After shuffling the forward lines, coach Cory Clouston is now lookig at shuffling his defensive line-up. I hope Clouston got one of those old-fashioed shuffling machiens for Christmas... looks like he needs one.

I unfortunately have to agree with Clouston. Some very highly paid blueliners have been playing awful games of late, chief among them is Filip Kuba. Earning nearly $4 million, Filip Kuba has become unreliable on the defense, nearly becoming "Wade Redden-ish".

Another is Sergei Gonchar. While not as bad as Kuba, this $5.5 million man was hired to produce some offensive, which hasn't been forthcoming. He is better on the defense than Kuba, but not early as good as a dedicated blueliner like Chris Phillips or Matt Carkner. Theses last two have been the linchpin of the Senators defense, ably throwing their bodies when they need to. This is something that sorely lacks with the Sens: that physical element.

So what can we expect against the Columbus Blue Jackets? I think we will see Kuba take a pew in favour of a still available Brian Lee. I'm looking for the pairing of Carkner and  Chris Campoli to remain unchanged. Then Lee with Carkner, and Erik Karlsson with the Big Rig.

On a side note, I pity Cory Clouston who had to organize his defense, was trying to organize his offense, and now sees his defense falling apart. The way the Senators are playing is nearly enough to get a coach fired, even though he may not deserve it.

GO SENS GO!!