Ottawa Senators

[Mr. Guru]

This is a good one too.

Sens wouldn't trade Cowen just to get Bobby Ryan. This isn't fantasy hockey.
-BigEv, November 2011, not 2009. My mistake.

Sens wouldn't trade Cowen for a lack of character Bobby Ryan!!!

That is classic!

[The Iron Sheik]

This is a good one too.

Sens wouldn't trade Cowen just to get Bobby Ryan. This isn't fantasy hockey.
-BigEv, November 2011, not 2009. My mistake.

Sens wouldn't trade Cowen for a lack of character Bobby Ryan!!!

That is classic!

Not really funny or wrong. At the time I would not have traded Cowen for Bobby Ryan. he was one of the best prospects in hockey and was coming off a huge year.

[The Iron Sheik]

zibby has almost double the points brassard has so far. rangers continue to find a way to get younger and better by winning trades, they just need to stop splurging on FAs.

Just looking at point totals 15 games in is a poor way to evaluate a trade. Zibby had a hot start looking to shed his past issues and criticisms. He was also carried by Kreider. Since then, and this is backed up by Rangers fans, he's been very poor and his ice time is decreasing significantly. he barely shoots the puck and doesn't get hits anymore. He can't handle the puck like a centre should. He has 11 points on a team that leads the NHL in goals, as one of their top two centes. Brassard will still outproduce him and he was a better fit for our team, so I really don't care what Zibby does

They needed to make the trade to clear salary cap, so it's a good deal regardless for them even though Zibanejad is an avergae player. IMO, at the end of the season, it will be clear they did not get better by trading for Zibenajad. He will just be a follower of their great forward depth.

[2014olympicgold]

depends what your league is. If a 56 point winger isn't rosterable, then the league must be very small or not separated into wingers/centres/ etc.

PP obviously won't be bad forever with the personnel they have. It looked very good in preseason, so they just have to work on it more. Not concerned at all, personally. Brassard has been very good as of late and his points will come.

With how streaky Ryan can be, I rather have my bench winger be a specialist (FW, PIM), or the current hot player. With Ryan’s name weight tho someone would roster him so it’s not like he’d be that pick up of the week. But that’s what I see Ryan as. That guy who gets hot and should be rostered, cools off and should be dropped. Also, if Ryan is one of your top wingers on your team, I don’t know how far you’d get in the league. Maybe further if it was a Roto league and not H2H.

The pp has the pieces because literally any pp with Karlsson should be better, but they just seem like they are a team that doesn’t practice it. They aren’t setting anything up. Maybe they are focusing their practice time on defensive zone plays or anything else.

[The Iron Sheik]

With how streaky Ryan can be, I rather have my bench winger be a specialist (FW, PIM), or the current hot player. With Ryan’s name weight tho someone would roster him so it’s not like he’d be that pick up of the week. But that’s what I see Ryan as. That guy who gets hot and should be rostered, cools off and should be dropped. Also, if Ryan is one of your top wingers on your team, I don’t know how far you’d get in the league. Maybe further if it was a Roto league and not H2H.

The pp has the pieces because literally any pp with Karlsson should be better, but they just seem like they are a team that doesn’t practice it. They aren’t setting anything up. Maybe they are focusing their practice time on defensive zone plays or anything else.

They actually did do that. The coach said this the other day. They worked very hard on team defence (not defensive zone defence, that's not where defense starts).

if it's H2H with shots, hits etc. Ryan is always around Top 80 with good value.

[Hoopo]

Brassard was supposed to be the guy to get Ryan going. Neither of them are going right now. I wouldn't fault anyone for dropping either but it's still so early--I'd wait until December before taking the plunge into "ride FA hot streaks" territory

[blayze]

Sens manage to narrowly eek out another win tonight, thanks almost entirely to Anderson again.

I love that Andy's getting wins, but I highly doubt his magnificent performance so far will be sustainable in the long run. Sens are routinely getting outshot by a significant margin every night and their offense has gone silent.

Hope they turn it around soon, the goaltending will falter eventually.

[The Iron Sheik]

Sens manage to narrowly eek out another win tonight, thanks almost entirely to Anderson again.

I love that Andy's getting wins, but I highly doubt his magnificent performance so far will be sustainable in the long run. Sens are routinely getting outshot by a significant margin every night and their offense has gone silent.

Hope they turn it around soon, the goaltending will falter eventually.

That's actually not true. They have 31.3 shots per game and 31.2 shots against per game. So they are not getting routinely outshot. I expect Anderson to be at least 925 save percentage this year. Hes only at 934 right now.

[blayze]

How likely is it that Stoner & Hoffman stick on the same line for the rest of the year?

In the past it feels like they've been used for short spurts together only to be broken up... trying to decide if Hoffman is worth dropping Toffoli (virtual lock for 60-65) for.

[blayze]

Who needs offense when you have Craig mother****ing Anderson!?!?

[2014olympicgold]

If the league actually did MVP’s to the most valuable to his team, not just the best player, I’d say Anderson is definitely in the conversation this yr. Price, Anderson, Crosby, McDavid, and Scheifele (maybe). It’ll be hard to say if this is sustainable, but he’s playing an inspired game that’s for sure.

Without the play of Anderson, there would be talk of a coach firing I’d think.

[The Iron Sheik]

If the league actually did MVP’s to the most valuable to his team, not just the best player, I’d say Anderson is definitely in the conversation this yr. Price, Anderson, Crosby, McDavid, and Scheifele (maybe). It’ll be hard to say if this is sustainable, but he’s playing an inspired game that’s for sure.

Without the play of Anderson, there would be talk of a coach firing I’d think.

Um no absolutely not. Boucher has been excellent and the team has really bought in. It's night and day compared to the previous coach and system. Anderson has been great, but they're not relying on him to win games.

Karlsson is still their MVP.

[2014olympicgold]

The goalie with a 2.03GAA and a 936s% not the MVP? He has a 1.65GAA and a 949s% over the last month. The teams appointed MVP every season is Karlsson, but Anderson is more valuable than him right now.

He’s kept them in games. The team has played well around him, but if goals were going in, and Anderson wasn’t playing to this caliber, there would be articles on how long would Boucher last. Not saying he’d be fired because I doubt Ottawa would like firing a coach and paying for him to not be there so early in a season.

It’s not like Karlsson has been bad, his offensive numbers aren’t where they were last yr (hard to repeat tho for a forward let alone a D), but he’s more defensive this yr. He’s done well. Anderson has just been more valuable to the team in the first ¼ of the season.

[blayze]

There's no question Anderson's been their MVP this year... without him they'd easily have 2-3 wins less which would put them just outside a playoff spot.

Having said that, there's no way he sustains this all season - Andy's shown glimpses of this before only to sharply regress at some point. Hope I'm wrong, but that's what his history suggests.

[The Iron Sheik]

I don't think he'll regress. I predicted he'd be really good this year, especiallyy because they team is committing to team defence. The only thing that will stop him from being good is an injury or long absence. Just like the lockout season where he as the best in the league and would have won the vezina. I don't remember him ever sharply regressing once he's off to a great start. Usually he has a season where he's really good or a season where he's below average or just ok. He's always been underrated and hasn't always faced the most shots in the league before this year.

But again, anybody who was watched and followed who thinks Boucher would be facing criticism if Anderson didn't exist is nuts. Boucher has been a godsend IMO.

Also just a heads up, Anderson is due to leave the team this week or very soon after for multiple games.