Ottawa Breaks Out - Sens 5, Canes 1

OUCH! that was just ugly….Not one positive thing to say about that game.

that was sad. I went to bed after the second, apparantly so did the Canes.

Rutherford, the wheels are coming off again, and this time with your hand picked best buddy at the driver seat. Maybe it’s the car. O yeah you can;t blame the car, becuase you built the car………..

Karmanos if you are listening somewhere, find us a GM who knows how to draft and knows how to trade for something other than a smallish forwards w/ injury history and defenseman known for their lack of sound positioning. when you shop in th e bragian bin you get what you effin pay for.

We looked flat, and played flat.

It seems that the Canes are generating fewer and fewer legitmate offensive chances at the net. I would like to see Whitney with Staal instead of Samsonov. He just overplays the puck – I can’t help but recall how much more effective Staal was with Cole as a line mate.

I hear the broadcast team talk about Maurice’s desire for more physical play – sure don’t see it except for Gleason, Dennis S and Walker. Think we need to bring up a younger player or 2 from Albany to bang some and give the opposition something to think about. Sure are not getting that dimension from Babchuk & Kaberle.

ugly game, now we have a defensive system with a lack of effort, hmm I think we are seeing a trend here. 11 shots in the last 2 periods well looks like Mo’s system is in place now!

Everything can’t be blamed on the coach and the GM. How about blaming multi-million dollar players (this is several players on this team) for a change? Geezus if players can sign a multi million dollar contract, collect their money and play like crap most games only to blame the coach and GM then maybe we should all play hockey. Look at the talent on paper we have on this team and see what they produce on the ice—-very little except in spurts. I’m disappointed in the players not the organization.

I am just going to enjoy the rest of the season with my family, accept the fact that we probably aren’t going to the playoffs, save some money on—-no playoff tickets and renew my seats for next season and start all over again. I’m disappointed and pissed off too, but I still love this team and organization for what it brings my life.

Go Canes!

C

Yuck!

It blows my mind that they can go from winning 4 in a row and looking like a top-team to losing 3 in a row and looking completely lost… I don’t get it!

I used to swear that they all had evil twins who would take over every now and then….

I’m starting to believe it… it makes no sense!

Mateo – I hear what you are saying but honestly this doesn’t blow my mind at all. This is the prime example of who the Hurricanes have been all season, a model of inconsistency. Some nights they look great, other nights not so much but there has never been any consistency.

I agree too with a few others that it looks like Maurice’s system is starting to settle in but that does not mean that the system is the problem. Laviolette had the same problems as Maurice is having – the players on the ice not giving enough effort. It’s not the coach or the system in this case, it’s the players lack of desire or passion to play the game. You just don’t see it out there consistently other than a few players. This team needs another dimension (physical play, some younger guys called up). They need to be woken up. I may be the first and only to say it, but hey why not scratch Brind’amour for a game and send a message. I know he’s the Captain/Heart and Soul of team but he’s playing poorly (as is the majority of team). Some times when you get the perspective of watching from the press box you see things that you are not able to on the ice and it also may “wake” him up a little bit.

Just my thoughts. Guess my preview didn’t help too much. I said the Sens were a desperate team but not playing like one, well last night they sure did.

Caron,

I do blame the players, but who do you think brings in these players? The GM. As GM you gotta look for guys who are character guys as well as what they bring in terms of skill. It is the total package. So if you’re players aren’t executing on the ice, as a GM you have to blame yourself for bringing in lazy players.

This is business. As a manager, you have to be responsible for the employees you hired.

It was hard to wake up this morning after that. I cant imagine how the players feel. Defense played horrendous. They didnt play smart or focused. IMO our D, which was outstanding a week ago, needs to look at themselves in the mirror and a have a soul searching moment.

Apparently Brindy’s demotion only last 4 periods. He in no way, shape, or form earned his spot back as the #2 Center. Let the guys get some chemistry for gods sake.

Just an absolutely disgusting game to watch if anyone was able to sit thru the entire game. I personally couldnt stomach anything past the 2nd.

Nothing funner than watching a power play dump it in around the boards just to clear the zone. Not Once but three or four times in the same PP. Wow.

Adam- I agree with everything you said at this point… perhaps the “shake up” of changing coaches has settled in and now the guys are back to just doing enough to collect their pay checks…

Or perhaps the real Hurricanes players are tied up in a closet somewhere and their evil twins are out there throwing the games….

either way… I think that anything they can do to cause these guys to fear for their jobs would be welcomed by the fans.

Remember the line from the movie “Miracle” where coach brooks said: “this team doesn’t have enough talent to win on talent alone….”

