Polls: It’s time to pick your Week 8 Big Ten football winners
Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor via Big Ten Network

Who wins Week 8 Big Ten football games? Click inside to pick your winners for all seven games, including a trio on BTN/BTN2Go.

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Guest Post: @StefanWolejszo looks at Cody Ceci’s contract situation
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


OTTAWA, ON – APRIL 26: Cody Ceci #5 of the Ottawa Senators looks on prior to a face-off in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Montreal Canadiens during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on April 26, 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Ottawa Senators by defeating them 2-0 and move to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)



Over the past few months, I’ve received a few guest post submissions from the criminally underrated and underfollowed Stefan Wolejszo (@StefanWolejszo). I don’t know why you wouldn’t be, but if you’re a Sens fan (or even if you’re not), give him a follow on Twitter.

Like the blog title states, in his latest piece, Stef examines the Cody Ceci contract situation and makes a case for what kind of terms Ceci should be in line for. It’s a great read that encapsulates the problems that Ceci’s next contract present to the organization.

So without further ado, here’s Stefan:

The Ottawa Senators were faced with two major RFA contract negotiations this summer, and when Mike Hoffman and the team agreed to a new four year deal attention immediately shifted to Cody Ceci.

The Senators are rumored to have had several offers on the table along the way, but the team now appears to be favoring a two year bridge deal with a reasonable dollar figure attached to it. For their part, Ceci’s camp reportedly proposed a six-year deal with an AAV around $4.25M.

As is always the case with RFA negotiations, teams can opt to pay a higher price now to lock a key part of their team in to a favorable deal now, or they can pay less now and risk having to pay through the nose in the next deal. There are plenty of examples of both good and bad RFA decisions. For example, Senators fans will remember how locking Jared Cowen in to a deal with term worked out (and it could have been much worse), while Montreal’s decision to bridge PK Subban led them to open up the vault two years later. The trick is identifying players the team should build around, and are worth long term investments, while avoiding long and expensive contracts on marginal talent.

Although he will never be as polarizing a figure as Patrick Wiercioch, who was the analytics versus eye test poster child, it is clear that there is some disagreement about what Ceci is actually worth. Fans into hockey analytics often point to Ceci’s underwhelming metrics (particularly his “Rel” numbers) and cite this as evidence that Ceci has far from established himself as a legitimate second pairing defender. On the other hand, Ottawa Senators management seem to have a much higher opinion of Ceci, and based on the fact that his name came up as a key piece that Tampa Bay was asking for in return in a rumored Jonathan Drouin trade last season it appears that other teams also regard him highly.

I think the truth is in somewhere in between these two positions.

The issue is that in order to accurately assess his value all of our numbers have to be put in the right context so that we avoid punishing or rewarding him for things that out of his control. With the end goal of highlighting contextual factors that can lead to over- or under-valuing Ceci, this article will be broken down into three components. The first will focus on the larger context of Ceci getting his opportunity to stick with the big club, the second will look at numbers that suggest Ceci is very valuable, and the third will focus on metrics that highlight red flags in Ceci’s play.

When everything is put into context it seems that establishing Ceci’s actual value is far from a cut-and-dried process.

Cody Ceci Gets his Chance

Things seemed to look bright for the Senators following the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season. In that campaign the team battled through key injuries and adversity to make the playoffs and oust the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. Those were heady days for Senators fans, and the team looked as though it was on the brink of something special.

In the victory over their hated rivals fans witnessed clutch goaltending by Craig Anderson, stellar play from Erik Karlsson (who is still better when he is on one leg than 99% of the D playing in the league), and Paul MacLean’s epic trolling of the Montreal players, coaching staff, and fans. Sure Daniel Alfredsson’s “probably not” response when asked whether the Sens could come back in the second round series against Pittsburg rankled a few fans, but in the end that comment could easily be dismissed as stoic realism.

That optimism ultimately fell like a house of cards that was built outside on a windy day. In the summer of 2013 Daniel Alfredsson opted to sign with the Detroit Red Wings amid rumors that the Senators presented low-balled a contract proposal to their long-serving captain. The Senators brought in Bobby Ryan hot on the heels of Alfie’s departure, but his 23 goal 48 point injury plagued season underwhelmed some fans. Jason Spezza became the captain after Alfie left, only to find that the barbs many fans reserved for him throughout his career became especially sharp after he took on this new role. A wildly inconsistent start to the season led to a portion of the fanbase to loudly call for Robin Lehner to assume the role of starting goaltender, but the team continued to pile up losses when he had the net following an injury to Craig Anderson.

Shortly after the season ended Paul MacLean, who had awarded the Jack Adams (coach of the year) Trophy the previous summer, was held out to dry as management accused him of not listening to his players and losing the room. Many fans also turned on MacLean due to frustration and bitterness as a result of being fed a steady dose of the Greening-Smith-Neil (GSN) line. The 2013-14 had many lowlights and precious few highlights.

In the midst of that winter of discontent, with Mark Methot sick and Jared Cowen serving a suspension, Cody Ceci was called up from Binghamton and given his first opportunity to show what he can do in the big leagues. Ceci provided one of the most memorable moments of the season when he scored his first NHL goal in OT versus the St Louis Blues on December 16:


Within a short amount of time the team started to float out that Ceci “stabilized the defense,” which was puzzling to some. Leading up to Ceci’s promotion the team was actively shopping for a defenceman that could help turn the tide after a sluggish start to the season. At that point in time questions surrounding the team’s internal budget dogged the Senators.

Fans, who were still feeling the sting of Alfie’s departure, were left swearing under their breath when respected hockey figures like Bob McKenzie publically discussed how any move the Senators made would have to be “dollar in – dollar out” because the team could not afford to add salary despite being near the bottom of the league in spending. Fans were left wondering whether Ceci was objectively good, or if he was simply good enough so long as he was playing under a cheap entry level contract.

The Argument that Ceci is Very Valuable

Cody Ceci was selected in the first found, 15th overall, in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Although he was the 9th of 13 defensemen taken in the first round, his 205 games played ranks 4th most among defensemen in his draft class behind only Morgan Rielly (236), HampusLindholm (236), and Jacob Trouba (211). Rielly is currently on a 6 year $30M deal, Lindholm is unsigned but his contract is expected to be in the $5M per year range, while a leaked contract demand showed Trouba initially asked for an eight-year deal valued over $56M. Given that Ceci has played almost as many games as the players it seems likely that he would see himself just under that category of value, so his initial ask for what works out to an AAV of about $4.25M over a six year term makes sense.

“Games played” is an interesting stat because it can be both a measure of skill and a measure of a team not having better options in their system. One approached to figuring out whether he earned his games played is to look at his production.

Production of Defencemen from 2012 (>100 GP)

Draft Position Drafted By Player GP G A Pts PIM PPG
6 Anaheim Hampus Lindholm 236 23 69 92 108 0.3898
5 Toronto Morgan Rielly 236 19 73 92 54 0.3898
9 Winnipeg Jacob Trouba 211 23 49 72 151 0.3412
22 Pittsburgh Olli Maatta 165 16 41 57 46 0.3455
15 Ottawa Cody Ceci 205 18 38 56 38 0.2732
2 Columbus Ryan Murray 160 9 40 49 58 0.3063
7 Minnesota Mathew Dumba 152 19 25 44 63 0.2895
60 New Jersey Damon Severson 123 6 32 38 54 0.3089

The above table shows the production of defensemen from the 2012 draft class who have played in more than 100 NHL to date.

Ceci’s 56 points is ranked 5th in this list behind Lindholm, Rielly, Trouba, and Olli Maatta. There appears to be a gap between the group that includes Lindholm, Rielly, and Trouba and the next tier has Maatta, Ceci, and possibly Ryan Murray.

In terms of contract Maatta signed a six deal with an AAV of $4.083M while Murray signed a two year bridge deal with a $2.825M AAV. For the sake of keeping apples and oranges separate, it is important to note that UFA years are more expensive than RFA years, so long term contracts that buy UFA years will typically cost more than bridge deals where players are still in the RFA years at the conclusion of the deal. Based on raw point output it appears that Ceci should command a shade over $3M per season on a bridge deal or an AAV just under $4M on a long term deal.

The Argument that Ceci is Not Very Valuable

The problem with using raw numbers is that external factors sometimes cloud the analysis.

For example, in the table I used in the last section Ceci was shown to have the 5th highest point total of the defensemen in his draft class. However, his high point total may simply reflect the fact that he played a lot more games than many of the players we are using as comparables, and the fact that he played many more games than most of his cohort may simply be a function of the Senators having limited options to fix their porous defense within a fixed budget.

So how can we assess the extent to which Ceci has earned his spot and games played? A good place to start is with points per game (PPG), which is in the last column in the previous section. Although Ceci is 5th in total points among defensemen in his cohort who have played more than 100 games, he is dead last in that group of eight players in PPG. Players like Lindholm and Rielly have set themselves apart from the crowd, while Trouba and Maatta form the next rung in the quality ladder. Ceci’s PPG is a bit below Mathew Dumba, who just signed a two-year bridge deal with an AAV of $2.55M.

Getting contracts right is really a matter of using the right metric.

If Ceci’s point total is used the team would be ok with giving him just above $3M, but if a standardized production rate is used the team should limit their offer to Ceci to and AAV of $2.5M or less on a two-year bridge deal.

Of course other factors are at play, and being a good defensemen is not exclusively about putting up points.

Sometimes toughness is valued among defensemen and teams are willing to pay for big players who like to rough it up on the ice. Trouba’s value, for example, is based in part on his physical presence. Considering the Penalty Minute totals from the table in the previous section it is safe to assume Ceci is not that type of player. Another way to look at quality of defensemen is to look at possession and goal differentials to see if they are helping or hurting the team when they are on the ice. Based on data from hockeyanlaysis.com, in his career to date when Ceci has been on the ice the Senators have produced 47.8% of even strength shot attempts (CF%) and 48.6% of even strength goals (GF%).

This is not stellar.

Ideally you want your top pairing to be above 50% in those numbers, and you understand that your bottom pairing is likely to get buried now and again (otherwise they would be top-four instead of bottom pairing). The middle pairing should be around 50% or just above in both shot attempts and goals.

Ceci’s underlying metrics appear to be damning.

In fact, his Rel numbers are commonly much worse. However, a note of caution has to be made here because some of Ceci’s metrics take a bigger hit than most players in the league due to contextual factors that have nothing to do with his play.

In particular, Ceci has (from an analytics perspective) had the misfortune to play on the right side behind Eric Karlsson. The fact that they play on defense and on the same side leads to an important contextual factor that has to be taken into account.

In his career Ceci has logged over 3000 minutes, but only 71.26 of those minutes have been with Karlsson.

In fact, since he came into the league Ceci has logged more minutes with Ryan Dzingel, Cory Conacher, and Nick Paul, than he has with Karlsson.

So why does this matter?

It matters because Karlsson’s metrics are all through the roof, and Ceci has the disadvantage of not being able to pad his stats by being on the ice with the best defensemen on the team. Also, when players are not playing with Ceci they are most often going to be playing with Karlsson, who often plays more than 30 minutes a night, so the “drag” Ceci appears to be having on players is somewhat exaggerated.

