Sens, Habs and Leafs Headed in Different Directions

 No matter how well your team is going, as an NHL general manager, worry and anxiety are common bedfellows. Teams can be one major injury or a couple of poor goaltending outings away from singing sayonara to the post-season. Here in Eastern Ontario – and readers of this space will

Senators’ November: A Waltz to Forget

 The good? Tim Stutzle’s dancing like he’s Fred Astaire. The bad? The rest of the team’s dancing like Elaine Benes. This has not been a November to remember for the Ottawa Senators and – really - this mini-slump rich with bad rhythm and a few poorly timed one-step and two-step

NHL: Where the Captaincy Really Means Something

 Outside of battling and baffling offer sheets, it’s been the hot topic in hockey this past week. It’s Toronto. It’s a new captain. And his name is Auston Matthews. Which hauls me into today’s discussion and debate – does it really, truly matter who your captain is in this day
The first round of the NHL playoffs

Bizarro’s rise during NHL’s first round

 Modest certainty never came to fruition on a Tuesday night when-and-where three of Canada’s entrants into the NHL’s playoff derby walked into the spotlight. With no Auston Matthews and his eight-gazillion goals, the Toronto Maple Leafs were done like a Tiger Williams dinner, correct? After the Honky-Tonk Highway Miracle, the

Oilers, Leafs, Jets and Canucks takin’ care of business

 The most fabulous time of the year hasn’t disappointed, and we are what, only three-days-and-change in? Fabulous. Lots to chew on from a Canadian team perspective as the NHL post-season rages onward. It is – after all - the most fabulous time of the year . . .   WHERE

NHL trade deadline a pickle for Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto

 Complex and potentially puzzling are a couple of ways to project the upcoming National Hockey League trade deadline for the three Eastern-based Canadian operations. Take any one of the above descriptions and apply it to your favourite Canadian team around these parts if you want, but you can also and

Battle? What battle?

 What we have here is a national crisis. When one of our country’s most established, venerated, respected institutions tumbles into near obscurity, what else would you call it? Yep, crisis pretty well sums it up. The Battle of Ontario? Please. Nerf Ball war is more like it. Ottawa and Toronto

It’s Crack-of-Dawn Early but Ottawa’s Wide Awake

 One down, 27-ish to go. It’s just one full week into the NHL season and already proclamations are being made league-wide: “The Canucks are soft,” “The Oilers stink,” “Seattle stinks too,” “It’s either Vegas-Ottawa in the final or Colorado-Detroit in the final!” One full week in and we’re thrust into

Senators Relishing the Pressure?

 The elevation from doormat to Golden Boy couldn’t have happened quicker. Last year, two years ago (. . . three years ago, four years ago, five years ago . . .) when asked about the pending fate and fortunes of the Ottawa Senators, hockey panellists would kind of look awkwardly

NHL’s Eastern Conference: change is in the air

 It’s been the ignition switch triggering many a discussion since the salary cap came into play 17 years ago – the days of dynasties in the National Hockey League are done. The Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s, NY Islanders and Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s dominated hockey at its grandest

The uncatchable Colorado Avalanche

 “There is a creature alive today . . . Without logic. It lives to kill; a mindless eating machine. It will attack. And devour. Anything. It is if God created the Devil and gave him . . . jaws.” This is not a film from 1975. This is a hockey

NHL not in Jeopardy of lacking playoff questions

 It’s another edition of questions in need of answers. Or answers in need of questions. While this corner is certainly no Mattea Roach, we’ll do our best to seek truth as the playoffs rev up next week. Yowzah! WILL THE OTTAWA SENATORS BE GOLFING OR WATCHING WHEN THE NHL KICKS

Senators will have company in playoff chase

 If the playoffs do eventually come knocking, who steps out of the Ottawa Senator’s way? Realistically the organization would need to take a significant jump in order to rally and compete for a spot as early as next season. Could it happen? Sure, but unless Senators management can figure out

Norris takes that next big step

 Need a little sunshine? Here you go. One of the biggest obstacles potentially facing the Ottawa Senators and ‘taking that next big step’ is the lack of elite star power. Sure they have Thomas Chabot, but until now, not much else in the realm of A-quality offensive talent. It’s becoming

Trade-deadline turmoil in Toronto?

 It’s expected the Ottawa Senators will look a lot like the Ottawa Senators come Monday next week. In other words, don’t expect much noise at the trade deadline (3 p.m. ET March 21st). Outside of shipping out a couple of minor role players and potentially Swiss army knife Nick Paul,

Welcome to hockey on perpetual pause

 This would be comical if it wasn’t so maddening. It’s almost as if the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators have taken on the schedule of a National Football League club. The amount of games in relation to actual time off is ridiculous – Ottawa now has played just 29 times

Young trio making waves where waves are needed

 For right now the Ottawa Senators are awfully thin. Thinner than Twiggy, thinner than Victoria Beckham. But you know what . . . the meat that IS on the bone, is getting the job done currently. Ottawa has won four of its last five games and the locals can lay

Senators: Productivity required now

 Welcome back. With a full week off – graciously granted by the National Hockey League to the Ottawa Senators due to COVID precautions – it’s given Ottawa Fan plenty of time to think on what has happened so far on the ice this season. Unfortunately for said Ottawa Fan, the

Social media pushes the envelope, for once

 The days of turning a blind eye are over. If there is one good thing about social media – and there really is not much, truly – it’s that information and deplorable, inappropriate behaviors can no longer be swept under the rug. (Ask certain characters currently in public office). When

Where Art Thou, Brady?

 Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Sure, computer gamers from the mid-1980s would scratch their heads over that one for a few years, but here in Ottawa it’s a different type of game: Where in the world is Brady Tkachuk? St. Louis? Hunkered down in Ottawa . . .

Sens kick into high gear

 ABOVE: Pierre McGuire is the new VP of Player Development for the Ottawa Senators. The Ottawa Senators are pushing forward in rapid fashion. The first big move of the early summer (is it actually summer yet?) was the surprising hiring of long-time broadcaster and former NHL coach (he won the

Leafs entire self-perspective on the line . . . again

 ABOVE: Nylander has been the best Leafs forward. When one school teacher unwittingly causes another teacher's dismissal, he is challenged to an after-school fight (premise). Yeah, it was a truly awful film (Fist Fight) but doesn’t it ring truly true for the Toronto Maple Leafs who have to face their

Future looking rosy in Senator land

 The heat was on last week after what appeared in this corner of the page. Maybe a little too harsh? Unsympathetic? Sure. Perhaps. But after another solid week on the ice, the Ottawa Senators surely appear that they’re about to take another step forward. There’s just too much going well

Time to get a move on, Ottawa

 Put up or shut up. Can Ottawa folk finally agree we are there? I mean, come on, the leeway given this franchise (that would be the Ottawa Senators) – especially by some members of the local media – for the past 3-4 years has been especially generous. Especially. And especially

Leafs-Jets setting intriguing tone

 Maybe next year Johnny Senators Hockey Fan will be invested in the realm of baited-breath as well. But for this year? Enjoy what lies ahead . . . regardless. The playoffs loom and for close followers of the all-Canadian division, it promises to be a Christmas-morning-style experience. First off, the