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

NHL’s Atlantic Rich with Talent and Troubles

 It’s a relatively quiet time in the National Hockey League. Late August. Camps still a few weeks away. Outside of a Laine trade here, a Blues-Oilers offer sheet tussle there, not a whole heck of a lot rocking on. Hence, the dawning of the month-of-the-lists. TSN’s been at it. So

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

Dorion’s firing . . . and spinning the wheel on Senators, Habs and Leafs

 Collectively they should be recognized as the Holy Trinity of hockey around these parts. Three entities that swallow the large majority of fan support in the Eastern Ontario region. So in no particular order, here we have Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, and if you’re a hockey follower in the region,

Bad habits just won’t go away – Senators

 Expectations can create resentments? Yep. Especially those darned unfulfilled ones. So when you’re the Ottawa Senators – the new golden child of the National Hockey League’s collective media as well as the club’s jacked and re-juiced fan base – and you watch what came about during the team’s last two

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

Senators take business-like approach to draft

 Scratch the thought that this was “one of the biggest nights in franchise history.” I’d argue (and we’ll see in the years to come) that this was THE biggest night in Ottawa Senators’ history. General Manager Pierre Dorion threw out the former line with some aplomb. I think he underestimates