We should know up front that players will do better with Karlsson, and that should not be an indictment of Ceci’s skill. For this reason I think the fairest way to interpret how Ceci is doing is to stick with CF% and GF% and set aside trying to drill down deeper into relative numbers unless you have some way in mind that is fair to Ceci (David Johnson, founder of Hockey Analysis and Puckalytics, is an excellent resource for this type of question).

Conclusion

The Ottawa Senators are in a tough spot with Cody Ceci.

Based on his numbers it appears he was rushed into the league, and playing a lot of games has potentially influenced his contract demands. There is something to be said for expecting to get paid like a $4M defensemen if you are asked to play, and have played, the type of role associated with this level of pay. But at the end of the day Cody Ceci is not a $4M defenseman.

In fact, a compelling case can be made that he not even a $3M defenceman.

The end result in the ongoing contract negotiations will leave us with two competing factors that need to be pulled apart and debated. The first is it will provide some insight into the types of numbers the team is using to assess player value. The second is the contract will shed light into the premium the Senators were forced to pay to keep Ceci in the fold because there is currently a lack of great options behind him.

As I see it the over/under for evaluating how good a deal this will be is $2.5M (assuming a two-year term). I am guessing the deal will be bigger than that and shake down at about $6.25M total over two years. Even at that rate it would not be a horrible deal because at 22 years old Ceci is in his statistical prime.



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Pierre Dorion Speaks: Hoffman extension, Ceci megotiations, the blue line being set
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here



Senators general manager Pierre Dorion appeared on TSN 1200 last week to discuss the announcement of Mike Hoffman’s four-year contract extension with the Senators. The interview ran on the Wednesday, but I didn’t really have a chance to listen or go through it until this evening.

Rather than let Dorion’s comments disappear into the ether, I figured I’d talk about them now. Besides, it’s the beginning of August and I’m guessing most of you aren’t really interested in commentary on the Senators’ announcement of an extended corporate sponsorship with Mattamy Homes.

So without further ado, the full interview can be heard at the bottom of this post and here are my thoughts in bold.

On whether Mike Hoffman’s deal was a difficult one to finalize and how he settled on the structure of the deal…

“I wouldn’t call it difficult. Time consuming, for sure. This is definitely something that we’ve been working on for quite a while. After we got our coach named, it’s been probably the number one priority that we’ve been working on besides the draft. So this is something that both sides, I think, are fairly happy with. We’ve got Mike Hoffman, I think in the prime of his career, signed at what we feel is a good number and we’re ready to move forward. The second part of your question was how we got this (structure) is that obviously the first year is an RFA number, a restricted free agent number, with an arb(itration) number and after that, we bought, we feel we got three years of UFA numbers at which point Mike could have just walked away (from).”

When the terms of the deal were revealed, I was stunned that Hoffman did not get more money. Given his even strength production rates, the one-year remaining of team control, his impending arbitration hearing and the fact that the Senators did not have any in-house alternatives who are even close to replicating what he can bring to the table, I can’t believe that Hoffman’s representation didn’t get more money out of the Ottawa Senators – especially since Hoffman hasn’t exactly been utilized very well over the past two seasons. I guess I just expected these circumstances to create a situation wherein Hoffman took the Senators for all that he’s worth on the open market.

On how important it was to get this deal done before Mike Hoffman’s scheduled August 4th arbitration date…

“We felt that it was important to get it done, just so that we could avoid arbitration. We wanted to keep Mike here long-term. I think we’ve said that from the get-go that our goal was to try and sign Mike. And we knew if we went a second time to arbitration, this would probably create some conflict and the chances of us signing him long-term after the arbitration process could have been more difficult. So I think we came to an understanding earlier this morning and we feel that we got the player in his prime and we’re anxious to see how he is going to do with Guy Boucher as his coach.”

Considering how close Hoffman’s arbitration hearing was, I wonder how many trade offers or inquiries Pierre Dorion fielded on Hoffman.

On the relationship between Guy Boucher and Mike Hoffman…

“Oh, I think it’s a pretty good relationship from talking with… having not spoken with Mike directly except for a few times since the end of the season or actually, maybe once since the end of the season. But, (in) talking with Guy and talking with Mike’s agent, everyone’s pretty positive that we’re going to get a very productive player under Guy and someone that’s going to help us score goals. We’ve invested a lot of time in Mike Hoffman and to have a chance to lose him when he’s in his prime would be something that would be really detrimental to the organization. Getting him signed now to a longer term contract where he can just focus on helping us win and score goals is something that’s really beneficial.”

It could have been worse. It’s one thing to lose a guy in his prime, it’s another entirely to lose a guy for a nothing and have him to develop into a productive player elsewhere. It’s a good thing that Hoffman cleared waivers in September of 2013, otherwise we’d be talking about him like he was Pavol Demitra – another gifted offensive player who got away without anything to show for it.

On whether Guy Boucher is going to see Mike Hoffman in a more positive light…

“I don’t think there’s really much point to talk about what was done in the past, but I can tell you, in talking about the future with Mike here and with having Guy, I think there’s going to be a lot of communication. He’s coached this player before. The one thing is, you’re not getting a player that won’t know how to handle adversity or certain situations that a coach puts him under and I think this coach knows how to push the right buttons with Mike. Mike really had the breakthrough year with Guy when (he) was coaching in junior. A lot of things are different from junior than in the NHL, but I think having coached a player and having known the player can only help our organization and Mike to reach really his true potential.”

Armed with a new contract, expectations are going to rise for Hoffman, but given his previous even strength production, the bad luck that he had last season that comes with leading the league in hit posts and crossbars and how his role might expand under Guy Boucher, it’s not unreasonable to believe that Hoffman is capable of scoring 30-plus goals if he can remain healthy.

On Derick Brassard being a better fit than Mika Zibanejad because he’s a pass-first centre…

“I’m going to… we’re going to leave up who… whomever plays with whom, we’re going to leave that up to the coach. I think that’s for them and that’s probably one of the (most fun) parts (of the job) for a coach is deciding line matchups. But, whomever he decides to play with whom, if he goes back to (Mike) Hoffman, (Kyle) Turris and (Mark) Stone – which was one of the better lines in the first two months of the year in the NHL – or if he decides to put (Derick) Brassard up there and he puts (Bobby) Ryan… it’s up to him to decide what he wants to do. But having Derick Brassard, who’s a left-handed (shot) and more playmaking-type centre compared to a shooting centre like Mika, I think just adds other options to our top-six or top-nine forwards.”

I’ll talk about Ottawa’s left wing situation a little later on, but one of the things that will be interesting to watch in training camp is which centre he pairs his right wingers with. The prevailing belief is one that sees Derick Brassard flanked by Bobby Ryan, but with both players profiling as playmakers, it remains to be seen whether they can gel. Ryan’s had some fleeting moments alongside centres like Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad, but it’s never really felt like he’s clicked or had significant chemistry with any centre since he’s been here.

Mark Stone’s so smart and talented, there’s no fear that he can’t find a suitable match, but considering how much Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Zack Smith improved alongside Stone, the concern lies in how much worse that duo can be if they’re forced to play alongside a historical production and possession drag like Curtis Lazar or Chris Neil. The last thing the organization wants to see is the third line struggle out of the gate like it did last season, but the cost/benefit analysis of where to slot Stone is going to weigh heavily on the minds of Boucher’s staff. It’s one of the reasons why I was hoping that the organization could go out and sign a cheap alternative like Lee Stempniak. Right wing alternatives like Lazar and Neil just aren’t good enough and in the event of an injury to the top-six, Ottawa’s depth is really going to be tested.

On Mike Hoffman having long-term security for the first time in his NHL career and whether it’s different for him now knowing that he doesn’t have to prove himself any longer…

“Well, that’s exactly it. I think we’re looking for Mike Hoffman to come through and be even better for us. I don’t think Mike and a lot of people here in our organization feel that Mike has reached his true potential. I think at times, when guys are playing for contracts, they cheat and they just try and score goals. We want Mike to score goals, but play the right way – the way he did earlier in the year. I think later in the year, he was just looking to score goals instead of playing the right way. So I think in Mike’s case, he’s a very proud player. He thinks he can be a very dominant player when you talk to Mike. It’s not a cocky arrogance. He’s just confident in his abilities night in and night out. So I think that can only help this organization and Mike Hoffman to be the better player he can be and to help us win as many games as we can.”

On the surface, the numbers certainly support the position that Mike Hoffman got worse as the season dragged on.

Via the invaluable Corsica.Hockey, here are Hoffman’s five-on-five numbers from October through December contrasted with what he did from January through the rest of his season:

5v5 GP G/60 Pts/60 Rel CF% Rel SF% Rel GF%
Oct. through Dec. 34 1.37 2.86 4.45 3.03 21.8
Jan. through Apr. 44 0.63 1.68 1.18 0.95 -8.28



As the numbers clearly show, his production rates fell noticeably and when he was on the ice, with the exception of the Senators’ relative GF%, the Senators were still better with him on the ice than off. Granted, his relative numbers definitely took a hit in the second half of the season.

Looking a little deeper into his splits, it’s not like the Senators’ Corsi for or against rates or shots for or against rates jumped markedly.

5v5 On-Ice CF/60 CA/60 SF/60 SA/60
Oct. through Dec. 55.21 57.45 28.73 32.83
Jan. through Apr. 56.58 58.57 29.54 32.37



Whether Hoffman was truly guilty of cheating in the defensive end to create more offence is a matter of watching the games and breaking down the video. The numbers however portray a situation in the Senators gave up a similar volume of shots and shots on goal when Hoffman was on the ice.

To account for the massive swing in relative goals for percentage however, one just has to look at the luck-driven statistics to see what ailed Hoffman in the second half: the team’s shooting percentage and save percentage when Hoffman was on the ice at five-on-five took a massive nosedive.

5v5 On-Ice Sh% SV% PDO
Oct. through Dec. 12.55 93.94 106.49
Jan. through Apr. 7.09 91.59 98.68



After the first-half of the season that he had, it was natural to expect some kind of regression in the Senators’ on-ice shooting percentage, but coupled with the Senators’ goaltenders making fewer saves behind Hoffman, I can’t help but wonder if this is a classic case of results-based analysis in which Dorion romanticizes Hoffman’s overall performance in the first half of the season because he benefited from having greater luck.

I can understand the desire to make Hoffman a better all-around player by publicly describing his shortcomings as a player, but this seems like an instance where the organization has an easier time celebrating Hoffman’s overall performance when the results are there. For as much as we can discuss cheating within the defensive end, maybe it’s just as easy to: 1) question whether Hoffman pressed more as he approached the 30-goal plateau; 2) mention the number of times that Hoffman rang pucks off the iron; or 3) describe how the Senators’ rash of top-six injuries contributed to making the Senators and Hoffman easier to match up against.

On where things are going in the Cody Ceci negotiations…

“I think on Cody, it’s more… we’ve talked many situations. We’ve talked from one-year to six-year deals and we don’t seem to agree a lot on where we’re going, but I still feel very confident that he’ll play for us when the season starts. He’ll be here when training camp starts. It’s just there’s different types of deals coming out of entry-level (contracts) and here, we just want to make sure that we do what’s right for Cody (and) for the organization. We want to pay him fair value, but at the same time, we have got an idea of what Cody can be, but it could be even better. We want to make sure we’re fair towards him, but we’re fair towards the organization.”

