Were the Senators in the process of rebuilding before the 2008-09 season began? One could argue that the replacement of Wade Redden with Jason Smith was a sign that yes, they were on the fall. Just as fast as that thought crept into your mind, the Sens made an upgrade on the blue-line by trading away Andrej Meszaros to Tampa Bay for Filip Kuba. The mystery continued to grow o
n into the regular season until they took to the ice and we saw how truly terrible this team was destined to be.
n into the regular season until they took to the ice and we saw how truly terrible this team was destined to be.It may have been the lack of scoring beyond the top line, the poor and aged defense or the inconsistent goaltending of Martin Gerber and Alex Auld? Simply put, whatever it was, needed to be fixed as soon as the season ended. The 2008-09 Ottawa Senators went on to finish fourth in the Northeast Division and out of the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 season.
Without question the Sens biggest need was, well, everything.
Addressing perhaps their most important need the Senators traded for Blue Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire at the NHL trading deadline. As Leclaire sat at home and recovered from ankle surgery, the Senators continued to give Brian Elliott a test run in the NHL. Elliott played surprisingly well on a poor team, finishing with a 16-8-3 record and .900 save percentage.
During his last fully healthy season for Columbus, Leclaire had an NHL leading 10 shutouts and 24 win season for the Jackets. The duo of Elliott and Leclaire should be key components in the rebuilding of the Senators with these two players possessing great potential to be stars in this league for years to come.
On the back end, the Senators defense was simply too old. Chris Philips, Jason Smith, and Luke Richardson (who retired after just two games) are simply beyond their prime and have arguably, with the exception of Jason Smith, lost their legs. In a market seemingly barren of young NHL defensemen, the Senators made no changes to the defense and will hope for the best without veteran Jason Smith patrolling the ice.
Making the biggest arrival into Ottawa in 2009 is definitely going to be that of Alex Kovalev, who for years tormented the Ottawa Senators and rest of the Northeast Division for that matter with the Montreal Canadiens. Known for his simply remarkable techniques with the stick and smooth skating, but also for his rather lazy-bug attitude, Kovalev has joined the Senators on a two year contract that will pay him a total of 10 million dollars.
Kovalev is coming off what many consider a down year in Montreal where the part-time captain struggled to play at a high level night in and night out and put up 26 goals and finished with 65 points and a -5. Despite the 19 point drop off from the year before, Kovalev still has the skills, leaving the only question to be his work ethic and desire to give it his all for a club with almost no direction for the upcoming season.
Ahead of Kovalev in the newspapers has been the request by Dany Heatley to be traded out of town and to a contender. After refusing a trade that would've sent the disgruntled 39-goal scorer to Edmonton in exchange for Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid it was beginning to appear as if Dany Heatley was going to create a distraction in the Senators locker room and simply wasn't going to be well liked (hell, the desire to be traded went as far as refusing to go to teammate Jason Spezza's wedding).
Heatley's refusal rendered the question among most, including myself, "Why request the trade if you're just going to say no?" and Heatley's motivations were becoming very clear. He wanted to go to an immediate contender, not a team who needs him in order to be a contender. Simply put, he's quickly becoming one of the NHL's few prima-donna's.
Is Heatley the missing piece for the San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers? It's very possible, but with all three of teams lacking the cap space and/or players willing to waive their no trade clauses a move to any of these cities seems unlikely. Wherever Heatley may end up (Ottawa being my bet), the price tag for the 28 year old coming off his worst offensive season since 2003-04 is still going to an extraordinarily high one considering his seven and a half million dollar cap hit from now until the end of the 2013-14 season.
The on-going Heatley saga has even irked captain Daniel Alfredsson, who recently suggested that Heatley be traded immediately for the best interest of the team and to avoid creating a distraction for the club once they return to action. Will Heatley be moved? Or better yet, can he be moved? As the season draws closer and closer, the idea of Heatley staying a Senator and creating a distraction is becoming more likely.
Considering that as of right now no Heatley trade is in place, this should be the Senators opening night line-up in 2009-10.
During his last fully healthy season for Columbus, Leclaire had an NHL leading 10 shutouts and 24 win season for the Jackets. The duo of Elliott and Leclaire should be key components in the rebuilding of the Senators with these two players possessing great potential to be stars in this league for years to come.
