Jared Crozier: Game Day: Stars @ Senators; Sens Beat Leafs, Hoffman Benched

Watching game from Florida on a busy sports night (march madness is coming soon) I was rather amazed by the schilling that CBC was doing for a last place Leaf team. I have not watched the Leafs much this year and my impression was they are a very tepid version of the Oilers less the superstar talent.

I believe the Leafs are on the right track but this kind of broadcasting is going to kill fan support when they wake up to the reality that this team is still a bunch of years away.

Fire Cameron, he's making Hoffman his whipping boy.ndont ever see this catch disciplining Ryan for floating, Zibby for floating - the golden boys.

Hoffman is an underdog and the coach is doing what he did last year.

This coach has no spine until it comes to doing Murrays dirty work and trying to bring Hoffmans value down. Recipe for disaster, trust me

Fire Cameron, he's making Hoffman his whipping boy.ndont ever see this catch disciplining Ryan for floating, Zibby for floating - the golden boys.

Hoffman is an underdog and the coach is doing what he did last year.

This coach has no spine until it comes to doing Murrays dirty work and trying to bring Hoffmans value down. Recipe for disaster, trust me
- tuna99

I think Murray is playing with fire here. Everything is being set up to put the skids under Hoffman. He will get traded and continue as a 40 goal scorer in the league. Guys that score are golden. Entirely dumb to discount your own talent.

Fire Cameron, he's making Hoffman his whipping boy.ndont ever see this catch disciplining Ryan for floating, Zibby for floating - the golden boys.

Hoffman is an underdog and the coach is doing what he did last year.

This coach has no spine until it comes to doing Murrays dirty work and trying to bring Hoffmans value down. Recipe for disaster, trust me
- tuna99

I think Murray is playing with fire here. Everything is being set up to put the skids under Hoffman. He will get traded and continue as a 40 goal scorer in the league. Guys that score are golden. Entirely dumb to discount your own talent.
- spatso

hoffman got benched cuz he played like poop....not to lower his contrat value.

anyone who thinks the team is doing that is insane. Ceci is also an RFA, if they are trying to minimize contracts why aren't they benching ceci too?

hoffman got benched cuz he played like poop....not to lower his contrat value.

anyone who thinks the team is doing that is insane. Ceci is also an RFA, if they are trying to minimize contracts why aren't they benching ceci too?
- sensarmy_11

When you have a coach who cannot discipline a team or get them to play team hockey that calls for discipline (for an example see period 1 last night versus an AHL team and then watch the next 2 periods) - when you have no control as a coach and you start to single out individual players to show your toughness s is when you lose that player and then the room.

Closet example here is Maclean trying to get his team to play hard hockey but for an individual player vs coach - Heatley versus Chucky. Who won that one? Definitely not the coach, the team or the fans - and it sent the team into a tail spin.

Cameron is a bad coach because he has no discipline from his players, singling out a star player, your leading scorer to show the boss you are tough never works out. Ever.

Or you trade that player - Johansen, Heatley, And I don't want to trade Hoffman, we need him.

With all the hype Kapanen and Shiskanov were getting on the broadcast you would think they were McDavid and Eichel on the same team

But this is no different than the leafs bias that has always been there. It's funny

Maybe try Gomez with Hoffman and/or Ryan?

Gomez has set up Chiasson with some slot area passes (and we know how they ended up)

When you have a coach who cannot discipline a team or get them to play team hockey that calls for discipline (for an example see period 1 last night versus an AHL team and then watch the next 2 periods) - when you have no control as a coach and you start to single out individual players to show your toughness s is when you lose that player and then the room.

Closet example here is Maclean trying to get his team to play hard hockey but for an individual player vs coach - Heatley versus Chucky. Who won that one? Definitely not the coach, the team or the fans - and it sent the team into a tail spin.

Cameron is a bad coach because he has no discipline from his players, singling out a star player, your leading scorer to show the boss you are tough never works out. Ever.

Or you trade that player - Johansen, Heatley, And I don't want to trade Hoffman, we need him.
- tuna99

first of all, he didn't single out hoffman.......he benched him because he played like poop. as stated in teh blog, when hoffman doesn't score, he's useless. you could almost argue that he actually hurts the team.

second, you act like this only happens to hoffman.....i've seen zibby benched, and scratched....i've seen ryan have his ice time cut.....chiasson, lazar, etc.

this is just the typical Tuna "sky is falling" post...........you've basically been regurgitating the same exact post for the last 3 years.

first of all, he didn't single out hoffman.......he benched him because he played like poop. as stated in teh blog, when hoffman doesn't score, he's useless. you could almost argue that he actually hurts the team.

second, you act like this only happens to hoffman.....i've seen zibby benched, and scratched....i've seen ryan have his ice time cut.....chiasson, lazar, etc.

this is just the typical Tuna "sky is falling" post...........you've basically been regurgitating the same exact post for the last 3 years.
- sensarmy_11

You think Cameron is a good coach? You think he's the guy for the team? Have you seen any improvement in this teams play this year? Is Cameon doing a good job IYO.