Precisely.

Unfortunately for the Senators, they’ve lacked quality right-handed defensive alternatives which has put them in a situation wherein they have had to rely on Ceci to play a top-four role that he wasn’t quite ready for. Just because Ceci’s played top-four minutes on what’s been a high event/bad defensive team these past few seasons doesn’t mean that he should be paid commensurately to what a top-four defenceman makes on a good team.

Through the past few seasons, Ceci’s been a nominal top-four guy and few stretches of hockey alongside Patrick Wiercioch in 2014-15 and Dion Phaneuf in 2015-16, he hasn’t played at a high enough level for me to be comfortable with the idea of giving him a long-term contract.

At the risk of potentially costing the Senators a few more dollars down the road, I believe the Senators should give him a year alongside Dion Phaneuf to really flesh out what they have.

On whether previous long-term contracts that the organization have handed out before fuel a concern for giving one out to Cody Ceci…

“Nope. It’s a very simple answer: no. A lot of other contracts that were done, they were done… you guys know that once Tim (Murray) left, Bryan (Murray) was very kind to let me handle a lot of these negotiations of contracts. Everything ran through Bryan and it’s something I enjoy doing, but what’s done in the past, we can’t control. But we’re looking more for the future and if we feel that giving a long term to a player is the right thing for the organization and for the player, we’ll definitely do that. But at times, I’m more of the old school (mentality): let me see what you can do when, not when we’re a bad team. Let me see how good you are when we’re a good team and then we might look at giving you (a) long-term (contract). You guys are smart enough to read between the lines on this comment.”

Irrespective of whether a team is good or bad, a general manager should always be looking lock up a team’s best assets to cost-effective deals that give the organization the flexibility to allocate and put its remaining resources to use.

On Clarke MacArthur’s status and preparation for the coming season…

“I think I’ve alluded to this a few times. With Clarke, he could have played last year at the end of the year. He could have played. In the last week, he was cleared to play three or four games. I don’t want to be wrong on the exact number of games that were left, but he was medically cleared to play. We just felt, why take the risk? We weren’t going anywhere. A few more months of rest and hard training would be the best thing (for him). He’s one-hundred percent (healthy). He has had a great summer. He’s texted me a few times. He’s so anxious to start the season. If he’s there, our top-six forwards or top-nine forwards, I feel very comfortable with them being top-nine guys that could (get us into) the playoffs. So he’s going to be coming in. It will be interesting. He took a few hits last year in practice at the end when he was going full out and he didn’t have a non-contact jersey. So we feel really confident that Clarke’s going to be able to play and give us a good year. Sometimes you have those years where things don’t go your way and that was the case for Clarke, but I think he’s a high-character human being and a high-character player and we expect big things from Clarke this year.”

Even though I love Clarke MacArthur as a player, it would have been difficult to watch any member of the organization have to go through what he did last season.

Granted, he brought some of that onto himself by failing to disclose his concussion symptoms, but that’s a systemic problem brought about by hockey’s culture of hiding injuries – something that Gabriel Landeskog wrote about in a recent post for The Player’s Tribune.

For MacArthur, he probably wanted to get into a game down the stretch, so that he could clear that hurdle and ease his mind as he headed into the summer offseason, but even if he did, it’s going to be hard to watch him play and worry that he could be just one hit away from walking away from the game.

On recent moves reflecting a change to bring significant experience into the dressing room and whether that coincides with the impetus for this team to win now…

“Yeah, exactly. I’m tired of hearing (that the team is a few years away). Sometimes we’re a bit biased on the team that we have and maybe I’m too optimistic. I’m telling our fans, ‘Just look and see what we can do.’ But bringing in these people, these people aren’t coming in… Chris Kelly isn’t coming in here just to ride out his career. He’s coming in here to try and help us win. Derick Brassard knows the players in the league. He’s a big hockey fan. He looks at our team on paper and says, ‘This is a good hockey team.’ When we acquired Dion Phaneuf, it wasn’t so he could just play games and see where it goes. It’s for us to have that winning mentality and that’s what we’ve tried to do here. Ever since I took the (GM) job, I said, ‘I’m not looking at really improving our top-six forwards.’ I think we’ve done that right now in adding Derick Brassard and him taking the spot of Mika (Zibanejad). But at the same time, we’ve improved where I’ve felt we needed to improve, which was our character and leadership, helping to improve our penalty killing. So those are things that we’ve targeted more than just looking at bringing in a top name, because, I think on paper and I think with this coaching staff, we definitely have a playoff team.”

Derick Brassard sounds like he’s angling for a future in management.

It’s interesting hearing Dorion mention how he wanted to improve the team’s penalty kill unit. Last year, the Senators had one of the worst shorthanded save percentages in the league and compared to its recent history, the Senators allowed more shorthanded chances and shots.

CA/60 SA/60 SV%
2015-16 102.5 (25th) 59.2 (T-28th) 84.44 (29th)
2014-15 96.2 (15th) 53.6 (19th) 88.63 (8th)
2013-14 90.5 (7th) 52.7 (18th) 86.67 (T-23rd)
2012-13 90.4 (12th) 54.7 (26th) 92.49 (1st)



If there’s a saving grace, it’s not like the Senators have much room to get any worse, but as Scott Cullen pointed out on TSN in his write-up analysis of the Brassard/Zibanejad trade however, Zibanejad was one of the team’s better performers last season when killing penalties.

Hopefully a new coaching staff can help identify and remedy the issues otherwise, the last hope will be for the team’s goaltending to mask the PK unit’s underlying problems again.

On what he believes is the biggest question mark is on the team heading into training camp…

“I’m anxious to see how our special teams have to be better. To me, that’s one thing. I think that’s the biggest thing for me. Last year we were 27th and 29th in special teams and I hate to put a bit of pressure on our coaches, but that’s why we hired them. If we’re in the top-10, how many more points (in the standings) is that going to be? Does that automatically put us in a playoff spot? I think that’s probably the biggest key. Cutting our scoring chances against is another thing that I’m looking forward to. As far as player personnel, obviously Clarke will be a big question mark – how he reacts when the season gets going and when he handles a few hits. But, that’s one thing that I’m pretty positive about. (Do) you know what intrigues me the most? How our coach is going to juggle these lines. We pretty much know how our defence pairings are going to be. We pretty much know that (Marc) Methot is going to play with (Erik) Karlsson, (Dion) Phaneuf is going to play with (Cody) Ceci and (Mark Borowiecki) will play with (Chris) Wideman unless someone likes a (Fredrik) Claesson, (Michael) Kostka, (Ben) Harpur, (Pat) Sieloff or (Andreas) Englund comes in and challenges for (Borowiecki) or Wideman(‘s spot). But how will he play with our forward group? Who will he play with who? Who will he match up? Will he put (Curtis) Lazar back on right wing? Will (Chris) Kelly maybe play with (Jean-Gabriel) Pageau and (Curtis) Lazar if Lazar is on right wing? Where will Zack Smith fit in? Those are the things that probably excite me the most.”

It’s not some throwaway comment, the inclusion of “Cutting our scoring chances against is another thing that I’m looking forward to,” is great because it is evidence of what analytics the Senators rely on to track performance.

On a completely different note, it’s impossible to know whether the exclusion of Thomas Chabot from the third pairing conversation was intentional or an oversight, but good lord, it’s hard to imagine a team that is dead set on competing for a playoff spot is willing to roll with Mark Borowiecki as a regular.

On being excited to see what Mike Hoffman can do if he gets a bigger role on the power play…

“That’s a great point. When we did the interview with Guy, the first time it was just myself for about four and half hours, but the second time, it almost went eight hours or just under it. We started at quarter to one and went to about quarter to nine and (he talked about) how he was going to use Mike Hoffman on the power play and that was really appealing to me. Now it wasn’t the reason why we hired him, but how Mike Hoffman’s power play production will go up under the way that Guy wants to have him on the power play. So that’s another thing that is really exciting.”

More Hoffman power play production? Yes, more of that please.

Over the last two seasons, Hoffman has struggled to produce points with the man advantage, which is weird considering the ease in which he comes across them at even strength. Considering his skill set, it’s odd, so hopefully this is simply a matter of usage and philosophy which can bring out the best in Hoffman.

http://proxy.autopod.ca/download/podcasts/chum/186/44742/jul27dorion.mp3



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Breaking: Hoffman inks 4-year extension worth $5.1875 AAV
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here



Leave it to Elliotte Friedman to break the news and provide Senators fans with something to celebrate on a quiet Wednesday in July:


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I’m not going to lie, there were some days over the past two seasons when I truly believed that Mike Hoffman would not be an Ottawa Senator for the long haul.

Keep in mind that this is someone who a combined 56 goals across the last two seasons and has proven to be one of the game’s most prolific even strength scorers.

Looking at the last two seasons worth of data via HockeyAnalysis.com, of the skaters who played more than 2,000 five-on-five minutes, only five players had higher goals per sixty rates than Hoffman’s 1.17. The names above him — Vlad Tarasenko (1.28), Tyler Seguin (1.21), Patrick Kane (1.19), Corey Perry and Alex Ovechkin (both at 1.18) read like a who’s who of NHL elite goal scorers and Hoffman belongs in that same conversation.

Using the same criteria above, Hoffman’s the fifth-highest rated five-on-five producer. Averaging 2.37 points per sixty minutes of five-on-five ice time, only Vlad Tarasenko, Sidney Crosby, Jamie Benn and Patrick Kane have averaged more.

Yet despite this kind of production, it never really felt like the organization was that enamored with Hoffman.

From seeing his ascent up the lineup in Paul MacLean’s last days to being relegated to the depths of the lineup by Dave Cameron during Ottawa’s miraculous 2015 playoff run, it was hard to ever really feel comfortable believing that the Senators organization had bought into what Hoffman brought to the table.

Blown coverage, missed assignments and careless decisions with the puck inside the defensive zone often contributed to Hoffman being benched or receiving a diminished role under Cameron and in each of the past two years, the organization went out of its way to play up the fact that Hoffman’s scoring had a tendency to dry up when the games became more important.

Rather than focus on the vitally important things that Hoffman does well like driving shot volume and goal production, the organization and the media poked holes in his game, explaining the risks in giving Hoffman a long-term deal.

As a small market club that had been burned in the past by giving out term to undeserving players who rode the coattails of Ottawa’s skilled guys, maybe the organization felt obligated to get a deal that it wouldn’t regret.

Today, they got the right deal.

Sure, I suppose some can make the argument that because Hoffman asked for $3.4-million in arbitration last summer that some balance for compromise should have existed with the Senators offering him a long-term deal that carried a slightly higher average annual value than what Hoffman’s representatives filed with the arbitrator.

At the same time, there is the possibility that Hoffman was so confident in his ability to replicate last season’s numbers, he took the one-year deal out of arbitration knowing that a strong 2015-16 campaign would mean a larger payday down the road. In fact, in February of 2015, Hoffman even admitted to the Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan that he was not particularly interested in pursuing a long-term deal.

