–Daniel Alfredsson did not participate in the morning skate today, but Mike Hoffman did. While it seems unlikely that Hoffman will play, Paul MacLean wouldn’t discount it.
–Paul MacLean talked about the Sens problems in their own zone:
In the game we feel we had, depending on who counts the scoring chances against, 10, 11 or 12. Four of them we had the puck on our stick, in our zone, and didn’t make the next pass to get it out of our zone. That turned into a scoring opportunity for them, and ultimately the goal that won the game. It’s been something we’ve worked on as a team, all year long, our execution with the puck, especially in the defensive zone. If there’s one thing we can do better, moving forward as a team, is to execute better, talk to each other, listen to each other … especially in our own defensive zone when we have the puck.
–Don Brennan has decided to start pumping Bobby Butler‘s tires, which is about as random as things get, but Paul MacLean did say “I thought Bobby skated real hard, played with a lot of energy. He got after the puck, shot the puck. It was a good game for him.” He did play hard, but playing hard isn’t why you put him in the lineup–the entire Sens roster plays hard–Butler needs to produce to be effective.
–Joy Lindsay writes about Binghamton’s forwards at the end of the season, with the main takeaway being that Pat Cannone was named the team’s top defensive forward.
-Here’s my profile of Mika Zibanejad.
–Jacob Silfverberg‘s Brynas lost again yesterday so their series (which they lead 3-0) will go to a sixth game.
–Stefan Noesen‘s Plymouth Whalers were eliminated last night.
–Raffi Torres knocked out Marian Hossa last night. It helped the Coyotes win and will losing Torres to suspension really hurt Phoenix going forward? The media was all over Torres and I have to wonder if for once the NHL is going to put the hammer down with a significant suspension.
-The International Scouting Service (ISS) has released their latest rankings and here’s the top-30 which features many changes (for the previous list go link; I’ve listed previous rankings in brackets where applicable):
1. Yakupov, Nail, LW 10/6/93 L 5.10.5 189 Sarnia OHL
2. Forsberg, Filip, RW 8/13/94 R 6.01 176 Leksands SweAl (4)
3. Grigorenko, Mikhail, RW 5/16/94 L 6.03.25 200 Québec QMJHL (2)
4. Murray, Ryan, LD 9/27/93 L 6.00.5 201 Everett WHL (3)
5. Trouba, Jacob, RD 2/26/94 R 6.02 196 USA Under-18 NTDP
6. Dumba, Matt, RD 7/25/94 R 5.11.75 183 Red Deer WHL
7. Rielly, Morgan, LD 3/9/94 L 5.11.5 190 Moose Jaw WHL (8)
8. Teuvo Teravainen, LW, 09/11/94, 5.11 161 Jokerit FinE (29)
9. Ceci, Cody, RD 12/21/93 R 6.02.5 207 Ottawa OHL
10. Reinhart, Griffin, LD 1/24/94 L 6.03.75 207 Edmonton WHL
11. Gaunce, Brendan, C 3/25/94 L 6.02 215 Belleville OHL (7)
12. Collberg, Sebastian, RW 2/23/94 R 5.11 Vastra SweJE (11)
13. Maatta, Olli, LD 8/22/94 L 6.01.5 202 London OHL (12)
14. Galchenyuk, Alexander, RW 2/12/94 L 6.00.5 198 Sarnia OHL (16)
15. Faksa, Radek, LW 1/9/94 L 6.03 202 Kitchener OHL (17)
16. Finn, Matthew, LD 2/24/94 L 6.00.25 195 Guelph OHL (13)
17. Aberg, Pontus, LW 9/23/93 R 5.11 187 Djurgarden SweE (15)
18. Koekkoek, Slater, LD 2/18/94 L 6.02 184 Peterborough OHL
19. Pouliot, Derrick, D 1/16/94 L 5.11.25 186 Portland WHL
20. Laughton, Scott, C 5/30/94 L 6.00 177 Oshawa OHL (NR)
21. Girgensons, Zemgus, F 1/5/94 L 6.01.25 201 Dubuque USHL (21)
22. Kerdiles, Nicholas, C/L 1/11/94 L, 6.01.5 200 USA Under-18 NTDP (27)
23. Sissons, Colton, C/R 11/5/93 L 6.01 189 Kelowna WHL (26)
24. Skjei, Brady, LD 3/26/1994 L 6.03 203 USA Under-18 NTDP (14)
25. Lindholm, Hampus, LD 1/20/94 L 6.02.5 196 Rogle SweJE (NR)
26. Dalton Thrower, D, 12/20/93 R 5.11.00 179 Saskatoon WHL (21)
27. Wilson, Thomas, RW 3/29/94 R 6.03.5 203 Plymouth OHL (NR)
28. Bystrom, Ludvig, LD 7/29/94 L 6.00.75 208 Modo SweE (22)
29. Hertl, Tomas, LW 11/12/93 L 6.02 198 pounds Slavia CzeE (23)
30. Zharkov, Daniil, F 2/6/94 L 6.03 197 Belleville OHL (NR)
Falling out of the top-thirty: Stefan Matteau (24), Mike Matheson (25), Anton Slepyshev (28), and Jarrod Maidens (30).
This article is written by Peter Levi, be sure to follow @eyeonthesens
