Ottawa Senators - rebuilding from the ground up (NHL 12 BAGM)

[gilla]

My NHL 12 dynasty for the Ottawa Senators.
I wanted to take a rebuilding team and see what I could do to get them back into long playyoff stretches.

I'll mainly be doing weekly updates, with how the sens did the past week, what the upcoming weeks schedule looks like, as well as some important notices like transactions, milestones and injuries.

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Preseason Things of Note:

After gutting the team last season, GM Bryan Murray was fired in July after the draft. In his place the Senators have hired Drew Patronage, a former financial analyst and accountant for the Halifax Mooseheads of the CHL. He brings with him a keen interest in numbers and is looking to duplicate the "moneyball" philosophy from baseball into the NHL.

Season Outlook:
The captain is back - Daniel Alfredsson has recovered from back surgey, and although he isn't the star he used to be, his presence in the locker room will be a very valuable asset to the younger players. "Don't count out Alfie", Spezza says.
The Duel in nets - Ottawa signed Craig Anderson to a contract extension before last season finished, and looks like he will be splitting the net duties with Pascal LeClaire. Both rate out similarly and look for a 50-50 timeshare in nets until one shows the ability to take over games.
Jason Spezza? - Jason Spezza is no longer a promising prospect, the 28 year old must come through and play consistently for the team to both score goals and win games, being counted on for the majority of the scoring duties, will he be able to handle the pressure? He hasn't shown up in the past when the spotlight was on him.
Who replaces Mike Fisher? - with the bruising two way forward who anchored the 2nd line for a few seasons shipped off to Nashville. Who is going to step up this preseason to capture the spot? Zenon Konopka, Peter Regin, and Zack Smith look to be in a battle for the playing time and opportunity to be an influence in the powerplay and penalty kill.

GM Drew Patronage said to ESPN "A lot of people are picking us to finish 15th in the East. I think that we will have a competitive team, and I don't want to put a number on it, but if things fall right we can actually sneak into the playoffs. For a rebuilding year, this is as optimistic as one can be, knowing the Pittsburghs, Bostons, and Washingtons that are out there that we will be playing night in and night out."

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Ottawa Senators opening day roster:

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Depth Chart -
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	Michalek	Foligno	Butler	Greening
C	Spezza	Smith	Regin	Konokpa
RW	Alfredsson	Neil	Svatos	Shannon
D #1	Phillips	Kuba	Benoit
D #2	Gonchar	Karlsson	Lee
G	Anderson	LeClaire

Zack Smith was impressive in camp and locked up the 2nd line centre position, "He looked like a whole different player in camp," said Jason Spezza, "He put in a lot of work this summer as he knew there would be an opportunity available to him."

TSN hockey analyst Bob McKenzie commented "Overall there weren't many surprises in the Sens camp, those players that were supposed to make the team did, and none of the prospects showed enough grit to warrant being called up."

Head Coach Paul Maclean will make his pro coaching debut on Oct 7th vs his old team the Detroit Redwings, following that with a hockey night in Canada battle of the 401 with a visit to the Air Canada centre and the host Toronto Maple Leafs

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Ottawa Senators weekly recap:

The Sens start the season off going 0-1-1 in the first weekend of the season.

On Friday they opened the season against the Redwings in Detroit. In a hard fought game the Sens ultimately came up short losing 2-1. Craig Anderson was very sharp in goal and kept the away team in the game. Being named first star with 35 saves on the night. It looks like Ottawa may need performances like this in goal to have any chance this season as they had a hard time getting any scoring chances as most of the 22 shots were from behind the circle with defensemen trying to shoot through traffic. Foligno had the first goal of the game with a redirect from a Karlsson shot from the point.



"They were coming at me with everything, I had to slap a few of them in the back of the legs as they were constantly pushing me into the back of the crease. I got caught by a Zetterberg deke, but besides that I was happy with my game, and feel in great shape." Anderson said following the game.

