Silver Nuggets: Rebuild begins; Alfredsson relieved; Elliott numéro un
The Ottawa Senators have today off before hosting the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night. The Sabres were actually behind the Senators for the first third of the season and were four points behind the Senators on December 28. Since then, without Jason Spezza, the Senators have gone 1-8-3 while the Sabres have gone 8-3-1. For all the doom and gloom (and yes the Senators have problems), the Senators would not have been this bad a team had Jason Spezza been around. In any case, here are the various rebuilding headlines and some other news.
General Sens News
- A great analysis of Eugene Melnyk's plans for this team by our very own Darren. (Silver Seven Sens)
- Daniel Alfredsson is happy to know that Cory Clouston and Bryan Murray will survive to the end of the season. (Sun, Citizen)
- For those of us (me) hoping for Robin Lehner to be called up and Brian Elliott to be banished to Siberia for a winter of hard labour, there is bad news. Brian Elliott will be the Senators' goalie the rest of the way. (Sun, Citizen)
- Chris Neil's eye is thankfully okay. (Sun)
- Wayne Scanlan tells us to prepare for the painful rebuild. Not only did he sell the 13th place Senators woefully short as the 14th place Senators, but he has no faith in Robin Lehner fixing everything next season. (Citizen)
A little bit more after the jump.
General Hockey (and some football) News
- Sidney Crosby is officially out of the All-Star game, while Evgeni Malkin is unlikely to play. Rumour has it that Gary Bettman is looking into a postponement of the All-Star game. I kid, I kid. (Yahoo!)
- Mike Komisarek has allegedly punched a woman in the face. (Yahoo!)
- Foppa returns? (Yahoo!)
- While completely unrelated to hockey, here is a clip of Rex Ryan throwing his headset along with his hat and mouths an obscenity as the Jets are eliminated. F-e-e-t feet feet feet! (YouTube)