Filatov Is Back... Again

Nikita Filatov, the enigmatic Russian winger, is back up with the Ottawa Senators again. He's playing on the second line tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Here are some encouraging comments from GM Bryan Murray on the situation, indicating that Filatov, whose time may be running out to make a mark in the NHL, will actually get some ice time during this stint with the Sens:
http://video.senators.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=138122

All-Star Voting

Looks like members of the Ottawa Senators are doing well so far in the fan selection process for the 2012 All-Star Game's starting line-up.

The highly skilled Erik Karlsson, who I wrote about recently, leads all players in votes with 147,468. The second-highest vote total for a defenceman is 110,098 (Zdeno Chara). Fellow Senator Sergei Gonchar is seventh in votes among defencemen, with 89,561.

Legendary Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson leads all forwards in votes with 131,774. Jason Spezza (117,899) and Milan Michalek (108,247) are third and fourth, respectively, among forwards.

My prediction for the starting line-up? Alfredsson, Sidney Crosby, and Phil Kessel up front; Karlsson and Zdeno Chara on defence; and Tim Thomas in net.

Remember: vote Alfie!

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=602746
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=602740

Struggling Sophomores

The term “sophomore slump” is used to describe second-year NHLers struggling to replicate the magic they displayed during their rookie seasons.

Not all players flounder during their second seasons, though. Some continue the pace they established when they were rookies, and others take colossal steps forward – forward Tyler Seguin is already just one point shy of his 22-point total in 74 games last season, and defenceman Nick Leddy has already more than doubled his output from last year in less than half the games.

This list is for struggling sophs, though. Here are four:

Tyler Ennis

After a very successful rookie season during which the 5’9” forward showcased his skill and posted 49 points in 82 games, Ennis has run into some bad luck this season. After going without a point in his first seven games this year, Ennis was sidelined with an ankle injury and hasn’t played a game since.

Ennis faces some tough competition for ice time this season; the Buffalo Sabres added offensive forward Ville Leino over the off-season, and rookie Luke Adam is off to a hot start. Indeed, Ennis has averaged about three fewer minutes of ice time per game this year than he did last. He’s too talented to be kept off the score sheet for long, though.

Mark Letestu

Letestu was a pleasant surprise for the Pittsburgh Penguins last season. An undrafted forward, he scored 14 goals and 27 points in 64 games and helped the Penguins accumulate 106 points despite missing each of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal for about half of the season.

This season didn’t start off too well, though. Letestu managed just one assist and a –6 rating in 11 games before he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The staggering Jackets might not seem like the best team with which to improve one’s stats, but the 26-year-old scored two goals in his first three games with Columbus and has averaged over 16 minutes of ice time per game.

Magnus Paajarvi

Stuck in the shadows of highly talented youngsters Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Paajarvi’s ice time has steadily decreased from the start of this season, bringing his average down to 12:34 per game – compared to 15:23 last year.

He wasn’t a high-scorer in his rookie year, with 34 points in 80 games for the Edmonton Oilers, but the 20-year-old has disappointed by managing just one assist in 17 games this season.

The Oilers have a much better set of offensive weaponry this season than last, so Paajarvi will have to play his way up the depth chart.

Mattias Tedenby

Another speedy Swede, Tedenby was supposed to take a step forward this season after posting 22 points in 58 games for the New Jersey Devils last year. He hasn’t logged a lot of ice time this year, but his measly three assists are nonetheless underwhelming, and the relatively low-scoring Devils need all the offence they can get.

Tedenby was made a healthy scratch last week because of his poor defensive play, and his role probably won’t become much greater until he’s improved that part of his game. What a strange concept – the Devils making sure their players are defensive wizards before rewarding them with significant ice time!

King Karlsson

http://www.sportsnet.ca/fanfuel/2011/11/14/fanfuel_karlsson/

Erik Karlsson has quickly blossomed into one of the best defencemen in the National Hockey League. Yep, I said one of the best in the entire NHL.

The progress that the 21-year-old has made since being drafted 15th overall by the Ottawa Senators in 2008 is remarkable. At the time of the draft, many fans had barely even heard of the Swede. Given his relative obscurity and listed weight of around 160 pounds (hard to believe, even with all of his equipment on), many were unsure of what to think when Daniel Alfredsson called Karlsson’s name at the podium.

The young defenceman was supposed to be a longer-term project for the Senators. However, he continued to rapidly improve and, after one extra season playing in Sweden, made the Senators’ roster in 2009 as a 19-year-old.

Much like David Rundblad this season, Karlsson struggled mightily in his debut in Ottawa. This prompted the team to send him down to its American Hockey League affiliate for some “seasoning”. After recording 11 points in 12 games with the Binghamton Senators, Karlsson was recalled and hasn’t looked back.