The following night the Sens were in Toronto, in what has become quite the rivalry in recent years. Ottawa wasn't intimidated by the soldout crowd booing them whenever they controlled the puck. The Sens got two quick goals from Colin Greening and Chris Neil. With those the Sens quieted the crowd and looked to play more conservative and control the puck. The Maple Leafs slowly built the house energy back up and after an Ottawa giveaway in their own end, MacArthur fired top shelf for an easy goal on Anderson. The Leafs then scored a goal on a Connely break away to even the score with 10 minutes remaining in the 3rd period. Both teams couldn't get anything going for the remainder of regulation and in the overtime frame Phil Kessel picked a clearing pass from Gonchar and fired through traffic for the game winning crowd. It was quite the season opener for Hockey Night in Canada.
"We weren't intimidated by the crowd at all. We knew that they would be loud but we quickly jumped out ahead and shut them up. Anderson stood on his head again for us, hopefully we will be able to back him up by putting a few more goals in the net so he can work with a better cushion." Chris Neil said.

Upcoming week:
vs. Minnesota on Tuesday, vs. Colorado on Thursday, and @ Washington on Saturday.

"The Sens should be able to get some momentum going or at least build some confidence at home before they have to head to DC. Minn and Colorado are both in rebuilding mode like the Sens so we should see some exciting games. And watch out for Anderson in nets, he's playing with ice in his veins this season." CBC commentator Elliotte Friedman said following the Saturday night matchup.

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Week 2 recap:

After a disappointing first weekend to the season, Sens coach MacLean shifted focus in practice to offensive plays. Shifting a focus from setting up in the lane directly in front of the net, to working off of crosses from the boards in front to players battling in front of the net for a redirect. This philosophy worked out for him as the Senators went 3-0-0 for the week.

Michalek was left open in front, and snaps it into the top corner

Senators 3 - Wild 1
Pascal LeClaire kept the Sens in this game as the offense was smothered by the Minnesote defense only getting one shot on goal in the first period, and ended the game being outshot 30-16. The Sens made good on a couple of good chances with a Regin redirect in the 2nd period and a snapshot from Michalek to put them ahead midway through the third period. Alfredsson added an empty net goal to put the game away for good.
Coach Maclean said after the game, "I'm very impressed with Pascal (LeClaire) after his performance tonight. He single-handly kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win the game. We've changed our offensive strategy for this game and it looks to make the best of any opportunities."

Konokpa celebrates after his 2nd period goal.

Senators 7 - Avalanche 1
In a game that was 2-1 after 40 minutes, the Senators put the Avs away in the third period with 5 unanswered goals. Konokpa was named first star of the game after a 3pt performance. Gonchar added 2 pts and Zack Smith added two goals. Other goal scorers included Neil, Alfredsson, and Svatos. Craig Anderson had 20 saves on the day.
"It seemed like they lost their legs in the third period. We just kept going to the net and shooting it on goal, and we ended up getting all kinds of space out front and picked our spots without an pressure on us." Captian Daniel Alfredsson said.

Senators 4 - Capitals 1
The Senators went on the road to Washington DC, in what was another standout performance for LaClaire in nets, putting up 34 saves on the evening. The Sens look to have quite the goaltending duo in nets. The scoring opened with a Powerplay goal off a Regin redirect in the first period. Spezza tapped in a rebound in the second to put the Sens up 2-1, and from there they played a defensive game. Shannon managed to snap a rebound into a wide open net before Spezza added an empty net goal to put the game out of reach.
"I was seeing everything really well tonight", LeClaire said " The defense was keeping the sightlines clear for me, and they were all over Ovechkin and Semin not letting them get free in the slot. We've got some momentum going now and hopefully this will be the start to a good season for us."

Ottawa is ranking 22nd in the power rankings, however after the three wins, they should rise dramatically on Wednesday.
The Senators have a three game homestand next week with games against (1-2) Philly, (0-1-1) Winnipeg, and (1-2-1) Columbus.

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Week 3 recap:
The Ottawa Senators managed to extend their win streak to 5 before losing to Columbus on Saturday night. Craig Anderson has continued his stellar play and notched his first shutout of the season along the way. Coach Paul MacLean has confirmed his belief in Anderson and named him the #1 goaltender going forward.


Anderson managed 21 saves for his first shutout of the 2011-2012 season.
Senators 1 - Flyers 0
Craig Anderson had 21 saves, while Peter Regin managed to score the only goal of the game in a slick wraparound move to slide the puck underneath Bryzgalovs pads. Bryzgalov had 24 saves in the loss.
"We had a few good chances tonight but Bryzgalov stood on his head and didn't let anything past him," Jason Spezza commented "Lucky for us Craig (Anderson) was even stronger and didn't let anything slip past the crease. We owe this win to him."

