Your 2013-14 Ottawa Senators In A Sentence

I watched more international hockey in the last two weeks than I've watched NHL hockey all year so far -- including the game I went to live.

Enjoyed it more, too.

(OK, that's two sentences.)

Mercy Pull Me Please

Mercy pull of Anderson in the 3rd.  Can the coach pull me so I don't have to watch this any more?

In unrelated news, a Lenovo laptop can take longer to apply Service Pack 1 to Windows 7 Home than it takes Ottawa to get shelled by Boston, while simultaneously being less infuriating than the hockey game.

Cup-ready?

No.

Playoffs?

God I hope not.  If this team makes the playoffs, the west is going to stroll through the finals.  One commentators said that the west was going to meat-grind each other on the way to the final, but I somehow think they underestimate the mediocrity in the east.

Misc Twitterings

Wait, didn't the Leafs run this guy out of town? I understand why, he is clearly awful http://t.co/nLAHbBp2fc
— David Mackintosh (@xdroop) January 31, 2014

Speaking of terrible goalies... http://t.co/1R73Lo8hLf
— David Mackintosh (@xdroop) January 31, 2014

Of course just after I tweeted that, Bishop goes down injured in the game against Ottawa.  Doh!

That Was Terrible

Well I found a doctor willing to change my medication, but despite that I find that I still don't give any significant part of a rat's anatomy about the Senators right now.

Watching the Boston game tonight I didn't see anything worth getting excited over, either pro or con.  It was just, meh, why did I spend my Friday night watching this.

Frankly the team just isn't playing very well right now.  If anything, I think the current "results" even flatter the effort being put into it.  I think that the gap between a really good team and a really bad team is so small that if a really good team (say Pittsburgh) considers the game a no-effort "gimme", then they'll get blown out.  But frankly I think that's the only way the Senators are going to find success this year.

Maybe I need advice from a Leafs fan as to how I should go about being enthused about a team like this.

Unexpected Brains

Robin Lehner is smarter than he looks:

Lehner insists he’s still just Senators’ backup 

As long as Craig Anderson is the #1 goalie, he can be the magnet for all the boo-birds and other mouth-breathers in the media. Lehner understands that the problem with this hockey team is usually the five guys ahead of the crease, not the guy standing in it. And I bet that Lehner understands that one reason why he's "outplaying" Anderson is that Anderson is getting the tougher starts.

I'm sure Lehner is just hoping that next year when he's the guy that the team reverts back from its uncharacteristically poor level of play, and he can therefore take credit as being the one thing of significance that changed.

Lehner will get his turn in the entryway to the Goalie Graveyard; we shouldn't rush Anderson's time in the chute. We should savor this process. Just be patient. Don't skip to the surprise ending.

Meh

This is how a fan base disappears -- one by one, just silently not coming back any more.  No passion, no anger, no shouts and proclamations of wounded pride.

Just a lack of interest.  Just not coming back any more.

I may go to games in the future, I may watch on TV, but right now, I don't think I care.

Not Time To Panic

You have to hate the blogosphere some times, you really do.  Here we are, not 10 games into the regular season, and already the fans are pushing the panic button.

The problem is that this really isn't appropriate yet.  I mean, when most of your losses consist of games against western teams like Anahiem (twice), San Jose (twice), and Chicago, all of which can be charitably describes as "better than you are", you have to assume that most of those games are not going to go your way.

Never the less, the blogosphere is pushing the panic button: trade for defense.  Trade for offense.  Blame Ryan for not gelling with Spezza.  Blame MacLean for not playing this guy, or for playing that guy.  Blame Murray for the staffing problems.

The best one I read was a throw-away tweet vaguely blaming Alfredsson.  It is obvious that if he had stayed in Ottawa, then the team would come together better and continue to overachieve.

This is the first year in a while where the Senators have been expected to impress, and it is harder to live up to those expectations than the previous years expectations of mediocrity.  This year the team might just underwhelm.  And while that's not good for the front office -- which already seems to have some problems in that area -- it is, frankly, to be expected.

No, the time to panic will be much later this year, when we have played more of the divisional rivals we are going to grind against through the year.  Only then will we have a real picture of where the team is, night in and night out, against the competition that matters this year.

Comparing ourselves to the likes of Chicaco will only result in us coming up short -- and really that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.