Without being privy to last summer’s contract negotiations, it’s impossible to know how far along discussions of a new long-term deal ever got between the two parties. Until either side really lets us in on how that process unfolded, it feels unfair to contrast the money involved now with the money that could have been saved had the organization signed Hoffman last summer.

Even if you feel that this did cost the Senators a little bit more money, here’s an affirmation that this is still a team-friendly deal:


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Given the circumstances and the fact that Hoffman’s camp had all of the leverage in these negotiations, I want to hug Pierre Dorion too.

Other Hoffman News and Notes:

• Hoffman will now be reunited with former junior coach Guy Boucher and provided that Hoffman’s even strength production rates continue to be strong, I’m curious to see how much Boucher and his power play expertise can boost Hoffman’s production further. To date, Hoffman hasn’t exactly put up the kind of power play numbers that are commensurate with his talents and skill set.
• According to the media’s conference call, Mike Hoffman’s contract comes with a ten-team no-trade clause that kicks in next summer.

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What DeKeyser’s Contract Means for Ceci
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


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This morning the Detroit Red Wings and restricted free agent Danny De… Christ what did he just sign for?!

That is a staggering amount of cash for a player who has failed to establish himself as a defensive or offensive defenceman in each and every one of the four seasons that he has played in during his career.

DeKeyser has only tallied 14 goals and 75 points in 234 career games and his career highs for goals and points in a season are eight and 31 respectively. Since he has never demonstrated that he’s been a consistent offensive producer, one would imagine that the metrics would portray DeKeyser as a shining defensive example, but even there, the numbers leave something to be desired.

Throughout DeKeyser’s career, his relative shot generation, relative shot suppression and relative possession numbers have been mediocre.

So what could help account for the fact that DeKeyser got such a lavish contract?

Well, to Detroit, he’s a known commodity who finished second on the Red Wings in average ice time per game with 21:48. Mixing in the fact that he only had one more year left of restricted free agent status probably helped, but if anything, it looks like DeKeyser is cashing in on the fact that he had a career year in terms of goals and primary point production.

Dominic Galamini’s Own the Puck website and its excellent ‘Hero Chart’ tool provide a great visual aid to depict how DeKeyser performed on the ice and in going through DeKeyser’s history, the production rates noticeably spiked from his career history.



Jeez, I wonder why those production rates spiked?

Oh, it probably had something to do with the fact that his shooting percentage was 11.1-percent last season – which was almost two and a half times higher than his previous career high. The boosted goal totals were luck driven.

But wait, this is a Senators blog, so why is any of this important?

Well, even though DeKeyser is four years older than Cody Ceci and again, had only one-year left of restricted free agent status (hence putting more pressure on the Red Wings to extend DeKeyser beyond this forthcoming season), it’s hard to ignore the similarities between their underlying numbers.

Again, using Own the Puck‘s comparison option in the ‘Hero Chart’ tool, it’s easy to see the similarities in the underlying numbers.



In my end of the year post eulogizing the 2015-16 Senators, I discussed the praise that Ceci received for his improved performance once Dion Phaneuf stepped into the lineup.


Like DeKeyser, Ceci’s production benefited from a massive spike in his shooting percentage that more than doubled his previous regular season high.

The concern for Senators fans is a situation wherein Ceci is overcompensated like DeKeyser was for an uptick in offensive production that will difficult to consistently replicate.

Granted, there’s something to be said about locking up Ceci to a long-term contract that could save the organization more money down the road provided Ceci has a very good 2016-17 season. Given the circumstances however, I would be incredibly wary, if I’m Senators management, about handing over a long-term contract to a player who has demonstrably been a nominal second pairing defenceman for two years now. It’s not his fault that the organization rushed him into this role, nor is it his fault that there aren’t any in-house alternatives to compete for his spot or push him further down the depth chart, but at the same time, I’d be really hesitant to commit big dollars and term to a player on a leap in faith believing that Phaneuf has reformed Ceci’s game.

While the risk is there that the Senators could lose out on some savings long-term, I believe the risk of overcompensating Ceci is too great. Last year’s small sample size isn’t enough. A one-year bridge deal that allows the organization to better assess how he can performance he can turn in alongside Phaneuf is preferable for a small market franchise that literally cannot afford to paper over mistakes. (As an aside, if the Senators locked up Ceci, in theory they could always elect to buy out his contract at one-third the cost before Ceci turns 26-years old, but given the contracts that Ottawa shipped out to land Phaneuf’s albatross of a deal, it’s obvious that buy-outs are a last resort for the organization.)

If there’s any consolation to these Ceci negotiations, it’s that the Senators do have a history of squeezing their RFAs to get favourable deals. After this morning’s DeKeyser announcement however, you couldn’t really blame J.P. Barry or Ceci for feeling pretty damn good however.



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Pierre Dorion Speaks: Zibanejad/Brassard, Hoffman/Ceci RFA negotiations
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here



After pulling the trigger on what’s unequivocally the biggest trade that he’s made during his short tenure as the Ottawa Senators’ general manager, Pierre Dorion joined Ian Mendes and Lee Versage on TSN 1200’s ‘The Drive’ yesterday to give his explanation for why the organization dealt Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 second round pick to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard and a 2018 seventh rounder.

The interview isn’t entirely trade-centric, it also delved into providing updates on the RFA contract negotiations of Mike Hoffman and Cody Ceci, so it’s well worth listening to it in its entirety. To stream the audio for it, you can use the embedded media player at the bottom of this post.

As always, my thoughts are in bold.

On when the seeds were first planted for a Mika Zibanejad trade to the Rangers…

“Well, Jeff (Gorton) and I started this when, I think, the first phone call when he phoned me to congratulate me (on being named as the new general manager of the Ottawa Senators). Jeff and I have known each other for many years from his days as a scout with the Bruins, assistant GM and then when he moved on to the Rangers in a similar position that I had and then he went on to be an assistant GM and GM, so we’ve had a long history together. So he just phoned me to congratulate me. We talked about both of us replacing legends and then we started talking. I said, ‘Glen (Sather) and Bryan (Murray) never made a deal,’ and I said, ‘How about you and I make a deal?’ I threw some things out and he came back and we started at that point in time on my first week on the job.”

From this response, it sounds like Dorion was the one who targeted Brassard and initiated the talks to acquire him – which is interesting, because with the new hockey operations department structure and the addition of two full-time employees who deal with analytics, Dorion specifically targeted Brassard for a reason, which he explains below.

On what he likes about Derick Brassard and what he can bring to the lineup that it previously lacked…

“Well, our team for the last (few) years hasn’t had a left-handed playmaking centreman. I think with Derick, we’re getting a top-end forward who can generate offence on a consistent basis. We’re bringing in someone who’s in the prime of his career at 28 years old. We’re bringing in someone that, I think, has had playoff success in the last… especially in the 2015 playoffs where the Rangers went to the Conference Final. I know I talk a lot about getting into the playoffs, but I want us to have a team once we get into the playoffs that can compete at that point in time. It just felt, I know we gave up a good player in Mika, but as a group, we just felt that this was really a positive step in the right direction to make us better right away.”

Not having a left-handed playmaking centreman posed a problem for the Senators, but I’d be a little apprehensive in labeling Brassard as a top-end forward who can generate offence on a consistent basis. As I laid out in a blog piece earlier this morning, it’s not like his even strength production rates are as impressive as Zibanejad’s, a player who’s almost six-years younger than Brassard.

In fact, if you look at Dorion’s reasoning, albeit, he may have simply neglected to mention the analytical justification behind the deal, he mentions handedness, playoff experience and production and Brassard being in the prime of his career at 28 years old.

Of course, none of these things really tell the story of how Brassard projects moving forward, but Dorion and his staff believe that “this was really a positive step in the right direction.”

The thing is, Brassard turns 29 in September before the season even begins and even with a cursory knowledge of prime-age analysis, it’s pretty well common knowledge at this point that most hockey players enjoy their most productive years between 22 to 27 years of age. What we saw over the past two seasons is probably as good as it’s going to get for Brassard and now that he’s in Ottawa away from Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello, the challenge for him will to fulfil the expectations of maintaining that 50 to 60 point production while demonstrating that he can play a better two-way game than Zibanejad – at least until prospects like Logan Brown or Colin White are ready to assume his role.

On the exchange of draft picks and why the organization felt it had to give up a second rounder…

“Well, for us, the price was significantly higher when Jeff and I started talking. At the draft, if anyone would have stood around, Jeff and I just sat at their table while everyone had gone back home and we talked for about 40 minutes and at that point in time, the asking price was significantly higher and we talked for that 30 or 40 minutes just at their table with everyone in their suite. We just felt that what they were asking (for) didn’t make sense, but we understand at this point in time, we both agreed that Derick was better than Mika and giving up a second rounder is not something we’d like to do and it’s in 2018 and a lot of things can change from now to 2018. It was just a price to pay and at the same time, we get a pick back. People say it’s a seventh rounder, but I have faith in our scouting staff that maybe at the end of the day, that seventh rounder will be better than the second rounder we would have taken.”

Giving up a young centre who still has upside and the significantly better draft pick for the cost certainty of Brassard as a second line centre as the team is trying to compete is a pretty significant gamble that could rear its ugly head as early as next season. Not even Dorion’s half-hearted attempts at glossing over this exchange of picks by explaining how far away 2018 is or by playing up his scouting staff’s ability to find late round gems are enough to quell some very reasonable concerns.

Then again, when you’re running a franchise whose year-to-year mandate is to reach the postseason and host some playoff games so that you can fatten the owner’s bottom line, you probably don’t give two shits about the thin margin of error that you’re operating under or wasting too much time thinking about the bigger picture.

On the timing of the deal and whether the Senators wanted to wait until after his July 15th $2-million signing bonus was paid…

“No, I was just stalling him. We talked about it over the course of the last week and then we said, ‘Why don’t we think about it over the weekend?’ To me, the money didn’t have a thing to do with it. It was more about, you know, I’m happy that we saved $2-million. It allows us to do more moving forward, but to me, it was more about a hockey deal than anything.”

According to the New York Times’ Larry Brooks, this story is just a bunch of spin:


In other words, the New York Rangers essentially bought that second round pick for the cool price of $2-million.

I don’t really blame Dorion for spinning this tale when a large sect of the fan base gets their gist of Senators news from the local newspapers or local radio, but for the fans who getting as much information and analysis from a variety of other outlets or alternatives, Dorion’s comments are so transparently disingenuous.

From the get-go, this situation reeked like one in which the Senators moved a higher draft pick in exchange for the Rangers picking up the tab on Brassard’s signing bonus, but here we are.

Why the organization and Dorion continue to believe that they operate in this protected media bubble in the year 2016 is beyond me, but it’d be better for Dorion to say nothing than repeatedly state the opposite of what’s going on, but he can’t. It’s like he has this compulsive desire to cover his owner’s ass whenever he speaks publicly.

