It might have been dirty, but I don't think this was his intent. He was either trying to drive Karlsson into the boards, or slewfoot him and it went horribly wrong.
#4 scorer in the league last year - out for extended period of time. (Spezza) #7 scorer in the league last year and current Norris Trophy winner - out for extended period of time. (Karlsson) Top pairing defenceman - out for the year. (Cowan)
Regin, Latendresse, Michalek are all hurt in Ottawa Hoffman & Stone hurt in Bingo
This season = over. With Spezza out, the Senators have the youngest set of centres in the league, we've been playing 1/2/3 Bingo blueliners in every game this season, and now were going to see them even more. This team is not going into the post-season this year -- no team in the league would be when losing three of their TOP players for most/all of the season. I don't see Murray making a big trade now, but he's surprised Sens fans in the past so who knows. Ryan O'Reilly? I'm not sure we need another young centre, given that next season we'll have Spezza and Turris for 1 & 2.
Bright side: more ice time for Wiercioch and Benoit, and more chances for Bingo players like Grant, Cowick, Borowiecki and Gryba.
Just saw it on TV....man oh man you gotta feel for the guy.
FaxCap
Looked painful as hell. What a freak injury though...
I never saw the game or replay of the incident... But there is no reason on this earth for a player to suffer this injury, as there are socks out there that prevent cutting of the leg... former BSens goalie Mike McKenna wears them
We have three, actually. I don't expect Ben Bishop to be with the organization that much longer though, but I'm not sure what we're going to do with Lehner as he's an asset with a lot of potential but how long he's going to be content to play in Bingo is a big question mark. He's a free agent at the end of next year so by then we'll have to have made a decision on Lehner vs Anderson. Lehner will be wasted as a backup, as he's young and needs to play on a regular basis.
The problem is, goaltending doesn't win you games, it helps you prevent losing them. We're hurt big time on offense, and that's going to be that way for the rest of the year at least. At least we have a lot of potential in Bingo or still in junior.
Chris Neil plays on the edge, but he's never been suspended for anything. He's not stupid, and knows his role as well as the rules to play within, so I really doubt he'd do anything that daft. In the past four years, the top three Senators players have suffered serious injuries causing absence at the hands of the Penguins:
Alfredsson: shoulder injury via Craig Adams Spezza: shoulder injury via Kris Letang Karlsson: 70% cut / lacerated Achilles tendon via Matt Cooke
A trend? It's certainly starting to look like one.
Let's look at it this way: if it had been Crosby, Malkin and Neal who had been hurt, what would the league be thinking of the Senators after causing that sort of damage to one of the NHL's 'darlings'?
it could be the season over, but you never know...sometimes, in these times, players get chances they wouldn't otherwise get, so perhaps some great young players start lighting it up in the bigs...as well, if everyone has a mentality of "season over", the pressure is removed, the team can play more loosely and look out...you still need to play smart defensive hockey, but a relaxed loose team with nothing to lose can be dangerous...everyone wrote off LA last year...no need to remind anyone how that turned out.
Chris Neil plays on the edge, but he's never been suspended for anything. He's not stupid, and knows his role as well as the rules to play within, so I really doubt he'd do anything that daft. In the past four years, the top three Senators players have suffered serious injuries causing absence at the hands of the Penguins:
Alfredsson: shoulder injury via Craig Adams Spezza: shoulder injury via Kris Letang Karlsson: 70% cut / lacerated Achilles tendon via Matt Cooke
A trend? It's certainly starting to look like one.
Let's look at it this way: if it had been Crosby, Malkin and Neal who had been hurt, what would the league be thinking of the Senators after causing that sort of damage to one of the NHL's 'darlings'?
Crosby is also victim like this and was on the verge of losing everything. So the argument "If it was Crosby" is not good. Imagine staying in the room for 2-3 days...in dark...
On other hand Pens team has been hammered by each and every team in the league since Crosby started tearing NHL. Gonchar was also inured by Ovi, which was dirty play. And even Ovi is been suspended for some other dirty hit.
And Neil is a dirty player. He gets away most of the times. Sens fan, get over it. It is what it is in game.
it could be the season over, but you never know...sometimes, in these times, players get chances they wouldn't otherwise get, so perhaps some great young players start lighting it up in the bigs...
Absolutely. We'll get a chance to see more of Patrick Wiercioch, as will everyone else. He's taken a few years but he's really come along this season thanks to a good off-season training regimen with one of his best friends from childhood: Kyle Turris. PW isn't EK, but he's got hands and putting on over 10 pounds of muscle over the summer has made him a more physical defender as well.
We'll also likely see Borowiecki (pronounced Boar-vee-etzky) some more, and he's a touch defender to play against. Gryba is another who's been maturing and getting ready in the AHL. Up front, injuries have depleted the ranks in Ottawa and Bingo, but once players heal up there we could see Mike Hoffman and/or Shane Prince. We already have Silfverberg and Zibanejad up, so Luke Richardson has been doing a great job developing players and keeping the farm team in the win column most nights. Of course, Lehner helps with that.
As somebody posted about the protection in that part. Why is it not common will NHL players? Does it in any way changes the game or performance?
As you can imagine, that question has been asked a lot around Ottawa today, on TV/radio/in print/online. The best answer I've seen is from SportsNet/Team1200 presenter Jason York (former NHL player with Red Wings / Senators / Ducks / Predators / Bruins), who said that hockey players are creatures of habit and it's very had to change the habits, even for good reasons, and that's why most players don't wear the protective socks w/ Kevlar. He told the story that he had a nasty eye injury (detached retina!) and wore a visor for the rest of the season, but took it off the next year because he didn't like it. He knew he should wear it, but it just didn't "work" for him. It's no different with players and the protective socks: they don't feel quite the same, so it feels like additional weight and a movement restriction, so they don't use them as this sort of injury doesn't happen very often. It's rather like neck protectors that were asked about after Zednik's neck slash a few years ago -- how many NHLers are wearing them now?
Huge, huge win for the Sens today. Beating the Devils, with the best home record in the East, without Spezza, Karlsson and even Anderson.
Scoring is still an issue though. 1 goal in 30 shots.
It's going to be rough, but if they can beat the Devils they do stand a chance of making the playoffs.
Silfverberg shows just how good his shot actually is with that shootout goal. He just needs a bit more experience to be able to get shots like that off with defenders on the ice.
PP is now 0-25 in the last 25 chances. Scoring is going to be a problem for the rest of the year, and while I liked Gryba and Wiercioch I thought Lundin had another poor game. I'm all for sitting him and putting Wiercioch back with Benoit.
Great goal by Silfverberg in his first NHL shootout. His release is mind-blowingly quick, and he's been getting close to scoring over the past few games so here's to hoping it starts soon. Alfie said in an interview a few weeks ago that kids should look at Silfverberg's shot because it's that good and that quick -- this shootout was good evidence of what it can do.
Missing Cowan, Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek, along with Regin and Latendresse, and still pull out a win against the Devils. As B Murray would say, a car-ak-tur win.
I don't expect Ben Bishop to be with the organization that much longer though, but I'm not sure what we're going to do with Lehner as he's an asset with a lot of potential but how long he's going to be content to play in Bingo is a big question mark. He's a free agent at the end of next year so by then we'll have to have made a decision on Lehner vs Anderson. Lehner will be wasted as a backup, as he's young and needs to play on a regular basis.
