It's been a rough 4 days. Actually let me correct that it has been a brutal 4 days.

Long story short, a weekend involving a Sens game, Halloween, and my birthday ended with me coming down with the worse flu/cold/whatever in the last two-three years.

Awesome.

But on to what you actually care about.....The Ottawa Senators and the Sens news has been flowing fast and steady over the past few days.
--------------------------------------

The latest news came this morning when it was revealed that Eugene Melnyk has filed a grievance against Dany Heatley and is requesting he is reimbursed the $4 million dollar bonus he had to pay Heatley.

I've spent the day sipping DayQuil and figuring out exactly the logic behind Melnyk wasting his time pursuing this.

Honestly the best I could come up with was Eugene was and still is trying to save face with Sens season ticketholders, because it would take a small miracle for Melnyk to get that money back.

We all hate what Heatley did and most of us hate Heatley on every level possible, but....as painful as it is to say.............He was well with-in his rights, because of his NMC.

Maybe I've overlooked the angle Melnyk is taking but demanding a trade, saying you can talk to a team, etc... isn't the same as "I'll waive my NMC to go anywhere but here."

Best case scenario - Heatley makes a fool of us again.

For those that have missed the article, here's the link -

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/ottawa-senators/Senators+file+grievance+against+Heatley/2176884/story.html

Good Luck Eugene.
------------------------------------

Everyone took the good with bad with the injury news about Spezza and A-Train.

The good A-Train is out till early-mid next week, the bad Spezza is out another week.

The worse? Well the general feeling right now is Spezza is worse shape than the team has led-on. If the Sens can right the ship in his absence expect Spezza to sit at least an additional week.

Even if the team struggles still, Spezza could remain on the "sidelines."

Wait and watch for Spezza to return to practice before you set a timeline for his return.
-------------------------------------

Saturday afternoon Sens fans were treated to a game designed to make Pavelec look even better than he normally is. 51 shots on net and 1 goal equalled quite a few postgame reactions that chalked up the loss to a strong performance by Pavelec.

That wasn't the case at all, the Sens only had about 15-20 quality shots, the rest were nothing but fluff shots.

It's concerning that the Sens have struggled to put together a complete 60 minute effort lately.

I hate typing this and it probably has already annoyed you guys, but Kovalev and Cheechoo need to play like top-six forwards not a bunch of borderline NHL players, a rookie like Peter Regin shouldn't be playing a more complete game than Kovalev and Cheechoo.
-----------------------------------
And now a rant

The biggest frustration this season hasn't been Kovalev's lazy play or Cheechoo's continuance fall from the NHL player he once was, no it's the complete and utter lack of respect the Sens receive from hockey analysts like Don Cherry, Mike Milbury, Kelly Hrudey, Nick Kypreos and Pierre Macguire.

I have lost count of how many times these "analysts have criticized the Ottawa Senators, only to praise another club for the exact same thing.

Don "I was coach of the year in 1976" Cherry torched Matt Carkner and Chris Neil for 'taunting' or showboating to the crowd after winning their fights.

Yet in the past Cherry has praised Lucic for "energizing the crowd" after a fight, praised Domi for doing the thing and praised Maxime Talbot for the exact same taunt as Chris Neil.

I won't even go into the complete joke of a broadcaster that Pierre Mcguire is. I've stated time and time again this guy lacks charisma and apparently lacks any depth of analytical insight to prove to hockey broadcasts. Oh I wish a team would hire him to do something else, or NBC would sign him exclusively to broadcast on NBC.

And Mike Milbury? That guy shouldn't be criticizing anyone, about anything. Seriously.

The most recent example Sens hate and ignorance came from good ole 'back-up for life' Kelly Hrudey.

During the Ottawa/Atlanta telecast Hrudey decided to call-out Sens captain Daniel Alfreddson for not finishing his hits and basically said Alfie was too soft.

Well, after taking the time to review the plays, didn't Alfie end up with the puck on two of the three plays? Not bad for a guy 'not finishing his checks.'
----------------------------------------

And finally, I lot of you have been asking about trade rumours and potential moves the Sens could make.

Well at this point there is nothing brewing.

The Sens aren't actively perusing Brian Campbell that ship sailed when Heatley went to Chicago. You find 8 million in realistic cap-space for the Sens, then maybe the talks will resume.

Basically take that approach for Sens rumours....where does the cap room come from? Which of the Sens with big salaries are of interest to other teams?

Cheechoo? Fat chance
Kovalev? Pipe-dream
Kelly? If his play picks up

Well back to trying to shake this flu/cold off.


Mark Christopher
M_Christopher@live.ca

Join the Discussion: Chat Room » Message Board »

» Well that was easier than expected...Updated: Donovan out

» One-goal games continue

» 2 games, two losses, two different playing styles.

» Opportunity to steady the ship with Oil

» Another game ruined...