On what else those cost savings can be applied to and whether it gives the organization more flexibility to reach an agreement with a Mike Hoffman and/or Cody Ceci…

“Well, it gives us flexibility to do a lot of things. But at the same time, we didn’t control the fact that Allan Walsh got a frontloaded deal for Derick Brassard two years ago. We can’t control the fact that the Rangers paid $13-million in the first two years of a five-year, $25-million deal. The reason we did this deal is to make us a better hockey team and if it allows us to do other things, even better. That was our thinking behind it when we were talking. You know, I said, ‘I’ll just stall bit a few more days,’ and then stall a few more days. The asking price went down and when we felt that we could make a deal, we went ahead and did it.”

Except that the New York Rangers were the team that leveraged this July 15th deadline and suckered the Senators into moving their second round pick.

On drafting Mika Zibanejad and at what point he lost a bit of faith in him and decided that he’s an asset the organization could part with…

“No, I don’t think you’re… I don’t agree with your comments here, just for the simple fact that I never lost faith in Mika. We’ve never lost faith in Mika. Our coaching staff was excited to have the chance to coach him. This was more about what we got in return. We’re not going to be able to get Derick Brassard for a seventh round pick in (each) of the next three years. We have to give up something (to get Brassard). So there was never a loss of faith in Mika. You know, it was a tough phone call today to Mika. You’re part of… you’re maybe the person that is the most responsible for drafting him at that point in time – the person who’s seen him the most. You’ve gone through, if you think (about) how many years now that you’ve been with a player, I think it’s six years that we’ve been with the player. Pardon if I’m off on years from the time that we’ve drafted him to today and from there, you just… you’re kind of like moving on in another direction. It was not about losing faith in Mika, it was about making our team better.”

Saving a few million down the road isn’t going to cut it alone, there’s going to be considerable pressure now on the team and Brassard to be better. The whole premise of the deal from Ottawa’s standpoint is that they’re getting the “better player” right now and he will just conveniently happens to cost less money down the road. If Brassard’s performance don’t measure up however, the organization’s going to face more criticism than what its getting right now.

On it looks like he is trying to surround his younger core with more leadership and if that’s the case, on why is it necessary…

“I think that’s very fair. I think that’s a good point. From day one that I’ve been GM of the Ottawa Senators, I’ve said, ‘I’m happy with our top-six forwards.’ I’ve said that publicly and I’ve said that privately. I’ve said, ‘For us to get better, we have to improve our role players and we have improve our leadership.’ Even though I’m happy with our leadership, we can never have enough leaders. And through what we’ve done since I’ve taken over (on) April 10th with our management group, hiring the coaches we have, targeting certain people that we wanted to bring back – one of them is Chris Kelly, targeting left-handed centremen – Derick was definitely someone that we targeted, not just for his playing ability, but all the other intangibles that he brings. When you find out a lot about Derick Brassard, you talk to Mark Stone and you ask him what type of guy he is, you find out a lot of positive things on how he could fit into your room. It’s a direction that we’ve wanted to go (in) from day one since I’ve taken over this role. Things, pieces, aren’t put in place all together. They’re put in one-by-one and that’s what we’re trying to do here: one-by-one putting in pieces where we feel comfortable where we can compete to make the playoffs and once we get into the playoffs hopefully… not hopefully, but once we get into the playoffs then we can challenge against some of the better teams.”

Even though the addition of Chris Kelly helps create a buffer between the parent roster and a number of younger prospects who may not be ready to contribute now, I’m still a bit apprehensive when it comes to the state of the bottom-six forwards. I’ve written about it before in great detail, so I won’t rehash too many of the details now, but if Zack Smith and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are removed from Mark Stone, it’s going to be interesting to see how much their performance drops. Some natural regression in Smith’s game was bound to happen anyway, but as we saw at the beginning of last season when Pageau was anchored by wingers who struggled to transition the puck up ice and sustain pressure in the offensive zone, his game suffered considerably.

I know in the interview that Dorion referenced Mark Stone as a reference for Brassard, but I’m assuming he meant to say Marc Methot, who spent a number of seasons playing with Brassard in Columbus.

On projecting out and how he envisions the the centre ice position shaking out in Ottawa…

“Well, I think (it’s a) good problem to have. Of all the picks… I’ll go on the record and say and I’ll probably regret this, of all the picks that we’ve made over my course of all the years in Ottawa, probably the most exciting we made, our fans will say it will be Erik Karlsson, but in our last two years, taking Logan Brown this year and taking Thomas Chabot and Colin White, I know we’ve added blue chip prospects to our organization. I know we’ve added top-six forwards one day when they’re physically and mentally mature, a top-four defenceman or even better than that to our organization, so having a lot of centremen is a really good problem to have. Guys that play centre can move and adjust to the wing very easily compared to wingers moving back to centre. So if we have too many good players, that’s only a good problem to have.”

Recency bias probably plays a large role here, but it’s reasonable to claim that Anders Forsberg’s pleas for the Senators to trade up and draft Erik Karlsson probably saved Bryan Murray’s job. For as much as I like the White, Chabot and Brown picks, Karlsson’s selection altered the course of this franchise and I’d hate to think of how dark the days would have been without this generational talent in the lineup.

On which player he expects to gain the most from the addition of Brassard to the roster…

“Oh, I’ll throw five names at you. I will say Bobby Ryan or Mark Stone because they’re both right wingers and whoever plays with Derick will (be fed) the puck more on his forehand from Derick’s forehand. Or if it’s a power play situation, Erik Karlsson. Or, I’ll even throw Mike Hoffman, Clarke MacArthur or Zack Smith’s (names out there). So I think a lot of players can benefit playing with Derick Brassard. I know our fans don’t know him as well as we do, but I can tell you, I was very excited to make this deal today and I think our management group was elated. I think the happiest person of them all is our coach. He actually said a few nice things about me today.”

Now Brassard played predominantly as part of an all left-handed line with Zuccarello and Nash, so it will be slightly different distributing the puck to his current right-handed alternatives, but what’s interesting is that by going through Brassard’s scoring logs last season, he only assisted on three of Rick Nash’s 15 goals last season and of those three goals, only one came was via Brassard’s primary assist. Compare that to Zuccarello, who manned the right wing, and Brassard assisted on 10 of Zuccarello’s goals. Maybe that’s something or maybe it’s nothing, but when Brassard is being relied upon to improve the performance of his right wingers – which, given the struggles Zibanejad had gelling with Ryan — I’m hoping that asking for improvement here isn’t too big of a stretch.

On another note, it might be worthwhile keeping an eye on how the Senators employ Brassard on the power play during training camp and the preseason. As a left-hand shot, the Senators may elect to use him on the right-hand half-wall where he can use his vision and distribute the puck.

On whether there are any updates on the Mike Hoffman situation…

“We’re working hard. I think they’re working hard to get a deal done and we’re working hard to get a deal done. We obviously would like to avoid a one-year arbitration (award). We want what’s best for our hockey team and our fans. The only good point and it could be a bad point: we know we have Mike Hoffman playing for us for at least one more year. But, we’re going to work at (getting him locked up to a contract extension). We all want to sign Mike Hoffman. I can’t say more than that. It’s been, again today, I talked with his agent. We’ve talked. He’s been a pleasure to deal with. We’ve had numerous conversations over the last few weeks from the draft on, so we’re working at it. We still have until August 4th and after that, we’ll probably have 48 hours if we still go to arbitration to get something done.”

One player who went through an arbitration case before coming to terms on a contract extension before the arbitrator made a decision was P.K. Subban, so if you’re worried about the Senators coming to terms on a new deal with Hoffman, there’s still tons of time to get this done.

On how contract talks with Cody Ceci are progressing…

“Real good talks with J.P. Barry on Friday and over the course of the weekend. We exchanged emails today, so we’re working on something. Whether it’s in the short or mid or long-term, we’ve got a few options on the table. (Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman) will both be playing for the Ottawa Senators on October 12th.”

Gravy.

On making a deal for the now and believing that this team is close to contention…

“One-hundred percent. I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t feel that we could be a contender now. I hear people that say, ‘Oh yeah, you guys are young. You’re going to be good in two or three years,’ and that’s not my thinking at all. Why can’t we be good now? We’ve been young and hungry. We’ve been the pesky Sens. Why can’t we challenge, first of all, make the playoffs and challenge some of the better teams? I really think that we’re going to surprise a lot of people once the season comes around and I think it has to do our personnel, I think it has to do with our attitude, I think it has to do with our accountability and I’ll even put a bit of pressure on our coaches. I think it has to do with our coaches too.”

It’s hard for me to look at the current iteration of the roster, with my concerns regarding their bottom-six and bottom-four defensive issues, and not think that this team will be anything more than a bubble team that may get into the first round of the playoffs, but ultimately needs to get lucky and get a favourable opponent to escape the first round. Projecting forward, to me, it feels like the organization really needs blue chippers like Logan Brown, Colin White and Thomas Chabot to pan out for this current core to really take a massive step forward and help this organization reach a higher level, but how many years will it take for these prospects to establish themselves and become productive players? Will the rest of Ottawa’s young core even be cost-efficient or still be around at that point? I don’t know, but these are kinds of nagging questions that I have in the back of my mind.

On whether he is still looking at adding a depth defenceman…

“Yes. Yes, but in saying that, if (Michael) Kostka, (Fredrik) Claesson, Patrick Sieloff are five, six or seven, I feel comfortable starting the season. There’s no doubt about that. I said in a few interviews over the past few weeks that Chris Wideman’s play at the World Championships really excited me. I think Chris, last year, played a bit tentative and didn’t want to showcase everything that we had seen from him in the previous year in the American (Hockey) League where he was a dominant, transitional, jump in the play, move the puck kind of guy. And I know it’s the American (Hockey) League, but a lot of players that have done it in the American (Hockey) League at a younger age can do it at the NHL level, so of course we’re going to look to add. Whether it’s through a trade again or through free agency, that might be one position we look at. I think we’re done up front once Mike Hoffman is – either his arbitration hearing is done or we’ve signed a contract there – I think we’re done there, but if we can add one defenceman, it would not be something that I would object to.”

If Dorion’s comfortable entering a season with Kostka, Claesson and Sieloff as his fifth, sixth and seventh defencemen, he’s probably alone on an island.

Like Dorion however, I’m a little excited for Chris Wideman’s sophomore season. Last year I found that he was in survival mode. After starting most of the early stretches of the season on the bench, once he got into the lineup, it was like he was afraid to make mistakes or play to his strengths. As a puck-moving defenceman, turnovers and mistakes are going to happen and last year, it just seemed at times like he played conservatively to the point where it worked to his detriment. I don’t know whether Dave Cameron’s presence played a part in how Wideman dumbed down his game, but I’m really hoping to see more from Wideman this season and hopefully, Guy Boucher is the coach who can bring out the best in him.

On how he feels now that the Zibanejad trade is the biggest one under his belt…

“You mean Patrick Sieloff for Alex Chiasson was not my biggest deal? For me, our management group, our coaching staff, I think even some of our players, think we took a significant step forward today. The pick is the pick. We had to give up something to get that player, but at the end of the day, I feel really confidently that this type of trade that we made today and what we’ve done since the end of the season is definitely putting us in the right direction to get back to our goal of making the playoffs.”

And if it doesn’t help put the Senators in a playoff position, there are going to be a lot more questions directed Dorion’s way.

