12/21/24
February 26, 2003
Senators Rattling the East with a Sabre!: Will this be enough to end the brand of regular season champs/post season chumps? They've been consistently at the top of the Conference for years now, only to fold like the toga-clad hob-nobbers their name suggests when it comes to a 7-gm series. I for one think its a step in the right direction, but far enough, I'm not sure. It may help them get past teams they would've beat anyway, but the Devils and Leafs will still come out on top if this is all the Sens do. I'm only noting definite playoff bound teams.....
I think the Senators can be dangerous this year...if they don't play the Leafs in the playoffs, that is. 3 in a row and counting!
posted by grum@work at 06:20 PM on February 26, 2003
Make no mistake. The "extra cash" for Varada's salary will almost certainly mean someone is getting dumped. Probably Magnus Arvedson to the Rangers for a draft pick, something like that. Remember Spezza? He'll be up before the end of the year. I like this trade, and if they put Varada on the Bonk-Hossa line we might see offensive talents come to fruition. Also, I see no reason why the Sens can't beat any team in the league in a playoff series, as long as they don't beat themselves first (see: last four years). Varada adds an element of ruthlessness that they've never had before. And: the Sens will beat the Leafs this year in 5 games.
posted by Succa at 06:36 PM on February 26, 2003
I hear ya grum! They can beat anyone but the Leafs. And the 'beat themselves' theory is bunk, as the other team is somewhat involved in the outcome. Like the Habs taking the B's last year. Better on paper sure, but its a little something called strategy. I liken it to guerilla offense: counterstrike. Anyway, the Sens are extremely dangerous to anyone they play, but smart money will always be with the Leafs.
posted by garfield at 07:50 AM on February 27, 2003
I suspect I'm arguing with Leaf fans here, and am thus tilting at windmills, but how the Sens loss to the Leafs this past year was anything other than a choke-job is beyond me. Judging by the Sens regular season record against the Leafs, how are they not beating themselves come playoff time?
posted by Succa at 09:08 AM on February 27, 2003
good suspicion. and lets try the past 3 years. and how many sweeps did the Leafs have?
posted by garfield at 02:53 PM on February 27, 2003
and how many sweeps did the Leafs have? One, following a season where they lost every game to the Sens, including a game two weeks before the playoffs where the Sens only dressed 13 players. I fail to see your point. They flat-out didn't show up for that series. Doesn't that kind of reinforce what I was saying?
posted by Succa at 05:17 PM on February 27, 2003
If the Leafs had beaten them only once in the playoffs, I might buy the "Senators beat themselves" thing. Twice makes it seem a bit fishy. Three times, and you're really just being silly. That's just blind faith in your own team to ignore three in a row. As a Leaf fan, I know that the Devils were the better team when they beat the Leafs those times in the playoffs. And I was even able to grasp that the Hurricanes had a better balanced squad last year. Sometimes a team does beat itself (Detroit vs San Jose, lo those many years ago), but it shouldn't be the mantra of a team every year. What will you say if the Leafs beat them a fourth time this year, even though Ottawa might finish with the best record in the Eastern conference?
posted by grum@work at 08:30 PM on February 27, 2003
The first Sens/Leafs meeting, okay. The Leafs were the better team that year. But come on, you can't argue with the facts. Head-to-head in the regular season, Sens-Leafs games have been ridiculously one-sided over the years. The Sens' stats have been, for the most part, better than the Leafs' (conference rank, goals for, goals against) in recent years. But the Sens have big problems showing up in the playoffs against the Leafs. The whole hockey world knows this. There isn't an expert in hockey that picked the Leafs over the Sens this past year. Ottawa handed Philly -- a well-established Eastern powerhouse -- their asses and then choked like a dog on a rawhide bone against a hopelessly depleted Leafs squad. That's right, it was an upset. The previous year was even worse. A sweep, against a team you went 4-0-0-0 against in the regular season? Maybe we just see things differently, but to me there is no possible justification that doesn't sound like choking. Gagging hard. Self-deepthroating. Whatever. Not to say that certain Leafs didn't play well throughout these serieses. CuJo is a thorn in many a Sens fans' side, and Roberts and Yushkevich are names not to be uttered around Bytown. But I don't buy that the Leafs have been a stronger team each time they've beaten the Sens, and aren't many hockey experts outside of the Toronto Sun that disagree with me. (We're really just arguing over minutea here, and I don't really care one way or the other. It's just that I live in Toronto and have heard my share of the tired Leaf cliches trundled out every day in the paper, you know, "grit", "heart", "Canadian-style hockey" (it's amazing how these terms seem to apply only to Leaf players), and I think it's all a load of bunk. Aside from a few Leaf notables the team hasn't done all that much to impress me. Also, you really thought Carolina was a better team than Toronto last year? I hate the Leafs, but come on...I'd take a healthy Leaf team over the Canes any day of the month.)
posted by Succa at 07:55 AM on February 28, 2003
There is no arguing the Sens regular season dominance over the Leafs. And to be honest, the Sens have a superior coach, at least with xs and os. But if all that practice of the regular season does mean something, what happened? You call it choking. I would call it being outplayed. One game you can choke. A series, thats an amazing feat. And another thing, how can three upsets in a row be called upsets? I'd say the Leafs are on to something, wouldn't you?
posted by garfield at 08:45 AM on February 28, 2003
One game you can choke. A series, thats an amazing feat. How so? It happens all the time. I didn't know there were constraints on choking. You've never seen a team flat-out blow a series? Remember when the Sens had a 3-2 series lead, and a 2-0 lead in game 6? They went on to lose the series without even a whimper...hell, they got shut out in the last game, and had maybe 2 scoring chances the entire 60 minutes. That's a sign of poor mental toughness to me. What about Vancouver last year versus the Wings? After the centre-ice goal on Cloutier, the Canucks pretty much packed up and went home. They simply weren't in it after that. There are much more glorious examples of choking...I'm thinking of the team that blew a 3-0 series lead way back when...was it Pittsburgh?. Don't remember. And another thing, how can three upsets in a row be called upsets? Two, not three. In the first meeting the better team won, no question about it (see first line of previous post). This is sort of a pointless discussion. I'm a Sens fan, you're Leaf fans, and that right there should guarantee that we'll never agree on a damn thing. I stand by my claim that the Leafs faced a team that basically rolled over and died.
posted by Succa at 02:24 PM on February 28, 2003
Both your teams suck. Go Isles! :D I don't pay close attention to the Sens but I can't for the life of me figure out how they're so good. Must just be that they get no real coverage or televised games. Looks like those two teams could very well meet in the 2nd round again...
posted by Bernreuther at 02:16 AM on March 01, 2003
Varada's a decent guy to have on your team, but he's not Satan (I mean the hockey player, of course) or anything. I don't think he's going to make a big difference to the Senators. It's interesting that the Sens have the extra cash to pick up Varada's salary. Ottawa has been really good in the regular season and really bad in the playoffs for a while now. The Flyers are the same way. Every year, Sens fans and Flyers fans get excited about the playoffs, proclaiming "this is the year, baby!" Every year, it turns out that it's not. Sooner or later one of these teams is going to win, but I'm pretty much desensitized to the hype by now. I'll believe it when I see it.