The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Things are not good in the nation's capital as fans are asking for the heads of general manager John Muckler and coach Bryan Murray. In fact, fans have created sites such as www.firemuckler.ca and the same for Murray. I asked their thoughts on what they think the Senators should do. Brent Lethbridge: Who cares about the Senators. I wrote in this column weeks ago that until they get a real goalie just forget about it. Ray Emery is not the guy, yes his stats are impressive but stats don't win games. Giving up fewer goals than the other team does. Now a real surprise would have to be the Maple Leafs. Go figure that one. I called them to be miserable, but under Maurice and a lot of offence from Sundin they have performed beyond my expectations. The Canucks also surprised me with a decent start, but the Flames are well below expectations, but for some reason I am not worried about them. Now a team that is in trouble are the Oilers. Lupul for Pronger and the addition of Sykora are not going to put this team back in the playoffs. Things will get ugly there before long. Of final note to my surprise is the play of those Islanders. They are over .500 with Ted Nolan and Garth Snow running the show. Who would have thunk it. Someone must have told Yashin to start shooting the puck, 'cause its going in the net. My sentimental favourite are the Atlanta Thrashers 'cause they were smart enough to get my sister-in-law to sing the national anthems the last time the Maple leafs came to town. Yes a good ole Flin Flonian gal now has sung the anthems for both the Jets and the Thrashers. That's a first in the NHL. Go Jen Go!!! Shaun Strom: If you're ranked 13th in the Eastern Conference and have a line up which includes big name players such as Danny Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Daniel Alfredsson, then something has to be wrong. Recently, Ottawa coach Bryan Murray and GM John Muckler have been taking great amounts of heat from the aggravated Sens' fans about the team's 5-8-1 record. It seems to be a trend to squarely place all the blame on the management staff, when really, all they do is pick and choose who to play and when. It all comes down to team performance and chemistry. It appears the Sens should be doing fairly well in the first quarter of the season, racking up 43 goals, (Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson only scoring a combined 18) which so far places them 15th in the NHL scoring race. But have a look at who's in front of them. Ten of the 14 teams that are outscoring Ottawa are in the extremely competitive Eastern Conference. That being said, It doesn't place the team in a very easy situation to put up wins, but at the same time, the Ottawa Senators aren't paying millions just so their top line will only occasionally score. Personally though, it's still very early in the season, (much to early to be pointing fingers just so you can have someone to blame). Tanner Brough: The day everything went wrong (this time) for the Sens was the day they hired Muckler. He's brutal. Everyone's gonna say, "he's a winner" but that's a bunch of crap. He never won in Buffalo. The only reason he won anything in Edmonton was all thanks to Glen Sather, who is winning in New York as we speak. This GM is so overrated it's stupid. I guess Chara was a bigger asset in Ottawa than anyone thought. Muckler kept Redden, who has been injured all year, and Chara went to Boston and became their captain. Muckler must be up all night wondering why he couldn't offer big money to the BIG Z. There is a boat load of talent on that team and I think they need new leadership in that room, not only Daniel, but Murray has to go as well. Change the GM, coach, and captain and then maybe they'll be looking towards spring time hockey in Ottawa.
