Not the most in-depth of blogs, but I did want to discuss a few topics on this wet and windy Sunday. Hope all is well, especially to those on the East Coast who are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.
1. What prompted this blog? Well, the baddest man on the planet - Mikael Granlund - decided to throw down another absurd shootout goal against Slavia Prague. The kid has one of the softest pair of hands I've seen in quite some time, and it's one of the main reasons why the Minnesota Wild are extremely optimistic about the future.
Check out that shake and bake! Sickest part - kid is just nineteen years old. Plenty of time to still work that skill set and prepare for an inevitably long NHL career.
2. The debate rages on about what the top-line for the Ottawa Senators is going to look like. I've exhausted this topic over the last couple of weeks, but with every passing day, I see more and more combinations in that top spot.
The only certainty here is Jason Spezza - he'll be manning the first-line pivot and should play well regardless of his linemates. On his wings, expect Nikita Filatov and Bobby Butler to get some serious ice time. Paul MacLean's pretty adamant about developing these youngsters into serious players, and by throwing two of them into the fire with Jason Spezza, they'll be forced to play well and play hard, or risk losing ice time to other skaters.
It's at the RW position where the debate seems to be the most furious. A legitimate argument can be made to put Milan Michalek there, but I'm genuinely interested in seeing if the chemistry Spezza and Butler found last season is real. It could've just been an intense level of production in a small sample size, or it could've been two guys who just fire on all cylinders when they're taking shifts together.
3. In my last Thirty Thoughts blog, I addressed the Semyon Varlamov situation in Colorado and whether or not he'd ever be able to live up to the absurd price the Avalanche forked over.
What I didn't address - the stark reality that the Washington Capitals are now in contention for a spectacular pick in the first-round of next year. What if the Colorado Avalanche remain the unmitigated disaster they were in 2010-2011? Not exactly good news for the rest of the Eastern Conference, as they look up at a Washington Capitals team that's loaded from top-to-bottom.
With as much strength as there is at the top of the draft, the Washington Capitals have to be absolutely salivating. In a best case scenario, imagine that the Avalanche completely fall into the tank, and the Capitals go and grab the venerable Nail Yakupov from the Sarnia Sting.
By all accounts, Yakupov is already NHL ready and could hit the National Hockey League as a blue-chip. You know, the 'can't-miss' prospect that's sure to dominate the league for years and years to come.
A player of his talent could single-handedly marginalize the probable loss of a talent the likes of Alexander Semin, who should be in another hockey city come 2012. And, you'd have to imagine Yakupov would love playing alongside one of his country's most respected and heralded players in Alexander Ovechkin.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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