Ottawa Senators 2013-14 Season Primer
  • Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:

    Even with Erik Karlsson, Craig Anderson, Milan Michalek, and Jason Spezza missing significant chunks of the 2013 campaign, the Ottawa Senators still somehow managed to make the playoffs for the second straight season.

    The Senators certainly look like a team on an upward trajectory, but that doesn’t change the fact that it will be weird to see Ottawa play this season. After 1,178 games with the team, former captain Daniel Alfredsson decided to take his talents to the Detroit Red Wings this season. Combine that with the departure of Sergei Gonchar, and this is a team that needs new leaders.

    Fortunately they have worthy candidates, with Jason Spezza – the last member of Ottawa’s successful Pizza Line that also featured the former captain and Dany Heatley – being one of the best examples.

    On the ice, the Senators don’t look worse than they did in 2013. The acquisition of Bobby Ryan more than makes up for the offense they lost in Alfredsson and given their respective ages, it’s obvious that the Senators have more to gain in the long run from Ryan than they did from Alfredsson.

    A fresh start after the flurry of 2013 injuries will certainly help too. Every team has to deal with them, but it’s doubtful that Ottawa will have nearly as much bad luck in 2013-14.

    The Senators are still a young team, but they’re largely past the rebuilding phase. This is a team that’s built to compete now as well as in the future and should challenge for the Atlantic Division title.

  • Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:

    Dobber’s lowdown on: Cory Conacher – You know who’s not a fan of Conacher? Coach Paul MacLean. And that’s not a good thing. I say this with my fantasy hockey goggles on because I’m sure the coach likes Conacher, but looking at the numbers it sure doesn’t look that way. Conacher’s ice time was lower than it was in Tampa Bay – and lower still in the postseason. His production went down, his power-play time went down and he was even getting scratched. When Conacher joined the team, MacLean gave him four games to prove himself. In those first four games his ice time was up around 15 minutes per game. But he had one point to show for it and after that his ice time hovered around 12 minutes. You only get one chance at a good first impression. I’d project at least 15 more points for him had he stayed in Tampa.

    You would have thought that Turris produces more when Spezza is out of the lineup and he’s the No.1 guy. But actually, Turris had five points in the five games that Spezza played…and then another three points in the three playoff games that Spezza played. Small sample size, but it’s enough to convince me that Turris is not any worse with a healthy Spezza.

    Both Spezza and Ryan have a habit of mediocre first halves and huge second halves. If that happens again, this time they’re teammates – think ‘perfect storm’.

    Wiercioch had a tough time the first two years after he turned pro, but last season he found the switch and flicked it on. His AHL production matched that of the year before, but in half the games. And he turned his minus-14 into a plus-10 for Binghamton. In Ottawa, his impressive play continued. When Karlsson was injured, Wiercioch gradually took the reins and put up solid numbers. However, MacLean is still holding down his ice time, which is why I don’t project a big jump in his production even though this time he’ll have a healthy Karlsson. He’ll be a good one, but I want to give it another year yet.

    The player who clicked with Jakob Silfverberg the most was Zibanejad. He had 11 of his 20 points with Silfverberg on the ice with him. If Ryan replaces Daniel Alfredsson, MacArthur replaces Silfverberg. Long term, that’s a step down. But for this year, that’s a fair swap of linemates.

Follow link for more info and stats

Additions: D Joe Corvo, G Andrew Hammond, F Ludwig Karlsson, F Clarke MacArthur, F Buddy Robinson, D Troy Rutkowski, F Bobby Ryan.

Subtractions: F Daniel Alfredsson, D Andre Benoit, F Pat Cannone, F Louie Caporusso, D Sergei Gonchar, F Hugh Jessiman, D Geoff Kinrade, F Guillaume Latendresse, D Mike Lundin, F Stefan Noesen, F Peter Regin, F Jakob Silfverberg, F Roman Wick.

Promotion candidates: LW Dave Dziurzynski, C Mike Hoffman, C Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C Shane Prince, LW Matt Puempel, RW Mark Stone

Player salaries: $52,377,500 (23)
Cap Number: $56,935,833
Bonuses: $850,000
Cap Space: $8,214,167
Forwards: $33,532,500 (14)
Defensemen: $19,145,833 (7)
Goalies: $4,057,500 (2)
Source: CapGeek

Forwards
Bobby Ryan – Jason Spezza – Milan Michalek
Cory Conacher – Kyle Turris – Clarke MacArthur
Colin Greening – Mika Zibanejad – Zack Smith
Erik Condra – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Chris Neil
Jim O’Brien – Matt Kassian

Defensemen
Marc Methot – Erik Karlsson
Patrick Wiercioch – Jared Cowen
Chris Phillips – Joe Corvo
Eric Gryba