They need EVERYONE to buy in to the team concept and the system… Brind’Amour and Staal aren’t doing it… and everyone else follows…

In the 2002 playoffs… Paul Maurice was the coach of a team that wasn’t half as talented as the team he has now… and when they asked him how he managed to get the team to the Stanley Cup Finals he said: “everyone bought into the system…”

I think Rutherford DID try to get bigger initially – he tried to bring in Hordichuck, picked up Pitkanen (who doesn’t hit so much, but as an offensive D won’t be pushed off the puck as easily because of his size) and did bring in Rutuu and Eaves (only one of which has been effective). Hordichuck signed elsewhere because he knew how he would be used in Lavi’s system, and now the players are used to being pushed around so Mo is ineffective when he tries to encourage these guys to hit. Also, all these guys coming off of injuries are timid or just can’t perform because they have been injured so much – Kaberle, Wallin, Brindy – it’s time to clean house. I think blame – if it is to be assigned – falls more on the players and Lavi more than anyone else.

Lets not fool ourselves – this team has lacked identity for sometime now. And identity is what it needs. I agree with the coaching change – this had to happen. But still there is a missing piece. No disrespect to Brookbank, Conboy, etc, but this team needs a serious player who will come out and shake things up. A 3rd line type player who has some talent, yet has an edge, and lets be honest, a little nastiness. A player who will go out onto the ice to make things right (ie – a response to hit on Justin William, ie – a response to hit on Sutter, ie – a response to Staal being boarded). In short, a player who can immediately pump life into the team when needed (ie – life after giving up first goal). Just my thoughts as a STH package holder and a fan who is ready to see some life pumped back into our team, and our building for that matter…player I think could fill that role ? See Jordin Tootoo – Nahville..one of many that are out there I am sure…

Nothing like stating the obvious but this is totally disappointing after winning four in a row. The expectations for this team were so high at the beginning of the season with the players on paper. But it’s like someone mentioned one time that maybe this is just an average team. And imagine if we knew at the beginning of the season that we had just an average team going into it how happy we would be that we would be challenging for a playoff spot at this point.

Wylde4canes,

I do appreciate what you are saying, but don’t we have some of the best players on paper in the NHL now that was brought to this team by our GM? We keep making excuses for theses players. When they were all signed to contracts they rocked this team, but what do they have to lose now to be lazy? What can the GM do with them now that they have a contract? Most of them don’t have 2 way contracts, it’s not an easy thing to put players on waivers like everyone thinks we can, although I think if we were to do this it would send a message.

It’s a shame that the players union has it fixed that these players will make all their money even if they don’t produce what they are expected to by the GMs in the NHL. They will come back to life in season when they are a free agent again, it’s becoming the trend in the NHL with the union protecting them. It should be like the NFL then you would see some lazy players come to life on all the NHL teams. This season it seems that the most teams I have ever seen have their top players not producing what they were prior to their million dollar contracts.

C

Since Staal has been announced for the AllStar game (last Panthers game) nobody has done anything good. After the break last year this team was pretty tough to play against, let’s see if that happens again. Hopefully with a different end result obviously, but this isn’t a group that could make it past the 2nd round of the playoffs anyway. At least the Caps have lost 3 in a row,…………….. but so have we. I said it earlier this year, look for this team to be dismantled in the offseason.

I think the top line should get a second look. It’s not working out as well as perceived. Staal has no goals and just two assists in the last five.

I think Williams with Staal and Ruutu might be OK, with Samosnov-Brind’Amour-Whitney. Or even move Ruutu to center, Samsonov with Williams and Staal, then Brind’Amour with maybe Eaves — who’s playing hard and deserves more ice time — and Cullen (as a wing). Then Walker-Sutter-LaRose as the 4th line (getting more time than the 4th is now).

C – they may not have 2-way contracts, but park a couple of them in the press box for a game or two, tell everyone why they’re there, and see what happens. I think we were discussing/speculating several months ago that JR DIDN’T give Brookbank a 2-way so that the Lavi would be forced to play him from time to time. Obviously didn’t happen, and Mo seems reluctant to play him too…
Agh! I just don’t know…
Maybe we should all just start chanting ‘we want brookbank’ for every game he sits out…

I understand people wanting an enforcer in the lineup, but last night was not a case of the team getting pushed around and lacking a physical presence to keep them in the game.

Brookbank alone isn’t going to win the team any games, and he’ll probably lose his fights along the way.

Last night there was no need for the Senators to push our guys around…. OUR GUYS WEREN’T EVEN THERE!!!!!! Yeah.. their bodies were riding around on ice skates, but their heart and minds were off in blue skies somewhere….

you have to actually show up in order to get pushed around….

True about not getting pushed around last night, I was thinking more of other games – the overall reluctance to put more physical players out when called for. And I do question the decision to not have Brookbank in the lineup last night because everyone was expecting a very physical, desperate game from both teams. I know we didn’t get that out of the Canes, but we should have, and then we might have needed Brookbank.

