Five Thoughts For Friday: Down Goes Brown

The season has just begun, but tensions are already rising.

It’s official, the 2019-2020 NHL season is underway. While losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs is never fun, it was a decent game and there’s plenty to talk about.

Unfortunately, it’s not all roses, on or off the ice. But I think there’s more than enough positivity to go around this week.

With that said, here are Five Thoughts for Friday, October 4th, 2019.

Turn that Brown Upside Down

I can only imagine how frustrating it is for Logan Brown to be assigned to Belleville once again. He had a really good season in the AHL last year, and it seemed that now was the time for him to finally crack the pro roster.

Alas, twas not to be. Difficult as it may be, any hard feelings are usually kept behind closed doors. In a surprising twist, though, a tweet surfaced last night from TSN’s Eric Macramalla that casts the situation in an entirely different light.

Honestly, I’m pretty annoyed by this. Brown gets top minutes in the AHL, got a late-season look in Ottawa last year, an extended look in the preseason, and then the GM’s public endorsement as one of the team’s top prospects.

Brown has struggled to stay healthy, with 56 career AHL games to his name since he was drafted in 2016. What more does he want? He knows he’s going to be the team’s first call-up, so just be patient and keep producing. His opportunity is right around the corner, this doesn’t make any sense to me.

BeLeaf the Hype?

I still don’t think the Toronto Maple Leafs are very good.

Nevertheless, they did get the best of our beloved Sens, besting our guys 5-3 to open the season.

Though Ottawa got on the board 25 seconds in, with a Brady Tkachuk tally on a Cody Ceci turnover (I know, right?), the Leafs inevitably took control. They dominated in terms of puck possession, and shots on goal. The Sens made it close on a late Bobby Ryan goal, but ultimately came up short in this instalment of the Battle of Ontario.

Road to the lottery pick, baby.

Bath to Reality

Drake Batherson came into the season with a lot of hype, after dominating the American Hockey League last year. After putting on some size in the offseason, it appeared that Belleville’s top player was ready to make the full-time leap this season.

It’s still early, but a relatively lacklustre preseason, and a weaker performance against the Leafs seem to have Batherson heading in the wrong direction.

It’s definitely early, and this could just be to let the rookie get his mind right, but it likely doesn’t bode well. Batherson needs to produce points at this level to justify his presence. There are plenty of young guys, hungry and knocking at the door for the opportunity that he has.

Besides, after the failures of Cody Ceci and Curtis Lazar, the Senators almost surely won’t hesitate to return him to Belleville.

Bet, Man

How does the old saying go? “A fool and his money are soon parted”?

That’s why, when I bet, I seldom make it with money. So when my Leaf fan friend Dakota Vine, of the exceptional At the 55 Podcast that you should definitely check out, challenged me to a friendly wager, we had to get creative.

Folks, I stood up for all of us, but Lady Luck just wasn’t on my side this time.

Don’t worry though, our hero (me) didn’t go down without a fight.

Ugh, this is going to be a long week. At least he has his pants on in this photo, though.

Baby Blessings

There are few people that deserve more blessings than Erik and Melinda Karlsson. From Erik’s heroic on-ice performances, to Melinda’s selfless anti-bullying efforts, they are truly quality people that are sorely missed in Ottawa.

Most of us were, naturally, worried when it was announced that Erik would be missing the season opener due to a “personal matter”. And when that extended into Friday, our collective concern continued to grow.

Until, the King himself took to Instagram.

After everything that these two have been through, it is truly heartwarming to see them so happy and fulfilled. On behalf of all of us here at Silver Seven, I would like to extend my most heartfelt congratulations to the entire Karlsson family.

Welcome to the world, Harlow Rain Karlsson.


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