The
goaltending situation will see a battle between prospect Robin
Lehner and Ben
Bishop for the backup position behind Craig
Anderson, who was an absolute workhorse last season until he
injured his hand in a domestic mishap on Feb 22. At that point,
Anderson had appeared in 54 of Ottawa's 62 games played, and he
played in seven of the team's final eight games to end the season.
Murray doesn't rule out the possibility of Anderson taking on a
similar workload this season, but he hopes one of Lehner or Bishop
can compete for ice time after the departure of last season's backup,
Alex Auld.
"[Anderson] seems to like that," Murray said, "but we
do have two guys who are ready to play."
The
Senators had fewer problems offensively last season, finishing fourth
in the League with 2.96 goals per game and 11th on the power play at
18.2 percent, but there will be some changes among the forwards as
well. To replace Foligno's 15 goals and 47 points, Murray took a
chance on Guillaume
Latendresse with a one-year, $1.2 million contract. He is hoping
that Latendresse is not only fully recovered from the concussion
issues that plagued him in his time with the Minnesota Wild, but also
that he can use his 6-foot-2, 230-pound frame to create space on a
line that will most likely include Kyle
Turris and captain Daniel
Alfredsson by providing a strong net presence. "He's a big
body who can go to the net," Murray said. "The one thing
we've been talking to him about is his foot speed and making sure he
can keep up with those guys." There will also be an opportunity,
Murray says, for one of Ottawa's trio of promising young forwards –
Mika
Zibanejad, Jakob
Silfverberg and Mark
Stone – to grab a top-line forward spot alongside Jason
Spezza and Milan
Michalek, a job held last season by Colin
Greening. All three rookies are right-handed shots and could
slide into the right wing spot on that line – allowing Michalek to
move back to his natural left wing spot – while Greening shoots
from the left side. "But we're not promising anything,"
Murray points out, noting that Greening could very well beat out the
rookies and hold onto his spot in training camp.
Additions: D Marc Methot, LW Guillame Latendresse, D Mike Lundin
Subtractions: D Filip Kuba, LW Nick Foligno, D Matt Carkner, C Zenon Konopka, LW Rob Klinkhammer
UFAs: C Jesse Winchester, G Alex Auld, D Matt Gilroy
Promotion candidates: C Mika Zibanejad, G Robin Lehner, G Ben Bishop, RW Jakob Silfverberg, C Mike Hoffman, D Mark Borowiecki
Additions: D Marc Methot, LW Guillame Latendresse, D Mike Lundin
Subtractions: D Filip Kuba, LW Nick Foligno, D Matt Carkner, C Zenon Konopka, LW Rob Klinkhammer
UFAs: C Jesse Winchester, G Alex Auld, D Matt Gilroy
Promotion candidates: C Mika Zibanejad, G Robin Lehner, G Ben Bishop, RW Jakob Silfverberg, C Mike Hoffman, D Mark Borowiecki
Regardless
of how things play out among the forwards, the key cog in the
Senators offensive engine remains Karlsson. At the young age of 22,
Karlsson set the bar extremely high for himself with a historic
78-point season, but Murray still sees lots of room for improvement
in his young defenseman. A mirror image of his team, Karlsson's
season was one filled with ups and downs. A perfect example was an
11-game stretch from Jan. 16-Feb. 9 when Karlsson managed two goals
and two assists, but he followed that with a torrid eight-game point
streak when he compiled seven goals and 11 assists. Not surprisingly,
Ottawa's record during Karlsson's 11-game dry spell was 3-7-1, and
its record in the following eight games was 6-1-1. Murray expects
Karlsson's maturation process will help improve not only his game in
his own end, but also his consistency and his ability to make
adjustments to other teams targeting him the way the Rangers did in
the playoffs by getting his teammates more involved. "I think
that's where he'll get better," Murray said. "I think he
understands that it doesn't have to be about him, that it's about the
group. "And if Karlsson does in fact improve on his prolific
Norris Trophy season, the Senators as a group can expect to improve
along with him.
