Ottawa Senators Ups and Downs: Week 23
Smith scores his way into Biggest Gains, while Hoffman's demotion has him as Biggest Losses
Things finally seemed to break among the fandom this week. TSN hosts, TSN callers, the blogosphere, and everyone else seemed to hit a breaking point with this week's 6-2 loss to the Panthers. I can't guarantee it'll lead to changes, but at least most people seem to think something needs to change.
He probably isn't some newly-discovered offensive dynamo. It's highly unlikely that he suddenly discovered the trick to being great in his sixth NHL season at age 27. But none of that should matter. Right now, he has a goal in five straight games. He's made an argument for being the team's most reliable scoring LW. If Ottawa was pushing to the playoffs, I'm sure we'd all be a lot more excited for a guy having a career year in a huge way. I'm a little worried that a year from now our GM will offer him the Clarke MacArthur contract, but for now, I'm loving his success.
Biggest losses: Mike Hoffman
He isn't scoring, and it's led to demotion. He's a spent a bunch of time benched, a bunch of time toiling in the bottom six. It's looking more and more like the team will look to trade him in the summer rather than commit to him long-term. For now though, it's no fun watching the guy with the best release on the team fail to bury it over and over and over.
| Goaltenders | Trend | Notes |
| Craig Anderson |  | Bad loss to the Cats, great shutout of the Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, shutting out the Leafs doesn't get you the plus it would've a decade ago |
| Andrew Hammond |  | I think that game against the Hurricanes was good on his part |
| Defensemen | ||
| Mark Borowiecki |  | It'll be a few months until he starts working out again |
| Cody Ceci | | That game against the Hurricanes gives us hope for Ceci's future |
| Erik Karlsson | | Really doesn't look himself. At least got two points against Florida |
| Michael Kostka | | Ottawa's best possession player against the Cats. Not sure why he gets the call-up over Claesson though |
| Marc Methot |  | Everyone's having a bad season, so it's hard to hold too much against him |
| Dion Phaneuf | | I actually quite liked Phaneuf's week |
| Chris Phillips | | Hi Chris! |
| Chris Wideman | | Not great in two games this week, scratched in the other |
| Patrick Wiercioch | | One game this week and it was fine. He's four short of his career high in games, and I'm not positive he'll pass it. |
| Forwards | ||
| Alex Chiasson | | No big gaffes stick out for me, so that's a small plus |
| Ryan Dzingel | | OK week for Dzingel? Well, he got another goal so that's good |
| Dave Dziurzynski | | No one's even talking about him anymore |
| Scott Gomez | | His line against the Leafs managed one shot on goal and allowed seven |
| Mike Hoffman | | See Biggest Losses |
| Curtis Lazar | | He's rounding into a perfectly capable fourth-line centre, which is great considering how hyped he was a year ago |
| Clarke MacArthur | | Looks like this season's pretty much out of the question |
| Chris Neil | | 37 more games to 1000 |
| Jean-Gabriel Pageau | | Three assists against Toronto almost gets him an up arrow. Almost. |
| Nick Paul | | Got scratched one game this week, which surprised me a little |
| Matt Puempel | | Got into one game this week, so it's a good thing Prince was traded so he could get a real NHL shot |
| Bobby Ryan | | If it weren't for Methot, Ryan would be running away with this year's coveted "cost-per-point" trophy |
| Zack Smith | | See Biggest Gains |
| Mark Stone | | Five more points for Ottawa's sophomore slumper (according to media reports around a month ago) |
| Kyle Turris | | Shutting him down for the season was definitely the right choice |
| Mika Zibanejad | | Has a chance to take over the #1 centre spot, and isn't showing much good or bad in the role, which is probably bad overall |
Special thanks to our friend winterion at Japers' Rink for our icons!