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: A League of Knee-Jerks

 A few months back I foraged my way into a very heated argument with a friend. It began with me accusing him of things – we’ll call them character flaws - and then he fired back accusing me of other things – also known as character flaws. On my side

Ottawa Hits its (Ull)mark, Draft Day Approaches and the Cup Comes Through Big Time

 It’s June 25th – you know, the heart of summer – and hockey continues to roll. The winter-ish sport enjoyed one of its busiest days during the past 24 hours with ramifications locally and across the continent. Let’s have a look.   BEST FINAL IN YEARS ENDS IN HIGH DRAMA?

The Extraordinary Connor McDavid . . . (and other noteworthy observations)

 Back in college and - eventually - university days we had what we called The Gretzky Rule. It was pretty simple: Any playoff hockey pool worth its salt would eliminate any of the participants from having the ability to select Wayne Gretzky. The thinking was equally simple: The gap between

On the Cup, Tkachuk and Marner

 Trudging the road to happy destiny – aka, the Stanley Cup finale - is taking its sweet time. Many, many steps it seems on this journey. So, while we have a moment or two (or a day or two or six) to get set for what should be dynamite on
Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios

‘Summer of Steve’ well underway

 Like the result or not, Step 1 in the Ottawa Senator ‘rebuild’ was accomplished lickety-split. The hiring of Travis Green just last week, while certainly not universally lauded, quickly took care of some much-needed business during what promises to be a busy off-season. Quite simply, there’s lots-to-do in Ottawa as

NHL’s Dance to the Playoffs isn’t Dull

 Never let a great story go untold, and there are two considerable ones ramping up in the National Hockey League. With exactly four weeks left in the regular season, the NHL has dandy cliffhangers being played out in both the Eastern and Western Conference. But while they’re both enticing, they’re

Tire Fire Reaches Halfway Point

 Fire the general manager, get stiffed on a first-round draft choice, see a top forward sent to NHL purgatory for half a season, put the torch to the inflammable head coach, reassign your flagging goalie coach, watch a promising and potentially break-out year go up in flames early and often.

When late June becomes a hockey hornet nest

 No hockey on the ice. No problem. As TSN’s Gino Reda pointed out (roughly) Monday night: ‘Welcome to the busiest week of the hockey season.’ Trades, NHL entry draft, free agency, rumours, rumblings and another painfully awkward NHL awards show . . . it’s all here for the taking. Good

NHL sagas we’re waiting to see unfold

 ABOVE: Early indications are that Juraj Slafkovsky was a good pick. Canadians love a good story almost as much as they love their hockey. So, pairing the two together makes sense, no? In each of our seven centres – Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg (just in case you forgot

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

A week of searching in vain for a higher ‘power’

 “You got the power To keep my fire a-burnin' You got the power To keep my wheels a-turnin'” – War A hit from 1982 never felt so right in the 2020s. To many, though, the song doesn’t conjure much of a smile as Ottawa and the region’s mass power outage

Year-end awards a mixed bag for Senators

 Pack up your things and head for the hills for the summer. The season, for the Ottawa Senators is done. And how about that season? Some advances to be sure, a few disappointments and a lot of ifs and buts. We’ve created a few categories here – as opposed to

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

Wake up NHL, Senators are chumps no more 

 “Without labour, nothing prospers.” “Hard work betrays none.” “Much effort, much prosperity.” Pretty heady stuff, eh? I’m fairly certain the authors of these famously weighty quotes weren’t pondering the game of hockey when they wrote them up but that won’t stop this corner from applying, forthwith. Pretty heady stuff, eh

Hockey in holding pattern . . . sort of

 Isn’t this whole thing just plain dispiriting and saddening? I’m someone who tangles with depression and anxiety every day. During the last (nearly) two years I’d guess there’s more of us out there than not. People are coming out daily with their battle details. And I’m not telling you anything

Senators not alone on the Isle of Stink

 I always kind of wondered what it would be like to live full-time in Phoenix. You know, the warm days throughout the year, world-class golf courses, thin, clean air, superb dining, the constant hum of air conditioners and a perpetually bad hockey team. Well now I know. We’ve got all

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

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

Senators make ‘slight’ moves at deadline

 Really, when you think about it, it’s the small things that matter in life. So-hope the Ottawa Senators who did a few of the little deals at the trade deadline but picked up a small piece that - hopefully (for them) - eventually makes a difference. Ottawa tapped on its

Senators a ‘fragile group’ after stretch of losses

 Well, where do I start? It's going to be a long season for the Ottawa Senators. In three games versus the Vancouver Canucks this week, the Senators combined for 116 shots on goal, besting Vancouver’s tally of 95. The combined score was 16 to 3 in favour of Vancouver, and

Who’s tops in an all-Canadian division?

 Last week in this very corner the thought was that an all-Canadian team realignment in the National Hockey League should not only be instituted this coming season but should also be a permanent thing. Great idea? Well, I thought so. To further the discussion, this week’s gripper deals with a

Questions and more questions surround NHL’s return

 Uncertainty is the only certainty. Welcome to the current landscape of professional sports. In hockey, the uncertainty surrounding an upcoming season prompts a few questions. Like: What if there is no season? Don’t kid yourself, this is a real possibility. National Hockey League owners have zero appetite to return to

NHL swings and misses, big time

 Stephen King has notched his rightful place high up on the pole as one of my more revered writers (especially his earlier stuff). He came to mind Friday night shortly after 8. From the perspective of many an Ottawa Senator fanatic, only King – the Sultan of Scare – could

Canadian teams look to post-season and draft

 Above: Morgon Reilley will return to the Leafs lineup (Courtesy NHLI via Getty Images) It’s lonely at the bottom. The Ottawa Senators – as discussed at great length in this space last week – won’t be taking part in the 24-team slap-and-tickle know as the NHL playoffs later this summer.