The
Ottawa Senators
enter this season as an incumbent playoff team after having
fast-tracked a turnaround from a 13th-place finish in the Eastern
Conference in 2010-11 to nab the eighth spot in the East last
spring. But unexpected performances can sometimes lead to
unreasonably heightened expectations, and they also mean the
Senators will not be sneaking up on any opponents this season. Practically
the entire Senators season was driven by streaks right up to the
Stanley Cup Playoffs, when they dropped two of the first three
games in the first round against the New
York Rangers after finishing the regular season with three
straight losses. Overall the Senators' season, in chronological
order, went like this: a 1-5-0 start, a six-game winning streak, a
five-game losing streak (0-4-1), five wins in seven games (5-1-1),
six losses in eight games (2-4-2), a 13-2-2 stretch, seven
straight losses (0-6-1), nine wins in 13 games (9-3-1), five
losses in six games (1-3-2), four straight wins, and finally three
straight losses. If the season were mapped out on a line graph, it
would look like the Rocky Mountains. General manager Bryan Murray
would like to see his club avoid a similarly hot and cold path
this season, and he thinks increased maturity from his young
players can help in that regard. "I felt there were a couple
of games and a couple of losing streaks where, if we were a little
more poised, we could have got ourselves out of it," Murray
told NHL.com. "But the opposite was true as well; when we got
on a winning streak, we'd get so emotionally wrapped up in it that
it would carry us. "But we're going to have to adapt a little
quicker and be a little more demanding to avoid those swoons this
season." If the Senators are able to come out of their losing
spells quicker and maintain the emotional highs of their winning
streaks as well as last season, a climb up the standings is
definitely possible.
The
improvement Karlsson showed in just his third NHL season was
simply staggering. His 78 points led all NHL defensemen in
scoring, putting him 25 points ahead of the second-place finisher,
Brian
Campbell of the Florida
Panthers. It was the biggest gap between the top two scorers
on defense since 1989, when Pittsburgh's Paul
Coffey was 38 points better than his closest counterpart.
Karlsson also improved from a minus-30 rating in 2010-11 to
plus-16, and he capped it all by winning the Norris Trophy as the
League's best defenseman just a few weeks after his 22nd birthday.
In just his third season, Erik Karlsson exploded for 78 points, a
total 25 points higher than the second-highest scoring defenseman,
Brian Campbell. So, can Karlsson continue growing this season? "I
think he'll get better," Murray said. "No, I know he'll
get better." While that may be a frightening thought for the
rest of the NHL, one look at Karlsson's performance in the
playoffs shows where there may be room for improvement. The
Rangers decided to target Karlsson physically at every
opportunity, finishing every check and sending a forward to slow
him down as soon as he got the puck. On the power play, Karlsson
was closely shadowed and had a man in his face on the point at all
times, forcing him to get rid of the puck. The result was he
scored just one goal in the seven-game series. Karlsson will
likely see similar tactics deployed against him throughout the
regular season from now on, but Murray feels the strides he made
last season in terms of maturity will allow Karlsson to make
adjustments and create opportunities for teammates when he is
being checked so closely. "The good thing about Erik is he
had some cockiness about him when we drafted him, but he's grown
so much in the last year-and-a-half," Murray said. "He's
a man now."
Ottawa
finished 24th in the NHL in goals against per game (2.88), 29th in
shots against per game (32) and 20th on the penalty kill (81.6
percent) last season, but Murray worked in the offseason to help
remedy that problem. When Karlsson's defense partner Filip
Kuba accepted a two-year, $8 million contract from the Florida
Panthers, a dollar figure Murray says he was unable to match,
he traded restricted free agent forward Nick
Foligno to the Columbus
Blue Jackets for rugged Marc
Methot, an Ottawa native who gave new meaning to the term
"stay-at-home defenseman." "Methot will certainly
bring us a different dimension than Kuba," Murray said,
noting Methot is more of a physical presence while Kuba is more of
an offensive player. "I think we filled that spot pretty
well." Murray also signed Mike
Lundin to a one-year, $1.15 million contract to fill out his
top-six and replace departed free agents Matt
Carkner and Matt
Gilroy. But perhaps the most significant change on defense
will come from someone in house. Jared
Cowen will be entering his second full season in the NHL and,
at age 21, big things are expected out of the No. 9 pick in the
2009 draft. "I think as he gets older, he'll be one of the
good shutdown defensemen in the League," Murray said.
"Towards the end of the season, he was as good as any
defenseman on our club." Murray says prospects Mark
Borowieczki and Patrick
Wiercioch, two standouts in the American Hockey League with
Binghamton last season, will battle for the seventh defenseman's
spot in training camp, giving the Senators "depth that we
didn't have before." As strong as the Senators were
offensively last season, Murray knows that's not enough to achieve
the team's ultimate goal of winning a Stanley Cup. "We can't
count on being fourth or fifth in the League in goals [Ottawa was
fourth last season with 2.96 goals per game], but I know we have
the ability to improve defensively," Murray said. "I'm
all for scoring goals. But to be a champion, we need to improve
defensively."
