Not good enough - no playoffs again!

[RickyLafleur]

Even those times you mentioned, we generally had an average to below average team..I think most years we allowed more goals than we scored...which is a bad team. They were lucky or pesky and went on a run at the right time.

We haven't actually had a strong team since like 07-08ish when we started to suck.

So like, a good 16 years since we've had a "strong team" that others would actually call a good team.



You need to have a good GM who can win a trade like that.

Last thing you want is a stone-like trade where we get like 2 prospects who don't pan out, some 3rd liner for cap dump, and a low first or something.

Has staios ever won a big trade in his gm career?

You're right, but I was referring more to a team that was enjoyable to watch. This team hasn't been good in nearly 20 years and is generally seen as a laughing stock on here, in public, and among people that I converse with on a daily basis.

 

[jbeck5]

You're right, but I was referring more to a team that was enjoyable to watch. This team hasn't been good in nearly 20 years and is generally seen as a laughing stock on here, in public, and among people that I converse with on a daily basis.

Yup. I agree. Not fun since the pesky sens and that run 8 years ago.

Not good since 16-17 years ago.

 

[jbeck5]

Has apathy started to set in for you guys?

It was a big topic last year about "would Brady rather have booing fans or apathetic fans?"

The last couple games I've found myself wanting to fast forward through everything and/or do something else to pass the time.

I always start out the season on the edge of my seat, and I can spend all day talking about the team, but when it comes to watching, after the play starts to deteriorate, and losses pile on, I find it so hard to watch.

Like others said, I couldn't imagine paying $100 in the dead of winter to drive out to Kanata to watch this. Having bought a house, having a kid on the way, there's just so much more I could do with that money right now.

 

[NyQuil]

The November thing isn't even a real thing.

You can have a bad month at any point in the season and still make the playoffs.

Plenty of teams do.

It's just that the high water mark for the team is winning 1-2 games and then losing and you can't make the post-season playing like that after tanking a month.

 

[Senscore]

Really just confirms the MO of the season is going to be winning a couple, losing a couple, and here and there adding another loss that isn't made up for. The team will just slowly fall behind and by the time we are needing any sort of win streak to get back into the mix, it's already over.


Although the 9 game road trip during the World Jr's presents a unique opportunity to really fall hard and fast.

 

[BigRig4]

Has apathy started to set in for you guys?

It was a big topic last year about "would Brady rather have booing fans or apathetic fans?"

The last couple games I've found myself wanting to fast forward through everything and/or do something else to pass the time.

I always start out the season on the edge of my seat, and I can spend all day talking about the team, but when it comes to watching, after the play starts to deteriorate, and losses pile on, I find it so hard to watch.

Like others said, I couldn't imagine paying $100 in the dead of winter to drive out to Kanata to watch this. Having bought a house, having a kid on the way, there's just so much more I could do with that money right now.

Kinda where I’m at. Last season I didn’t watch the ~20 games after the trade deadline, and I’m someone who misses like 2-3 games per season max. It’s a tad bit early for that for me but I’m getting close to tuning out again. It’s just not a fun way to spend ~10 hours a week.

 

[jbeck5]

The November thing isn't even a real thing.

You can have a bad month at any point in the season and still make the playoffs.

Plenty of teams do.

It's just that the high water mark for the team is winning 1-2 games and then losing and you can't make the post-season playing like that after tanking a month.

Plenty of things in sports aren't real things yet they are.

There wasn't a rule that we couldn't beat the Leafs in the playoffs...but we couldn't.

There wasn't a rule that the leafs couldn't get past the 1st round...I guess they have now lol

But sports are funny and tricky. Teams struggle to get over imaginary "humps".

It's a psyche thing.

 

[UglyPuckling]

i think so too. i think he follows his brother.

St. Louis maybe. He has family & roots there. Not sure about him leaving the Senators though & how I’d feel about that. But, this post is more about if Brady decided he wants to leave.

 

[jbeck5]

Kinda where I’m at. Last season I didn’t watch the ~20 games after the trade deadline, and I’m someone who misses like 2-3 games per season max. It’s a tad bit early for that for me but I’m getting close to tuning out again. It’s just not a fun way to spend ~10 hours a week.

I still record every game, but the further along we go, the later and later I start the game, and the more and more of it I seem to fast forward lol.

It starts with just commercials...then I start to tune out the intermission...then I start to FF 30 seconds at each whistle not caring if I miss part of the play...then I eventually just start doing other things with the game on in the background.

