Alfredsson is a rock

When greedy players zig, Daniel Alfredsson zags.

You never have to worry about this guy. I think it's a testament to what a quality player he is. You have two prime examples of Ottawa Senators players saying and doing pretty damn stupid things over the past couple of weeks, and Alfie just lets it all roll off his back.

No silly comments, no trade requests. He's been through Alexi Yashin, Ray Emery, and Dany Heatley (not to mention the daily onslaught of questions that those people have created for Alfredsson), and the man has barely flinched. Even through several sales and financial uncertainty of his team, he has persevered and led this team throughout.

We, here at the Sens Army Blog, have a particular affection for Alfredsson. We continue to attempt to have his #11 pretired--that is, to have his jersey raised to the rafters, though he is still wearing it on the ice--a first in NHL history, and we'll continue to push for it, because he keeps giving us reason to.

(Honestly, click on that link and check them all out - it's remarkable)

Through all the shit that the team has been through over the past few years, including several coaching changes, a constant rotation of goalies (not sure if that includes Gerber... strange...), you know that Alfredsson is continually the heart and soul of not only the team, but also the fanbase.

As long as he's the captain, the Senators will be my team. Nuff said.

Holy shit, Alfie's back already?

Wow. Print up the banners. Daniel Alfredsson should be retired right freakin' now. After missing one game (three days)--people had predicted 7-10 days initially--the captain is back already for the Sens' game against Montreal Saturday afternoon. He's wearing a visor and a face shield to protect his broken jaw.

Unbelievable. What a champion.

Around the boards: Game-used tutu, and Redden's legacy

See? Sens fans have a sense of humour. This, a hilarious fake-hockey-card from Puck Daddy's ongoing fake-hockey-card contest, is funny. Funny because Daniel Alfredsson isn't afraid to dress up as a ballerina for Hallowe'en. And funny because Alfie is among the least 'pansified' elite players in the league (to borrow a term from Mike Milbury). Pre-tire number 11 already.

*****

There were a couple lineup changes for tonight's game against the Colorado Avalanche. First off, Brendan Bell will be dropped from the lineup to give Alex Picard a slot on defence. Not sure how one sort-of-bad-game means that Bell's four or five preceding good games weren't good enough, but it should be good to get some fresh legs in the lineup tonight. It wouldn't be right to keep Bell out for too long, he's earned a spot on the powerplay.

Secondly, Alex Auld is going to make the start. He had a shutout last night against Nashville, and a couple periods of shutout hockey a couple nights before in Minnesota--he's earned a start. It's a bit strange to have him playing back-to-back in difficult circumstances (time zone change, air quality/elevation in Colorado), but we'll see how it goes. If I had to bet, though, I'd wager that Brian Elliott will still get most starts for the remainder of the season.

*****

It would be unfortunate if the legacy of Wade Redden becomes that of an overpaid and underperforming New York Ranger who plays out his contract in the AHL, rather than remembering the success that the former Senators defenceman had earlier in his career. But that seems to be just what Larry Brooks of the New York Post, who called the Redden signing "the worst in the history of the NHL, if not in the history of hard-cap pro sports," seems to think. From Brooks' column:

"It's bad enough that the only way out for Sather is if he can muster the courage to 'fess up to Jim Dolan and explain that, sorry, but the Garden is going to have to pay Redden $31M to play minor-league hockey in Hartford the next five years in order to remove him from the cap - think Sather will still have a job for life following that hypothetical conversation? - but it's worse that this albatross has become Tom Renney's Folly, as well.

"There may not have been more of a downer this season than seeing the head coach send Redden out to the point to start the power play in Florida Friday night with the score tied 1-1 and 4:05 to go in regulation. Redden had no business being on the ice in that situation. He lacks decisiveness and vision. His shot is weak. It bangs off teammates' bodies 35 feet away from the net more often than it gets through."

It was certainly a terrible signing, and it was based on such ridiculous optimism that Redden could return to his old form that it's laughable. Calling it the worst signing in the history of the NHL may be hyperbole (Remember Alexei Yashin's 10-year, $90M contract with the New York Islanders?), but it certainly makes the Senators look good for bowing out of the bidding war (despite the need for a puck-mover of some sort) instead of making a crippling long-term decision.

The worst part is that no one can blame Redden for accepting the 6-year, $39M contract--but he's going to have to live with the fact that he's not living up to the unfounded expectations unless by some miracle his play turns around.

*****

A five-game winning streak, and the Sens have made up two points and one spot in the push for the playoff spot. Then again, I guess no one said it would be easy.

