Only one constant in Bingo this year: Success

About a week ago, Bingo beat writer and blogger Michael Sharp documented the adversity through which the Binghamton Senators have, somehow, successfully navigated to get off to their best start in franchise history: Then 21-12-6 (48 points), now 23-13-6 (52 points). He offered a list of some of the things the team has overcome (directly quoting Sharp):

• "Brad Isbister, sold to B-Sens fans as a potential top-six forward here, opts to head to Switzerland, rather than report in training camp.
• "Second-year center Alexander Nikulin, last season's third-leading scorer, and another top-six guy entering the season, threatens to return home to Russia if he is not traded. Eventually, he gets his wish, getting shipped to the Phoenix organization the same day he walks out on the B-Sens.
• "Second-year center Cody Bass, while playing on recall with Ottawa, is lost for the season with a shoulder injury.
• "Rookie forward Kaspars Daugavins chooses to return to juniors in late December. He had just three points in 23 games, but he'd been playing on a line with Josh Hennessy and Ryan Shannon just before his decision.
• "This first half has featured 14 call-ups to Ottawa, most recently goaltender Brian Elliott, an all-star and arguably the team's first-half MVP. It doesn't appear he's returning any time soon.
• "Eight players have missed at least eight straight games with an injury down here. That doesn't include Shannon, who missed time with a concussion while on recall with Ottawa.
• "Brendan Bell and Brian Lee, two top-four defensemen for Binghamton, appear to be sticking in Ottawa. Bell has been there since Nov. 16. Lee has already logged 18 games with the big club.
• "The schedule was ridiculous in November, with two stretches of seven games in 10 days. One stretch included a lengthy trip to Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. And both came amidst a period of heavy injuries and call-ups."

Although it's not confirmed, it sure looks like Elliott will be in Ottawa for the rest of the season, and one of Bell or Lee will more than likely stick around, as well. Binghamton coach Cory Clouston has taken his fair share of criticism, but he's got to be commended for keeping this team rolling. And Sens GM Bryan Murray and Assistant GM Tim Murray both have to be commended for, at least to date, re-stocking the Senators minor-league pro depth.

More unhappy forwards: SputNik and Isbister

Just a few days after Christoph Schubert expressed tremendous disappointment at being moved up to forward instead of playing minimal ice time at defence, two more Senators players appear disappointed with their roles in the system.

Alexander Nikulin recently posted an article on his blog (translated here on HFBoards) entitled "Goodbye, Ottawa" where he was disappointed at his reception for training camp, and has apparently asked for a trade or the option to go back to Russia. Bryan Murray agreed to try and trade him, and has been looking around, but if he can't find one within two weeks SputNik said he's off to CSKA Moscow. He cites the disappointment the Sens expressed to his conditioning--which was better than last year, just not as improved as the Sens wanted--and that he wasn't even given a chance to play in the pre-season. He is of the mind that a year in the minors would be a "waste", rather than an opportunity to improve. Worrying is his implication that Ilya Zubov, who improved greatly in the off-season--may also be disgruntled at the demotion to the AHL. I don't think either party is wrong here. Ottawa had every right to express their feelings to Nikulin, and to demote him if they felt it was granted. And Nikulin has every right to ask for a trade if he feels he can get better shake somewhere else. He's on contract, though; walking out on a contract and heading to Russia is a different can of beans. Time will tell.

Third disgruntled forward is Brad Isbister, who recently signed a two-way contract. According to Michael Sharp of the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, Isbister isn't happy with that second way his contract could go--assignment to the AHL--so he's looking to Europe. No big deal, according to head of hockey operations Brent Flahr (as quoted on Sharp's blog): "I think you look around, we've got right now, just in practice, we have five lines, guys competing. Guys like Ryan Shannon, and Denis, and Josh Hennessy, and Zack Smith, who you haven't seen a lot of yet but is a real good player. Danny Bois has come in ... he looks like a different player this year. You know, you have Zubov, Nikulin, other guys. So ... I think we have very good depth at forward. We're not concerned. At the same time, we don't want anybody down here around young prospects who doesn't want to be here."

So, expect a few moves to make sure all of our players want to be here. Not sure about Schubert and whether or not he'll stick around, but neither Nikulin nor Isbister will be with Ottawa this year. Which is fine, because it's better to have happy middling players than unhappy middling players. And Binghamton had extra forwards, anyway.

Five more sent to Binghamton

The Senators announced today that five more players are heading to Binghamton's training camp: forwards Brad Isbister, Greg Mauldin, and Peter Regin, and defencemen Brendan Bell and Matt Carkner. Mostly vets on two-way deals, but the Bell demotion clears up a bit of the log-jam on defence. The battle for the final two spots is now between Alex Picard, Brian Lee, and Christoph Schubert.

