The Ottawa Senators, 10 Games In: There Is Nothing Neutral About the Swiss

Of course, there is more to the story: The defence still doesn't seem to have developed a lot of chemistry, although the most recent defence pairings from Craig Hartsburg that have Filip Kuba playing with Alexandre Picard and Christoph Schubert with Jason Smith seem to have stabilized the back end.

With so many new faces on defence, it was inevitable that it would take a little while to find some consistency, two straight wins since the pairings have been changed would indicate that maybe such consistency has in fact been found.

It is abundantly clear, however, that Brian Murray's focus needs to be on finding a puck-moving defenceman, someone who can lead the breakout effectively and quarterback the power play.

On the forward side of the ice, things have been slightly better, the big three of Alfredsson, Heatley and Spezza are all at double digits in points already and have generally been consistent on most nights.

The third and fourth line players like Donovan, Neil, and Ruutu have all been contributing strongly and chipping in the occasional goal.

The problem right now is the second tier of players that were supposed to add some consistent scoring.

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