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UPDATE: Game Day Thoughts - Sens vs Jets (No Ryan); Is 8 D Too Many?;

September 30, 2014, 7:57 AM ET [76 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented, reached out through twitter and facebook to welcome me so warmly to the site yesterday. I am sure we will have our disagreements over the coming months and hopefully years, but I look forward to the debates and ups and downs!



The Senators have 3 games left in the preseason, and that stretch kicks off tonight when the team takes a squad of 25 players to Winnipeg to face the Jets.

-Notables left behind include Erik Karlsson, Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur. Notice that Bobby Ryan was not on that list, a fact that didn't escape many yesterday. [***UPDATE - Apparently, rumors are that Ryan didn't make the trip either, but was listed on the 25 man roster***] I don't know what to read into it exactly, but I don't like all the percieved need to tiptoe around and keeping Bobby happy to make him stay and sign in Ottawa. The way coach Paul MacLean shuffles lines around like he throws them in a blender, Ryan will play on lots of different lines this season.

-Robin Lehner will start with Craig Anderson closing it out. Hopefully there aren't many more games where they split time this season!

- Injuries and scratches will give perhaps a final opportunity for the likes of Buddy Robinson, Matt Puempel, Alex Grant and others that are still with the club but on the bubble to show what they can do against what should be a relatively strong Jets lineup. MacLean has stated he wants to dress as close to a final roster as possible in the home and home against the Habs on the weekend.

-The Jets played largely a "B" squad in Edmonton Monday night so you can bet most of the "A" squad will be in for the home game tonight.

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The saying goes that you can never have too many defensemen, and for the most part I would agree with that. But with such a young blueline, 8 is too many to carry for a full season.

Barring a trade, the Senators will either have to carry 8, or send one of Mark Borowiecki, Patrick Wiercioch or Eric Gryba to the B-Sens. The Senators could send Cocy Ceci down, but that would send a message to the fans that they are more interested in saving money than putting the best team on the ice because you won't find many people who don't think Ceci is in the everyday top 6.

It is not unheard of for a team to carry 8 blueliners, but because of the youth and the need to play, it wouldn't benefit the team or the players in this situation. It wasn't a problem last year because one of the normal scratches was veteran Joe Corvo, who understood and accepted his role. Assuming Marc Methot and Chris Phillips, the veterans of the group, are everyday players, then two kids who should be playing somewhere will be sitting in the press box on a nightly basis. That would stunt their development in the long term.

The downside to demoting one of the three listed above would be the risk of losing one of those players to waivers, and also the fact that they would have to pay an NHL salary to play in the minors. But at least they would be playing, and that might be the best option. Paying an NHL salary to sit in the press box is a worse idea, and the risk of losing one to waivers is minimal at this time of the year, because so many players will be exposed.

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Along those lines, I was curious at the time it went down as to what the rush was to sign Borowiecki to a three year extension this summer. The more I though about it, yesterday it hit me, and Bryan Murray looks like a bit of a genius. After all, Borowiecki has just 20 games of NHL experience and it seemed like a long commitment for that player at this time. However, if they do end up needing to send him down to the AHL, the likelihood of a team picking him up off waivers would be less because the team grabbing him would be on the hook for three more years instead of just the 1 year, $600K that he had on this contract. It makes a big difference, and it is sort of a way for Murray to protect him from waivers.

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Enjoy the game tonight and check back tomorrow for some post-game notes!
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