After losing their pre-season opener 2-1 to Wilkes Barre/Scranton, these guys will surely help the B-Sens out. The Sens, meanwhile, will get to play an actual game with a probably almost-normal roster tonight, and will bring all 25 players they have--three goalies, eight defence, and 14 forwards--to Sweden. Afterwards, there will likely be more roster movement.

Rangers 2, (B-)Sens 1

The Sens dressed a scoring-challenged lineup, leaving Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, and Mike Fisher all out for the final half of the home-and-home against the New York Rangers. It showed. The Sens only managed 22 shots, including 10 in the third, and lost the game by a 2-1 score that looked better than it was (thanks to the Sens' goalies). Another sloppy game brings the Sens' pre-season record to 1-1.

The biggest storyline might be Wade Redden playing his first game against his old team. It's about what you'd expect: He was on for all three goals, and--although not being tagged for any giveaways--he (apparently, I didn't see it) didn't look good on the Sens' only goal.

For Ottawa, everyone was talking about Alex Auld getting a chance to impress coach Craig Hartsburg, and impress he did tonight. As good as Martin Gerber looked on Saturday night, Auld was challenged more often, and usually met those challenges (although he had some help from the posts). Of the two goals, the first was weak, but the second was a tip after the Sens weren't able to clear the puck. In fact, I'd blame the second goal on Antoine Vermette, who had a golden shooting opportunity but tried to deke, got smoked, lost the puck, and had it come up the ice until the Rangers were able to put it past Auld. I didn't get to see Jeff Glass, but he stopped all eight shots he faced, so couldn't have been too bad.

The Sens' best forward was probably Nick Foligno, who caused a few turnovers and played a strong game. Close after was Dean McAmmond, who scored the Sens' only goal, and also caused quite a few turnovers. With the log-jam at forward, McAmmond needed to show something in the pre-season, and he did a pretty good job tonight. On a line with D-Mac was Brad Isbister, and there appeared to be some reasonable chemistry between the two--but don't hold you breath for Isbister to make the team. Finally, Ilya Zubov had a great scoring chance, and--according to the official scoresheet--threw three hits. The Sens' best hit was Jarkko Ruutu on Brandon Dubinsky, an open-ice collision that knocked Doobie off the puck.

On defence, Brendan Bell looked better than I'd expected, and certainly made a case for himself. I would be surprised if he's in the round of cuts tomorrow. Luke Richardson looked pretty good, too, playing 17 minutes, including some penalty-kill time. Still, Richardson still has a way to go, but he might travel to Sweden as part of the roster.

On the other side of the ledger, Brian Lee has something to prove. He got beat on a breakaway tonight, and had to tak a penalty and rely on a great Auld pokecheck to prevent a goal. But then he got an assist, and, although I didn't see the goal, that's got to mean something. Also, Ryan Shannon was certainly exposed as the undersized player he is. Although he had some opportunities, he rarely if ever was able to win a battle, and was often muscled off the puck.

So a bunch of cuts will come tomorrow morning, probably at least a dozen, maybe 16 players will head to the Binghamton training camp. Next game will be on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers in Ottawa; the Flyers won on Monday night 4-1. The Sens should dress a lineup that will look a lot like the one they'll start the regular season with, so stay tuned tomorrow morning.

Sens sign Brad Isbister

According to MarketWire (via Kukla's Korner), Ottawa signed winger Brad Isbister to a one-year, two-way contract today. I assume, considering Isbister's limited effectiveness in the NHL in recent years and the current bumper crop of forwards the Senators already have signed, that this newest signing will be Binghamton-bound.

Isbister's ten-year career seen him with Phoenix, the Islanders, Edmonton, Boston, the Rangers, and Vancouver before signing with Ottawa today. He's got 222P (106G, 116A) in 541 NHL games, and has 44P (27G, 17A) in 63 AHL games. Definitely a solid depth signing, but I don't expect he'll be playing much NHL this season unless he turns a lot of heads in training camp.

Should Isbister be playing for Binghamton, that team will likely suit one of their best lineups in years. Isbister would likely be fighting for a top-six forward along with the legendary Denis Hamel, newly-acquired Ryan Shannon, Josh Hennessy, second-year pros Ilya Zubov and Alexander Nikulin, as well as youngsters Kaspars Daugavins and Peter Regin. And perhaps some of the other veteran forwards that are on the team. And let's not forget the defence corps that will now include Brendan Bell.

Somehow, I think Bryan Murray might be orchestrating a trade with one of the many forwards this team now has.