One could make the case that the Canes don’t just need to be more physical in order to respond to being pushed around, they need to be initiating some extra contact and perhaps even get a little edgy, especially when things are not going their way. (Down 2-0, then 3-1 and no physical response at all?)

I also agree with the comment about team identity. It’s been a problem all year. This could just be a perception, but it seems like there is no internal leadership.

I aint heard shit outta Brindy, shit outta Staal, or shit outta Gleason……LEADERS…..I agree with Bubba, this team has NO leadership. And that AMAZES me with the players we have. I’ve totally lost my faith in Brindy. Im tired of Staal talking about the lack of jump….excuses excuses excuses….DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!

Mateo,

Nice rebuttal. That is why I like posting here better than on the Blog formerly known as LSB!

But to respond, do we really have that good a team on paper. I don’t think we do. Look at our top line.
Ruutu was penciled in as a third liner to start this season, and was not a top liner on a really shallow but young Chicago team. Samsonov was a consistent healthy scratch prior to hitting the wires and was persona non gratis in both Montreal and Edmonton before that. Staal, IMO, is a 2nd tier superstar. He is not on the same level as Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Iginla, Thornton, Lecavelier, or other forwards of that level. He has been hyped to be, but he just doesn’t have that extra something to overcome double coverage and still make the play. His 100 pt year was mainly due to the fact that no one was throwing double coverage at him. These three aint on par with any other offense first teams first line.

I think we can all agree that the blue line is not exactly a super talented group either. Pitkanen, Corvo, and Gleason are all good second pairing Defenseman, but none of them are (again IMO) 1st pairing shutdown defenseman. This is evident in that way that we always have trouble with teams that are what I consider top line heavy (top rate talented first lines and scrubs on lines 2-4).

Finally, look at our goaltending. Ward is a good goaltender. What he isn’t is Brodeur, Nabokov, Kipper, Lundqvist, or Luongo. That is not to say he is not worthy of being a number 1, it is just that you have to be defensively sound in front of him, he aint gonna win a whole bunch for you on his own.

So I guess the real question becomes, is this what we should just expect. Thanks to a spendthrift owner and a GM who seems to love the reclamation project, this may be all we SHOULD expect.

well said Wylde

Wylde, I do agree with you, but we didn’t have any tier 1 players on the cup winning squad either….

Andrea,

Healthy scratch actually didn’t even occur to me (duh-lol), it would be a great idea with no waivers involved. Good thinking Andrea.

Brindy’s problem is physical not lazy attitude which makes a huge difference. Having said that he needs to be on the 3rd and 4th line consistantly until he can get it together, He should never be accused of lack of effort like some other players have shown. He just doesn’t have that great Brindy quality anymore since his knee surgery and may never have it again sadly.

I too don’t think that that having the ‘enforcer’ is going to cure all our problems, BUT we did see our team last year start playing better when Brookbank was put on board in the Ranger’s game last winter and there after. At this point Mo should at least put him in against a team that pushes us around at the RBC, healthy scratch a couple of players and get the fans who in turn would get the players back into it mentally. Heck at this point what could it hurt?

C

I’ve been biding my time and trying to give Mo a chance.

here’s my take now.

Mo is probably a great coach. I think he knows the game and the business about as well as one can. I think he has a style he likes to implement. Someone mentioned “heart” of the team. It used to be Brindy. He went down and Staal tookover and the team responded to his good play. Come back to the present, Mo comes in and the team starts earning points and even goes on a 4 game streak. Problem is, Mo lit the torch and nobody is running with it. Rod needs to sit down or retire, take up oragami, anything but skating on anything except the 4th line. In my not even close to humble opinion, Cullen should center the second line or if Staal can’t get the hang of face offs stick him in the first line center. Staal centers the line Cullen doesn’t. I liked the few times W&W were with Cullen. I thought they were hot and working hard. Put that line back together as either 1 or two. Then scrape the locker room and find who is going to feed Staal and get him playing to his ability. Run maybe 5 games. If life and play doesn’t come, scrap the team. Talk with Staal and see if he wants to play here or not. If he does, give him the C and bleed him dry. The hard part is getting rid of a nice collection 2 and 3 line guys and getting anything in return. Keep the kids like Sutter and Gleason. I’d say keep Ruutu, too. Williams looks like he’s coming back, but may be more valuable on the open market. I think there are a lot of guys we can trade. I will piss and moan, but I think it’s time. I also think I was/am right about Mo. He’s here while JR is looking for a full time coach. I also think he may stick around and start whatever new incarnation of a team we get maybe even all the way until next year. I do think it’s mostly the players. Ward kept the team in a position to play for two periods. I don’t see him going anywhere, on the other hand, we need better net minding. whether it’s getting better in front of him or getting a better goalie. You gotta score more goals than you give up. It’s pretty simple math. The time is coming when the trades start to fly. At this point I’d expect to see certain players getting shopped around. I think there is going to be some pretty big changes. One possible change is Mo finds the way to get “heart” back into this team, I think that’s not probable, though. Lavi didn’t and Mo seems to not be able to either. so I think the players need to get swapped out.

there is only one reason you play, it’s for the Cup. This team doesn’t show any of the traits a Cup team has. I also think Rowe isn’t going to be the man. He boned that change last night and the guys weren’t prepared, ended up in the net. Too many cooks, I think. I wonder if another team doesn’t try to get him.

