Time for a little bit of "I Told You So"....Last year, when I was hosting Sunday Best with Angry Al, I took a lot of flack for even suggesting that this team may be a bubble team that has to work for a playoff spot....everyone else had them pencilled in the 4th-6th position...but no one could have predicted that they would drop all the way to 11th...
This year, I look at this team and I get the same sense, but I'm pretty confident in saying that a lot more people are on board with me this time around....after such a poor season a year go, expectations are lower, but there is still excitment with the additions of Michalek, Cheechoo, Kovalev and Leclaire and the depature of Dany Heatley....
The biggest thing I like about this team is the fact that they have more depth at the forward position....they can field two solid lines now with their Top 6 including Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Alex Kovalev, Milan Michalek, Johnathan Cheechoo and Mike Fisher....an injury to a big name Senator won't hurt so much as it would have last year....
But two names on this list worry me....Of course, there are worries about whether Johnathan Cheechoo can ever find the touch that allowed him to score 56 times back in 2005-2006 and Alex Kovalev also worries me....if he's known as a player that plays lights-out one night and floats around the next, why would his pattern change because he's coming to Ottawa?
Another thing that Bryan Murray was able to address was his goaltending as he brought in Pascal Leclaire in the trade for Antoine Vermette with Columbus towards the end of last season....He has the potential to finally take the number one spot that no one has been able to do in the history of the franchise, as long as he can stay healthy...
However, the achilles heel of this team is going to be their defence....Don't get me wrong, I love the Chris Phillips/Anton Volchenkov pairing as both guys can be shutdown guys in their own seperate ways, but they can only be on the ice for so long....it's the other 4 d-men that have me worried for this team's chances...
I just shake my head when I see the other pairings: Kuba-Karlsson/Picard and Campoli/Carkner....It's so frustrating to watch Kuba play 'cause he has size at 6-3 and 205 pounds, but he never uses it! Chris Campoli plays more like a d-man who would rather be a forward....his love for pushing forward always put his team in jeopardy for giving up a goal....
As much as Karlsson is going to eventually progress, I think if he's thrown into tough situations early on, he's gonna be exposed because of his lack of size and his inexperience....Some people have suggested that he might have a bit of an ego problem....well, a couple of good lessons from NHL-calibre forwards should fix his ego as he starts riding the bus in Bingo...
I think Matt Carkner is going to be in tough as well....it would be one thing to be paired up with a steady defencemen that can help you to look better, but with Campoli being so irresponsible defensively, there's no doubt that Carkner is going to be put into situations that will make him look bad....
Alright, time for a solid prediction.....god, it's one of those coin-flip situations....Like I said, I think they're gonna be a bubble team, but will they be in or not? Alright, I'm getting the coin out....heads: they make it in with the 8 spot, tails: they're out in 9th....the coin is flipped and it's HEADS! They make it in with the 8th spot....enjoy the game tonight!