Sterling Predictions: About our second-line centre...

Hey Sens fans, I know it has been a long time since we caught a break, given the Redden over Chara, Heatley over Hossa, Having to cut Havlat free, the Heatley betrayal, the gutting of our farm system for superstars like Varada, Arnott, DeVries, Bondra, Sillinger, etc, the crappy draft pics, the playoff losses to the leafs, Lalime’s backhanded “save”, and the Stanley Cup defeat but it is possible….just possible that we have a couple of young players who have what it takes. Let’s stop talking about sending them down. Z-bad was everything we could have wanted in the pre season. He mucks in corners, he has a heavy accurate, shot, man’s body and seems motivated. DaCosta is small but showed flashes of brilliance and sees the ice like he has 8 eyes. If we have all pegged this as a development year, let them develop here, in Ottawa, against the best competition. These are the new Senators, lets stop treating them like the emotionally fragile old Senators. Trial by fire, don’t let them get too low, use the pressbox liberally for all the players and make them hungry and earn their ice time. For once we have the players to do that with and we can do it for the low cost of half of what the Rangers are paying for Redden not to play in the NHL.

I’m also going with Z. Personally I see DaCosta struggling and being sent down for a while.
I’m also wondering if MacLean will steal a page out of the Wings’ book and use Regin as a winger. Don’t we have a glut of centres right now?

I voted for Zibanejad since he seems to have the 2nd line centre spot at the moment and should keep it if he stays with the team. Of course my pick only makes sense if he sticks with the team past the 9 game mark. MZ has good hands and if he sticks he will probably have Alfie on his wing all year. That should lead to a decent number of points for a rookie.

DaCosta seems likely to be in and out of the line-up and possibly up and down to Bingo, while Regin is just not that good a scorer (although he is a perfectly fine all-around player).

In an all or nothing pick, I will go with Zibanejad.

Why? Because I like him. That is all.

I imagine that Zibanejad or Da Costa would score more points than Regin, but you never know.

I haven’t read any quotes from MacLean where I got that impression. Where did it come from?

Personally, aside from a hot streak at the end of the season two years ago, Regin hasn’t shown he has what it takes. I like the guy, but to me it looks like Zibanejad has earned the position coming out of training camp. To me it seems like Zibanejad should get the position until he shows that he isn’t deserving of it, and then Regin or DaCosta can have their shot. At this point though, they haven’t shown enough to be deserving of the position over Zibanejad.

While I understand the concern about having an 18-year-old play such an important role on the team, everything about Zibanejad’s play since he got to Ottawa suggests it’s his job to lose. Young players come into the league in top physical condition these days, and as long as they can handle the psychological challenges of facing much stiffer competition, there’s no reason they can’t be impact players right away. Nugent-Hopkins will start the year as one of Edmonton’s top centres; Adam Larsson is slotted to be NJ’s top defender and power-play quarterback; Landeskog has made the Av’s line-up and could well play top-six minutes, while Sheifele has a shot at playing a similar role in Winnipeg. This isn’t about marketing the team, either; it’s about being objective about who the best available players are, regardless of age and experience.

Playing behind Spezza, and with players like Greening and Alfredsson on his wings, Zibanejad will be somewhat protected from the opposition’s top defenders. He’s already one of the more physical forwards the Sens have, so he shouldn’t have a problem in that department. And if keeps raising his game in the third period like he did throughout the preseason, Maclean will likely continue playing him in clutch situations.