It was a matter of extremes. The game against the Buffalo Sabres, the team who I consider the best rivals for the Sens, was a mixture of great play and awful play for the Senators.

On the plus side was the line of Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza, and Bobby Butler. That line has come together beautifulluy and is a well-oiled scoring machine. It was the basically only line that was htreatening every time it was on the ice.

At the other end was the line anchored by Nick Foligno. Granted Foligno was surrounded by newbies, but the line spent most of its time in the defensive zone battling to keep the puck out of the Sens net. It was only at the very end of the game that the line got some chances.

Craig "Neo" Anderson was once again great in nets, but couldn't fight the bounces of HSBC arena, bounces with which the Sabres are all too familiar and of which they took advantage. Even though he let in three goals, Neo still managed a .923 save percentage, way better than most goalies the Sens have had.

GO SENS GO!!

In another salary-based move, Bryan Murray has sent Alex Kovalev to Pittsburgh. That clears another $5 million dollars off the salaries for the Senators.



The move was totally expected. Kovalev had been acting like trade bait of late, scoring 9 points in his last 10 games, and showing more of the talent that garnered him the nickname "l'Artiste" in Montréal. I do think that trading Kovie for a conditional 7th round pick is rather cheap, but AK-27 was holding all the cards with his no-trade clause.

In other moves, Murray was seen talking to Chris Phillips at practice on Wednesday. As a rule, Murray doesn;t talk to players. So it's possible a potential offer was being floated to Phillips. One would think that agents and back office handle all these details, but it depends on GM style and Murray is a hand-on type of guy.

The Senators also acquired Marek Svatos off waivers. Although he hasn't seen much action of late, Svatos was a 40-point a season man with the Avalanche from 2005-06 to last season when he was sidelined by chest and groin injuries. He hasn't seen much action since, but the depleted Senators could use the potential offensive boost. He costs only $800K and is a UFA at the end of the season if he doesn't work out.

I love blog titling and have way too much fun with it. Whatever. I HAVE to be wriing these for the fun of it right? It's even more fun when the Sens take their second victory in a row, and their first victory of the year at home.

Truth is, Bobby Butler has arrived. Bobby Butler is one of those guys who just wants to score. He puts the puck on the net every chance he has, and it pays off. And when he's not shooting, he's busy funding that one spot of ice the opposing D-men have forgotten to cover. Butler goes RFA at the end of the season, and from what I've seen so far, we need to sign that boy.

Of course, Butler wasn't alone. Jason Spezza had an amazing night and looked feisty. I knew as soon as he was taken down on a near-breakaway and didn;t get the penalty shot that he was just looking to make the Panther defnese pay. He was rewarded later on with a classic laser-guided Spezza goal.

Another who played beautifully was Ryan Shannon who got to see some point action on the power play. He looked really comfortable in the role and was rewarded with a goal, and chipped in with an assist as well. The defense was also instrumental, participating a lot more to the offense. Noteble were Filip Kuba (who may be setting himself up as trade bait), and Chris Campoli.

It's interesting to note that while Craig "Neo" Anderson had a goal scored on him, it was a deflection off of Chris Phillip's skate. So theroetically, the opposition still hasn't scored on him.

GO SENS GO!

There are only seven days left befor the NHL trade deadline, and all is calm on the Eastern Front where the Ottawa Senators reside. For now.



It's strange to see so many deals being done ahead of deadline day. Bryan Murray was one of the first to pull the trigger on February 10 with the Mike Fisher trade to Nashville. While there were some moans and groans, the move was generallly well regarded as dumping $4.2 million for a talent that wasn't producing for that kind of money. This was a "dump some salary" move.

The Chris Kelly move was a stunner as he was a fairly inexpensive player for the kind of skill he brought to the team: penlty kills, face-off, forecheck, and one of the top scorers on the team (who would expect??) All for a measly $2.125 million. That move can be regarded as a "dump age" move, even though Kelly is barely 30 years old.

Of the next two moves, Jarkko Ruutu can be seen as "dumping age" and "lack of performance". Strangely enough, Ruutu scored a goal in his very first game with the Anaheim Ducks, so maybe a change of scenery was what he was looking for. As for Brian Elliott, it's befuddling. Both Elliott and Craig "Neo" Anderson have roughly the same numbers, but Neo costs a fair amount more. Based on the performance of Neo against the Leafs, the trade now seems a good one, but Pascal Leclaire looked great for a couple of games too when he arrived in Ottawa.

But all seems calm right now. Is the storm over? I doubt it. There are some key players on the Sens team that likely have Cup contenders licking their chops in anticipation. A lot of pundits are saying that the moves made earlier means that the trade deadline will be a quiet one.