But maybe with Montréal resorting to old friends (Mathieu Schneider) and benching or demoting current players (Alex Kovalev and Sergei Kositsyn, respectively), maybe their free-fall is far from over. Not that I'm trying to rub it in, or anything. We understand your frustration, Habs fans; we're (hopefully) coming off of a calendar year of it. Plus Toronto will be selling soon, Pittsburgh's a basket case, and Buffalo's without Thomas Vanek for a month, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm not going to get my hopes up for a playoff spot, but hopefully the Sens make it one hell of a ride. Even if they finish ninth or something, with the reported depth of this year's draft class, the Sens could get a pretty darn good prospect with their own pick, and maybe a half-decent one if Bryan Murray holds onto the San Jose Sharks' first-rounder that was acquired in the Andrej Meszaros deal.

You're just jealous because you can't play hockey on point

Alright, alright, let's all take a deep breath. So Daniel Alfredsson dressed like a ballerina for hallowe'en. But who of us hasn't done something similarly ridiculous for that one day a year a non-Scottish man can wear a dress and still laugh it off? I know I have, that one year I was Wilma Flinstone. Good times. Via SensHobo:



More concerning to me, in all honesty, is how lame Brian Elliott dumbass hypnotist dude's costume is. Is that Elliott Sporting the guy-who-doesn't-like-hallowe'en costume, in the centre of the photo? Lame.

I still say we should hang his number in the rafters early. Praise Alfie.

Can we please pre-tire Daniel Alfredsson?

I randomly came across a SLAM! Chat with Daniel Alfredsson from March 10, 2000, and it was a lot of fun to read. A blast from the past, with each of Ron Tugnutt, Alexei Yashin, and Vaclav Prospal coming up in some of Alfie's responses.

The biggest revelation, though, came with this question, which I had never heard of before:

Mark Ward: ALfie, I heard a story that you got rid of your agent after he told you to hold out after your rookie year...is this correct? I think it's great if you did...and perhaps other players( without naming name ) on your team should take note of what a classy hockey player should be like

Daniel Alfredsson: Yes I did change agents after my first year. He didn't tell me to hold out. We didn't have the same view on how I wanted to things to be dealt with. He wanted me to seek a trade out of Ottawa to get more monery [sic]. He was very good to me and I don't hold anything against him.

Wow. Is this guy the greatest player to be an Ottawa Senator ever, or what? He fired his agent for suggesting he demand a trade, has deferred paycheques to allow trade-deadline acquisitions, signs discounted long-term contracts, routinely leads the team at even strength, on the powerplay, and the penalty kill. Oh yeah, and he's the only Senator to have won a major trophy as a Senator, when he won the Calder Trophy.

Seriously... put his jersey in the rafters now.

Alfie's worth more than two points

Daniel Alfredsson is the Senators' best all-time player. On and off the ice. He is the most popular player amongst the fan base, and--as the Sens' record without him indicates--he's the most pivotal cog in the Senators' machinery. So why don't the Senators' respond when Alfredsson gets run by hack players on the opposition?

I'm prompted, of course, by the most recent manifestation of a disturbingly un-team-like attitude: Jere Lehtinen's hit from behind on Alfie last night against Dallas. Although I haven't found the clip on YouTube yet to embed it, you can find it in all the highlight reels and on CBC's Satellite Hotstove last night. Alfredsson, while keeping the puck in at the blue line, pivoted and turned his back to the oncoming pressure of Lehtinen, who--despite calls for bringing respect amongst players back into the league--continued to run at Alfredsson despite plenty of time to change his course. Alfredsson's neck snapped back, and he fell forward about a foot into the boards. Did anything happen as a result? Not really; Brendan Bell skated towards Lehtinen and gave him what looked like a stern talking to, but no one jumped the guy.

The Senators might claim that they got back at the Stars where it counts--on the scoreboard. Post-game, coach Craig Hartsburg said they did something about the hit by stepping up the physical play for the rest of the night. Chris Neil, Cody Bass, and Jarkko Ruutu did throw some nice hits in the aftermath, and the Sens out-hit the Stars 42-27, but they should be doing that, anyway. General physicality is a statement that shouldn't require provocation, this entire team--and especially the three aforementioned players--should be finishing every check possible. When your captain and best player gets run, you do something else. Something more explicit, so that when other teams play against you, they know there is a price they will have to play for running the team's elite.

