Senators Can't Maintain Status Quo Going Into the Playoffs

Well, we are at the half way point of the season, and the Sens are looking like the class of the East.

This is quite an accomplishment for a few reasons. Firstly, they are coming off of a Finals appearance—and not only did they avoid the dreaded Cup Finals hangover, they came out of the gates with an NHL record 15-2 start.

Secondly, the fact that they did it with Martin Gerber, who most fans would have shipped out of town last season for a bag of pucks, was also a pleasant surprise.

Thirdly, they remained at the top of the conference—even with key injuries to Volchenckov, Eaves, and to a lesser extent, Corvo, with a groin injury and most recently the flu.

Looking at the stats, the Sens appear quite rosy, don't they?

The problem is, if you watched the games closely and look deeper into the stats, there are some glaring issues with this team.

Now by glaring, keep in mind I only frame that in terms of a team that can win the Cup. This team needs a big top six power forward and another big bruising top four defenceman to get there.

Let's take a look at the forwards. We have Alfie, who has picked up where he left off last year and looks like he's in the Cup finals every night. Next we have Heatley, who is on pace for a third 50 goal season and continues to evolve into a solid two way player. Then we have Spezza, who just keeps on getting better, and even with six games missed could still challenge for the scoring lead. Finally, Fisher is maturing into a solid two way forward that is a factor on the scoreboard.

After that, the forward production drops off significantly, and no one seems to be able to play consistently enough to stick on the top two lines. This is where Murray comes in; in my opinion, he needs a bonafide top six power forward in order to address the scoring depth and the need for more size on the team.

Now we move on to the defence. We have Phillips and Volchenckov, who are just amazing shut down defenders, and you really can't say enough about how good they have been. After that it starts to get shaky. We have Redden who has been sub-par for the past two seasons. We then have Meszaros, who has been good to great at times and filled in nicely with Volchenckov injured.

The bottom pairing looks fairly good, with Corvo playing much better (who knows how long that will last with his confidence issues) and then there's Richardson. Richardson is very slow and has been exposed in the regular season. Just wait until playoffs when the speed increases significantly.

Finally, there's Schubert, who has not had a true chance to stay on D. This is why I see us needing a big shut down top four defender to round out our team.

Lastly, we get to goaltending. I believe that Emery will regain his form and that all this team will ultimately need is capable NHL goaltending, not All-Star Brodeur-like goaltending, in order to capture the Cup.