When Bryan Murray suggested the Senators might be on the lookout for a top 6 forward, most people assumed that it was Mike Hoffman who was that bubble guy. Quite frankly I thought it was Clarke MacArthur that was the real stretch to be considered a legit top 6, but as it turns out, at least early in the season, there are more problems than 1.
The top line of Turris - Stone - Hoffman has carried the team offensively through 6 games, that is not breaking news. The struggles of Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan, is also no secret, but just how bad has the second line been?
Ryan and Zibanejad have been detrimental to the Senators' possession and scoring chances at even strength, regardless of who they have been playing with (MacArthur and Michalek usually). Dating back to last season and Ryan's much ballyhooed scoring slump, and this is a combination of two (should be) quality players who simply aren't gelling.
So what is the solution? The top line is dominant and I don't think you want to mess with that at this point in the season.
So that leaves moving Ryan to play with the kids, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Curtis Lazar. Pageau has been better than Zibanejad to this point, and brings more to the game that what Zibanejad does at the moment. The energy that Pageau and Lazar can bring might be just what the doctor ordered for Ryan, who is spinning his wheels but not really going anywhere at the moment.
So those changes would leave something like:
Hoffman - Turris - Stone Lazar - Pageau - Ryan Michalek - Zibanejad - Chiasson/Prince Prince/Chiasson - Smith - Neil
I don't know if that is a long-term solution, and when/if MacArthur comes back from his third concussion of the calendar year where he would slot in. I still don't think Pageau is a second line centre in the long term, but he has earned the opportunity to take the challenge at least for a spell. The chemistry he has developed with Lazar has been fun to watch and adding Ryan to the mix would be interesting to say the least. It might work, it might not, but what is going on right now isn't working either.
It may be too early to start mixing things up like that, because sometimes these things work themselves out. It is just 6 games into the season, but the struggles (especially Ryan's) do date back to the final quarter of last season.
They practiced with the same lines as the played with on Saturday, and Dave Cameron said that he isn't going to panic and doesn't foresee making any changes in the very near future.
Scoring being streaky is one thing, but the streaks go both ways and this one is going on too long. Ryan and Zibanejad have 4 and 5 points respectively, but a vast majority of that came in 1 game (3 points each in the 7-3 drubbing of the Blue Jackets) or into an empty net (1 assist each against Buffalo). That accounts for 8 of their combined 9 points in 6 games.
And it isn't simply a matter of the puck not going in. They are being dominated in terms of shot attempts and scoring chances when they are on the ice as the chart above indicates. Despite the fact that they have a much higher percentage of offensive zone starts than any other forwards on the team. It isn't a case of being snakebit. There are some issues there that need to be addressed, one way or another.