Indeed, just as his weight has steadily increased (though he’s still a meagre 180 pounds), virtually every facet of Karlsson’s game has improved in his three years in the league.

Offensive production is Karlsson’s calling card. He was 17th among defencemen in points last season and is off to a roaring start with 16 points in 18 games this season. He’s one of the best-skating defencemen in the NHL, he’s a top-notch puckhandler and passer, and he has an uncanny ability to direct pucks through mazes of bodies in front of goaltenders.

His defensive abilities, though, have been questioned.

Critics point to his –30 rating last season to illustrate why Karlsson isn’t a good player in his own end of the rink. However, Ottawa as a team last season had the worst plus-minus rating in the league at –52. Given how often Karlsson was on the ice, his frigid plus-minus rating isn’t surprising.

Another oft-cited criticism is his giveaway total of 79 last season. While it’s true that he does tend to make risky plays and many of his giveaways come at inopportune times, he’s not the only defenceman to give up the puck a lot. Last season, Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty, widely considered two of the best defencemen around, recorded 83 and 77 giveaways, respectively. The fact is, the more often you have the puck, the more often you’re bound to give it up.

As long as Karlsson keeps racking up the points and uses his quick feet and good stick-work when needed defensively, he’ll be able to enjoy a fruitful NHL career.

He’s already the Senators’ go-to player.

Karlsson has had a greater role on the penalty-kill since his rookie season, and he’s being trusted more in every situation. He’s 12th in the NHL in average ice time with 25:14 per game, and he plays almost three minutes more per game than any other player on the Senators’ roster.

The amazing thing about all the ice time is that Karlsson doesn’t look at all fatigued at the end of games – in fact, he’s able to skate at top speed no matter when you tune into a game.

The Senators’ record for most points in a season by a defenceman belongs to Norm MacIver, who recorded 63 points during the team’s atrocious 1992-1993 season. If there’s anyone who can break that record, Karlsson is the guy to do it.

At a time when Alfredsson’s career is winding down, Ottawa is looking for a new engine to power the team, and another Swede might just be that engine.

Watch out, NHL, because this guy is crazy good and he just keeps getting better.

Filatov to the AHL... Again

On Monday, the Ottawa Senators assigned Nikita Filatov to the minors yet again. I wrote about it for Sportsnet, incorporating some elements from my original blog entry on Filatov. You can read the new post here:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/fanfuel/2011/11/09/fanfuel_filatov/

Blogging for Sportsnet

Some of my blogs will now be appearing on Sportsnet.ca, under the Fan Fuel section.

Here's the link to the first one: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2011/11/07/fanfuel_nhl_teams_real/

Are You For Real?

Nearly every team in the NHL has played at least 10 games by now, and there has been no shortage of surprise teams.

Exactly one year ago, on November 2nd, 2010, 12 of the 16 teams that were in playoff positions ultimately made the playoffs. Although a lot of the season is already “determined” early on, there is still time for teams to surge or plummet.

Here’s a look at six clubs who have performed surprisingly well or poorly and what you can expect from them the rest of the way:

BOSTON BRUINS

Who says the “Stanley Cup Hangover” is a myth? The Bruins aren’t the first team to feel the effects of it, but they have struggled more than previous defending Cup champs.

Last year’s Cup defenders, the Chicago Blackhawks, started last season a mediocre 7-6-1. However, the Bruins have a pitiful 4-7-0 record through eleven games this year and are dead last in the Eastern Conference. Boston is just outside the top third of the league in goals allowed per game, but the team is in the bottom third for goals scored.

Things are not totally bleak in Beantown. Tim Thomas is putting up strong numbers in goal yet again, and Tyler Seguin seems to be in the midst of a breakout year with 11 points in 11 games.

The only key players missing from last year’s edition of the Bruins are Tomas Kaberle (a late-season acquisition who only played 24 games in black and yellow anyway), Mark Recchi, and Michael Ryder; in their places are Jordan Caron, Joe Corvo, and Benoit Pouliot.

Along with Seguin’s emergence, the Bruins are in fine shape – at least on paper. Like a person stuck in bed on a Saturday morning with puffy eyes and a churning stomach after an excessively enjoyable Friday night, Boston will find its footing soon enough.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

Columbus made a few high-profile moves this off-season, adding the high-scoring Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski (both of whom would have ranked among the Jackets’ top four point-getters last season) and also luring in free agent forward Vinny Prospal.

These additions had many expecting big things from a team that has only qualified for the playoffs once in its 10-season history.

