Hope Remains for Senators, but it’s Dimming

 Another pointlessly disappointing post-Christmas slog through winter and spring, or an unexpected turnaround on deck for a franchise much more used to the former? As Tom Jones and Donny Osmond would sing – ‘I’m leavin’ it all up to you.’ Here we are; here we sit, in all-too-familiar territory for

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

On Battles and JR . . .

 This week, it’s a little game of questions in search of answers. Let’s get it rolling.   WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE ‘BATTLE OF ONTARIO?’ Seriously, where have you been? When Ottawa and its Senators travel to Toronto to face its Maple Leafs tonight, there just doesn’t appear to be any

The Ghosts of Ottawa’s Goalie Graveyard Rear Up Again

 One of my favourite things to bounce around my mouth is this word: Bailiwick. Definition – “one's sphere of operations or particular area of interest.” Contextually this week, we’re using it to address the netminding graveyard known as the Ottawa Senators. A ‘particular area of interest?’ You betcha. Tuesday night’s

Early season look at Senators shows improvement

 It’s a smallish sample size, no doubt. Still, a 4-2 record six games into this youngish season gives birth to optimism. Make that optimism . . . about . . . change. The Ottawa Senators godawful recent history of poor starts to the year has been documented ad nauseum. Pretty

The good and the bad among Senators, Habs and Leafs

 Known collectively on this particular page as the Holy Trinity of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Senators and their chief rivals in Montreal and Toronto are off and running (some faster than others) in the drag race known as the 2024-25 NHL season. As we’ve discovered though, it’s not so much

Senators need to avoid slow start (again)

 Heard kind of an odd statement coming out of the mouth of one of my choice hockey insiders this morning. (And one Ottawa Senator fans would take issue with, no doubt). Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman relayed to his co-host, Stittsville resident Kyle Bukauskas, that Buffalo –

New rink and new look for Ottawa’s Senators

 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

Senators reach agreement to build new rink downtown

 It came down to the final hour, but the Ottawa Senators are on their way to seeing a new arena being built at LeBreton Flats in the downtown core. The new facility won’t see shovels hit the ground for quite a while as several hurdles need to be dealt with

Biggest Needs of the Senators in the Offseason

 The Ottawa Senators are approaching a critical offseason after failing to make the playoffs once again. With elevated expectations unmet during the 2023-24 season, significant changes are necessary for the team to become a legitimate contender. This article examines the biggest needs for the Senators in the upcoming offseason, considering

Rink deal in the offing, again

 Nothing like near record setting warm temperatures to inspire thoughts of hockey, but here we are. The long summer is making way for fall in stubborn “I’m not going anywhere yet” fashion as the gauge closes in on 30 C. At the same time, all 32 National Hockey League clubs

Young Blood Could Dictate Success in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto

 If you’ve read this corner of the page with any regularity over the past year or two or six or eight, you’ll recognize my three favourite centres for topic and discussion – Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Reasoning here is pretty simple: Eastern Ontario is predisposed to root for one or

Questions and queries surround the NHL’s East

 From shakeups to shakedowns, it hasn’t exactly been a quiet summer in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. Your Ottawa Senators added in the way of veteran help (as advertised), your Toronto Maple Leafs shook up that targeted, beleaguered blueline, and your Montreal Canadiens stuck to due diligence on the

Assessing the Ottawa Senators’ Offseason Moves

 Times are not good for hockey fans in Canada’s capital. This past season, the Ottawa Senators extended their playoff drought to seven years, finishing with a losing record for the sixth time in those seven years. However, general manager Steve Staios has been hard at work this summer trying to

NHL’s Best Draft Happened 21 Years Ago

 It was a weekend to remember at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville in late June, so many years ago. It was an enormously successful event – that summer’s entry draft – and its impact is still, some how, being felt around the National Hockey League today. It not only

NHL Free Agency conjures Questions in Need of Answers

 By mid-afternoon on an unusually bright and sunny Canada Day (doesn’t it always rain on July 1st?), the National Hockey League was zipping along quite nicely as the free agency period opened with a slew of deals and decisions. The price tag was enormous as teams spent more than $1

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?
Matthew Tkachuk, Courtesy ESPN.com

Panthers’ identity has outcasts dying to grow and bare teeth

 “There is a creature alive today who has survived millions of years of evolution, without change, without logic, it lives to kill. A mindless eating machine, it will attack, it will devour. Anything. It is as if God created the Devil and gave him . . . jaws.”   This

Ottawa’s Off-Season Won’t be Dull

 “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” • Moms around the globe   Well, if we followed up on the quote, there wouldn’t be a whole heck of a lot to this column then would there? Picking apart the Ottawa Senators’ season is akin to putting the

Panthers Boast What Senators Do Not

 Here are a few words and phrases I collected from print, online and broadcast late Tuesday night and early into Wednesday morning after the Ottawa Senators were shut out (again) by the Florida Panthers. ‘Blueprint for success.’ ‘Playoff-hardened.’ ‘Clutch.’ ‘Smothering.’ ‘Team identity.’ ‘Another level.’ ‘Pack mentality.’ . . . And

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

Tarasenko dealt to Florida

 Vladimir Tarasenko’s stay in Ottawa with the Senators was a short one. The Stanley Cup winning winger was dealt to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday morning for a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2024 and a third-round pick in 2025. That 2024 pick will be upgraded to a third rounder

What’s the Real Story Senators? Maple Leafs?

 Another sampling of little ideas that just didn’t quite grow into big ones. Minor columns that just couldn’t sprout into big ones. Why not. Have at it and enjoy your week.   HALLOWEEN, OR NOT? The guys on Sportsnet brought this up this week – not that it’s anything new,

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