New poll in, old poll out

With *cough* recent events compelling me to change the poll, now is the time to analyze the old poll. It appears that the majority of Sens fans felt a couple weeks ago what Bryan Murray is only feeling now: A terrifying sense of dread and hopelessness.

With 53% of respondents expressing some kind of hopelessness about this season so far, I think we've become a pretty depressed bunch. Though I applaud those of you who believe in playing for pride, I can't help but think of those pitiful Maple Leafs who have been compelled to not only play for pride, but trade for it too.

However, it's a new poll and a new era tomorrow. Let's embrace it... or not. VOTE AWAY!

Thoughts on the Hartsburg firing from the pundits

With the news that the Senators have fired Craig Hartsburg, making him their second first-year coach canned at the mid-way point of the season in as many seasons (following in John Paddock's footsteps), seems to have all the media and blogosphere pundits decrying the Senators' decision (be sure to check out Ben's thoughts on the issue here).

Here's a few excerpts from the bigger websites, starting with Stu Hackell's Slapshot blog:

What’s that popular definition of insanity attributed to Albert Einstein? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? For the second year in a row, Senators G.M. Bryan Murray has axed his first-year coach in February. Craig Hartsburg was dismissed Monday morning after the Caps and Alex Ovechkin dismantled the Sens 7-4 the day before.

[...]

Hartsburg, who signed a three-year deal in June, is replaced by Cory Clouston, coach of the Sens’ A.H.L. team, the Binghamton Senators.

[...]

This doesn’t look good for Murray and his long-term future as manager of the club. Jeez, that couldn’t mean that Eugene Melnyk is going to be, uh, blowing up the organization, could it?

... and James Mirtle, from his From the Rink blog:

I personally don't see any way you stick with Murray after all of the failures since that run to the finals in 2007. The team has essentially been dismantled, save for the big three, and has a long road of rebuilding ahead.

There are no free-agent solutions for what ails Ottawa.

Scapegoating is a good description of what's gone on, and it's something that's plagued both the coaches and goalies in the organization. Ray Emery and John Paddock were run out of town last season only to watch this current group of underachievers (including the GM) continue to underachieve to an even greater extent. Gerber wasn't good this season, but he was also the backup netminder, making only 14 starts and posting an .899 save percentage that is miles better than what netminders like Chris Osgood, Vesa Toskala, Mathieu Garon and Manny Legace have managed this season.

... and Greg Wyshynski from his Puck Daddy blog:

It's said every coach is hired to one day be fired; that was never more evident than when Craig Hartsburg was given the Ottawa Senators' bench last summer.

He was a completely pedestrian choice, hired because he was a disciplinarian for an egomaniacal roster; or because of his Canadian junior hockey fame; or because Florida Panthers Coach Peter DeBoer wanted too much job-security and money as the frontrunner.

So while DeBoer is being touted as a Jack Adams candidate while turning the Panthers into playoff contenders, Hartsburg was fired today by the Senators after going 17-27-7 for 41 points -- third-worst in the NHL. If his job was to light a fire under every player not named Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson or Jason Spezza, he failed; hell, according to one Columbus Blue Jackets player, Spezza basically quit, too. The team was an unmitigated disaster, and when Hartsburg wasn't exacerbating its problems he was also helpless to fix them.

... and Adam Proteau of The Hockey News on his aptly-titled Adam Proteau Blog:

The move was less than a shock, considering Ottawa has been languishing at the bottom of the NHL standings for months. But it doesn’t speak to the real problem with the Sens – namely, the holy trinity of salary cap killers that is Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson.

[...]

If owner Eugene Melnyk and Ottawa GM Bryan Murray need to see an example of cap management done right, they ought to look to the Calgary Flames, who, like the Sens, pay out big bucks to three of their players. The big difference is that in Calgary, one of those three (Jarome Iginla) plays forward, one (Dion Phaneuf) plays defense, and one (Miikka Kiprusoff) plays in net.