I think that what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg and that we will see an extremely active trade deadline. Some teams seem to have learned the lesson of the salary cap: you need to get young blood, and you need to develop in house, and you need to scout. Sprinkle that team with some hired talent, and you have a winning combo. The Senators management has gotten rid of some excess salary (nearly $7 million) and has a pocket full of draft picks.

The current mood of the fan base is for a change, and the back office will take advantage of the fact to fill up on goodies that can be exchanged for new flesh at the draft, and a shopping spree in the off-season. I think the trades are far from over.

GO SENS GO!!

You can hear the voice from The Matrix :
"Mr. Anderson..."
"My name is Neo!"
 It has a certain ring to it, no? A certain cachet.

After the 47 saves made by Craig Anderson which kept the Senators in the game, the comparison may not be that far off. Anderson made saves that sometimes looked like he was moving in "bullet time". He saved the Senators from themselves, because the Senators offensive was well and truly emasculated. I like that word: "emasculated". No balls. No cojones. The Leafs, I am sad to report, really showed us what offensive looks like.

The Sens power play was particularly dismal sometimes spending the entire 2 minutes just trying to get past the Leafs blue line. Defensively, the Sens were much better than offensively. If the Sens have been guilty of one thing this season, this is it. They are unidimensional. Either offensive or defensive, but never both. Sad, very sad.

When the shoot-out started I almost turned off the TV. But no. I had faith this time. Neo would come through. And he did, in spades, racking up his first shut-out with the Senators. Jason Spezza finally buried one after Alex Kovalev made a great attempts that was stopped by an even better save from Toronto's Reimer.

I shouldn't complain. The Senators have picked up a rare two point. This is not a game that any of our goalies could have saved for us, not even Robin Lehner. But Anderson did. Now if they can just rack up a win at home. We're still waiting for the first home win of 2011.

GO SENS GO!!

With all the new faces in the senators line-up, the results were surprisingly the same as usual.

"I've been on this ride before", I told myself. It's the "Sens-score-first-but get-tied-up-quickly-then-struggle-in-the-third-to-finally-allow-enough-goals-to-be-out-of-the-game-at -which-time-they-try-to-dig-themselves-out" ride (SSFBGTUQTSITTTFAEGTBOOTGAWTTTTDTO for short).

One thing is certain, Bobby Butler has arrived and shaken some cobwebs off the team. He and Jason Spezza, and to a lesser extent Milan Michalek, were an amazing force last night and tested Boston's Tuuka Rask over and over again. Also very effective on the attack was the line-up of Nick Foligno, Peter Regin, and Alex Kovalev.

Speaking of Kovalev, some have told me they don't expect Kovakev to be picked up by anyone because of his work ethics. That's just a bunch of crap. Kovalev is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. We're not talking about someone signing him for another $5 million plus deal. As a rental player, AK-27 is desirable, and making himself more and more desirable of late with his excellent play. I still expect someone to pull the trigger soon.

On to the Battle of Ontario for tonight. Likely Craig Anderson's first start in the Ottawa nets.

GO SENS GO!!

No one is safe. The Senators have traded Jarkko Ruutu to Anaheim and have swapped goalies with the Avalanche. Brian Elliott winds up in Denver, while Craig Anderson makes his way to Ottawa.

The Ruutu trade was kind of expected. Every team needs a good pest, even though Ruutu hadn't been quite as "pestilential" as usual in Ottawa recently. I have to admit that the Elliott trade was a shocker. As much as people have vilified him, I believe that Elliott is a very good goalie who doesn't get the support he needs.

The Senators have now acquired a ton of picks: a first round and a conditional third for Mike Fisher, a second rounder for Chris Kelly, and a sixth round pick for Ruutu. They've been forced to call back a bunch of newbies from the mini-Sens and we'll all have to get used to the names André Benoît and Francis Lessard. We've already met Colin Greening in a previous game.

In the same gesture, the management has successfully removed nearly $7.7 million from their salary cap. You can see where the management is trying to go, setting itself up for a massive sweep at the drafts and with a lot of dough to go shopping for UFAs. But I'm not sure if Bryan Murray will get the shot at building the new team considering the current public reaction to Murray.

Don't expect Anderson to play immediately. Robin Lehner is likely to get the nod for Chris Kelly's first visit back to the Bank in a Bruins jersey. I hope he gets a warm reception. The Sens organization is usually a class act in saluting ex-Sens on their first visit back to the Bank. I hope they don't break the tradition.

GO SENS GO!!

I really hadn't realized the depth to which the Senators management was willing to go. Not until the Chris Kelly trade. That's when I knew the kid gloves were off and it was as if the management had hung "For Sale" signs on all the players.