Of course, things don’t always go as planned.

Wisniewski was suspended for eight regular season games because of a vicious pre-season hit, and a collection of players are on the injured list: Carter played in just five games before being sidelined, and Kristian Huselius, who scored 44 goals in his first two seasons in Columbus, played in only 39 games last season and hasn't appeared in a game yet this season.

The Jackets were winless in their first eight games, but they’ve managed a 2-2-0 record since Wisniewski’s return and will improve further when Carter and Huselius are back. Columbus is better than their record indicates, but shaky goaltending and a rough start means the playoffs are probably a long shot... again. Maybe next year?

DALLAS STARS

Did anyone think the Stars would have the second highest points-percentage in the league at the start of November?

Goaltender Kari Lehtonen has been stellar in supporting what has been an underwhelming offence. Keep in mind, though, that the Stars and Lehtonen started off strong last season, too; the team sported a 5-1-0 record before going 3-6-0 in their next nine games.

In fact, Dallas was still leading its division by the end of December before it stumbled and missed the playoffs.

The Stars lost their offensive juggernaut, Brad Richards, over the off-season, and the team only added depth players to help out (although Sheldon Souray is trying to suggest otherwise, with eight points in 11 games). Lehtonen will have to be consistently spectacular in order for the Stars to survive by scoring just 2.36 goals per game.

The bet here is that Lehtonen will eventually fall back to Earth and the Stars will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

EDMONTON OILERS

The Oilers are tied with the Stars and Blackhawks for the second highest points-percentage in the league. Amazingly, they’ve done this by scoring just 24 goals in 11 games.

Edmonton’s trio of young stars (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Eberle) has provided almost half the goals so far, and the Oilers’ obscure defence corps has been backed by Nikolai Khabibulin, the league leader in goals against average and save percentage.

Yes, that’s right: the 38-year-old, who has played in just 65 games over the past two seasons (and mustered a measly .896 SV% in that time) and who served a 15-day sentence at an Arizona jail over the summer, has somehow put up the best goaltending statistics in the league – despite playing behind a defence whose top three players in average ice time are Tom Gilbert, Jeff Petry, and Corey Potter. The Oilers’ ‘other’ goalie, Devan Dubnyk, has also been superb, managing a .938 save percentage in four games.

Does trying to comprehend all of this make your head hurt as much as mine does?

Edmonton will surely finish with a better record this season than it did last year, but the goaltending can’t stay this strong for an entire season (can it?).

Once Vancouver, as it seems to eventually do every year, fully awakes from its lengthy off-seasonhibernation, Edmonton will likely lose its spot atop the Northwest Division and eventually bow out of the playoff race. Once the Oilers’ young stars reach their primes, though, watch out!

OTTAWA SENATORS

The Senators’ record to start the season was about as bad as many expected: 1-5-0. But suddenly, a light flicked on and the team won six in a row to push itself temporarily into a playoff spot.

The Sens have relied on resilience, a potent powerplay, and sheer offence.

Although dead last in goals against per game, Ottawa is tied for fifth in goals per game and is second in powerplay success (28.9%) and first in third-period goals (a whopping 22 – more than half of the team's total goals).

Nicknamed “The Cardiac Kids” because of their unpredictable performances and crazy comebacks, the Sens have ensured that their games have been some of the most exciting to watch this season.

Alas, Ottawa’s robust powerplay is probably not going to continue to motor along at 29% for the entire season, and neither the team’s defence nor its goaltending – both of which have been shaky at best – are likely to improve enough to earn the team a spot in the playoffs.

Fans should anticipate more surprises this season, but it should come as no surprise if and when, come April, this young team is on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Much like for the Oilers, though, there are bright days ahead for the Senators.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Is there a team that wants to be back in the playoffs more desperately than the Leafs? One of only two teams to have not qualified for the playoffs since the lockout (the Florida Panthers are the other), the Leafs may finally get to play more than just a few games in April this season.

Through 11 games, Toronto has been scoring a lot, but also letting in a lot; the team is fourth in goals per game, but it’s fifth last in goals against per game and has the third worst penalty kill in the league.

Phil Kessel, the NHL’s first star of the month of October, is playing like a man possessed with 10 goals in 11 games. The off-season additions of Tim Connolly and Matthew Lombardi give the Leafs more offensive depth than they’ve had in a few years – at least when the two are healthy. Goaltender James Reimer was playing well before suffering an injury; his eventual return will help cut down on the Leafs’ goals against.

Put all of this together, and although Toronto’s 112-point pace probably won’t last the length of the season (remember, the Leafs started off last season strong, too, with a 5-2-1 record), the team is good enough to challenge for a playoff spot.