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Sens Head To Big Apple; How Will Returning Veterans Affect Lineup?

January 20, 2015, 11:03 AM ET [92 Comments]
Jared Crozier
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The injured list is starting to shrink for the Ottawa Senators, and I am sure there are some of you who would rather not have it that way. Chris Neil was activated from IR yesterday, and will be available tonight and from all reports will make his return to the Senators lineup at Madison Square Garden.

Chris Phillips will also play against the Rangers, and Mark Borowiecki is close to being able to return following his freak warmup injury almost three weeks ago.

What these returns does to the Senators lineup in the short term will be clarified at today's morning skate, but you might see Curtis Lazar come out of the lineup for Neil. I still get the feeling, as I said a week or two ago, that a trip back to Edmonton for the remainder of the season might be in the cards before Lazar plays his 40th game and accumulates a year toward unrestricted free agency. He has 8 more games available to him before that year of service kicks in and the decison must be made. Lazar is averaging less than 10 minutes per game in the 4 games he has played since coming back from Team Canada and played a season low 7:34 against Carolina on Saturday.

Remember that Zack Smith still will come off IR at some point (although nothing is imminent) as well and his return will force either Lazar back to junior or spell the end of this stint for Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the NHL. Even when Colin Greening is waived (or less likely, traded), either Pageau will go down, or Lazar sent to junior barring a trade or another injury. But I don't want to get too far ahead of things with that speculation. Keep in mind that Pageau is less than 30 games away from requiring waivers to get sent down, if I read the waiver rules correctly. That milestone could also come this season and tie the hands for next year as well.

As for the defense, Patirck Wiercioch will undoubtedly go back to the press box for Phillips, and it will be very interesting to see what happens when Borowiecki is healthy, because it will be the first time in a long time that all 8 blueliners on the roster will be healthy.

Tonight's opponent, the Rangers, are among the hottest teams in the NHL, and are winners of 15 of their last 18 games. They were shut out in back to back games last week (Bruins and Islanders) but other than that hiccup they have been lights out. Rick Nash is having the best season of his career, closing in on the 30 goal mark already and is on pace to set career highs in goals, points and +/-.

Henrik Lundqvist has lost just 2 of his last 15 starts after dropping 10 of his first 19 (3 of them in extra time). Those are two keys in the resurgence of the Rangers, who look like a pretty good bet to return to the Stanley Cup Finals again this season. When this stretch started on December 8th, the Rangers were 5 points out of a playoff spot, and they are now 6 points clear of the 9th place team.

It also shows the Senators and their fans who might have a slim hope remaining of a playoff spot just the kind of run it takes to gain that much ground, because the Senators are currently 10 points back of the 2nd wildcard spot. They can't play win one-lose one-win two-lose one hockey, they need to go on a run where they win 9 of 10. And the way this team has trouble finishing, that run doesn't seem likely at all.

So I ask you, as a sort of "question of the day", if the decision had to me made today, and if you had to choose option a or b (because I know there will be a lot of option C's out there) would you rather see: a) Pageau back to Binghamton; or b) Lazar back to Edmonton.

I am interested to see the discussion on this....
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