Jump to content
Jambands.ca

Go Sens Go - Fan Forum


rubberdinghy

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 4.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Sens seem to be in tough... but I still got my rose colour glasses on.

Reddens playing pretty well... I've seen Phillips have as rough a time this year getting exposed 2-1 deep in their own zone on turnovers... I think the problem lies with the forwards this year, thanks to the cry of having more secondary scoring (not getting back in the zone thanks to another year of getting away from Jacques Martins system, and yes... it's exposing a lack of depth this current roster has), which is why a top 6 guy that can shut down (ala Phalson/Draper) would be pretty useful about now... that would open it up a bit for guys like Fisher and Vermette to fill in the secondary scoring. But all in all I'd rather be peaking in a couple months and get all this injury, trades and drama bullshit out of the way, than peaking now.

Edit to add:

I think the Donvon trade was made to hopfefully fill that gap, but unfortunately it's not looking so good now.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's make this short and to the point: Ray Emery doesn't need a suspension, he needs an intervention.

Look, it’s always possible that the Ottawa Senators bad boy goaltender will get the message after management fined him what is being called a “substantial†amount for yet another tardy arrival to the practice rink. It’s also possible -though certainly not logical - that he might also be shipped to the minors or that someone out there would be foolish enough to embrace him via a trade. You know; the old “change of scene†excuse.

But if that general manager steps forward and makes even a laughable offer for last season's Stanley Cup runner-up netminder you would legitimately question his sanity, much the way fans in Ottawa are questioning Emery's antics.

The simple fact is the kid has become toxic and not just because he was a few minutes late for practice Monday.

Emery has passed the stage of being "free-spirited" and of "moving to a different tune". He's now morphed into the worst possible world for an elite athlete; he has become a talent that is too much trouble for his team.

You really expect someone to make a trade for a guy like that?

I understand players go off course from time to time, but Emery has given every indication that he's a player who has gone off the tracks.

His latest late arrival comes after several late arrivals, a bizarre fight with a teammate who is generally regarded as his best friend on the team, a very public (and very vile) confrontation with an elderly driver on a highway exit ramp and a car accident during a high speed dash to try to catch a charter flight (that he ultimately missed).

Marry those incidents to a lackadaisical work ethic, a pattern of rage followed by contrition regarding how he's treated by coaches and teammates, on again-off again commitments to "try" to do better, and the very real fact that for too long a period of time he hasn't been performing like a rising star in NHL goaltending circles and it's pretty clear that some form of decisive action is needed.

I don't say these things without having a real-world understanding of the way things are today. I get the fact that things are different in the NHL then when I first came on the scene. I understand that the old iron-fist coach and the my-way-or-the-highway general manager are a thing of the past and rightfully so, but no matter what the changes in the world and in the world of sports, one thing never changes: once you've established who and what you are, you either are a part of the team or a part of the team's problem and Emery has become a serious problem.

It's not just the fact that they need him and he's not performing. It's not just the fact that, after a hot start, goalie Martin Gerber has reverted to the form that made him a liability last season. It's past that. Emery has become a problem in ways in which Gerber can't even seem to imagine. He's not just performing below par; he's performing in ways that are hurting his team and himself.

That's not cause for a warning or a fine or a suspension, that's the kind of criteria that calls for an intervention.

From today forward the Senators can't just be hoping for a change or even a trade. They have to be hoping that Emery will accept the fact that he needs the kind of help that will not only stop the slide, but start him down the road to reinventing himself.

They need to stop catering to his every whim - like hand-picking his goalie coach rather than using a member of the coaching staff. They need to stop issuing warnings and threats and maybe even suspensions and demotions and start taking action. The first one would be removing him from the team until he commits to the kind of step by step process that will eventually allow him to find his way back.

If that sounds harsh, well so be it. The reality, for both sides, is that the Senators can't really do anything else, not if they want to help Emery and themselves.

Hockey teams and especially hockey organizations often talk about being like a family, but a family generally doesn't trade away a family member who seems to be having problems. A family can be tough on a wayward son, but not so tough that it stops caring about what he does even when it hurts the family.

A family does whatever is necessary to take care of one of its own and lest we forget, Ray Emery, for more than a little while, was a big part of the Senators family. He was the goalie who stepped in, arguably before he was ready, and carried the load when then No.1 goalie Dominik Hasek deemed himself unfit to return to the lineup. He was the goalie who stepped in when Gerber was simply unable to play at the level for which the Senators spent a high draft choice and a great deal of money. He was the goalie who in the Eastern Conference final last spring helped his team past the favoured Buffalo Sabres, and he did it when there was no other goalie of consequence standing behind him.

He deserves consideration for that.

I don't know what Emery's problem is; I only see that, given his actions of late, he seems to have one and that an intervention might be the best way to help him solve it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Low Roller

If being four minutes late for practice is the worst this guy does, then the Sens should feel lucky.

Look at all the drug charges, domestic abuses, and gun crimes MLB, NBA, and NFL players are constantly surrounded by.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...