I think we are in for some gnashing of teeth and growing pains.

A

Wylde,
I agree with you about nearly everything that you said.

As far as goaltending goes though I think one big thing that we all need to keep in mind is that Ward is only 24. The guys that you stated are anywhere from 26-36. I think when Ward is 26 like Lundqvist or 29 like Luongo he will be a top 5 goalie in the league and someone you could build a frachise around. But I know that doesnt help us now. I think the big thing is getting a solid defensive effort night in and night out from the guys in front of him. The mistakes that Wallin and Siedenburg as well as other made last night are unacceptable and would make even guys like Brodeur give up goals!

Very true, Marc.

The difference then was a team that overacheived. I thought, at the time, that was due in large part to Laviolette. I guess not so much. Another big difference is that the game has gone back to a much more clutch and grab style. Look at the last two to win the cup. If both of those teams were not adept at obstructing ice in a way that is bordering (and often crossing)illegal lines, then I don’t know who does.

When I watched that horrible game last night all I could see was ZERO leadership.

Mateo was absolutely correct with the Miracle quote ""this team doesn’t have enough talent to win on talent alone…." And when you are short on talent you need to be long on spirit, of which I saw NONE.

We took that miserable loss lying down.

When you are down 5-1 it is time to hit everything that moves. It is pretty obvious we don’t have the talent to stop the Sens top line but we sure didn’t put up a fight, that is what I find disgusting. In an economy like this for players to be making in a year more than most fans will during a lifetime and have no motivation to win is just unacceptable.

If I was MO I would have some of those guys running stairs until they vomit.

Wylde… I also hated posting on the (former) LSB… This is pretty much the only blog/forum site that isn’t an ego contest… and I like that…

I go back to what I said when I quoted the Herb Brooks character in the movie Miracle: “you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone…”

I do not think our team is “that good” on paper… which is why these guys need (possibly more than anything) a real team identity and for EVERYONE (even the equipment guys) to buy into the team concept and the system….

and if they have someone (anyone) in the locker room creating a “rift” or whatever it is… trade them or send them packing to the AHL (hell… they sent Irbe to the ECHL for causing locker room trouble)

Is the problem that the team has NO leadership? Or could it be that EVERYONE thinks they are a leader… My boss used to say “too many chiefs… not enough indians…” (native americans now)

find out who on the team is gambling and betting on Washington for the division!!! (that last part about gambling was a joke… sort of)

Mateo,

You know I actually was laying in bed last nigh thinking, " could there be someone in the locker room poisoning this bunch?" Glad to see that if I am paranoid, at least I’m in good company!

Everyone is questioning the leadership of this team, and I think that may be a big part of what is ailing this team. You can only go as far as your leadership takes you. Someone in the room has to go out in these kind of games and make statement plays. Scoring a hardnose kind of goal, making the big hit, draw a penalty, or anything else that can wake up the team. Staal needs to do that. This is not Brindy’s team this year. He is in his funk and I think in his mind he can not reconcile being a leader when he can’t even do it himself.

Whatever the case is, I have resigned myself to long offseason #3. The question now is, in 11 year of Carolina hockey which means more, 2 finals appearances and a Cup, or 8 years of missing the dance all together? I don;t get to answer that question, Petey Karmanos does…..

Every time Washington loses so do the Canes and this has been going on all season. We’ll never catch them if this continues.

You also have to think about someone like RUUTU who every one likes and is doing well this season but is up for a contract at the end of the season. Everybody knows the Canes can’t afford to keep him next year( you know our budget, one of the lowest). Maybe shop him around before we lose him next year. Don’t get me wrong here I don’t want to see him go any where just something to think about.

If Staal (or stale) would start playing like we all know he can we could win some games. We probably only avg. 2 goals a game and thanks to Cam we actually have won a few games just because of him.

We won four lost three we got one more to lose before we start winning again, being that we may only be a 500 team.
I know the truth hurts.

One more thing thinking about last year and how good our scoring was.

After 44 games Goals scored by period. 1st 2nd 3rd
                                       33 42 31
Last year we were ranked 5th overall 74 77 94
The third period last year was our best this year its our worst……I know we still have half a season, I’m just saying….