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.

Under .500 Again? It’s not all on the Coach

 It’s the justification I just don’t get. Ottawa management, yeah the new group, keeps bringing up the suggestion that sending Senators’ head coach D.J. Smith and his crew packing would just simply be . . . a bad idea. The reason? ‘The players have told us there’s already been far

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

Hockey’s back! (Well, not quite yet)

 I get it. I mean seriously – National Hockey League training camps don’t even open for nearly another three weeks so anything resembling the wording season preview needs to be shelved for the immediate future. . . in an appropriate world. But my world is anything but appropriate (or insert

Time to make hay, Ottawa

 The year 2017 seems like, well, a very long time ago. And in hockey speak, it really was. Five ‘very long’ seasons. To not be even competing for a playoff spot post-Christmas for that amount of time, year after year, is inexcusable, right? But there you are Ottawa Fan. And

Keep your eyes on these guys.

 Being a ‘person of interest’ isn’t likely a good thing when relating it to the police. Being the same in this column could be good . . .  or it could be bad. Let’s put it this way, and either way, the 10 guys (close to home) listed and detailed

Senators working the steps, upwards

 Labour Day has come and gone, and for those tiring of summer, the CFL, MLB, tennis, golf and over-long visits from your in-laws, hockey’s about to make its return. As does your charming narrator from over in this corner. Good to be back at Ottawa Life for – what is

Senators: time for a change

 Jacques Martin. That’s right. Jacques freakin’ Martin. Ask yourself this – as far along as Ottawa Senators current head coach D.J. Smith has taken this relatively young troupe, which isn’t very far to be honest, isn’t it time to push this process along? There is no question Smith has some

Leafs’ lesson a tough pill to swallow

 I hope you were watching, Ottawa Fan. I hope you were listening, Ottawa Fan. ‘Cause Saturday night you were schooled, and even though you despise your teacher, best you’d been paying attention. In the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 6-0 dummying of the Ottawa Senators a number of things stood out. And

Sigh Erik, sigh

 Photo: via senators/news/sens-beat-pens-to-get-back-into-win-column/ Erik Brannstrom must feel a lot like that shy little kid who gets selected last for a game of pick-up football. Nobody really wants him but he’s the last kid standing. Sigh Erik, sigh. Look people, it’s not like he chose this path. He wasn’t the one

Senators’ rebuild is over? Really?

 “The rebuild is done . . .” "We've had a plan since we started this rebuild. I feel that we're in the next stage now, it's time to start to win.” The previous comments brought to you by Pierre Dorion (from various sources). In some respects, I guess this is

The Sens have found an identity

 The Ottawa Senators keep sending teams into tailspins. When they made a comeback down 5-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs two weeks ago, columnist James Mirtle wrote that the Leafs needed a trade to fix the “complacency that kills them.” Last week, two consecutive wins over the Montreal Canadiens ended

Rivalry week did not disappoint

 Here’s how last week shaped-out for the Ottawa Senators: Monday – 6-5 win vs Toronto Wednesday – 2-1 loss vs Toronto Thursday – 7-3 loss vs Toronto Sunday – 3-2 win vs Montreal That’s a two-win week for the Sens – a continuation of their trend in the right direction.

The Sens get a bounce, and “Hoggy” bounces back

 After beating the Montreal Canadiens and snapping a nine-game winless streak two weeks ago, the Ottawa Senators lost their next four games, and almost lost every game last week. Almost. Enter Brady Tkachuk. The Senators began the week with two losses to the Edmonton Oilers, followed by a loss to

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

After a tough week, Ottawa Senators need to give young players a chance

 Last week was a tough one for the Ottawa Senators, losing all three games versus Winnipeg. They led 3-2 until the last minutes of the game on Tuesday, before allowing an equalizer with 1:17 left, and then losing in overtime. The Senators outshot the Jets 41-28, they deserved to win.

Report cards come a little – too – early

 We are supposed to be gunning for a playoff season just around the corner. We’re supposed to be talking about who’s going to win the goal-scoring race, Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin or David Pastrnak. We’re supposed to be talking about MVP and whether the unexpected Leon Draisaitl can accomplish the

Figuring out Senators’ near future is going to be a puzzle

 The possibilities are endless. This is the reality of the world where Ottawa Senators’ general manager Pierre Dorion exists. The next few weeks – and months – are rich with ifs, ands, buts, maybes and maybe nots. In Ottawa the only sure thing is there’s no sure thing. Here’s what

Senators latest skid nothing to gloss over

 Well, it could be more problematic, you could be Detroit. Actually we take that back, you WERE Detroit this past weekend. The Ottawa Senators took a plunge in to the pool that tells themselves they are the worst team in the NHL during their last collection of games. During this

Pageau, Duclair success clouds picture

 This wasn’t supposed to be so complicated. Rebuild, lose a bunch of games, play the kids and trade any or all of the veteran assets you hold. That was the intended plan, as far as we know. But Anthony Duclair and Jean-Gabriel Pageau spoiled it. Here’s the deal: At the

Tkachuk ka-chunks the opposition, repeatedly

 To Johnny (. . . and Jenny) Senator Fan, a few pressing internal thoughts and proposals and questions that need your attention. Have a look. Brady Tkachuk is a somewhat captivating character. This could be the understatement of the year. The second-year winger is kind of the anti-Mister Rogers. Instead

Special teams in Ottawa: the good and the bad

 You can see why the Ottawa Senators excel in certain areas and fail in others. It’s right there in front of you. Plain as day. Head coach D.J. Smith has refined a penalty kill which in previous campaigns was far from refined. Last season Ottawa sat 23rd in the league

Sens empty dust-bin of calamitous past few seasons

 “Who is Chris Tierney, Alex?” It’s the type of stumper that’ll perplex even the best of Jeopardy champions (even James Holzhauer, me-thinks). Answer being: This player lead the Ottawa Senators in scoring by a forward last season. Matt Duchene was long gone to Ohio by the time the year ended,