I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that Santa Claus found you and yours, and that is is a safe and happy holiday season.
Hopefully jolly old St. Nick saw fit to grant some nice Christmas gifts to the members of the Ottawa Senators. Here is a little list of what I hope the Senators received for the holiday, most of which can't be wrapped up and placed under a Christmas tree.
For the duo of Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner, I hope St. Nick brings them a group in front of them that can continue to cut down on the shots against, or at least the scoring chances. They have carried the club to the position they find themselves in now, and they deserve some support.
For Erik Karlsson, a couple of things, that might not be mutually exclusive. First off, a solid partner that can play 20 good minutes of even strength hockey alongside him so that the Senators can avoid the revolving door of partners that he has had so far this season. Secondly, the ability to pay more attention to detail in his own end to avoid the glaring errors that have plagued him as of late. Like I said earlier, they might be hand in glove so to speak, but Karlsson isn't near Norris form, a place the Senators need him to be in order to compete.
For veteran defenseman Chris Phillips, the best thing would also be a legit #2 for Karlsson, so that he doesn't get used for 20+ minutes a night, when he gets in the lineup. I still firmly believe that Phillips has 12-15 good minutes a night in him on a bottom pair and some PK duty, but when you have to play him 22 minutes, you will get your 12 good and 10 very bad minutes.
For Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad, the continued emergence of Mika Zibanejad as a force down the middle. In recent weeks Zibanejad has been one of the Senators' better forwards and if that continues it will start to take some of the load off Turris. The latter got off to a good start, but as I predicted before the season, he seems to have started wearing down already under the weight that being a #1 pivot carries. Having a solid #2 (or 1A for that matter) will go a long way to extending Turris' effectiveness.
For Colin Greening, I hope some team out there takes a chance and offers something to the Senators to get him a new home. The Senators gave him a contract he couldn't possibly live up to and he is feeling the wrath of that. He has done nothing to rock the boat despite being a healthy scratch more than he has been in the lineup, and I just hope he can get a fresh start.
For Jared Cowen, for the fan base to let up just a little bit. Sure, expectations are high for the top 10 pick, but he is still just 22 and has lost pretty much a full season of development due to injury. Mistakes will happen and he doesn't seem to get the pass that some others do, and his mistakes are often magnified by Sens Army.
For rookie Curtis Lazar, a standout performance as captain of Team Canada in the quest to end the 5 year gold medal drought, to go along with a few goals. That should have him bring some experience, and leadership back home when he re-joins the Senators
To coach Dave Cameron, I hope Santa brought him a game plan that the team can follow in order to make up for some shortcomings while putting the players in the best position to succeed. He has started that process, and the jury is still out as to whether or not this is a playoff team when they play anything but their best game.
And last but certainly not least, to Sens Army, the fans that either stick with their team through thick and thin, and even those who jump on and off the bandwagon with every win or loss, I wish you a more consistent team that has more highs and fewer lower lows for the rest of the season. Either that or a tank of epic proportions so that one of the two so-called "generational players" will patrol Canadian Tire Centre ice in the future.
So what presents would you hand out if you were Santa?