Let's talk dollars and cents here. Taking Mike Fisher's $4.2 million salary off the books made sense. It was a pretty high salary for not great returns. But Chris Kelly? He's a rock for the Senators. He can always be counted on to give his all on every shift. He's a great two-way player, an excellent penalty killer, and can be counted on for goals when it matters. He was already up to 12 goals, 3 short of his best in the NHL, with plenty of season left to play. His salary is a measly $2.1 million. So why the trade?

It can only boil down to age. The Senators have been accused of being an old team, and the management has said: "Fine! Out with the old, then". Kelly can't be considered "old" at barely 30, but it seems the pendulum has swung far the other way and 30-anything is out of fashion.

What could be scarier is that the Senators have decided that be like your local used car salesman: any reasonable offer will be accepted. Although Kelly for a 2nd round pick is close to an unreasonable offer. Based on what we've seen, is any player safe? The following could definitely be targets:

• Chris Neil (31 years old, $2 million)
• Jarkko Ruutu (35, $1.3 million)
• Alex Kovalev (37, $5 million)
• Sergei Gonchar (36, $5.5 million, no-movement clause)
• Filip Kuba (34, $3.7 million, NMC)
• Chris Phillips (32, $3.5 million, NMC)

That's just based on age and salary. The Senators also have some players that can fit any request out there. Need a cheap, tough no-nonsense blueliner? We have Matt Carkner. Need a speedy forward with grit? We have Ryan Shannon. Need a fast forward who can make plays at the net? There's Milan Michalek. Need a savvy, puck-moving, attacking defenseman? There's Chris Campoli.Need a has-been goalie? ... Let's not go there.

 Even Jason Spezza could be moved for the right price. If this is where the management is going, then we can look forward to a very new team indeed.One that may spend a season or two in the league's basement as well.

GO SENS GO!!

I've caught some bad virus of late which kept me from the keyboard. Even though I'm not over it yet, I feel well enough to throw some more stupidities at you. So here goes.

Let's backtrack to Tuesday and the Senators' overtime loss to the hot Isles in overtime. Why do I mention "hot"? For background. The Isles have taken apart a lot of pretty good goalies of late. They put four past the Habs' Alex Auld, seven past Buffalo's Ryan Miller, and six past the Penguins' Brent Johnson and a further three more past Marc-André Fleury when he was sent in to replace Johnson. Nine in total.

First to shut the naysayers who keep coming down on Brian Elliott. Elliott had a great game, only allowing three goals which, compared to the laundry list above, is pretty darn good. He did keep the Senators in the game long enough for Erik Karlsson to tie it up.

The game went to overtime and then to the shoot-out. And THAT's when I lost faiith. I turned the TV off (no, I wasn't at the game). I didn;t want to watch what was bound to happen next. I have no faith in the Senaotrs in the shoot-out. It turned out I was correct. I checked the PVR the next day and was oh-so-pleased to see how easily Alex Kovalev undressed the Isles' goalie. But that was it. Elliot is not great in the shoot-out, and the results were foregone.

I did like the way the Senators played... well expect maybe on the third goal where it was a little bit like the Ice Follies. but they came back. Altogether a good game from a team that has a huge "For Sale" sign on almost all of its players.

GO SENS GO!!

Alex Kovalev is still full of talent, can still make D-men and goalies look stupid, all without really trying too hard. Little wonder then that he was referred to as "l'Artiste" during his days in Montreal.



Kovie came to Ottawa two years ago, not very enthusiastically, I believe. Montréal had refused his numbers, there was an ongoing feud between Bob Gainey and him, and Kovie's family was well established in Montréal. Taking Ottawa's offer was a no-brainer: they gave him his dollars, and being a mere 200km from Montreal was an easy commute for the family, and must've really stuck in Gainey's craw.

AK-27 hasn't been a luminary i Ottawa. He's had his usual flasehs of brilliance, but not enough to keep him around. We've seen of late that Kovie still has some magic. He has 4 goals and 3 assists in his last five games, and was the architect of the wins against the Oilers that got the Sens out of their slump. It's no coincidence.

Kovalev is a talent when he puts his mind to it. And that may be of interest to teams heading to the post-season. I know it's been said elsewhere, but Kovalev is the type of talent that can match Sidney Crosby on a line. They are both inventove enough and precise enough to befuddle most defensive pairings. With Evgeni Malkin out of the season for good, there's a slot open for Kovie.

But Kovalev better wake up. This is no long-term sweet deal. Malkin has a much better work ethic, and Kovie would be nothing but a rental player. His value going forward will depend entirely if he can show what he's got deep into the playoffs. Otherwise, the mighty AK-27 may have to sell himself at a discount or head back home to the KHL to get the type of dollars he might be looking for.