Your Next Immediate Fix

I am sure that Mr. Hammond will be immediately feted as the next Goalie Of The Future, and then either traded or take up residence in the Ottawa Goalie Graveyard post-haste.

(Update, not six hours later: that didn't take long)

Is Ottawa The New Maple Leafs?

...no, really.  Where the Leafs are being run by a management which is making bad decision after bad decision in pursuit of that magic bullet that will make everything good again,  Ottawa is being run by a management (which may be hobbled by ownership) which is making bad decision after bad decision in pursuit of... what?  A cheaper hockey team?  I really don't know any more.

You can't look at the Michalek resigning and talk about cost containment, that contract just doesn't make any sense.

And Spezza?  I don't even understand what the Spezza trade was all about, at least from Ottawa's point of view.  Sure, Spezza is a hockey player and therefore wants a chance to, you know, win... something that isn't going to happen any time soon in Ottawa.  But Spezza proved after the trade deadline what he is capable of if given competant team mates.  I guess Ottawa decided to just trade him before they totally killed his value by having him play with third-liners for the rest of this year.

But, cheap cheap cheap, that's the theme here, and by that measure Ottawa certainly came out ahead.  They sure won't come out ahead on the ice... much like the Leafs.

Concussion Fail

One of the biggest problems with the NHL's new concussion protocols is that the players actively subvert them.  And frankly, that's a problem that isn't trivial to work around.

The Collapse Is Happening Early This Year

I approve of this headline:

Misery loves company, baby.

Your 2014 Playoffs Push Status

Update on the push for the 2014 Playoffs:

Any questions?

Bring back the tie game

Coach Nikota at PPP has some sane suggestions for the GM's meeting.  Go read them.  For the most part I agree in spades.

I'd quibble with dealing with the tie game thing -- my latest crazy idea would be to bring back the tie game, but punish teams for not settling things before overtime, going to a modified three point system: a regulation win is worth three, a tie is worth nothing, and an overtime win is worth two. Overtime would still be five minutes of four-on-four.  That gives everyone an incentive to play hard at the end of the third and in overtime, because if you coast, you get -- nothing.  Crazy, huh?

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.)