Posted by A little over a quarter way into the season and the Senators are 4 games above five hundred.
Not bad, considering your best centreman is going through one of the biggest slumps of his young career, and you’re supposed starting goaltender is down with yet another injury (as freakish as it was).
The Senators have shown flashes of excellence in the offensive zone one night, and been completely ineffective the next.
The D-core has shown that at times it can play with some of the best forwards in the NHL, and then gone out other times and played poorly, making suicidal moves with the puck in their own end
Milan Michalek, has been one of the bright spots leading the team with 15 goals, and playing like he is ready to break-out as a top winger in the league, as he showed Mr. Heatley and the Sharks organization in a 5-2 loss Tuesday night.
Milan Michalek has shown that he is ready to break out and become one of the better scoring wingers in the NHL. (Photo by sophnsoph9).
And finally, the ever-consistent Daniel Alfredsson has been his usual self putting up points, and being a difference on the ice every game in some way. He currently finds himself among the top 30 in scoring and is easily the oldest on that list at 36. Most on that list are below 30, showing that even as age begins to set in for the Senator’s captain, he can still keep up with the best.
A major problem for the Senators this year is that they have not been able to find their own identity. The days of having Havlat, Hossa, Chara, and Heatley on your team are long gone, and goals will not come as easily as they used to in the nation’s capital.
They still have forwards who can score, and Mike Fisher has been a big part of that scoring 12 goals thus far into a great rebound season. Fisher is just one goal away from tying his total from last year.
They also still have their shutdown duo of Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov, who have showed more often than not that they can compete against the best forwards on the other team.
The goaltending of Leclaire was solid enough to push them into a playoff spot, but they must rely on the young Brian Elliot to carry them forward. Elliot coming off a great first campaign (16-8, 2.77 gaa), has proven that he can be a solid number 2 guy on any team, but the time is now to show this organization what he`s really got. With not so many big names on the blueline and Picard possibly on the shelf, Elliot will have to step his game up if the Sens are to finish off a poor road trip (0-3) on a positive note.
Brian Elliot will have to step up in Leclaire's absence and prove to the organization that he is more than a #2 goaltender (photo by JD5ive).
As the trip continues the Senators must try to establish what kind of team they are going to be going forward during the month of December. By around this time, team’s should begin to understand what kind of team they’re going to be, playoff, bubble, or rebuild. Unfortunately for the Sens they aren’t quite sure right now. Luckily for them, time is still on their side as they have a good 3/4 of the season to go and are currently occupying the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference.
However, the season has a bad habit of getting away from teams as time goes on. The Senators much patch things up on this road trip and identify what team they are going to be going forward.
If they are unable to do so, this road trip may turn into a nightmare that costs them dearly in the end.
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