It sucks because just a few weeks ago I was watching like it was playoffs...and this fast, I'm already giving up.

I kept telling my gf "we might be good this year" and it's now "nope, we suck again this year.".

 

[OUT HOUSE]

Has apathy started to set in for you guys?

It was a big topic last year about "would Brady rather have booing fans or apathetic fans?"

The last couple games I've found myself wanting to fast forward through everything and/or do something else to pass the time.

I always start out the season on the edge of my seat, and I can spend all day talking about the team, but when it comes to watching, after the play starts to deteriorate, and losses pile on, I find it so hard to watch.

Like others said, I couldn't imagine paying $100 in the dead of winter to drive out to Kanata to watch this. Having bought a house, having a kid on the way, there's just so much more I could do with that money right now.

100%. I have tickets to tomorrow's game and Monday's. Not excited in the least. The 3 hours spent watching games on TV + the podcasts and media I consume about this team is just a waste of time at this point. I'd love to be proven wrong with a string of wins, but I just have no hope in that happening anymore.

 

[BoardsofCanada]

We're not getting saves, and our shooters are getting shut down by B level goalies like Stuart Skinner. The story last night was simple, Skinner made some key saves, Ullmark did not. Your goalie has to be one of your best players, and Ottawa is not getting that from either guy. For me, Ullmark has been a gigantic disappointment so far.

 

[Beech]

Smoke 2-3 packs a day and see what happens in 30-40 years.

Let B. Murray stay as GM past 2011.
Let his underling become GM 2016-2023.
Let Eugene M. own the team for 20 years.

and you have effectively smoked for 40 years.

Why are we surprised?????????????

 

[OUT HOUSE]

At this point, I just want to have a good team once the new stadium opens up. If that means completely revamping this team, then so be it.

 

[jbeck5]

We're not getting saves, and our shooters are getting shut down by B level goalies like Stuart Skinner. The story last night was simple, Skinner made some key saves, Ullmark did not. Your goalie has to be one of your best players, and Ottawa is not getting that from either guy. For me, Ullmark has been a gigantic disappointment so far.

Quick! Make sure to extend him before he leaves!

 

[Larionov]

For the first time in forever, I didn't listen to TSN 1200 this morning. I just couldn't do it - it's just too depressing. We are now the Buffalo Sabres, stuck in an endless loop of failed rebuilds and dashed hopes while our team wallows in mediocrity. The cherry on top of the sundae is the losing coach we hired to tend to all of it - he had a losing record in Vancouver, a losing record in New Jersey, and a losing record at the freaking Spengler Cup, but suddenly he was going to help us win? Gaaaaaahhhhhhhh.........

 

[Stylizer1]

For all the laughing this offseason, Montreal is only 1 pt behind with one more game played.

If Sens fans haven’t been « humbled » by now… I don’t know what will

Yeah but the Habs are in worse shape than the Sens. The Habs are supposed to suck.

 

[jbeck5]

For the first time in forever, I didn't listen to TSN 1200 this morning. I just couldn't do it - it's just too depressing. We are now the Buffalo Sabres, stuck in an endless loop of failed rebuilds and dashed hopes while our team wallows in mediocrity. The cherry on top of the sundae is the losing coach we hired to tend to all of it - he had a losing record in Vancouver, a losing record in New Jersey, and a losing record at the freaking Spengler Cup, but suddenly he was going to help us win? Gaaaaaahhhhhhhh.........

Fans were quick to criticize anyone who criticized the hire.

He's never won anywhere. He was hated here as a player.

There was nothing good or promising about that hire..

 

[BigRig4]

Fans were quick to criticize anyone who criticized the hire.

He's never won anywhere. He was hated here as a player.

There was nothing good or promising about that hire..

I really don’t get the impression that coaching is the issue. Of course I could be wrong, but he can only prod them so much. They really looked prepared and energized until recently when they faced adversity and just folded (as usual). I really think the mentality of some of the main core players is just permanently broken from years of zero expectations or accountability under Dorion/DJ. After a while you can’t unlearn that.

 

[jbeck5]

I really don’t get the impression that coaching is the issue. Of course I could be wrong, but he can only prod them so much. They really looked prepared and energized until recently when they faced adversity and just folded (as usual). I really think the mentality of some of the main core players is just permanently broken from years of zero expectations or accountability under Dorion/DJ. After a while you can’t unlearn that.