On the back end, the Senators defense was simply too old. Chris Philips, Jason Smith, and Luke Richardson (who retired after just two games) are simply beyond their prime and have arguably, with the exception of Jason Smith, lost their legs. In a market seemingly barren of young NHL defensemen, the Senators made no changes to the defense and will hope for the best without veteran Jason Smith patrolling the ice.
Making the biggest arrival into Ottawa in 2009 is definitely going to be that of Alex Kovalev, who for years tormented the Ottawa Senators and rest of the Northeast Division for that matter with the Montreal Canadiens. Known for his simply remarkable techniques with the stick and smooth skating, but also for his rather lazy-bug attitude, Kovalev has joined the Senators on a two year contract that will pay him a total of 10 million dollars.
Kovalev is coming off what many consider a down year in Montreal where the part-time captain struggled to play at a high level night in and night out and put up 26 goals and finished with 65 points and a -5. Despite the 19 point drop off from the year before, Kovalev still has the skills, leaving the only question to be his work ethic and desire to give it his all for a club with almost no direction for the upcoming season.
Ahead of Kovalev in the newspapers has been the request by Dany Heatley to be traded out of town and to a contender. After refusing a trade that would've sent the disgruntled 39-goal scorer to Edmonton in exchange for Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid it was beginning to appear as if Dany Heatley was going to create a distraction in the Senators locker room and simply wasn't going to be well liked (hell, the desire to be traded went as far as refusing to go to teammate Jason Spezza's wedding).
Heatley's refusal rendered the question among most, including myself, "Why request the trade if you're just going to say no?" and Heatley's motivations were becoming very clear. He wanted to go to an immediate contender, not a team who needs him in order to be a contender. Simply put, he's quickly becoming one of the NHL's few prima-donna's.
Is Heatley the missing piece for the San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers or New York Rangers? It's very possible, but with all three of teams lacking the cap space and/or players willing to waive their no trade clauses a move to any of these cities seems unlikely. Wherever Heatley may end up (Ottawa being my bet), the price tag for the 28 year old coming off his worst offensive season since 2003-04 is still going to an extraordinarily high one considering his seven and a half million dollar cap hit from now until the end of the 2013-14 season.
The on-going Heatley saga has even irked captain Daniel Alfredsson, who recently suggested that Heatley be traded immediately for the best interest of the team and to avoid creating a distraction for the club once they return to action. Will Heatley be moved? Or better yet, can he be moved? As the season draws closer and closer, the idea of Heatley staying a Senator and creating a distraction is becoming more likely.
Considering that as of right now no Heatley trade is in place, this should be the Senators opening night line-up in 2009-10.
Daniel Alfredsson - Jason Spezza - Dany Heatley
Nick Foligno - Mike Fisher - Alex Kovalev
Jarkko Ruutu - Chris Kelly - Chris Neil
Christoph Schubert - Ryan Shannon - Jesse Winchester
Extra Skaters: Cody Bass & Martin St. Pierre
Chris Phillips - Filip Kuba
Chris Campoli - Alexandre Picard
Brian Lee - Anton Volchenkov
Extra Skater: Erik Karlsson
Pascal Leclaire
Brian Elliott
Despite the addition of Kovalev and arrival of a healthy Leclaire, this team is among the bottom of the barrel not only in the division, but in the Eastern Conference. Once again, the defense will be lit up by all four of the divisional opponents along with the rest of the NHL. The offense, although slightly improved, still lacks the depth to hang with the league's best on a night in and night out basis.
Players To Watch: Firstly and most importantly, goaltenders Pascal Leclaire and Brian Elliott should be two netminders to keep an eye on and present the second most interesting case of a goalie core next to the Ray Emery and Brian Boucher combo in Philly. Elliott, while experience success as a rookie on a bad team has still yet to prove if he is indeed the number one goaltender of tomorrow whereas Leclaire is looking to bounce back and return to form with a fully healed ankle. It'll also be entertaining to see how the fans react to and treat Dany Heatley if he is indeed not traded before the season starts.
Prediction: 5th in Northeast Division. 12th in Eastern Conference.