In other words, the Flames have a balance and symmetry to their on-ice and financial plans that serves the overall needs of the organization well.

The Sens have nothing of the sort – and that pronounced imbalance played a major role in costing Hartsburg his job.

... and Jeff Marek's blog on CBC.ca:

After 48 games the Ottawa Senators’ brass decided they had seen enough, lost enough and needed to do something to shake up the organization. The solution? Fire head coach Craig Hartsburg.

As Scott Morrison said on Hockey Night Online Monday … it’s Groundhog Day, indeed.

[...]

Prediction: Ottawa rides out the rest of the season, win lose or shootout and come July 1 completely overhauls this once-mighty squad. One of the best never to have won the Stanley Cup is about to get a complete makeover. Who coaches and who manages? There has been talk going back to the world junior tournament that Pat Quinn and Bob Nicholson could come in as a combo package. We’ll have to wait and see about that one.

... and Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber's Inside the NHL blog:

Instead of getting ahead of the market, Murray locked himself into talents who are not bedrock players despite their offensive numbers (Heatley and Spezza) and left the Senators with a defense that is not adept at moving the puck or joining the rush. He also has too many players, including Fisher (seven goals) and Antoine Vermette (six), who'd be more attractive if they were making at least $1 million less per year than they are now. Like Paddock, an admirable man and former Ottawa assistant coach who was favored by the players, and Hartsburg, previously a moderately successful NHL head coach, Murray simply backed the wrong people.

Maybe Clouston can provide the good housecleaning the Senators need in his first NHL job, but it's a long shot. A better bet last summer might have been the one man seemingly capable of shoveling these Augean Stables -- John Tortorella -- but, according to sources, the former coach of the 2004 Cup champion Lightning never received an interview. Now, the abrasive Tortorella can be a pebble in the shoe of his players, which might have made for a stylistic mismatch, but Murray should have at least heard some of his ideas before anointing Hartsburg.

Would Ottawa have taken to an American as a coach? If he won, guaranteed.

For a team that has been an annual playoff participant for more than a decade, the coaching switch probably comes too late. Unless Murray can change the culture of the team -- or Melnyk identifies a GM he thinks can do it -- the foundering Senators will continue to fade.

... and The Hockey News' Ken Campbell's Campbell's Cuts blog:

Pretty tough to argue with that logic when it comes to the Ottawa Senators firing Craig Hartsburg just 48 games into his tenure in Canada’s capital. If there were a coaches’ union, you can bet it would be processing the paperwork right now for a grievance against the Senators for firing their coach without just cause.

What the Senators did today is what drives coaches bonkers and it should. But what it will also do is drive any prime coaching candidates away from Ottawa if they have a choice between the Senators and almost any other organization in the league.

Is there anyone out there who believes that any of the stink from this mess in Ottawa should be sticking to Hartsburg at the moment? Hartsburg is a quality coach who has succeeded at every level of hockey and it’s amazing that over the course of 48 games, he somehow worked in a way that merited him being fired.

... and me, personally? Thank you for asking.

Bryan Murray, once again, made the wrong choice when deciding who should coach this team. That much is clear. And he's made some highly suspect personnel decisions, obviously, with the albatross-contracts to Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Mike Fisher, and even Chris Kelly. Can he fix it? Shit, I hope so, or else this rebuilding will be pretty damned long. Should he be given the chance to fix his own mistakes? I certainly think so, but many people have different opinions of that--and their opinions are certainly valid.

And, with regards to the Cory Clouston hiring: I say we give the guy at least one game, maybe a few, to prove just what he can do in the NHL. The Sens are pretty much a write-off this season, anyway, so let's give it some time.

Hartsburg canned, Clouston called up

As everyone (originally TSN, and also Ben right on this blog) is reporting, Craig Hartsburg has been fired by the Ottawa Senators. He compiled a 17-24-7 record, good for 41 points and 28th in the league.