Goalies
Craig Anderson
Robin Lehner

2013 Ottawa Senators Draft Results 

Rd. Draft # Player Team Pos.
1 17 Curtis Lazar Edmonton (WHL) C
3 78 Marcus Hogberg Linkoping Jr (SWE) G
4 102 Tobias Lindberg Djurgarden Jr. (SWE-JR. ) RW
4 108 Ben Harpur Guelph (OHL ) D
5 138 Vincent Dunn Val-D’Or (QMJHL ) C
6 161 Chris Leblanc South Shore (EJHL) RW
6 168 Quentin Shore U. of Denver (WCHA) C

Ottawa Senators Top Prospects

NHL.com Hockey Prospectus Dobber Prospects Hockeys Future The Hockey News
1 Robin Lehner Cody Ceci Robin Lehner Mika Zibanejad Curtis Lazar
2 Cody Ceci Robin Lehner Cody Ceci Robin Lehner Matt Puempel
3 Matt Puempel Mark Stone Curtis Lazar Curtis Lazar Cody Ceci
4 Jean-Gabriel Pageau Curtis Lazar Jean-Gabriel Pageau Cory Conacher Mark Stone
5 Shane Prince Jean-Gabriel Pageau Matt Puempel Cody Ceci Mark Borowiecki
6 Curtis Lazar Shane Prince Mark Stone Patrick Wiercioch Chris Driedger
7 Mike Hoffman Mikael Wikstrand Mikael Wikstrand Mark Borowiecki Marcus Hogberg
8 Mark Stone Matt Puempel Chris Driedger Jean-Gabriel Pageau Stephane Da Costa
9 Mark Borowiecki Stephane Da Costa Shane Prince Matt Puempel Tobias Lindberg
10 Chris Driedger Mike Hoffman Mark Borowiecki Chris Driedger Vincent Dunn

2012-13 Ottawa Senators Player Stats

Player
Pos
GP
G
A
P
+/-
PIM
PP
SH
GW
OT
S
S%
Kyle Turris
C
48
12
17
29
6
24
3
0
2
1
118
10.2
Sergei Gonchar
D
45
3
24
27
4
26
2
0
3
1
85
3.5
Daniel Alfredsson
R
47
10
16
26
1
33
3
0
2
0
101
9.9
Mika Zibanejad
C
42
7
13
20
9
6
3
0
0
0
90
7.8
Jakob Silfverberg
R
48
10
9
19
9
12
2
1
2
0
134
7.5
Colin Greening
C
47
8
11
19
5
11
2
0
2
0
80
10
Patrick Wiercioch
D
42
5
14
19
9
39
3
0
0
0
81
6.2
Zack Smith
C
48
4
11
15
-9
56
0
0
0
0
94
4.3
Erik Karlsson
D
17
6
8
14
8
8
2
1
2
0
79
7.6
Chris Phillips
D
48
5
9
14
-5
43
1
0
0
0
89
5.6
Milan Michalek
L
23
4
10
14
8
17
0
0
0
0
58
6.9
Chris Neil
R
48
4
8
12
0
144
0
0
3
0
87
4.6
Erik Condra
R
48
4
8
12
3
34
0
0
0
0
73
5.5
Marc Methot
D
47
2
9
11
2
31
0
0
0
0
53
3.8
Guillaume Latendresse
L
27
6
4
10
-2
8
1
0
0
0
53
11.3
Andre Benoit
D
33
3
7
10
-3
8
1
0
2
0
50
6
Jim O’Brien
C
29
5
1
6
-2
8
1
0
0
0
38
13.2
Eric Gryba
D
33
2
4
6
-3
26
0
0
0
0
51
3.9
Cory Conacher
C
12
2
3
5
6
4
0
0
1
0
14
14.3
Jason Spezza
C
5
2
3
5
3
2
1
0
0
0
12
16.7
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
C
9
2
2
4
3
0
0
0
2
0
14
14.3
Kaspars Daugavins
L
19
1
2
3
-7
9
0
0
0
0
23
4.3
Peter Regin
C
27
0
3
3
-4
8
0
0
0
0
37
0
Dave Dziurzynski
L
12
2
0
2
-1
13
0
0
0
0
20
10
Stephane Da Costa
C
9
1
1
2
-3
0
0
0
0
0
15
6.7
Jared Cowen
D
7
1
0
1
1
10
0
0
0
0
8
12.5
Matt Kassian
L
15
1
0
1
0
47
0
0
0
0
6
16.7
Mike Lundin
D
11
0
1
1
-2
0
0
0
0
0
13
0
Mark Borowiecki
D
6
0
0
0
1
18
0
0
0
0
1
0
Derek Grant
C
5
0
0
0
-1
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
Mark Stone
R
4
0
0
0
-1
2
0
0
0
0
3
0
Mike Hoffman
C
3
0
0
0
-1
2
0
0
0
0
6
0
Player
GP
GS
W
L
OT
SA
GA
GAA
Sv
Sv%
SO
G
A
Craig Anderson
24
24
12
9
2
677
40
1.69
637
0.941
3
0
0
Ben Bishop
13
12
8
5
0
399
31
2.45
368
0.922
1
0
0
Robin Lehner
12
12
5
3
4
424
27
2.2
397
0.936
0
0
0

 

Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.