Look back a couple seasons, and see what Jack Adams Trophy winner Lindy Ruff did in response to a blindside-hit from Neil on Chris Drury:



Throw out your fighters. Show a lot of emotion; not just a little. Swear, and yell at the refs. Give them obvious instructions that they aren't just going to hit their opponents, they're going to jump them. Ottawa is, apparently, a team built with gritty, character-laden guys; where were they on the ensuing play? The fact that it was a powerplay in a tied game would have underlined the statement.

At the end of last season, the Sens did little when Alfredsson was blindsided by Mark Bell, either. What will it take for his teammates to finally step up and stand up for their team, and their teammates, and have a little respect for themselves?



Is it a chronic problem with the Senators? Fans and media have certainly spoken about it being a problem, and if so, how do you solve it? It certainly needs to be instilled by a coach; this is a team. It appeared that Hartsburg was underlining that fact earlier in the season, but it hasn't worked. There have been plenty of team meetings, maybe they need a team-building excercise or getaway to instill the fraternity winning teams need. We thought that a trip to Sweden at the statr of the year might do that, but it sure doesn't look like it did. Is it a problem with the Sens' roster? Maybe. It might be one of those, a combination of them, or maybe there's something else. Whatever it is, there is one bottom line: The Senators' skilled players are more valuable than a win. And there was plenty of opportunity for Ottawa to win the game even if they had made a statement through fighting the Stars. Sacrificing one game is an acceptable price to pay in the defence of your team's captain and best player, and--more than that--in the defence of you self-respect.

10-10-4 -- play those lottery numbers now!

The Senators rode the wave of Jason Spezza's second career hat trick to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon. There are a lot of positives and a few negatives to take away from this game.

Positives:

• Daniel Alfredsson continues to play heroically, he kills penalties with or without his stick. His hockey intelligence (a portion of the IQ test created and imposed on the world by Pierre McGuire) is off the chart. Example 1: Penalty kill sans stick. Example 2: making the Sabourin cover the puck without even having to touch it. These examples serve only to reenforce the Pretire #11 campaign (click on post tag for more info).
  
• Jesse Winchester may not have fit into the first line, but his recent mean streak has complimented the second line with Nick Foligno and Chris Kelly very well. J-Win's hit on Hal Gill in the third period inexplicably stunned the giant second-year penguin. Gill could barely skate for the rest of his shift.
  
• Chris Neil proves he can still fight... but what was the point of that gentlemanly tilt anyway? They called it off themselves after a few punches.
  
• Spezza collects what will probably be the easiest hat trick of his career. On his second goal, the puck came right to him; only the hockey gods can explain number three.
• Alex Auld continues to be cool as a cucumber while under pressure. His shoulder save late in the third period displayed more balls than Martin Gerber has ever mustered in a Sens uniform.
• There were points when Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley were schooling the Penguins in puck control and persuit.
• Whenever Crosby doesn't score a goal (especially considering the streak he's on, you know you're doing something right on defence).
  

Negatives:

• Someone really should have jumped on the Penguins defender (name anyone?) that rode Spezza into the glass divider in the second period. Some would say that the hit wasn't on purpose. I think that if Spezza had got concussed at that time, it's the only thing we'd be talking about.
• Antoine Vermette did a terrible job in the defensive end, especially on Staal's goal. Vermette lost his assignment and was out of position when Crosby's pass went directly to Staal in slot.
• Brendan Bell's giveaway for Malkin's goal may have looked terrible, but the Bingo call-up has been very consistent for the Senators and is making a strong case for staying with the big club. He's on the first PP unit, and is second only to Kuba on the Sens in puck-moving skills among defenders.
• Garey Galley and Dean Brown (and their producers, I presume) made a big deal out of the fact that the Speatfredsson averages more than a point per game against the Penguins. Where the hell was that during last year's playoffs?! Also, why didn't they mention that series at all during the broadcast?

The wrap:

The injury-depleted Penguins are a good measuring stick for the Senators at this time. You could see the dominance of the first line, and some solid checking from the other three. Auld continues to prove his worth in net. Are the Senators on the rise? I'd say give it another 3 games before we make any dramatic announcements.

Alfie: The first career Senator

According to the Ottawa Sun, Daniel Alfredsson is on the verge of signing a four-year contract extension worth $20M (or $5M a year). EDIT: And, according to TSN.ca, the signing has been made official, with a total value of $21.6M for four years ($5.4M cap hit). It's a slight discount from the $5.465M he will be making this season, and a decent raise from the performance-contingent $3.8M team option for next year.