The
Senators promoted a number of their players from the Binghamton
team that won the Calder Cup in 2011 to begin last season in
Ottawa, a group that included Cowen, Colin
Greening, Jim
O'Brien, Kaspars
Daugavins, Erik
Condra, Bobby
Butler and Zack
Smith. Once again this season there will be three high-end
forward prospects who will be battling for spots on the club. Mika
Zibanejad, the No. 6 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft, received a
nine-game audition last fall before being sent back to Djurgardens
of the Swedish Elite League. While there he scored 13 points in 26
games, but he also scored the gold medal-winning goal for Team
Sweden at the 2012 World Junior Championship. He will be competing
with fellow countryman Jakob
Silfverberg, a second-round pick in 2009, and 2010 sixth-round
pick Mark
Stone for a potential spot on Ottawa's top line with Jason
Spezza and Milan
Michalek. Both Silfverberg and Stone saw action in the Stanley
Cup Playoffs, suggesting they may possibly have a leg up on
Zibanejad in training camp. But there is little doubt among the
Senators' brass that all three are ready for a legitimate shot at
prime time. "Up front, we have guys that we strongly believe
will be top-six contributors on our team," Senators director
of player personnel Pierre Dorion told NHL.com. And there is no
rule stating that a high-end scoring prospect needs to play on the
top two lines in order to stay in Ottawa, as long as head coach
Paul
MacLean gives the kids a chance to see the ice regularly. "My
thing with coaches is that if you have a young guy, then he has to
play," Murray said, "and Paul's been great with that."
Addressing
one of the team's biggest needs forced Murray to trade away one of
his most promising players when he sent Foligno to the Blue
Jackets in exchange for Methot. To help replace Foligno's 47
points, Murray took a chance on the oft-injured Guillaume
Latendresse with a one-year, bonus-laden contract with a base
salary of $1.15 million. Latendresse, 25, showed what kind of
offensive potential he had as soon as he was traded from his
hometown Montreal
Canadiens to the Minnesota
Wild on Nov. 23, 2009, scoring 25 goals in 55 games with the
Wild the remainder of that season. But that marked the start of a
horrible run of injuries that included a groin issue that cost him
58 games, a hip injury that sidelined him for another 14 games,
and finally concussion-related problems that kept him out of all
but 16 games last season. Latendresse received a clean bill of
health prior to signing with Ottawa, and he hopes he can put his
medical problems behind him for good. "I'm really 100 percent
now," Latendresse told reporters after signing on July 1. "I
think if I can be the player I was when I first came to Minnesota,
I think I can bring a lot to this team. I think everyone's pretty
excited right now." Murray said Latendresse is likely to
start the season alongside Kyle
Turris and Daniel
Alfredsson on Ottawa's second line, meaning he should get an
opportunity to produce.
The
Senators have two high-end goaltending prospects in Robin
Lehner and Ben
Bishop who will be battling in training camp for the right to
back up starter Craig
Anderson. Bishop, 25, likely has the inside track on the job
after his performance last season helped keep the Senators in the
playoff hunt when Anderson was injured Feb. 22 with a lacerated
tendon in his hand. Acquired four days after Anderson's injury,
Bishop played in 10 games with the Senators and had a 3-3-2 record
with a 2.48 goals against average and .909 save percentage. Lehner
turned 21 on July 24, and in his five NHL games last season he
went 3-2-0 with a sparkling 2.01 goals against average and .935
save percentage. With Bishop standing tall at 6-foot-7 and Lehner
not far behind at 6-3, the Senators are at least assured of having
a big backup behind Anderson, who is the shortest of the three at
6-2. "We like both of them," Murray said. "They're
both big, strong goaltenders who can stop the puck." When
healthy, Anderson appeared in 61 of Ottawa's 70 games, but that
number should be reduced with a promising, young goaltender behind
him instead of journeyman Alex
Auld.