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/186/44547/dorion.mp3



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Ohio State baseball in the pros 2016 season review
Ben Martens via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


The minor league season is over and the MLB playoffs are in full swing. How did former Ohio State players fare in pro ball this season?

Somehow, October is half over. The leaves are changing, the temperatures are dropping, and the baseball world has all eyes on the MLB postseason. It was a year of development, career breakthroughs, and in a couple of cases setbacks for former Ohio State ballplayers in the pro game in 2016.

The big news for the Buckeyes was the major league debut of right-handed pitcher Alex Wimmers, the first ever Ohio State player to win Big Ten Pitcher of the Year back-to-back and the second to in program history to be named a first-team All-American twice. Wimmers was a first round pick of the Minnesota Twins, No. 21 overall, in 2010, and after nearly six full seasons in the minors, was called up on August 26th.

In 16 appearances out of Minnesota's bullpen, Wimmers tossed 17.1 innings, allowing eight runs on 14 hits, posting a 1-3 record and a 4.15 earned run average. The 27-year old struggled with his command, though, striking out 14 while walking 11, and is not guaranteed a big league roster spot in 2017.

After Wimmers, the most successful former Ohio State player in the big leagues was outfielder J.B. Shuck of the Chicago White Sox. Bouncing between the Sox and Triple-A, Shuck appeared in 80 major league games, slashing .205/.248/.299 with four home runs, 14 RBIs, 27 runs scored, and three stolen bases. Much like Wimmers, Shuck will have to earn a big league roster spot in spring training, be it in Chicago or elsewhere in 2017.

Catcher Eric Fryer also saw major league action after winning a job with the St. Louis Cardinals in spring training. Fryer, 31, was a 10th round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007, and has bounced around a bit in his pro career. 2016 was no different, as the Cardinals designated him for assignment in late-June and he was claimed off waivers by thePittsburgh Pirates. Overall between the two clubs, Fryer had a .267/.336/.319 slash line with four doubles, 13 RBIs, and 19 runs scored in 60 games.

As was the case at the all-star break, the situation for Buckeyes in the minor leagues was far more exciting. In addition to Wimmers, several players progressed through their respective systems, and a few may get opportunities to make their big league clubs next season. Here's a look at how the MiLBers fared in 2016:

• Brad Goldberg (Chicago White Sox): It's been quite a year for Goldberg, who made the jump from Double-A to Triple-A early in the season, earned a trip to the Triple-A all-star game, and finished out the year with a 3-5 record, 10 saves, and a 2.84 ERA in 50.2 innings pitched for the Charlotte Knights. He also played for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic qualifying round, and picked up saves in the two deciding games played in Brooklyn to send his country to the WBC in Seoul, South Korea next March.
• John Kuchno (Pittsburgh Pirates): Kuhno, a right-handed pitcher, struggled in splitting the season bouncing between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, posting a collective 3-5 record in 38 appearances, with a 4.59 ERA in 84.1 innings of work.
• Travis Lakins (Boston Red Sox): Pitching for the Advanced Single-A Salem Red Sox, the highest-drafted Buckeye in 2015 had a rough go of things in his first full pro season. In 19 games that included 18 starts, Lakins went 6-3, but posted an ERA of 5.93, an opponents' batting average of .299, and a 1.62 WHIP. It should be pointed out, though, that the Carolina League, which is home to the Salem ballclub, is a notorious hitter's paradise among the highest-scoring of all the affiliated minor leagues.
• Jaron Long (Washington Nationals): Long, another right-handed pitcher, was released by the New York Yankees organization just before the season, and signed on with the Washington Nationals. He was promoted from Double-A to Triple-A in early June, but was demoted back to Double-A in late July and went on the disabled list in early August. Long finished the season with a 5-6 mark in 19 games (18 starts), posting a 3.20 ERA in 107 innings.
• Corey Luebke (Miami Marlins): Luebke began the year with such promise, making the Opening Day roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates out of spring training. But he was shelled in nine relief appearances and ultimately released by the Bucs before signing a minor league deal with Miami. He made a total of 15 appearances running the gamut from Advanced Single-A to Triple-A, posting a 1.95 ERA and 35 strikeouts to just three walks in 24.1 innings.
• Brett McKinney (Pittsburgh Pirates): Another righty in the Pirates organization, McKinney spent the entirety of the season with Double-A Altoona. Appearing in 44 games out of the pen, he posted a 2-2 record with a 3.90 ERA and better than a 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
• Pat Porter (Houston Astros): Porter, a 15th round pick of the Astros in 2015, struggled in his first full pro season. Playing for Single-A Quad Cities, the outfielder slashed just .185/.286/.331 in 96 games, with 10 doubles, six triples, nine home runs, and 37 RBIs.
• Ryan Riga (Chicago White Sox): A left-handed pitcher and 13th round pick in 2015, Riga, like Lakins, was promoted to Advanced Single-A in the Carolina League with Winston-Salem and got knocked around. He finished the year with 37 appearances (five starts) covering 76.2 innings and a 5.40 ERA.
• Drew Rucinski (Chicago Cubs): Rucinski spent the entire season in the starting rotation for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs of the Pacific Coast League. He posted a 7-15 record with a 5.92 ERA in 28 starts, yielding a .301 batting average against and a WHIP of 1.48 in 155 innings of work. Rucinski had perhaps the greatest outing of his pro career back on May 28th, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning, and ultimately allowing just a run on three hits in eight innings of work.

Connor Sabanosh (San Francisco Giants): Sabanosh, a former co-captain for Ohio State, went undrafted but signed a free agent contract with the Giants in March. He was assigned to the Arizona Rookie League, where he slashed .265/.381/.324 with two doubles and six RBIs in 12 games played.

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Week 8 primer: Wisconsin’s next tough test? At rival Iowa
Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer via Big Ten Network

Week 8 features all 14 teams in action in seven games. And all eyes will be on two games, one from each division that will go a long way in shaping the races: Ohio State at Penn State in the East and Wisconsin at Iowa in the West.

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Seeing a lot of non buckeye stuff come through with the tBBC tag on it. Any idea whats going on?

Senators Trade Zibanejad to the Rangers for Brassard
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


CALGARY, CANADA – FEBRUARY 27: Mika Zibanejad #65 of the Ottawa Senators celebrates his hat trick goal in the third period with Mike Hoffman #68 during their NHL game against the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on February 27, 2016 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

It seemed like it was just a few weeks ago that Senators general manager Pierre Dorion was singing Mika Zibanejad’s praises.


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Oh.

Apparently, that next step will have to come in New York because yesterday the Senators announced that they’ve traded Zibanejad and a 2018 second round pick to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard and a 2018 seventh rounder.

For all the talk this offseason about how much Dorion liked the composition of his top-six forwards, he shook it up by making a deal that should, in theory, make the Senators better in the interim (and for those of you who aren’t enamoured with the trade and are looking for some silver lining, well, at least it wasn’t a move that brought in Dan Girardi).

Brassard is a known commodity who played in junior under Guy Boucher and he is coming off a season in which he tallied 27 goals and 58 points. The season before, he set a career high by notching 60 points. Put in the relative context of Zibanejad’s production, and the young Swede has failed to reach or surpass either of those point thresholds.

Then again, it’s not really that uncommon for a top-six centre who has been in the league for nine seasons to have better numbers at some point in his career than a centre who only turned 23 years of age this past April.

In fairness to Zibanejad however, it’s not like he’s far off Brassard’s career-best point totals either. Despite the fact that he’s almost six years younger than Brassard, who will turn 29 years old this September, Mika already has two 20+ goal seasons under his belt to Brassard’s one and although Brassard’s point production has taken a step forward these past two seasons, he does only have three 45+ point seasons in his career to Zibanejad’s two.

Here’s a closer look at their rate stats over the years via HockeyAnalysis.com:

Derick Brassard Mika Zibanejad
Age Pts/60
2012-13 1.69
2014-15 1.88



Looking at the production totals alone, Brassard’s been the better player, but Zibanejad has been the more productive of the two at even strength.

On the power play, it’s a different story.

Over the past two seasons, Brassard has averaged 5.39 points per 60 minutes of power play ice time. Of the forwards who have played 100 minutes or more on the power play during this time, he has the 32nd highest point rate. (As an aside, Brassard was 21st in points per 60 of power play time last season with 5.82 points per 60.)

Conversely, Zibanejad has only averaged 3.66 point per 60 – which puts him tied for the 136th highest rate. Considering the Senators’ shortcomings on the power play, having Brassard around should provide a boost. Then again, as Andre Tourigny pointed out on Ottawa radio after his dismissal, the Senators had one of the best power plays in the league until Kyle Turris was felled by an early-December ankle injury last season.

Then again, Mika’s still young and considering the power play still feels like something where veteran responsibility and cachet still play a big role, maybe Zibanejad will become a more central fixture on the New York power play and because of it, maybe his numbers will spike. If that happens and Zibanejad continues to trend upwards, the Rangers could easily wind up getting the better player and the significantly higher draft pick.

It’s not like Zibanejad is a player without warts in his game.

Mika and his most frequent linemates, Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan, benefitted from having the highest on-ice shooting percentages of the forwards who played in more than 30 games. (Mind you, Brassard spent most of his minutes last season alongside Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash, so there’s a proportionate concern that his production could diminish with lesser linemates in Ottawa.) Despite this good fortune, which could easily help explain his improved offensive totals, it never really felt like that line really clicked or that Zibanejad ever brought out the best of Ottawa’s highest paid player. Then again, when you’re paid to be a difference maker and Ottawa’s best player, the hope is that you’re not a passenger who’s overly reliant on those around him to make him better.

Even though Zibanejad’s been a relatively positive possession player throughout his career, he’s struggled to help drive the puck from the defensive end to the offensive end. Granted, it’s not like he was bookended with Marian Hossa and Jere Lehtinen. As Corsica Hockey’s line combination data shows, of the line combinations that played more than 100 5v5 minutes together last season, only the trio of Hoffman, Turris and Ryan permitted gave up more shots per 60 than the combination of Hoffman, Zibanejad and Ryan.

There was never any question that Mika has the tools and skill set to be a very productive player, but too often, it seemed like his hockey IQ abandoned him as he tried to force the play. In his formative years, he was aided by the fact that he played insulated minutes away from the opposition’s better players, but in recent seasons, it felt like he struggled to establish himself as a legitimate two-way player. Perhaps this on-ice decision making is what helped yield some some middling ‘With or Without You’ numbers.

Like Zibanejad, Brassard’s had relatively positive possession numbers throughout his career and last season, his ‘With or Without You’ numbers also left something to be desired. There is hope that adding a left-handed shot will add a wrinkle to the Senators’ second line, but what really appeals to the Senators in this deal is the price tag belonging to Brassard.

Even though the Senators are taking on an additional $2.375-million on the cap and $1.75-million in real dollars during the first year of this trade because of the difference in salaries being paid to Brassard ($5.0-million) and Zibanejad ($3.25-million), thanks to the frontloaded nature of Brassard’s deal, his base salary over the final two years of his contract is what’s really enticing to Ottawa.

