The Senators limp home from a degrading 7 game road trip, with the final insult being a loss at the hands of (what was) arguably the worst team in the NHL.

Now, after more than a month of misery, the Senators might have taken over that moniker.

The Senators have recently had problems against the Sabres, but in a game that might just define whether or not Guy Boucher will acutally be behind the bench at Lansdowne Park on Saturday for the NHL100 Classic, they laid another egg.

The fact is that whether through effort or game plan, there is not one player in the last month you can point to and say that they gave what is expected of them.

In the 13 games since back to back wins over the Avalanche in Sweden, the Senators have fallen from 4th in the Eastern Conference to 15th. The 4 points they have acquired in going 1-10-2 is less than half of second last place Buffalo's 9 points. They have scored the fewest goals and allowed the third most goals in the last month.

They are soft, miss assignments and the netminders can't stop the proverbial beach ball.

The Senators have a terrible history with the shelf life of their coaches, but in a situation like this, you have to look there first. As I said yesterday or the day before, a coach's job is to 1) make a game plan to fit the players you have and 2) put the players you have in the best position for success.

You can argue and debate about what level of skill is available to him, but Boucher's constant in-game line shuffling gives no flow whatsoever and no chance for chemistry to develop.

Having skilled, mobile players on the sidelines while your players are getting walked around like they are pylons doesn't help.

You could call last night a bit of a moral victory, if there was any indication that the desperation they showed in the last couple of minutes in trying to tie the game would carry over to the next game. I considered LA a moral victory in earning a point, but they followed that up with a dud in San Jose and about 55 minutes of crap in Buffalo.

Perhaps last season's playoff run exceeded true capabilities, and maybe that success had Senators fans overestimating the level of talent on the roster, but Erik Karlsson (even on one leg) doesn't go 10 games without a point. Mark Stone doesn't go pointless in 4 AND be -10 at the same time, and as much as I questioned the Duchene trade he shouldn't have just 4 points in 15 games as a Senator. The list of underachievers goes on and on to Bobby Ryan, Zack Smtih and Mike Hoffman....

Something is broken, whether it be the team tuning out the system or opponent figuring out how to counter it, and that lies on Boucher to figure out adjustments which so far he has been unwilling or unable to do.

Right now, from the top down this is an organization in chaos. Whether it be rumors that the NCC doesn't want to deal with Eugene Melnyk for the Lebreton Flats project and wants him to sell the team if the group is still going to be the developer of choice, to the roster decisions to the coaching on the ice, to the players either tuning out the coach or failing to live up to expectations to a man, there is a lot of questions going on.

And I don't know what the answers are. Part of me is glad Bryan Murray isn't around to see this, and maybe this is an indication of why Daniel Alfredsson left the front office so abruptly in the summer.

There is something wrong, and maybe the Cinderella run in last year's playoffs and the feel-good stories around Craig Anderson, Mike Condon and Clarke MacArthur shielded our eyes from the glaring holes.

And now, there is no rest for the weary as the Senators come home to an ambush game when they host the Rangers, who are a mere 7-2-1 in their last 10 and hold down the final wild card spot.

And to add insult to injury, Mika Zibanejad (although he is injured right now) has 22 points in 24 games and is second on the Rangers in scoring, while Derick Brassard scored his first goal in 20 games last night.

This one may have seemed a little rant-y, but there are a lot of questions and not too many answers as to the way this team has played for what is now a full month.

Maybe they are what their record says they are. They haven't done much to try to prove that it isn't and for most of this stretch of putrid hockey, you can't point to very many games and say they didn't get the result they deserved through their play.

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» Goodbye, and good luck!

» Can Colin White fill the #2C role as early as next year?

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» Boucher Day

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