Silver Nuggets: Alfredsson possibly in last season; Might consider trade

Only three more days to go until the Senators begin their quest for Nail Yakupov the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup. Here are today's links, brought to you by me, the official ranter of Silver Seven Sens.

General Sens News

• This one hurts. Daniel Alfredsson admits that the upcoming season might be his last and he will play like it is. He also says that while he doesn't want a trade right now, things could change in February or March. With only $1 million due to Alfredsson next season, there is a very good chance that he hangs it up after this season, especially if the team is no closer to the playoffs. I guess I should off on putting an 'A' on my Spezza jersey. (Sportsnet)
• Les trios d'aujourd'hui sont: 1) Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Nikita Filatov; 2) Colin Greening - Mika Zibanejad - Daniel Alfredsson; 3) Nick Foligno - Stéphane Da Costa - Chris Neil; 4) Erik Condra - Zack Smith - Bobby Butler. So the the top two lines are the same, Da Costa replaces Smith on the third line, Smith replaces Zenon Konopka on the fourth line and Konopka sits. (Sylvain St-Laurent)
• The defensive pairings stay the same with Rundblad as the seventh man. The pairings again are: 1) Sergei Gonchar - Jared Cowen; 2) Erik Karlsson - Filip Kuba; 3) Chris Phillips - Brian Lee. (Sylvain St-Laurent)
• Peter Regin returns to practice, but no hitting allowed on him today. According to Steve Lloyd, he looks good and has a full range of motion on his shots. (Steve Lloyd)
• Paul MacLean sounds like he might be alternating Jared Cowen and David Rundblad in and out of the lineup at the start of the season. (Ottawa Sun)
• The Senators have three older defencemen in Chris Phillips (33), Filip Kuba (34), Sergei Gonchar (37) and three very young in Erik Karlsson (21), David Rundblad (20), Jared Cowen (20). Matt Carkner (30) and Brian Lee (24) are the others. You have to think Kuba is gone after this season, Gonchar after next season and Phillips possibly the season after. How long will it be until the Senators ice a defence of Rundblad, Cowen, Karlsson and three out of Brian Lee, Mark Borowiecki, Eric Gryba and Patrick Wiercioch? (Ottawa Citizen)
• The Senators are hoping Nikita Filatov can be the offensive spark plug that the club needs. He had a very good camp defensively, and while he didn't score a goal, he did get three assists and led the club with fifteen shots. Filatov obviously prefers playing with Jason Spezza, but points out that his line with Chris Neil and Zack Smith created chances as well. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Filatov is definitely confident in his abilities. In a fantasy hockey draft with Russian journalist Pavel Lysenkov, Filatov drafted...himself. HA! So awesome. (Pavel Lysenkov)
• The Senators might struggle, but if Zenon Konopka gets enough games, they'll at least goon it up frequently. Not particularly sure how much he will "protect" Erik Karlsson, David Rundblad or Mika Zibanejad though. I will say though, Konopka's nickname of Chris Neil as "Chrissie" did make me laugh. I am going to call him that from now on. (CBC)
• The Senators weigh in on the goal song choices in this video. I haven't seen it but from twitter responses, Daniel Alfredsson picked Nickelback while Bobby Butler and Erik Karlsson said anything but Nickelback. (Ottawa Senators)

Probably the most important video you will ever watch this season:

More after the jump.

General Hockey News

• The Yahoo! bloggers make their predictions for the Hart Trophy and other major awards, as well as the first coach to be fired, biggest surprise team (both good and bad) as well as the biggest free agent bust. (Yahoo!)
• The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins will have a joint effort to raise funds for the families of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. They will wear commemorative patches at their 13 October game, as well as a ceremonial face-off between Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. (Yahoo!)
• TSN released their list of the top 50 players in the NHL. Sidney Crosby leads the way at #1, followed by Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin rounding out the top five. There are no Senators on the list this year, Daniel Alfredsson was the only one last year. (1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50)