Brassard’s base salary is actually relatively low in the last two years of his contract when he’ll earn $3.5-million per season. Put in contrast with the likelihood that Zibanejad will pull in more than the $3.25-million he’s earning in 2016-17, and you have a situation wherein the Senators have acquired an inexpensive, albeit older, version of what Zibanejad is essentially bringing to the table now. In essence, they traded two young assets with upside for a 29-year old centre who has none so that the team could get cost certainty over the final two years of Brassard’s deal.

It’s the cost of doing business when the organization has clearly established its identity as one that cares much more about interim success and the accompanying playoff revenue, yesterday’s move is skewed towards short-term results.

In fact, it hits all of the boxes on the organization’s checklist:

• Is the team saving money over the long haul?
• Is the team better now than one or two seasons from now?
• Is the player a veteran who has character?
• Does this player have local ties?

But more than anything, this deal came down to money.


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The fact that the deal was consummated after July 15th, the date that Brassard was owed a $2-million bonus, is the cherry on top. It just fuels the notion that the cash-strapped Senators made the move to not only fit Mike Hoffman and Cody Ceci into their budget long-term, but that they moved the second round pick as an incentive for the Rangers to pick up the bonus owed to Brassard.

This will assuredly piss off fans who’ve grown tired of hearing how shifting money played such a large factor in a transaction, but that’s the cold hearted reality of Ottawa’s situation in the Eugene Melnyk era. There was some hope that the modus operandi would change once Bryan Murray stepped aside and Dorion inherited the reins, but it’s become increasingly difficult to shake the nagging feeling that, despite the restructuring of the hockey operations department, much has changed or that Melnyk isn’t influencing management’s decisions by pushing his agenda.

For the sake of being clear, I have absolutely no qualms with the organization flipping young assets. In this particular instance, Zibanejad was an incredibly frustrating player to watch at times. It probably didn’t help that some perceived that his DJ’ing hobby was a distraction or that he never really seemed to arrive in training in the best of shape – thanks to his concussion history and that undisclosed ailment he dealt with over the 2014 offseason which prevented him from really working out.

With all of these hiccups, it never really felt like Zibanejad safely projected to develop into something more than what Ottawa already has. Thanks to the presence of players like Turris, Pageau, now Brassard and prospects like Logan Brown and Colin White, Zibanejad became superfluous and expendable.

That said, if you’re a small market club that has limited financial resources available to it, you best make use of how you retain or flip these young assets. Looking back at Ottawa’s trade history, it has traded away a considerable opportunity costs to bring in marginal upgrades who have failed to help make this franchise significantly better. Each season is a constant struggle to reach the playoffs.

The end result, even with Brassard in tow, is a bubble playoff team that has stretched its budget so thin that it has to send futures out to get out from under a prospective Zibanejad extension that it probably couldn’t afford one year from now. And with expensive veteran players playing complementary roles and protected by no-movement clauses, it’s difficult not to look forward and wonder whether this is going to be the norm moving forward as more of this team’s best young players have their ELCs or bridge contracts expire.

This isn’t the direction that the organization sold fans on in 2011.

Within a five year span, the Senators went from being one of the youngest teams in the league to sporting the sixth-oldest roster in the NHL without getting much further ahead.

Hopefully Brassard improves the power play and gives the Senators a centre who finally clicks with Ryan. Considering the winger has gone through centres faster than Ben Affleck goes through bottles of Sam Adams, the Senators desperately need this deal to work out, even with the cost certainty that comes with Brassard. Because provided Zibanejad’s even strength rates stay the same and he gets a similar workload to Brassard on the power play, it’s not out entirely out of the realm of possibility that Mika has opportunity to make this trade look bad as early as next season.



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Sens Summer Fan Fest: Saturday, July 23rd
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here



Has it been three years already?

This Saturday, July 23rd, marks the date of the third annual Sens Summer Fan Fest that will take place at MacLaren’s Pub (301 Elgin St.) between 1:00 to 5:30 pm.

The previous two iterations of Sens Summer Fan Fest have raised over $2,200 for the Ottawa Senators Foundation and this year’s event is shaping up to be a pretty good one.

In addition to previous years where there were trivia contests, raffles, silent auctions and video game tournaments, this year’s event will also feature two live discussions. The first is a live recording of TSN 1200‘s ‘That’s What She Said’ and the second will be a moderated panel discussion in which @SensNation will pose questions to a variety of Sens bloggers like Callum from Silver Seven Sens, the mysterious Sens Chirp and possibly even me.

There is no age limit for the event, but if you’re into having a couple of drinks and talking Sens hockey with fellow fans and bloggers (or alternatively, you can heckle me during the moderated discussion) definitely make an effort to come out.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.

Hope to see you all there.



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B-Sens to Belleville for Start of 2017-18 Season?
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here



According to a report out of the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Senators’ will move their affiliate from Binghamton to Belleville in 2017.

Although there has been no official confirmation, in speaking with Broome County executive Debbie Preston, the paper quoted her as being accepting of the AHL’s plans to give Binghamton another affiliate once the Senators relocate their B-Sens to Belleville.


Starting play at the beginning of the 2002-03 season, Binghamton’s been Ottawa’s’ longest-tenured minor league affiliate to date and due to this longstanding commitment and the team’s 2011 Calder Cup championship, the bond between Binghamton Senators fans and Ottawa Senators fans has grown over the years. It’s helped that a lot of the best prospects who’ve played with Binghamton have gone on to become productive players at the NHL level, so there’s going to be some level of attachment there that’s going to be hard for Binghamton fans to let go of. (As an aside, if you’re a Binghamton Senators fan who found their way to this website or checked out this site’s Twitter account, thanks!)

The reasons behind leaving Binghamton are well documented.

The Senators would like a franchise that’s a shorter distance away and doesn’t require the prospects always having to cross the border whenever the Senators have to make an emergency recall. If it can also help broaden the Senators’ fan base a little further down the 401, so be it.

As the Ottawa Citizen outlined however, there are a few hiccups to overcome.

Belleville’s Yardman Arena requires an influx of cash to increase the seating capacity and meet the AHL’s standards for approval. Estimates peg that these renovations will come at a cost of a cool $20-million, but given Preston’s concession that the AHL will bring another franchise to Binghamton, unless the group Perdita Felicien’s it, this doesn’t seem it’s a huge hurdle to clear.

The only left is for the City of Belleville and/or the Ottawa Senators to make an official announcement in the near future.





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Randy Lee Speaks: Development Camp, Chabot Comments, Gagne’s Improvements
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here



Meant to publish this earlier in the week, but it got thrown on the back burner. On Monday, Senators assistant general manager Randy Lee joined TSN 1200’s ‘In the Box’ to wrap up the 2016 edition of the organization’s development camp and elaborate on his comments regarding his disappointment in Thomas Chabot’s performance.

To listen to the full interview, you can stream it via the embedded media player at the bottom of this post.

As always, my thoughts are in bold.

On how many development camps there have been…

“At least 15. Shawn Camp has done 15 for us, so it could be at least 15.”

The aptly-named Shawn Camp is not only a development camp coach for the Ottawa Senators, but he also serves as the head coach for the University of Guelph.

On how this year’s development camp went…

“Very smooth. I think our staff really stepped up. I really thank them a lot because there were a lot of things going on when you have new coaching staffs in Ottawa, a new head coach in Binghamton and you’re moving your East Coast (Hockey) League team to the Wichita Thunder. I told the players that today and they weren’t excited. So they said, ‘If I don’t make Binghamton, I go to Wichita?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir. Remember the Thunder.’ They didn’t like that. They didn’t embrace that.”

I looked up Wichita, Kansas on Trip Advisor and the top five things to do based on the recommendations are:

• Sedgwick County Zoo
• Botanica: The Wichita Gardens – which are described as a “garden right in downtown Wichita!”
• The Keeper of the Plains – a “Wichita Classic!”
• Museum of World Treasures – which houses “many different kinds of Treasures!”
• Old Cowtown Museum

Sounds wonderful.

On why Nick Paul was named the ‘hardest worker’ at this year’s camp…

“It’s voted on by all the coaches, all the conditioning guys and all the trainers and guys that worked with him on a daily basis. He did everything on the ice, off the ice, in the room, the dry-land sessions and the seminars. He worked his rear end off.”

It’s completely unfair to Paul that he’s one of two remaining pieces from an unsalvageable Jason Spezza trade and because of it, fans will always link him to it, but there’s value in developing into an effective third liner. Even though Paul struggled in his first professional season and didn’t really dominate the AHL before his late season promotion, with a little more time and development, the prevailing sentiment is that he safely projects as a third liner.

With the announcement of Chris Kelly’s signing this afternoon, it remains to be seen how the Senators intend on using him. The safe assumption is that he can slot in on the fourth line as the left winger, but it’s possible the Senators would prefer him to get more development time as a centre in Binghamton.

On this being a hurdle and test for Paul because he did play games in the NHL…

“He did (embrace this development camp) and it’s a good story for our guys because this was a guy who went into our camp last year, thought he had a good chance of making our team, didn’t and at one point during the season (he) was a healthy scratch in Binghamton. So you go from a high to a low to the point where he played his first NHL game, scored his first NHL goal and was named the ‘hardest worker’ in development camp. So he’s definitely trending in the right direction.”

Paul was promoted from Binghamton despite putting up an unimpressive six goals and 17 points in 45 games. Equally disappointing was his Paul’s shot rate of 1.71 shots per game.

In Ottawa, he got off to a decent start tallying two goals and an assist in his first six games, but after that, he only managed two assists in his final 18 games. Territorially, whenever he was on the ice, the Senators wound up on the wrong side of the shots on goal, shots, scoring chances and goal columns.

It remains to be seen whether or not he’ll make the Senators’ roster out of camp, but it’s not like there’s a lot of competition for that fourth line left wing spot. He’s competing with guys like Ryan Dzingel and Matt Puempel and neither of those guys have established themselves as regular NHLers either.

On who some of the surprises were in development camp…

“For a guy who’s sort of reclaimed his career is Vince Dunn. He worked really hard on and off the ice. He got a number of votes for ‘hardest worker’. (He) definitely got the most votes for ‘biggest pest’, which is good because that’s his brand. But, he worked his rear end off and he was a real leader, which is good to see. Gabriel Gagne, who is a guy who Shean Donovan and myself have gone after really hard for a guy who’s got tons of skills, but his effort, his intensity and his engagement didn’t match (those skills). And he addressed it and he was more of a power forward this camp. He worked really hard on and off the ice. We watched him in the sparring sessions, we watched him in the sprint mechanic sessions and he applied himself. We gave him a big pat on the back.”

It’s incredibly satisfying to see that Gabriel Gagne is someone who turned some heads with his performance at camp.

After having his work ethic and character questioned in a number of third party evaluations that led up to the 2015 NHL Draft, the Senators gambled on Gagne’s tools and skill set by trading up to select him in the second round of the draft.

The dividends weren’t there in the early going. Not only did he spend much of the early stretch of the season on the shelf with a lower-body injury, he was a prospect who wasn’t exactly being lavished with praise.

In his midseason 2015 draft review, ESPN Insider Corey Pronman noted that, “Ottawa picking Gabriel Gagne No. 36 overall was questionable at the time — and looks worse now. He has good hands for a big man, but his skating could keep his NHL prospects low.”

