THREE DOWN IN THREE DAYS
Sens already considering options
General managers and coaches are forever studying their starting roster.
Brian Kilrea, when he was head coach and GM of the Ottawa 67’s, used to keep a player name-tag chart on the wall across from his desk. All he had to do was glance up and he could see his forward lines and defence pairings.
The names themselves were telling. Was he strong enough down the middle? Did he need to upgrade his defence?
And when the names shifted over to that other chart — the injured list — that’s when the real work began.
Health is the great X Factor to any team’s season.
On paper (or on a computer screen), the Ottawa Senators started camp with the top six forward positions locked in. They had depth at forward, and no shortage of defenceman candidates.
After three days of camp, the team has lost a winger on each of its top three lines, an average of one man down per day. At this rate, a roster of 20 will be eliminated by the time the season opens on Oct. 12.
The good news is that two of those injured players — Mark Stone (concussion symptoms) and Curtis Lazar (mononucleosis) — are improving and should be ready for the start of the season.
Sadly, winger Clarke MacArthur, who was excited to join new centre Derick Brassard and Bobby Ryan on a potentially formidable second line, is out indefinitely after suffering a concussion (his fourth) in Sunday’s Red-White scrimmage during Fan Fest.
This is why management has to sketch in lineups with pencil rather than ink. They are subject to change without warning.
Just Sunday morning, I was part of a hockey media panel at Fan Fest discussing, among other things, the fact this was the first year in ages that the club wasn’t talking about the need to acquire another top six forward. Minutes later, they confronted the potential need to replace MacArthur — either from within the ranks or from outside the hockey club via trade. It is encouraging that MacArthur was able to visit the rink Monday.
For now, the Senators’ forward prospects (Nick Paul, Matt Puempel, Max McCormick, etc.) have to recognize the opportunity that presents itself due to the misfortune of others.
The Senators have a history of finding ways to stay afloat amid the worst of injury circumstances.
Over the past decade, the club has dealt with the loss of some of its best players for extended periods, including Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson, Mike Fisher and Craig Anderson.
At times, the injuries are too much to overcome.
Imagine last season if the Senators had had the services of MacArthur for a full season instead of for four games.
Now add in a healthy No. 1 centre in Kyle Turris, instead of him being healthy for two months, hobbling on one leg from December through February, and then missing the final 19 games of the schedule with a high ankle sprain.
A single player can make the difference between being a playoff team or not.
In 2015-16, the Montreal Canadiens had a record of 17-4-2 when goaltender Carey Price injured his knee in late November, ending his season. He had already missed time in October with a knee issue. Price played in a total of 12 games and had a record of 10-2. With Price, the Canadiens were a force in the east. With Price gone, they went 21-34-4 the rest of the way to finish 13th in the Eastern Conference, two spots back of Ottawa in 11th.
It’s far too early to start writing the Senators off as a hard-luck, injury-riddled team. While we pray for the return to full health of MacArthur, the immediate roster boost will come with the clearance of Stone, sometime in the near future.
Both GM Pierre Dorion and head coach Guy Boucher are sounding positive notes about Stone being ready to practice with the team again soon.
The club will get another shot in the arm as Karlsson is now back from the World Cup of Hockey, in mid-season form. If he wants the next week off to rest, and avoid any injury risks from pre-season games, let him have it.
Finding a level of health by Oct. 12 when the Senators meet the Toronto Maple Leafs in the regular season opener is all that matters.
After that, the Senators will take a shot at improving on last season to climb back into the top eight of the east. They will need a few breaks to do it.
Mostly, they will need good health.
B-SENS PART II
As someone with family roots in the town, I’m glad to see Belleville get a hockey team back. That it happens to be the AHL Belleville Senators will take some getting used to. We have a year for that, as the team doesn’t begin play until 2017-18. Belleville has a rich hockey history, dating back to the 1959 world champion Belleville McFarlands. It has had ups and downs supporting major junior hockey, but a major upgrade at the Yardmen Arena and an affiliation with the NHL team in Ottawa gives Belleville every chance to succeed. They’re still the B-Sens, which is pragmatic for fans.