SENSitive Situation

Not so long ago, I got Ballzov all riled up about his beloved Sens when I dared insinuate that they were not quite ready for prime time. Essentially, he told me to take a pill and relax. This was, after all, only a few days into the season. They will right the ship.

I hope that they do, but I did see a few things today that made me think that it may take more time than anticipated (apart from their fourth consecutive loss at home this season).

First, the boys at the Battle of Alberta, who regularly come up with great stats, gave us this little gem: “there's a team with a negative goal differential on the powerplay, and it's the Ottawa Senators (1 PP GF, 2 SH GA)”. This is a sad stat, especially when you consider the firepower they have up front.

The second thing that caught my eye was the piece by Bob McKenzie on tsn.ca. Good ‘ole “Chins”, as Shaky likes to refer to him, gives us the lowdown on Jason Spezza health. Apparently, although he had surgery in the summer, Spezza back is still bothering him. Conclusions have yet to be drawn, but bad news could have serious long term repercussions on the Sens’ offence.

Finally, what most sportswriters have been focusing on is the offensive explosion of former Senator Martin Havlat, who has been simply on fire since the start of the season. Havlat has more goals and points to himself than Ottawa’s entire first line of Spezza, Heatly and Alfredson. With the Sens’ offence sputtering, some Sens fans may be wondering why he was let go. In my opinion, that kind of comparison is a little cheap. Most GM’s would have dealt Havlat in a similar situation and I surely would have as well. Nobody could have predicted that Ottawa’s stars would start the year so slowly.

Just so you know, Ballzov, I’m not panicking…yet (the pills are still working).