According to the Ottawa Sun, Binghamton Senators head coach Cory Clouston is expected to be named interim head coach of the Ottawa Senators. No word yet on who will take over in Bingo.

It's fitting that the Senators just lost to a reborn Washington Capitals team, because this Clouston decision sounds a lot like people trying to find a way to replicate Bruce Boudreau's success with the Caps. Boudreau was recruited from the Hershey Bears and named interim head coach of the Caps in November 2007, and his success his bosses dropped the 'interim' tag and kept him on full time. With Clouston, if things work out (and there's a pretty loose definition of that right now), he sticks around. If not, he heads back to Bingo next year, and the Sens do the interview process for the third off-season in a row.

It's also interesting to note that some Binghamton fans have been calling for Clouston's head to roll after a few consecutive poor seasons for the B-Sens, this season notwithstanding. Bingo has missed the playoffs for the last three seasons, and lost in the first and preliminary rounds in the seasons previous. Time will tell how he does in the NHL.

No Habs No: Shawn Thornton

For his contributions to the No Habs No! campaign, Shawn Thornton will receive the following letter and bonus (I don't think it will count against the salary cap):



The Boston Bruins, with three games won against Montréal (from Thornton, Blake Wheeler, and Zdeno Chara) are now tied for the most contributions with the New Jersey Devils (Zach Parise twice, and Johnny Oduya). Plus the Habs have now lost five of their last six games; huzzah! The campaign, with a record of 17-11-4, really seems to be picking up now.

To support the campaign, you can do any combination of the following:

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• Donate some amount via PayPal to sensarmyblog@gmail.com.
• Visit our swag shop (Be the second on your block, or at least in the world, to own a No Habs No! large mug!).
• Express support and solidarity by commenting on the blog.
  

Hartsburg fired; pattern emerges

Something had to give, but I think that Bryan Murray and Eugene Melynk made the wrong decision. Craig Hartsburg was hired at the beginning of this season and was meant to symbolize a fresh start for the club. The Sens knew they were taking a risk on Hartsburg, and he was not hired from within. Hartsburg was not haunted by the previous failings of the club, right? Think again.

This season, for which the team was reimagined and re-tooled, is beginning to look at lot like last season, with one notable exception--less wins. When John Paddock was fired mid-way through last season, we were led to believe that he was the problem: the big line was overworked and the goalie situation was mismanaged. Well, look at where the Sens are now and I think we can examine the variables and see that the players are the problem. Why does it take two coaches to establish this fact?

Another factor, I believe, is that Bryan Murray thinks he's a better coach than those he's hired. Apparently, the man is far from reluctant to take over the coaching duties. After all, the reason why Murray came to Ottawa was to be the coach, only after Melynk fired Muckler was Murray convinced to pick up the GM responsibilities.

Sigh. The team is going no where, and the coaching switches are only serving to reenforce the worst aspects of the organization: scapegoating and hesitation. Arrogant comments from Melnyk last week serve only to illustrate how Murray and Melnyk are missing the point with this firing. Martin Gerber had three years of failure in Ottawa before being sent away, why did Hartsburg only get 48 games to prove himself? (Kind of off-topic, but I can't help but make this connection.)

This is a desperate move from Murray, and the variables are continually being narrow from this point in the season onward. If it's not the coaching, and it's not the players, then who's left? Murray's painted himself into a corner, and it's only a matter of time before the firing squad turns to him.

Outgunned: Caps 7, Sens 4

Although captain Daniel Alfredsson came out to play in his 900th NHL game, scoring two goals in the process, his teammates didn't give the same consistent effort. As a result, despite a third-period comeback attempt, the Senators fell short of the Washington Capitals, losing 7-4.