This team has been a gong show since Murray left from behind the bench.

9 years, 7 coaching changes, 1 playoff round when you're given a Stalney cup Contender. This is on Murray as much as on Cameron, but the fact that they are BOTH singling out Hoffman at the end of this season is stupid, the team is not going to benefit from this.

Look at the stats sheet, we gave up 43 shots to the Marlies and he singles out Hoffman. Does that make sense to you.

You watched that game last night and thought - Hoffamn isn't playing well. The entire team is crap. Don't single out 1 player in a gong show like this team is, singling out players like this always hurts the team. This is not a Cintending team trying to get a young star to play harder or learn a lesson. This is the softest team in the NHL singling out its top scorer after giving up 43 shots.

Let's see how this plays out. If Cameron keeps his job, tilt of the hat to you.

But isn't this the team where the GM fired the coach last year because the coach wasn't nice to the players? The coach tried to get the players hard but they thought that was mean so they tuned him out?

Cameron is a bad coach. That's all I'm trying to say.

This team needs Hoffman more them Cameron

How many coaches has Ottawa gone through in the past 5 years?
- Tangled

3, with a Coach of the Year fired. And if you count Cameron who will be fired this summer, 4 coaches.

All without NHL head coaching experience, 2 from junior.

And our Coach of the year was fire because he tired to get his players to play hard and didn't tell enough jokes,

Now we have a coach who just lets the players do whatever they want. That's why he still has his job despite being worse then the last coach.

Benching Hoffman was a ridiculous and gutless move by Cameron. He needs to go. The only reason he could 'afford' to sit Hoffman out was because we were playing the Leafs. Had it been a top team there's no way in hell he benches him. The only other player I have actually noticed being benched was Smith -- and that was after taking two consecutive bad penalties and before he began his offensive outburst.

If Cameron stays and I'm Mike Hoffman, I get out of Ottawa as soon as possible. There are very few teams in this league that wouldn't jump at the chance to sign a guy with his skill.

Maybe Hoffman was having a bad game last night, but he certainly wasn't the only player seemingly disinterested in the game. The entire team (outside Hammond) blew chunks last night, yet Hoffman was singled out. Why him specifically is beyond me, but seems to be the pattern set by Cameron last season.

The odds of the Sens making the playoffs with Hoffman on the bench are slim to none, and the odds of him resigning even less. Maybe that's the idea...

Benching Hoffman was a ridiculous and gutless move by Cameron. He needs to go. The only reason he could 'afford' to sit Hoffman out was because we were playing the Leafs. Had it been a top team there's no way in hell he benches him. The only other player I have actually noticed being benched was Smith -- and that was after taking two consecutive bad penalties and before he began his offensive outburst.

If Cameron stays and I'm Mike Hoffman, I get out of Ottawa as soon as possible. There are very few teams in this league that wouldn't jump at the chance to sign a guy with his skill.

Maybe Hoffman was having a bad game last night, but he certainly wasn't the only player seemingly disinterested in the game. The entire team (outside Hammond) blew chunks last night, yet Hoffman was singled out. Why him specifically is beyond me, but seems to be the pattern set by Cameron last season.

The odds of the Sens making the playoffs with Hoffman on the bench are slim to none, and the odds of him resigning even less. Maybe that's the idea...
- legs37

I agree with a lot of this post, but there's no way he doesn't resign with the Senators unless he decides to hold out indefinitely or retire lol. He's a restricted free agent!

I agree with a lot of this post, but there's no way he doesn't resign with the Senators unless he decides to hold out indefinitely or retire lol. He's a restricted free agent!
- Mr_Clean

The way he is being treated certainly doesn't instill any belief that they even want him back. Do you think it's a money issue ... less play, less pay? Or is Cameron doing this to somehow 'spark' some fire into Hoffman in the hope that he starts scoring? If benching Hoffman every so often is Cameron's only method of inspiring better play out of him (and the team), it's a pathetic statement on his coaching skills.

Even as a Leaf fan, the commentary and hyperbole around the Leaf prospects was WAY over the top.

HNIC ratings are way down - i think i heard 13% - attributed by CBC/Rogers to the Leafs sucking (more likely because ALL Cdn teams stink) so I guess in their minds its in their best interest to hype/over-hype the Leafs as much as possible.

Rare show of class by Leaf fans... colour me shocked at the Phaneuf standing ovation.

A month ago Greening punching out Dion would have upset me....

