A Potential Solution for the Ottawa Senators' Problems

There are many things wrong with the Ottawa Senators: lack of puck moving defenseman and secondary scoring, goaltending and possibly coaching and management.

However, the one aspect many individuals forget is the lack of toughness and competitiveness. The Senators have struggled with this for a very long time. They have had times where the team was significantly tough, for instance, when the team had Zedeno Chara, Mike Fisher, Chris Neil, and Brian McGrattan. The loss of Chara and McGrattan severely damaged the overall toughness.

Anyone who watches the Senators play today will realize that they do not play with energy and passion; the few players who do—Chris Neil and Jarkko Ruutu—attempt to inspire the team usually have little success.

As a Sens fan, it is hard to enjoy the games when the majority of the team doesn’t play hard. They have lost most of the games they have played this season and it is easy to see that they do not play for hard for the full sixty minutes. Part of the problem is the players on the team the other is Hartsburg’s lack of ability to get through to the players.

The dressing room seems to be fixed and the team is filled with good guys as stated by Jason Smith. However, as Alfredsson stated the players need to play as if they care for each other out on the ice. This is obviously a major problem; everyone has seen Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza among others get run and no one do anything about it.

Chris Neil is doing the best he can even though many believe he is playing hurt due to his hands being a bit mangled and his knee not been given enough time to heal. Before the Oilers game, the commentators were saying that Neil is one of the guys on the team who keeps opening up the door for the team and no one come through it; which is taking a toll on his body.

They also believe that he is not playing his game because he has been forced into the role of the enforcer on the team. After trading away McGrattan, there has been no heavyweight to replace him. Neil has proved he can handle the role—fighting the toughest heavyweights in the NHL—although he could bring a lot more to the team if another heavyweight was placed on the team.

The best options are Matt Carkner or Jeremy Yablonski; both from the Sens' farm team and both are significantly tough. Carkner is the better all around player but Yablosnki is a significantly better enforcer. Jeremy Yablonski, whose nickname is Yabo, by Binghamton Senator’s fans, would fill the role perfectly.

Yabo can skate fairly well for an enforcer he is a six time golden gloves boxer and 3-0 in mixed martial arts. He does more than just fight he impressed the Senators organization with his overall physical play; he hits very well and he also agitates.

He is 6'1" and 235 lbs who is like a crazier, less talented Chris Neil. His fights can be found on YouTube and his fight on Dec. 19 against Jon Mirasty was a more impressive hockey fight than most seen in the NHL. No one would touch Alfredsson if he was playing, and he would play his heart out for the team.

The only option the Sens really have to become a contender again is through overall physical play. They will have to become like the Anaheim Ducks, when they went to the Stanley Cup final and similar to how the Philadelphia Flyers play now. The team needs to do something to get the fans back into the game and if they can’t score than big hits and fights will have to do.

The players that the Sens could realistically acquire would be Daniel Carcillo—whom Shane Doan and Wayne Gretzky believe could be a 30-goal scorer, but is scoring much this year, Jordin Tootoo—whom the Sens could possibly acquire with Dan Hamhuis, which would give the solve the puck moving defenseman problem, and/or Ben Eager—who is from Ottawa and could be potentially acquired with Cam Barker, who is a puck moving defenseman.

Barret Jackman is a very gritty defenseman who could benefit the team. The other players who they could potentially acquire but would require more of a trade for would be: Trent Hunter, Nathan Horton, Ryane Clowe, Steve Bernier, Andrew Ladd and Tuomo Ruutu. 

The Sens' best line against the Oilers other than the top line was the power forward/grinder line of Chris Neil, Mike Fisher, and Nick Foligno; they were hard on loose pucks, strong along the boards and were fairly physical. They need more players like that who can bring energy to the team with big hits and fight hard for loose pucks and along the boards.

Jarrko Ruutu, Jesse Winchester and Cody Bass all have that potential that could help the team go forward. Within the organization other than Jeremy Yablonski the only other players from the farm team could be Danny Bois—who is a bit small—and Chaz Johnson—who has the speed, size and physicality for the NHL but hasn’t got the offence talent yet.

Zack Smith could play that role but it might be better for him to finish developing in the Ahl and be a major asset next year.

The North East division is getting physically tougher; Montreal has George Laraque and seems fairly tough, Buffalo has Andrew Peters and players fairly chippy, Boston has Chara, Thornton and a bunch of power forwards and Burke has state that he wants the Leafs to be a lot tougher and is trying to acquire a heavyweight.

The Senators have a bit of ways to go; Neil, Fisher, Ruutu, Jason Smith, Phillips, Volchenkov, Folgino, Bass and Winchester are all good and additions of Yabo and any other gritty players will help.  The Senators need to make sure they stay competitive physically.

One of the noticeable things is that when Neil starts playing his game, players who play with a similar style –Fisher, Ruutu and Smith- start playing much more chippy and physically.

The team lacks a bit of camaraderie; when players get run, they do not stick up for each other. Neil and Ruutu seem to feed of each other; when one makes a big hit the other attempts to make a bigger hit; they are trying to one-up each other.

It brings excitement to the players and the fans and makes it enjoyable for them to play. Players like Yabo, Carcillo, Eager and Tootoo would make it very hard to play against the Senators. If they lost, it would be a hard win for other teams in which they wouldn’t leave without any bumps and bruises.

The players would get excited about who they were going to fight, who’s skin they could get under and throw of their game and who was going to get run over. There would be much more energy and motivation on the bench the ice would be opened up for the first line to score goals. The other teams would be afraid to go after pucks for fear of getting run over. 

The Senators would eventually start scoring crash-the-net-type gritty goals. The fans would be back in the game, which would help take the pressure of the players. The players would have something to get excited about and start playing had for a full sixty minutes. The Senators could then potentially bruise and agitate their way to the cup final.

Vermette and Kelly should probably be traded for players who are a bit more energetic; Vermette just doesn’t seem to be able to get it done in Ottawa and Kelly has proved that he wouldn’t be any better with a better contract.

Zubov should be back down on the farm team; he is not ready in terms of physical strength to be in the NHL. Donovan and McAmmond have impressed this season but may be a bit old for this team; it may also be good to keep them for their contracts.

The Defense is fairly good but could use a puck moving defenseman Lee looked good in his last game but he may not be consistent enough.

In terms of coaching and management, Pat Quinn has been rumored to potentially become the coach and GM; he’s getting it done with team Canada juniors and the leafs always made the playoffs even though no one thought they would.

Quick Recap: The Senators need a tougher more competitive team if they want to compete for the Stanley Cup this Season. They should bring up Jeremy Yablonski to be the enforcer and let Neil play his game.

The Senators should try and acquire Jordin Tootoo, Ben Eager, and Daniel Carcillo and potentially Dan Hamhuis and/or Cam Barker.

This was my first article so I am open to criticism. Thanks for taking the team to read this article and please leave your opinion if you so wish so.