Thornton did absolutely nothing to show that he has what it takes to put in the extra effort. Combine the way he and Heatley played in the medal games with the beauty of a performance that Nabokov put forth and you have another quick exit for the Sharks. I actually feel bad for Dougie Wilson because there is nothing he can do about it. He can't trade any of this star players while they sit in first place, but they will inevitably lose in the early rounds and he'll be fired. One GM that impressed me, though, was...

5. Brian Burke, who deserves credit for the team he put together. I'm not going to go as far as to get behind the 'nobody knew our names' crap that they are saying, but the team lived up to his billing. Did we expect them to medal? Not really, but everyone knew that Ryan Miller gave them a chance. I hate Burke and Ron Wilson but they iced a team that skated hard, competed at all times, and gave us the best final opponent possible. Lucky for us, they have to return to the world of the salary cap and will continue to toil in mediocrity. One last piece on the US team - I live in the US and have had a number of people say congrats on the win, but there are always those ass-hats that come by and say 'weren't you guys supposed to win?' or 'okay, so now we're tied 1-1, when's the rubber match?' Even a blogger on Yahoo had some long thing about how it isn't special that Canada won because we were favourites going in. It sucks that sour grapes can ruin such an amazing game. Americans should hold their heads high, enjoy the fact that their team played an amazing tournament, and start looking forward to 2014. Do you think anybody in the US dressing room was thinking during the tournament that they sucked and weren't supposed to be there? They showed up looking for gold.

6. My top players of the tournament have to be Getzlaf and Toews. Getzlaf is such an awesome prototype of Canadiana - tough as nails, great scorer, proud, in your face, All-Star. Plus, he's insanely bald for his age. I hated that we had to play against him in the Finalsin 2007, but love that he's on our national team. I felt that Perry was there as a byproduct of Getzlaf, though Perry did hold his own when it mattered. Toews showed the promise that this team has going forward as he was easily our best two-way forward, which is a new role. I guess that is what is so amazing about this tournament - you see a guy like Rick Nash on the fourth line and he's still working his ass off. New roles, new linemates, but you still go out there with your country's emblem and play like there's no tomorrow.

7. Kind of an emotional situation for the goalies. We have definitely seen the last of Martin Brodeur as a goalie for Team Canada. Knowing just how great he is and remembering the save he made on Hull in a 3-2 game in 2002, it sucks to know that Brodeur's international playing career ended with a loss. Luongo was good. He wasn't amazing, but he didn't need to be. He needed to make timely saves and avoid the stinker. Even though Parise's goal was partially in the zone because Luongo didn't freeze the initial point shot, he still kept calm and was the winning goalie. Not much more to say than that. Luongo has a ways to go and will be our guy in 2014, without question. Thanks for the golds, Marty!

8. Overlooked in the aftermath of The Goal was the Iginla pass. I even read in some articles that 'Crosby jumped on a loose puck' to score the winner. C'mon, people! Iggy fought hard on the boards and made a hard, no-look pass to the front of the net because he saw Crosby take off and Rafalski hesitate. I'll be the first to admit that Iggy 2010 was a shadow of Iggy 2002, but that pass was insane. Not many guys on the team (I'm looking at you, Sharks) would take the hit and make that perfect pass, but that's why the two guys were paired up at that moment. Let us not forget Iggy in all of this.

9. Not trying to look ahead here, but what players will be too old for 2014, assuming the NHL sends players again? Niedermeyer, Boyle and Pronger on the back end will be replaced with Green, possibly Phaneuf, Bouwmeester, Robidas, etc. Naturally, other guys will step up, but Keith, Seabrook, Weber, and Doughty are children and have a while to go. Of the forwards, are you sitting down for this? The elder statesman is Jarome Iginla, who is ancient at 32 years old right now. Wow. I'm sure over time, we have to make room for a Stamkos in there (maybe a Spezza?), so those role guys will change with time. How about Tavares? Yeah, we'll be alright. In nets, swap Brodeur with a Mason and we're ready to go. All is well with Hockey Canada - thanks, Sid!

10. And let's hear it one last time for Team Canada. I about threw up everywhere when we scored that goal. In a good way, of course. We were so dejected after that loss in the preliminaries, both because of the opponent and because of the resulting journey we'd have to the gold medal game. The win against the Germans was a practice, but the match against the Russians was supposed to be a war. We killed them so bad that their media is accusing us of performance-enhancing drugs, saying it is the only explanation of how the game was so lopsided. We thought we'd get the Swedes, but just like in 2002, they were upset in their quarterfinal match. Though the Slovaks of 2010 were far tougher than the Belarussians of 2002, we still finished them off. And the most hyped hockey game of all time lived up to the anticipation. I'm going to need to see so many replays of this game for the simple fact that I was too nervous to catch the little plays from time to time. The second period is almost a blur. And The Goal. Where were you when Canada won Gold in 2010? It is hard to imagine right now, but this goal was bigger than Paul Henderson and was bigger than the 87 Canada Cup. This was Gold on home soil with the whole world watching. We'll tell our kids and they'll tell their kids for generations to come. Epic. Legendary. Surreal. The greatest goal of all time in the greatest game in our history. There, I said it. Now go and enjoy the trade deadline frenzy. What do we have to give up for Comrie?

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.