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The New Division

corksens said:
Injury to Michalek. An aging Alfredsson. Infusion of new players. And of course, the injury to Karlsson himself.

All of those reasons led to the Sens being so low in goal scoring by seasons end.
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Injuries were an issue, but it's not the entire story.

The Sens just haven't been a good goal scoring team lately. Minus the Karlsson Norris season.

Team Goals, League Rank
12/13: 27th
11/12: 4th
10/11: 29th
09/10: 15th
08/09: 23rd
 
The team looks radically different than what took the ice in the 2010/2011 season. That was Karlssons first season starting to contribute. That was a team with Kovalev, Fisher, Kelly, Ruutu,

11/12 we were good offensively, 12/13 we were injured.

You can go back to previous years, but it really has little impact on the discussion based on player turnover.
 
I wouldn't count on the team being near the top in goals.

The blueline is not very mobile and they lack pucks skill behind Karlsson. After Spezza, there isn't a proven, top point producer. Just a whole bunch of 2nd/3rd liners.

If relatively healthy, I'd say they will be about average. And I don't believe average is good enough to get Karlsson close to PPG.
 
zeke said:
ah, the Gretzky comparison.

Always an indicator of a great argument.
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Yeah gotta love the argument that the greatest player ever could do it so player B can do it. Same with the Lidstrom argument. He's probably the only generational dman ever that was "soft" for lack of a better word... and even he wasn't as soft as Karlsson.
 
I think Ottawa will score this year if they're healthy.

I have more doubts about their defense than their offense. That applies both to their goaltending and to their vaunted team defense.....that pesky never say die underdog attitude carried them for most of the season, with their stars out and a bunch of kids listening to everything their coach said. But you stick guys like Spezza, Ryan, and Karlsson in there (none of them known for defense, grit, or being a coach's dream) playing most of the game and that buy-in to the coach's system will be harder to maintain, and it would have been hard enough to maintain it over a full season anyways. And then there's the impossible to sustain goaltending.

I don't think that meltdown vs. the Pens, right when Spezza and Karlsson drew back into the lineup, was just a coincidental blip. Those two back in fundamentally changes the style the team plays, the attitude the team takes, and the responsibilities each player assumes.
 
PlayerToBeNamedLater said:
I wouldn't count on the team being near the top in goals.

The blueline is not very mobile and they lack pucks skill behind Karlsson. After Spezza, there isn't a proven, top point producer. Just a whole bunch of 2nd/3rd liners.

If relatively healthy, I'd say they will be about average. And I don't believe average is good enough to get Karlsson close to PPG.
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If he picks up 65-70 points will anyone care? I won't.

After Spezza there are two capable 30 goals scorers, a high potential sophmore (Zibanejad) and then a bunch of 2nd/3rd liners.

I would agree that goal scoring will likely sit in and around the middle mark.
 
zeke said:
I think Ottawa will score this year if they're healthy.

I have more doubts about their defense than their offense. That applies both to their goaltending and to their vaunted team defense.....that pesky never say die underdog attitude carried them for most of the season, with their stars out and a bunch of kids listening to everything their coach said. But you stick guys like Spezza, Ryan, and Karlsson in there (none of them known for defense, grit, or being a coach's dream) playing most of the game and that buy-in to the coach's system will be harder to maintain, and it would have been hard enough to maintain it over a full season anyways. And then there's the impossible to sustain goaltending.

I don't think that meltdown vs. the Pens, right when Spezza and Karlsson drew back into the lineup, was just a coincidental blip. Those two back in fundamentally changes the style the team plays, the attitude the team takes, and the responsibilities each player assumes.
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Throwing 3 out of game shape players into the lineup against a league best offensive team and I would be surprised to see anything different than the result we witnesses.
 
zeke said:
part of the problem is that Karlsson is literally in the running for softest player in hockey.
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I don't think that meltdown vs. the Pens, right when Spezza and Karlsson drew back into the lineup, was just a coincidental blip. Those two back in fundamentally changes the style the team plays, the attitude the team takes, and the responsibilities each player assumes.
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:lol

Weak trolling.

Spezza played 3 games on one leg.

Karlsson was clearly laboring.

Nice try. Well not really.
 
corksens said:
No question.

But if you judge everything on hits, then he was soft. Which is what zeke is doing.
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I've been vocal in the past on here about defending Karlsson in this regard. He's soft, but he's not as bad as it's often made out to be. And he's improving at positioning and using an active stick effectively in the last few years.

His best defensive attribute is still his mobility and puck-handling skills though. He reminds me of a Kaberle on steroids in terms of his ability to skate the puck quickly out of danger.
 
Picked up the NHL Yearbook:

They have the Leafs 4th in the East, Canadiens 8th and Senators 9th. They see the Leafs as one of the top up and coming clubs and grant elite status to Lupul and Kessel.
Concerns for the Habs are "jam up front" and Price's play. The Senators had question marks around leadership with Alfredsson's departure and the mounting pressure of being near contender status, essentially that the #peskysens might not work with the spotlight on them a little more bright.

In their Top 50 NHLers, Phil Kessel placed 11th, Joffrey Lupul 20, PK Subban 33, Erik Karlsson 37 and James van Riemsdyk 47. Max Pacioretty came in 50.
Nazem Kadri and Brendan Gallagher came in 2 and 5 in their "Five to Watch" for pool sleepers.
Weirdly, in the top 50 Eric Staal came in #3 behind Sindey Crosby (1) and Steven Stamkos (2).

They had Anderson 8 and Reimer 10 in their top 10 goaltenders, no mention of Price...
 
Matrim said:
Not a fan of JVR?
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Love JVR, but he isn't the 47th best player in hockey. When you're the 65th highest scoring player in the NHL, and are a forward, you simply can't be the 47th best player unless you're otherwordly on the defensive end.
 
1. Orr
2. Bourque
3. Harvey
4. Lidstrom/Shore
5. Lidstrom/Shore
6. Potvin
7. Kelly
8. Fetisov/Robinson
9. Fetisov/Robinson
10. Chelios
 
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