I hope that Brian Elliott realizes that him being pulled half-way through the game wasn't a shot at him, but was a mercy pull to get his teammates to wake up. It's never easy for a goalie to get pulled, and four goals against on 16 shots doesn't look good, but Elliott didn't have much of a chance on the goals: Two early powerplay goals off wicked shots that resulted directly from lost defensive-zone faceoffs, a scramble-goal where Elliott had about a half-dozen guys on top of him, and a strong wrist-shot goal by Alex Ovechkin with Filip Kuba screening Elliott cleanly.

In a statistical peculiarity, Alex Auld will get tagged with the loss because he allowed the game-winning goal. Doesn't seem fair, but whatever.

I think it's safe to say that Kuba's season has hit its low point. (Not to say it can't get lower, but I hope it doesn't.) He came back from the All-Star Game without the comfort and confidence he had at the start of the season, and it showed up tonight. A couple weeks ago in the last game against Washington, Kuba was given the assignment of shutting down Ovechkin, and he did an admirable job. Tonight, though, he gave Ovechkin too much time and space to do his work. So Ovie got a hat trick.

On the plus side, the CASH Line actually looked pretty good overall. Especially Alfredsson, obviously, with his two goals, but Jason Spezza had some good "compete" in his game--finished with one assist, four shots, a hit, and three takeaways to only one giveaway--and Dany Heatley was pretty consistent in his effort, and his one goal was because he didn't give up on a play--he knocked the puck of Caps d-man Tom Poti's stick right into the net, also had an assist, three shots, and actually blocked a couple of shots (although he did take a stupid penalty in the first period that the Sens paid for).

Antoine Vermette scored the Senators' other goal, almost midway through the third off a nice set-up from Chris Kelly.

Chris Neil had a not-so-good game. He took a really stupid penalty to quickly end a Senators powerplay opportunity, couldn't reel in the puck on a break after his penalty, and just didn't look sharp on the night. He can rebound, but it wasn't among his better showings this season.

It's time to shit or get off the pot on the Brendan Bell situation. If we're going to play him in Ottawa, we need to play him--he might not have changed the game tonight, but he certainly would have helped the Sens one-for-six powerplay get a few more shots on net. And if we're just going to keep scratching him, well, we might as well send him to Binghamton and let him dominate down there.

And, I don't know how much longer we'll be able to say it, but we're not playing as poorly as the eight-losses-in-a-row Vancouver Canucks.

Hejda sees what we've all seen

A few media outlets are talking about the comments Jan Hejda of the Columbus Blue Jackets directed towards the Ottawa Senators, and particularly Jason Spezza. Here's the quote, from the Ottawa Sun:

"They didn't play like that on TV. Not the (film) we watched," Hejda, who partners with Mike Commmodore on the Blue Jackets "shutdown" pairing, told the Columbus Dispatch following the game. "Especially (Spezza). He dumped the puck in three or four times. He seemed like he didn't really want to play, like their season was maybe done.

"They're a one-line team. I didn't hear too much about any of the other guys on their team. We felt like if we could stop that one line, we could stop the whole team, and it worked."

It's good to see that I'm not the only one concerned with a waffling work ethic. To be fair, though, it's not just Spezza; it seems that there aren't any Senators who put a good, honest effort every night.

What do you think? Has Spezza thrown in the towel on the season? Who else hasn't played up to expectations? Does Hejda have any right to so harshly criticize another NHLer?

No Habs No: Stephen Weiss

Apparently, some No Habs No! supporters have been concerned that the brave, noble Habs fan who continuously refers to my No Habs No! letters as "EPIC FAIL" has scared me away from writing the letters to players who score game-winners against the Montréal Canadiens.

Fear not, true believers: That couldn't be farthe from the truth. After all, I live by that time-tested adage so eloquently communicated by Clifford Joseph Harris, Junior (better known as T.I.):

Never mind what haters say / Ignore 'em 'til they fade away /
Amazin' they ungrateful / After all the game I gave away.

So, without further ado, here is the letter Stephen Weiss of the Florida Panthers will be receiving for his game-winning goal against the Montréal Canadiens on Jan. 29, 2009:



To support the campaign, you can do any combination of the following:

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