Even as a Leaf fan, the commentary and hyperbole around the Leaf prospects was WAY over the top.

HNIC ratings are way down - i think i heard 13% - attributed by CBC/Rogers to the Leafs sucking (more likely because ALL Cdn teams stink) so I guess in their minds its in their best interest to hype/over-hype the Leafs as much as possible.

Rare show of class by Leaf fans... colour me shocked at the Phaneuf standing ovation.

A month ago Greening punching out Dion would have upset me....
- grim

Maybe it is the terrible host, over the hill/senile first intermission circus, B-grade in-studio analysts (except for Friedman), lack of a hairdresser onsite for Friedman (every week the left side of his head is so distracting!), and all around brutal commentators that have made ratings fall...

Tuna, your posts are ridiculous.

Who's fault is it? Management? Coaching? Ownership? The parking attendants? You seem to hate everyone involved with this team right now.

Management has made mistakes and ownership is obviously a problem, but I think everyone needs to cut Cameron some slack. This man has been coaching a team with 6 to 9 guys, depending on injury, who aren't even NHL players. Any other team with that makeup is a bottom-feeder.

The Sens are a bad team, plain and simple. Its not coaching.

We don't have a #1 center (and the one we had was playing hurt for half the year). Our so called #2 center is scared ot contact, can't stickhandle or make a pass. Our highest paid forward is the laziest guy on the team. We had three Dmen in the lineup for the majority of the season who aren't NHL calibre (#6s at best).

Since Christmas, our #1 center has been JG (frank)ing Pageau.

Cameron took a team of underdogs to the playoffs last year. This year, with our injuries, our lineup is arguably worse than last year. Its a miracle this team is over 500 and has an outside shot at still getting into the playoffs.

If you want to me mad at Cameron, be mad that this team over achieved and because of that, we won't get the high draft pick we need and deserve.

#TradeMelnyk

Anyone hear of what teams may have been offering for Wiercioch?

Hard to see how he is still on the team. No way they qualify him at $3 mill

Good game and outcome for both fan bases. Sens got closer to 9th and leafs closer to a top 3 pick. Everyone won last night!

first of all, he didn't single out hoffman.......he benched him because he played like poop. as stated in teh blog, when hoffman doesn't score, he's useless. you could almost argue that he actually hurts the team.

second, you act like this only happens to hoffman.....i've seen zibby benched, and scratched....i've seen ryan have his ice time cut.....chiasson, lazar, etc.

this is just the typical Tuna "sky is falling" post...........you've basically been regurgitating the same exact post for the last 3 years.
- sensarmy_11

I hope this is a joke. Did he have a poor game last night? Yes. Did he deserve to be benched for a whole period? (frank) no. Do you see Quenneville bench Kane for a defensive lapse? No. Before you even instigate that I am saying Hoffman = Kane, no, that's not what I am saying. But they are very comparable in the way they play.

I hope this is a joke. Did he have a poor game last night? Yes. Did he deserve to be benched for a whole period? (frank) no. Do you see Quenneville bench Kane for a defensive lapse? No. Before you even instigate that I am saying Hoffman = Kane, no, that's not what I am saying. But they are very comparable in the way they play.
- TheCalSen

last time i checked kane isn't in teh middle of a "1 goal in 10 games" streak........unless hoffman is scoring goals, he brings nothing to the table. the coach needed to do something to wake his ass up.

and if by "comparable in the way they play" you mean that one is running away with the league MVP and the other has more peaks and valleys in his game than the french alps....then sure, they're "comparable"

Good game and outcome for both fan bases. Sens got closer to 9th and leafs closer to a top 3 pick. Everyone won last night!

According to the CBC some of the Leaf players already walk on water, so why any true fan hopes their team loses for a lottery shot at a 'hockey Messiah' is mind-boggling. I guess when you're that far down you may as well go all the way!

last time i checked kane isn't in teh middle of a "1 goal in 10 games" streak........unless hoffman is scoring goals, he brings nothing to the table. the coach needed to do something to wake his ass up.

and if by "comparable in the way they play" you mean that one is running away with the league MVP and the other has more peaks and valleys in his game than the french alps....then sure, they're "comparable"
- sensarmy_11

Benching him for a period isn't productive. How can you say Hoffman doesn't bring anything to the table if he isn't scoring? Would you also say the same for a guy like Kessel, Perry, or Nash? That's (frank)ing nuts. The guys who score goals are the reason you win, you shouldn't treat a 30-goal scorer like they are a rookie or a bottom-6 plug. They deserve way more respect. Cameron is utilizing the mantra that NHL players have the same mindset as junior players. As far as I see it, it's either Cameron goes this offseason or Hoffman will hold out and ask for a trade. The latter would set this team back another season or two.