LAZAR FOCUSED
Young Senators centre still has plenty of time to prove his worth
With his mother, father, two brothers and sister all in town for the holidays, Ottawa Senators centre Curtis Lazar might be well advised to alter his radio listening.
Perhaps that station playing endless Christmas songs would be a welcome relief from hearing the capital’s sports fans label him a first-round bust or career minor leaguer on call-in radio.
Lazar, who has gone 14 games without a point after being recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League, insists he’s close to turning the corner.
“It’s going to happen,” he said. “The armchair GMs and all the people who think they know hockey just look at the numbers, but not many of them have seen prospects develop in front of their eyes.”
Lazar missed all of training camp with mono and played 13 games with the farm team before being recalled to the big leagues.
He offers a reminder that he’s still a relatively youthful 21 years old and that his offensive numbers will improve with increased ice time.
In the meantime, he says he’s doing what head coach Guy Boucher is asking for, serving as a defensively reliable fourth-line centre with some spot duty on the third line. Lately, he has also picked up time on the penalty kill.
Lazar, who was drafted 17th overall in 2013 and captained Canada’s 2015 gold-medal-winning junior team, is employing patience, but he hasn’t lost his confidence.
The individual points haven’t been coming, but the team points have. Including Thursday’s 2-1 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks, the Senators have a 9-3-2 record when Lazar plays. They are 4-0-1 since Lazar’s return from the concussion he suffered against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 5.
He understands comparisons are being made with other players selected in his draft class, but he cautions that every player develops in his own way.
Boucher looked at training camp as a way to see how far he could push players and to see what roles he could trust them in. Lazar missed that opportunity to showcase himself, but gradually, the coach is giving him more responsibility. When Mike Hoffman was suspended and Zack Smith moved up to a scoring line alongside Derick Brassard and Mark Stone, Lazar jumped up to play with JeanGabriel Pageau and Tom Pyatt.
“To get increased minutes when Hoff was out was good,” he said. “I can handle that role. I have to be patient.”
Lazar said he has been full of confidence since returning from Binghamton. He has been an effective forechecker, creating turnovers by pressuring defencemen. He also says he’s more confident skating with and shooting the puck.
“The way I’m playing, I’m going to get over the hump and I know they don’t want to put me in situations that are over my head,” he said.
With the Las Vegas expansion draft looming, Lazar recognizes there are no guarantees about his future with the Senators. But the native of Salmon Arm, B.C., also said it would be a shame if he did all the hard development work with his current organization only to end up as a more finished product with another team.
“I hope this whole process, with everything I’m doing, is setting me up for a long career in Ottawa,” he said.
Despite all the naysayers saying otherwise, he firmly believes everything he’s going through now will pay off in a big way down the road.
“In some ways, I’m kind of doing that minor league (development) stuff here,” he said. “If I put up 25 goals, 30 goals when I’m 27 or 28, what are people going to say then?”
Lazar is anxious for the four-day Christmas break, getting away from it all until the Senators return to action Dec. 27 against the New York Rangers. With his family bunking up at his modest-sized townhouse, he will get his mind off the game for at least a few days.
“I had to get a couple of mattresses,” he said. “I picked up a couple of board games (Wednesday) night. The couch isn’t big enough for all of us to sit there, plus, you know, at Christmas, you don’t just want to all stand there in front of the TV.”
Or listening to sports radio.