It’s pre-season . . . or exhibition . . . whatever or whichever you prefer calling it, but it’s still the National Hockey League and it’s here.
Ottawa opened its ‘before-regular-season-hits’ schedule Sunday night with a pretty wild 6-5 overtime win in Toronto.
We’ll get to that and a couple of other early thoughts right now, as that anticipated regular season arrives on Oct. 4th when the Buffalo Sabres play the New Jersey Devils in the 2024 NHL Global Series in Prague, Czechia.
(Ottawa opens against the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Oct. 10th, at home).
The pre-season surely looks more important to the guys in audition roles than the ones who understand that even through hell-and-high-water – they’ll be skating in the Bigs come early October.
Well, you certainly couldn’t argue with that theory after Sunday’s opener for an untried Ottawa group playing a full-throttle Toronto gang.
The bubble-boys from the nation’s capital played with a whole lot more gumption and drive and . . . responsibility . . . than the Leafs’ veteran dressings. Frankly, Toronto resembled a group of guys playing a best-ball charity golf event rather than a team taking this exhibition tilt seriously.
And that was written all over new coach Craig Berube’s mug. Cameras breaking away from play to check in on the former top-end enforcer revealed a spitting mad visage. He didn’t like what he was seeing. Clearly evident.
On the other hand, Ottawa’s new guy, Travis Green, had to be pretty happy with his gang.
Jan Jenik, Cole Reinhart and Adam Gaudette all played with that afore-mentioned drive. They likely won’t be on board when the schedule kicks off against Florida – there just aren’t many openings in 2024-25 – but they showcased enough to be on a first-call basis if Ottawa runs into injuries.
Again – it’s pretty damn early to be making grandiose prognostications, but first-rounder Carter Yakemchuk showed a lot of game for the Senators.
Meaning?
Not a whole lot at this juncture, but there are elements of the 18-year old’s game that stand out.
Size you can’t teach and Yakemchuk has that at 6-foot-3 and 201-lbs. A big shot? That too. And that too is there.
Down the road Yakemchuk’s other capabilities will evolve and grow. That being hockey sense and positional play.
The biggest knock on the Albertan is his skating. He did look surprisingly good though dangling through various veteran Buds on his way to the overtime winner.
Not saying he’ll ever be as good as Dion Phaneuf was in his prime, but there are similarities.
(The Senators and Leafs are scheduled to go back at it Tuesday night in Ottawa. Expect a much different make up in Game 2 for both clubs).
The topmost news of the week was obviously the new rink deal signed between the Senators and the National Capital Commission.
The announcement while not unexpected was met with plaudits, acclaim and applause, and – as is the Canuck way – was also met with criticism and a touch of condemnation.
On those voting on the pro side, the dissemination of the news signalled a bit of jubilation – Ottawa had finally grown up. The downtown was in the midst of a (lengthy) downturn and the introduction of a state-of-the-art facility would be just the juice to re-energize. Key to this was the Sparks Street area (just to the east of the site) which has resembled a tumbleweed town for years after the sun set.
Nearby restaurants, shops and bars also have to be doing Olympic-style handstands after hearing the news. Since the pandemic – need we tell you – times have been exponentially tough for many a location.
Even the forever-maligned (and rightfully so) LRT runners see this as a big plus with two stations within convenient walking distance to the project.
Fans in neighbouring Gatineau also get a lot closer to the action. Instead of an hour to and hour-and-a-half commute to Kanata, this’ll be a short hop over one of the bridges to get to the rink.
For the downers there’s loads to chomp on.
What to do with the current rink off of Terry Fox?
What about the enormous infrastructure (restaurants, bars, etc.) built around the Canadian Tire Centre during the past 25-plus years?
Then there are those who just think the location – LeBreton Flats – is a stinker.
We’ll leave it to this letter-to-the-editor in this week’s Ottawa Citizen/Sun publication:
“Imagine the proposed NHL hockey arena project that was conceived way back when Ottawa had a bustling downtown; tons of workers from all parts of the city housed in downtown offices during the whole week; and a long-dreamed about new transit system for ferrying people to downtown coming to fruition. Now think about that arena being announced today, with the downtown core and its transit, traffic and parking management all broken . . . Ottawa has grown outside of the downtown core. The downtown has withered on the vine and is struggling to catch its second wind. More fans live and work in the outskirts now and no longer come downtown if they can avoid it. Nobody trusts the LRT.
The conditions that made a hockey arena in LeBreton Flats a good idea before the pandemic, I fear, no longer exist.”
Lots to chew on, folks.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
