In case you’re living in a cave, you’d know that last night marked the beginning of the 09/10 NHL season. From reading several Sens blogs and forums, you can feel the excitement in Sens Nation. There’s a sense of anxiousness in the air and not because we’re worried but because we know our team is better and we want to see what they’re able to do this season. But guess what, we seem to be the only ones who think we’ll be good this season. Hockey “experts” are portraying us one of the most dysfunctional and least improved teams in the league. Want to know how bad we’re faring with the experts? Let me give you an idea

- TSN has us finishing at 24th overall with teams like Nashville and Florida doing much better than us.
- THN has us ranked at 22nd overall, again below teams like the Leafs and Coyotes.

I can probably find 10 more sites that predict us to finish in the bottom 5 of the league or the Eastern Conference but the matter fact is I don’t really care. Yes we lost a 50 –goal scorer but we replaced him with Kovalev, Cheechoo and Michalek who should all replace his production very nicely and probably give us a little more than what Heatley had to offer. And what these “experts” don’t put into account is that sometimes motivation and determination can mean much more than goals for and against. And luckily for us we have no lack of players who are motivated, all for different reasons. For starters, the whole team wants to prove that they can return to being a contending team and probably shove it in Heatley’s face when he gets bumped out of first round while the Sens continue on. Then we have the newcomers: Cheechoo; who wants to prove to everyone that he can return to the Richard winner he once was, Michalek who wants to prove to the Sens that he can be a sufficient replacement for Heatley and off course Kovalev who will want to show Gainey that it was a big mistake letting him go. And then we have our rookies: Karlsson, Regin and Carkner who all want to cement their spots on the team and make sure they become dispensable. And this brings us to the existing core including Spezza who is fighting for an Olympic roster spot while also showing his team he can be their go to guy. Then we have the likes of Fisher, Foligno, Shannon, Kelly and Neil who are either trying to show the team they are worth the money they are getting or that they’re worthy of a top 6 position.

So all in all, out players have a lot on stake and you can count on them treating every game like it’s the most important of their lives
Will we be a Cinderella Story and prove all those naysayers wrong or will our team be that bad?

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S19 Hockey Thoughts

Great start S19

About the position they finish at...I'm not there yet. I'm not too much of the predicting type, I'm afraid to jinx the team hahaha I'd rather take the season one game at a time and wait till at least half the season is in the books before making an assessment.

However, I still think they will do better than last season for the same points you brought up. Players wanting to prove their worth..others wanting to hold on to their spots..and of course proving to the world & themselves this is a better team than what we saw last year. I also have a feeling the coach will play a huge part in where they are come game #82.

Have a great season everyone! Lest hope for the best!

For me, the Sens are a fringe playoff team right now.

The injury to Markov will IMO bump us up a few spots.

I usually don't like to see key players get injured especially a player like Markov but I have to agree with you it will help us. And thanks Jas