The
Ottawa Senators
began last season with a gaping hole at center behind No. 1 pivot
Jason Spezza,
one that general manager Bryan Murray takes all the blame for. "It
was a hole I created myself when I traded Mike
Fisher," Murray says. Of course, Murray's trade of Mike
Fisher to the Nashville
Predators for a first-round pick in the 2011 Draft (Stefan
Noesen) and what became a third-round pick in 2012 (Jarrod
Maidens) was born out of necessity, because the Senators were in
the midst of a disastrous 2010-11 season at the time. Still, Murray
didn't do such a bad job filling that hole he "created"
when he traded Fisher away. On Dec. 17, 2011, Murray packaged
promising defenseman David
Rundblad and a second-round draft pick to acquire Kyle
Turris from the Phoenix
Coyotes after his relationship with the club that selected him
with the No. 3 pick at the 2007 draft grew sour. While Turris, 23,
was painted as a bit of a troublemaker for orchestrating his trade
out of Phoenix, Murray couldn't be happier with his acquisition
today. "He's a terrific kid," Murray told NHL.com, minutes
after Turris left his office for an offseason chat. "He's been
here just about every day working out; he's up to about 198 pounds
now. He looks like he's really matured into a man."
The
Senators will need Turris to play like a man if they hope to improve
on last season's eighth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. In
186 NHL games, Turris has scored 34 goals to go with 41 assists, but
in just half a season in Ottawa he's already shown evidence that his
best is on the verge of coming. Turris scored 12 goals and 29 points
in 49 games with the Senators last season, a point-per-game average
of 0.59 that was nearly double the 0.33 he posted in the first 137
games of his career with the Coyotes. Even though Turris got an
assist in each of his first three games with the Senators, Murray
estimates it took him 15 games or so to fully adjust to his new team.
Turris developed some chemistry playing alongside team captain Daniel
Alfredsson on Ottawa's second line, and that relationship will be
given an opportunity to grow further this season. "I think he's
going to make big strides this season," Murray said of Turris.
"He's comfortable with his surroundings now, and playing with
Alfie certainly doesn't hurt." If Turris can blossom into the
player the Coyotes thought they were drafting in 2007, the Senators
will have another weapon to add to their offensive arsenal that
already includes Spezza, Alfredsson, Erik
Karlsson, Milan
Michalek and newly acquired Guillaume
Latendresse. And Murray could then safely say he filled the hole
he created on his club.
If
the Florida
Panthers weren't the most surprising team in the NHL last season,
then it was certainly the Ottawa
Senators, a club that was supposed to be rebuilding and expected
to languish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
Instead, the Senators ended up in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and they
pushed the top-seeded New
York Rangers to seven games in the first round. The majority of
the key figures are back, and more help from the farm system could be
on the way. Ottawa replaced top-pairing defenseman Filip
Kuba with Marc
Methot. After dealing top-six forward Nick
Foligno to get Methot, he was replaced by Guillaume Latendresse
on a one-year deal. Defenseman Matt
Carkner signed a three-year contract with the New York Islanders,
and Mike
Lundin was acquired to replace him on a more team-friendly deal.
The remaining position battles in training camp will depend on the
readiness of a few top prospects. Like the Panthers, the Senators
will have to prove their work last season was not that of a one-hit
wonder, but contributions from new young players and improvements
from the established young guys could help Ottawa challenge the
Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres for the top spot in the Northeast
Division.
Forwards
Milan
Michalek - Jason
Spezza - Jakob
Silfverberg
Guillaume
Latendresse - Kyle
Turris - Daniel
Alfredsson
Colin
Greening - Jim
O'Brien - Mika
Zibanejad
Erik
Condra - Zack
Smith - Chris
Neil
Peter
Regin
Defenseman
Marc
Methot - Erik
Karlsson
Sergei
Gonchar - Jared
Cowen
Mike
Lundin - Chris
Phillips
Mark
Borowiecki
Goaltenders
Craig
Anderson
Ben
Bishop
NOTES:
Murray
told NHL.com that Silfverberg, Zibanejad and Mark
Stone could all compete for a chance to knock Greening from a
spot on the top line and back to a more natural fit on the third
unit. It looks like there are two spots at most open for those three,
so Stone could end up back in Binghamton to start the year. Neil had
his best offensive season in years, but the new guys could force him
and Smith into smaller roles, Smith would do well to improve his
faceoff percentage if he wants to not be in danger of being scratched
some nights. If those kids are ready, it does start to get crowded at
the bottom of the Senators' forward group. Regin and Condra have been
regulars, and Kaspars
Daugavins was last season. That's 15 guys, without counting Mike
Hoffman or Stephane
Da Costa, who could also be in the mix with a strong camp. If
Methot slides into Kuba's spot, the Senators' defense corps is set,
with Borowiecki and Patrick
Wiercioch likely to battle for the final spot on the roster. A
more interesting duel will be between Bishop and Robin
Lehner to backup Anderson. Both could see starts in the NHL this
season.
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