I'm not saying the coaching is bringing them down. It's just not bringing them up.

I've seen teams with worse rosters on paper make the playoffs with coaching praised as the main culprit for the improvement.

I'm just saying he's not that. He's not a good coach..at best, he's average...but even then, his record is actually below average everywhere he goes. Maybe he's just a below average coach who won't hurt a teams chances necessarily, but just won't improve them.

Not sure there is any accountability even now under new management. I haven't seen players from our core get benched or scratched as the losses pile up even though you only go as far as your core leads you. Why isn't a loud and clear message being sent to our core from coaching and management? Why isn't ice time being used to encourage players to play the right way.

Either the coaching staff thinks our core is playing the right way, or the coaching staff isn't holding players accountable.

We're losing anyways, if you need to play the 4th line 20 mins a night to send a message, you do it. Enough with zero accountability.

Sacrifice a loss or two to get the core playing the right away for the last 60 games.

Or come to the conclusion the core isn't it, and start trading away the core.

 

[Tuna99]

When we had Craog Anderson we didn’t have the team in front of him, now we have the team but not the goalie.

 

[Micklebot]

I really don’t get the impression that coaching is the issue. Of course I could be wrong, but he can only prod them so much. They really looked prepared and energized until recently when they faced adversity and just folded (as usual). I really think the mentality of some of the main core players is just permanently broken from years of zero expectations or accountability under Dorion/DJ. After a while you can’t unlearn that.

I see a bit of the "here we go again" creeping in.

We went out and got Murray, the players probably though, hey, great, he's got a couple rings, then he let them down game after game.

We picked up "All-Star" goalie Cam Talbot, and players probably thought ok, this guy will bring some stability, until they started fishing pucks out of the net.

We decided to hand a monster deal to "the best goalie on the UFA market" and players likely said to themselves, maybe this time will be different, third times the charm after all. right? We ended up with the worst goaltending in the league.

This time around, we traded for a vezina winner and guy with the best sv% in the league over the last 5 years, and pucks start going through him.

Idk what the answer is, does trading Tkachuk, Chabot and Batherson along with hiring Scotty Bowman result in Ullmark making that save in OT against the flyers? Probably not.

 

[BigRig4]

I'm not saying the coaching is bringing them down. It's just not bringing them up.

I've seen teams with worse rosters on paper make the playoffs with coaching praised as the main culprit for the improvement.

I'm just saying he's not that. He's not a good coach..at best, he's average...but even then, his record is actually below average everywhere he goes. Maybe he's just a below average coach who won't hurt a teams chances necessarily, but just won't improve them.

Not sure there is any accountability even now under new management. I haven't seen players from our core get benched or scratched as the losses pile up even though you only go as far as your core leads you. Why isn't a loud and clear message being sent to our core from coaching and management? Why isn't ice time being used to encourage players to play the right way.

Either the coaching staff things our core is playing the right way, or the coaching staff isn't holding players accountable.

We're losing anyways, if you need to play the 4th line 20 mins a night to send a message, you do it. Enough with zero accountability.

Sacrifice a loss or two to get the core playing the right away for the last 60 games.

Or come to the conclusion the core isn't it, and start trading away the core.

All fair points!

When we had Craog Anderson we didn’t have the team in front of him, now we have the team but not the goalie.

God I would do anything to have a 30 year old Anderson walk in the door tomorrow lol

 

[jbeck5]

All fair points!


God I would do anything to have a 30 year old Anderson walk in the door tomorrow lol

Anderson has a calm swagger about him. He knew how good he was and did it.

Ullmark came in with this insane swagger...now I feel like it's totally lost. He doesn't look confident at all. It took 2 weeks for this team to break his confidence lol

 

[Senscore]

It's uncanny how most of the players look like they're just going through the motions until somebody (presumably Stutzle) does something.

 

[Micklebot]

God I would do anything to have a 30 year old Anderson walk in the door tomorrow lol

People would be seeing Green in a different light if we were getting that kind of goaltending, it earned MacLean a Jack Adams finalist nomination, and a Jack Adams trophy.

Mike Kelly was on the radio the other day saying the team has brought their:
-High danger chances against to 4th best
-3rd best in rebounds allowed
-slots shots allowed down to top 5 in the league,

We certainly have some bad games where we don't perform, but they have lots where they do as well, otherwise you wouldn't see those overall numbers.