The End of Coach’s Corner, OTTHAC, and More

We had ourselves a week here in Ottawa, didn’t we? The Carolina Hurricanes globetrotted on the Senators Monday night to the tune of an 8-2 stomping. The Sens regained composure in time to defeat the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers [still sic] and then lost said composure in time to lose to the Buffalo Sabres [slightly less sic].

I have said it before and I will say it again, in this era, Jack Eichel will assume the role previously played by Jaromir Jagr and average over a point per game against the Senators (for context Eichel currently has 1.64 P/G over 14 games while Jagr had 1.13 over 79). Let’s take a look at some of the action that took place on and off the ice since our last update!

Ron MacLean

If you couldn’t catch any puck on Saturday night then you may have missed Ron MacLean’s closing statements on the life and death of Coach’s Corner. I won’t dig too deeply into the subject because nkb and Colin have already posted some exceptional coverage. I will provide you with a link to MacLean’s full statement for your review.

So, without digging too deeply, I will say that while I appreciate MacLean’s candour and his willingness to face the public, I found he played the victim, he failed to address the real issue, and made excuses for his and especially Don’s actions/words. As someone who never liked Coach’s Corner in the first place, though, I know MacLean was speaking to an audience other than myself. So if you do consider yourself a fan of Coach’s Corner and Hockey Night in Canada then please let me know in the comments how you felt about MacLean’s statement.

OTTHAC19

The annual Ottawa Hockey Analytics Conference went down at Carleton U this past weekend, and as usual played host to some of the most respected minds in the business. The event attracts NHL team staff,  hockey fans, and stats enthusiasts alike. There’s always a lot of Senators connections with plenty of local talent. Here’s a full list of this year’s participants. Many of us Sens fans who dabble in the fancy stats lament that the Senators haven’t made more use of analytics in their decision-making process, despite the bounty of talented analysts coming from Ottawa.

Matty Go Sens

Speaking of local talent, the Senators have added a great new element to the in-game experience at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Matty Go Sens Game has taken the mash-ups that haunt your timeline and blown them up on the jumbotron where we can’t escape the horror. I love this from a fan perspective. In cases like this, the Senators’ marketing team seems really in touch with the fanbase and intent on connecting in a grass-roots way. I hope we continue to see this kind of engagement between fans and the team in an effort to mend fences damaged over recent seasons.

Matt Calvert

The NHL’s department of player safety will have some questions to answer this week after an incident during Saturday’s game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks. The vagueness of the NHL’s rules regarding stoppage of play led to a potentially dangerous situation for Calvert, who lay bleeding on the ice after blocking a shot, while the referees allowed play to continue. Each on-ice official has discretion when making the call as to whether or not a player has sustained a serious enough injury to blow the whistle. I look forward to reading what, if any, statement the league makes on this incident and to seeing if the league changes the wording of the rules around stoppage of play for injured players.

Canucks Jerseys

Did you really think I would write an article without talking about jerseys? Likely story. The ‘nucks donned their 90s throwback jerseys for Saturday’s game against the Avalanche and the reaction seems pretty positive. I don’t love or hate any of the Canucks uniforms so I don’t have much in the way of deep thoughts. 25-years feels like an eternity when I think of Pavel Bure rocking that jersey in the 1994 cup finals against the New York Rangers, though. Whether these throwbacks stick or not, I love to see team switching it up occasionally and pay homage to different phases of teams’ histories.

The Senators have two more stops on this road-trip, and play back-to-back games against the the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Enjoy your week, folks!