For that amount, Alfredsson has taken a pay cut of 30-50 per cent from market value--which would likely be anywhere from $8M to $10M, considering his recent point totals and comparable players. That is the sign of a player who really wants to take a discount to stay in a city. That is the sign of a player who wants to win, and not just get a big pay day. That is (one of the reasons) why Ben and I are championing the Pretire Daniel Alfredsson campaign.

TSN has the structure as follows:

"The contract, which includes a no-movement clause, pays $4 million in salary in the first year with a $3 million signing bonus, plus $2.1 million for the removal of the option years from his old contract for a total $9.1 million."

I hope that whenever number 11 is raised to the rafters, there is a newly-minted Stanley Cup Champions banner alongside it.

Unbelievable

Incredible. Daniel Alfredsson is actually playing tonight against the Coyotes, less than a week after arthroscopic knee surgery.

So... when are we re-signing this guy?

Alfie 8, Lightning 4

You might be wondering why nothing was posted regarding the Sens' 8-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. That's because I didn't feel the need to say anything; Daniel Alfredsson's 7-point performance spoke for itself.

Two losses in three games? Say whaaaaaaat?

Well, this is something new: the Sens lost for the second time in two games. I hardly remember how to feel, it seems like so long ago.

While I wasn't able to watch the whole game, I heard Ottawa wasn't ready to play in the first period (the Sens were outshot 14-7 in the opening 20 minutes). Maybe it was the fact that they took so much extra time in Montreal that their heads hadn't arrived in Buffalo on time. I knew it was a bad idea to mess with travel plans and get into Buffalo late. The Sabres were up 3-0 before you could say Maxim Afinogenov, on two weak goals and one deplorable one. Not to suggest they were all Ray Emery's fault, though; he sure hasn't had much help from the rest of the team in any of his four games this year.

Come the second period, Daniel Alfredsson once again began an Ottawa Senators comeback (lending more credence to the Pretire #11 campaign), and Dany Heatley scored his second in as many games to bring Ottawa within one. But a few minutes later on a tic-tac-toe-goal play Drew Stafford restored the two goal lead. It was more the fault of Wade Redden (for committing poorly in the neutral zone), Anton Volchenkov (for allowing the pass from Tomas Vanek), and Shean Donovan (for not containing Stafford on the backcheck) than it was the fault of Emery.

That was all she wrote in terms of scoring, although Chris Kelly should have scored in the third. After stripping some Sabres defenceman of the puck, CK22 went in on Ryan Miller, deked him, and then hit the post despite a wide-open net to shoot at (see right). Hell, not even shoot, he could have just slid the puck slowly along the ice. I guess you're going pretty fast, and I'm sure no one is as disappointed as Kelly is, but you've got to bury those. In the end, though, it wouldn't have mattered.

As for all the Emery haters, don't blame him. I know that barely a week ago I wrote a post about how he should be traded, but that wasn't because he's a bad goaltender. It was because Rayzor is a competitive player, and is at his best when he's playing more than two games in two weeks. He didn't play well, and hasn't played well all season. For Emery to be at his best, he's got to play games and get involved. I also don't like what I perceive about his approach to conditioning and practice (although it's true that I don't know the whole story), and I think Martin Gerber is as good technically and better in terms of his personality, but the fact that Emery could be a number one goalie in this league remains.

Speaking of The Gerber, he'll start in Ottawa tomorrow against Pittsburgh. While Ottawa's certainly got to bounce back from a loss, the Penguins lost on Wednesday night, too, so look to them as a group looking to rebound with a solid effort against the league leaders.

Expect that every night, folks: every single team in the NHL will play Ottawa as hard as they can play, because every time you play the best team in the league, it's a statement game.

Trash Talk

"Game's over, losers! The Sens have all the points! Compare your teams to them and then kill yourselves!"

Now that the Senators have confirmed themselves as the greatest team of all time (of this season), I think it's time we start the boast a little.

I will now officially kick off the "Pretire #11 campaign" wherein our goal is to have Daniel Alfredsson's #11 retired before the man/god himself actually quits. Alfie is on pace for 67 goals this season, and he's leading the team in more than points. He's now the leader that many people have criticized him for not being in the past.

Do the Sens have to play the Leafs again?! Just give us the two points and we'll save the world a little bit of jet fuel. Let's just say Raycroft gets the loss.

...and let me state my official stance on All-Star voting. Vote for the Senators players - any and all of them. Vote at every opportunity until your eyes bleed.

Add more trash talk in the comments. The Sens are infallible right now, so go for broke!