I like coach Clouston and I’ll tell you why; he doesn’t force his players to be something they’re not. Let’s face it, the Senators made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2006-07 by doing one thing better than any other team: scoring goals.

In the grand scheme of things, how many goals a team allows matters less than how many goals they score. As long as you can score more goals than the opposite team, you win. It’s that simple. The 2006-07 Senators were redoubtable goal scorers. They were tied for 3rd in short-handed goals, scary on turnovers, and fore-checked with determination. During the 2006-07 season, the Sens scored 288 goals, second only to Buffalo. This is the Senators game and their forte: they are an offensive team.

Not a defensive team

Hartsburg tried to bring in a more defensive type of play à la New Jersey Devils, who are not a high-scoring team, but let in few goals (thanks in large part to Martin Brodeur). The system did not work for the Sens because it is against their nature. During the Hartsburg era, we saw players abandon the puck in the offensive zone as soon as it was touched by an opponent, and fold back quickly, trying to set up a trap in the neutral zone and failing, trying to deny the blue line and failing, trying to shut down passing lanes and failing.

Once Clouston gave the Senators their head of steam, everything seemed to fall into place. Foligno, for one, became dangerous around the net, forechecking was restored, and the team started winning more games. Scoring soared from 2.42 goals ber game to nearly 3 goals per game. That’s all the difference between a sub 200-goal team to a mid 200-goal team. Hartsburg never realized that you can’t force a player like Spezza, a great playmaker with the puck but merely average without the puck, to think defensively and know where to place himself in defensive situations. You can only encourage him to fold back on defensive plays and keep things simple for him in those situations. Let him do what he does best; bring the puck into the offensive zone and either feather a pass to the open man, or undress a defenseman. Play to your strengths, and patch the weaknesses.

Play to your strengths

Clouston needs makes sure that his forwards score goals, and concentrates on his blueliners to minimize the bleeding. Strangely enough, while de-emphasizing defensive play, Clouston managed to drop the Sens’ goals against average from nearly 3 per game under Hartsburg to 2.79, likely due to the fact that the renewed forechecking kept the opposition in their own zone longer. That’s the Senators’ personality, and it has been for a long time. If Clouston can find the right match-ups and get his team back on the scoring bandwagon, watch out. With its newfound depth, the Senators could become an unstoppable goal-scoring machine.