Senators 3 - Jets 1
In what looks like Sergai Gonchars coming out party for the season, he put together a slick broken stick goal in the 2nd to go along with 2 assists to be named first star of the game. Those 2 assists happened to both be passes to Peter Regin who upped his season goal total to 5 through 7 games. Pascal Leclaire got the call in nets and managed to stop 34 shots, as the Sens were outshot 35-22.
In the post game press conference coach Paul MacLean named Anderson the #1 goalie for the time being, to help the players better prepare and manage more time stopping the first lines chances in practice.

Blue Jackets 3 - Senators 1
Milan Michalek managed the only Ottawa goal as the Columbus defense didnèt allow the Sens to get any open space and when the Sens did manage to get free they were facing a brickwall in Steve Mason in nets who stopped 34 shots for the win. Rick Nash put in the winning goal while rising his goal total to third overall in the NHL with 6 goals thru 8 games.

Prospect Watch:
LW Nikita Filatov has managed 10 assists through 6 games for the Binghamton Senators in the AHL. He is in place to be the first call up of the season if an injury occurs in the majors.
C Corey Locke has scored 5 goals in 6 games, while also adding 2 assists. His speed and puck handling ability have been put to use by skating around defenses every game and have proven a much needed sparkplug to his AHL team when theyève needed it.

The last week of October see the Senators traveling to Carolina on Tuesday to face the 4-2-1 Hurricanes, then welcoming the 1-4-1 Florida Panthers before heading to the big apple for a Saturday night matchup with the 2-2-1 New York Rangers and their star studded lineup.

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Great work here - keep it going.

[gilla]

Week 4 recap:


Head Coach Paul MacLean pauses before answering a question at a press conference after a tough week.

Senators 2 - Hurricanes 3 (OT)
This game looked like it was the Sens game to lose after scoring 2 first period goals to go up 2-0 after 20 minutes. Regin scored on a redirect in front of the net, while Svatos stole the puck in front of the net and lifted one over the goalies shoulder into the top corner. However, the Sens couldn't keep that momentum as the Canes slowly climbed back into, as the home crowd lifted their spirits. The Canes managed to tie the game with 5 minutes remaining in regulation and forced the game into overtime. In overtime Eric Staal intercepted a pass at the blue line and out deked Anderson for the game winning goal. The Sens should be happy going back to Ottawa with 1 point after the terrible play down the stretch.

Senators 1 - Panthers 3
The Sens welcomed Florida into the capital region however, they couldn't handle the pressure that the Panthers applied on both the forecheck and in front of the net, which allowed them to jump out to an early lead, as Theodore made some Vintage saves that reminded the crowd what he used to do while playing an hour up the highway in Montreal. Theodore ended the game with 26 saves. The lone bright spot for Ottawa was that RW Bobby Butler managed his first goal of the season, after looking impressive in the preseason.

Senators 0 - Rangers 4
MArion Gaborik was unstoppable as he scored the hat trick on 3 shots to put the Rangers up 3-0 after the 1st period. The Sens were playing sloppy and were called for 5 penatlies in the opening frame, allowing the Rangers to get a 22-7 shots on goal advantage after 20 minutes.
Coach MacLean said following the game, "This was a terrible game. I hope the cameras didn't focus on me very much as it wouldn't have been difficult to read my lips throughout the game. My mother definately didn't teach me those words and I wouldn't be surprised if a few of the foreign guys on the team learned a new word or two today."

The Senators record currently sits at 5-4-2 and they are sitting in 5th place in the Eastern conference with 12 points. The upcoming 4 game week is crucial for them to get back of track with 4 division games. First game is Sunday welcoming the MAple Leafs into town for a matinee game. Tuesday sees the Sens venture to Boston to take on the reigning Stanley Cup champions, Friday the Canadiens travel down the trans-canada highway to Ottawa and Saturday the Sens welcome the 2nd place Buffalo Sabres into town in what could be a great goaltending duel between Ryan Miller and Craig Anderson.