If Gagne has finally recognized that he can no longer just simply get by on raw talent, it’s great. If he starts putting in the work on and off the ice and realizing what it takes to be a good pro, there’s a good chance that Ottawa’s gamble will pay off.

On how difficult it is to evaluate when you have guys at different stages of their offseason because of when their season ended…

“That’s a good point. Like, some guys haven’t skated for a long time and then they’re expected to go on the ice for six out of seven days and play one scrimmage and a three-on-three tournament, so it’s very hard. So that’s a good point, it’s hard to assess apples to apples, but that’s part of it. We want to see what they do. We want to see how they embrace it. We want to see their work ethic, but we understand. We look at their schedules to see who hasn’t had that much time to prepare. We had one guy that eight days before the camp was on a motorcycle and got hit by a van, so he couldn’t do anything for the five days leading up to camp or six days leading up to camp. So that was tough and he really ruined some of his really nice tattoos, which is a bad sign too. Burned them right off of his body. Stay off motorcycles – that was the message there. He mentioned that, that he’s going to put the motorcycle away.

PSA: don’t drive motorcycles, kids.

On Nick Paul stating that he was too heavy, but he knows that and knows what he needs to work on…

“But, it’s not too heavy in terms of being fat, it’s too heavy in maybe the muscle mass is too much. So it’s a big difference. (The weight is too much) for the type of tempo game that he wants to play? Yeah, we thought that was the best thing for him was to be down a bit. Chris Neil did it before. (Mark Borowiecki) did it, definitely. So (these two) are great examples for him and he understands. He wants to be as big and strong as he can, but for him to get around the ice, he probably has to be a bit lighter.”

Paul sounds like the antithesis of Kyle Turris. He is a naturally large dude, so it is going to be interesting to see if this will be a constant struggle for him.

On some of the new draft picks who surprised because of where they are in their development…

“Christian Wolanin, a defenceman who played with Drake Caggiula and we went and saw him in Grand Forks. He didn’t play much this year, but he worked really hard and he’s a guy who’s going to have a big role next year in North Dakota. And he had a really good camp, got a lot of votes. Very confident guy. Understands his role (at North Dakota), had to sit and didn’t play every game, but when he did play, he played with confidence and he played really well. Miles Gendron was a guy who was a first year guy in university. He had a tough year. His role was not what he was used to. He was very restrained in his role. He had to adapt to that and he went through some real struggles. He looked really good (in the scrimmage). I said, ‘You skate like Paul Coffey,’ and he goes, ‘Who’s Paul Coffey?’ I said, ‘How about Scott Niedermayer?’ and he goes, ‘I know Scott Niedermayer.’ But, he is, he is that fluid of a skater and he’s got to now figure out how to get his coach’s confidence so he can do that at the college level. (He’s) a very top-end talent. Chris Leblanc was a guy who we loved early on, then he bottomed out. He lost confidence, didn’t understand his role and his position was switched all over the place. We kept thinking, ‘This is maybe not going to work out,’ and now this year, Shean Donovan has sort of taken him under his wing and simplified his game. The kid came in with a huge smile, knows his role – right wing, power forward, get pucks deep, get to the front of the net, simple and he’s happy. He’s got a chance (to be a professional).”

Considering that not a lot has been said or written about these prospects since they were drafted, it’s great to get an update on how these project players are developing, even if it means that Miles Gendron is making the rest of us feel old.

On Leblanc being part of team white that won the three-on-three and how they were comprised mostly of unsigned guys who probably had extra motivation…

“Most competitive, not the most skilled, definitely. But, they had motivation though because Vince Dunn was part of their team. Vince was injured, so (their motto) was, ‘Do it for Dunner!’ So that’s what they were doing, that was their motivation.”

Okay, sure.

On how much correspondence he has with these prospects now that development is over…

“They still email me every week. Some guys will go in and out. We’re trying to figure out everyone’s different schedules. I mean, some guys start really soon. Some have to go into their colleges mid-August. You know that routine, it’s tough. Some of the guys like Logan Brown, like he’s going to have World Junior camp, then he’s going to have a rookie camp, then he’s going to have a main camp, then he’s maybe going to have a junior camp, that’s a lot to manage. So we’re trying to figure out… maybe he should talk to a Curtis Lazar or a Nick Paul who’s done that process to make sure he doesn’t get burned out. So some of those guys do that routine and then by October 15th, they’re spent. So it’s a really tough thing to manage, so Chris Schwarz, Shean Donovan and myself are sitting down and looking at each and every guy and saying, ‘What do we have to do? What are the pitfalls that we have to watch out for with this guy and how do we have to encourage them?’”

Logan Brown’s going to be one busy dude.

On sitting down with Logan Brown and how hard it is to not come away impressed…

“Very impressive and he understands how much work he has to put into it now. Like, the potential is incredible. Like, I knew he was a big player. I didn’t know he had that good vision with the puck and the way he made plays. He sees the game at a different level, like the way Mark Stone sees the game. Colin White sees the game that way. There’s something different about those guys, but (Logan) knows he’s got to put in the work, so that’s a good sign.”

Heading into the draft, I was pretty fired up seeing Clayton Keller frequently fall to the Senators’ range in some mock drafts, but the more I read about Brown, the harder it is not to get excited. He already has a blend of elite playmaking and a knack for protecting the puck, but if he can figure out ways to be more creative and make better use of his shot, the Sens could have something special here.

On Colin White’s decision to return to Boston College and how confident he is that this is the right decision for him…

“100-percent. He could have (turned professional). We could have made it work. It’s safer this way and it’s a smarter decision for him just because the year before, he had mono. This year, he’s got the wrist injury, he lost weight during the season, but he’s a special player. We think this is the best thing for him and he knows how much we care about him. We said, ‘Don’t worry about putting up points. You don’t have to sell us (on your offensive upside). We know that you’re going to be a good player. Just play right and play the type of player that you’re going to be and things will work out,’ and he was very happy with that decision.”

It feels weird to say, but it almost feels like this season is a bit of a write off in the sense that the team is essentially returning the same roster that it ended last season with – with the exception being yesterday’s addition of Chris Kelly. Now maybe Thomas Chabot makes the jump and gives fans and the organization someone to be excited about on the team’s third pairing, but I’m already looking ahead to the 2017-18 season when Colin White and Logan Brown and potentially even Chabot will be a part of the roster.

With the current roster composition and a budget that’s essentially been stretched to its limits, I can’t help but wonder if the current roster has taken the Senators as far as it can go. At least for me, it feels like it’s going to have to be this next generation of players who will push the team from its playoff bubble status into something greater.

On Thomas Chabot’s camp and his public criticisms of it during the main media scrimmage…

“Oh, I was just honest. We expected him to dominate the camp. He was really good last year and he had a great season last year. He went into the World Junior camp and the Hockey Canada guys were telling me, ‘Don’t get too excited. We’ve got a lot of guys like him,’ and I said, “Oooh, he might impress you.’ He found his way onto the team and he had a good role. He had a great season, his coaches loved him and he worked really hard. I just felt, to me, my expectation of him (is) that the bar is higher for him. He just didn’t meet it, that’s all.”

Considering Ottawa’s budget and the lack of available quality alternatives on the market, Randy Lee’s trying to light a fire under Chabot’s ass because the team recognizes its situation and realizes that it could use his puck-moving skills to shore up one of its biggest weaknesses. Without knowing what kind of personality Chabot has and how well he’d receive this kind of candid public criticism, it’s hard to criticize Lee for putting it out there. If anyone has an idea on how to push Chabot’s buttons, I’d like to think it’s the guy who has the player development background.

I just hope Chabot handles it well and continues to build on last season’s growth and development.

On Chabot getting the push mid-summer to improve because he has a real opportunity to make this team…

“Absolutely. We have six defencemen signed, like, that’s a great opportunity and he’s a great kid. Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t arrogance. It just, he looked not as engaged and I thought he would have made more of an impression on the coaching staff, that’s all.”

The good news is that there’s still a few months between now and the rookie tournament and eventually main camp. There’s still plenty of time and opportunity for Chabot to impress.

On the performance of the goaltenders during camp and his satisfaction with their development…

“Yeah, really happy. Matt O’Connor had a tough year last year. I mean, going from BU to be the most sought after college free agent, he had a tough start in Binghamton. Both our goalies had a tough start and (Chris) Driedger’s season went really strong and Matt took off at the end. Matt now has lots of confidence. He has a good relationship with the new goaltending coaches, which is good. We’ve signed Cory Cooper to be a full-time goaltending development coach, which he really likes. So we’ve got presence every week down in Binghamton with the goaltending situation and (Marcus) Hogberg understands he has got to go back one more year and then he’s ready to come over and he’s a real talent too.”

To no one’s surprise, the Senators spent most of the first few days of free agency trying to shore up their AHL roster. It’s not like Binghamton’s goaltenders were fortunate to play behind a talented club. With essentially all of Ottawa’s best young talent already on the big club’s roster, there wasn’t enough talent in Binghamton to insulate their young goaltenders. Maybe that will change this season.

On what the plan is for Gabriel Gagne this season because he hasn’t signed an entry-level contract and has the ability to start the 2016-17 season in the AHL…

“No, (we will not turn pro). Yeah, absolutely. He’s going to do the (Francis) Perron thing. He’s going to go back and prove it to us. We talked to him just two minutes ago. ‘You’re going to be the hardest worker on your team. You’re going to be the hardest and most competitive guy in games. Anything we want you to address, you’re going to work on.’ He said, ‘This is great!’ It looks like we’re talking to a new person. It’s really nice to see, but we’re not going to go ahead and sign him. We’re going to wait and we’re going to make sure he earns it. We did it to (Francis) Perron and he sweated it out. We’re not trying to make them sweat, but we want to make sure. But, this kid has got lots of talent. He’s one guy who impressed Guy Boucher quite a bit.”

It’s probably an empty threat more than anything, considering the organization traded some picks to move up in the draft and grab him, but it doesn’t hurt to leave the prospect in a temporary limbo as some sort of motivational tool to get him to mature and take some initiative.

On who the guy was who got injured in the motorcycle incident…

“Chris Carlisle. A very competitive defenceman. Great skater. Played on Tobias Lindberg’s team in Oshawa that had a great season there. He went into Binghamton on an AHL contract and started last season with the Evansville Icemen, got called up once for Luke (Richardson) and never went back. He’s a great competitive kid. No more motorcycles.”

No more nice tattoo either.

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/179/44244/itb 3-2.mp3



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Report: Senators Sign Chris Kelly to $900k One-Year, One-Way Deal
TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


CALGARY, CANADA – FEBRUARY 9: Chris Kelly #22 of the Ottawa Senators skates against the Calgary Flames on February 9, 2011 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Dale MacMillan/Getty Images)

First it was Shaun Van Allen and now it’s Chris Kelly.

Whenever it comes to the players who have donned the number 22 for the Ottawa Senators, apparently there is always room for a second tour.

After hearing Bryan Murray repeatedly state that trading players like Mike Fisher and Kelly were some of the hardest decisions he’s had to make, today the Senators announced that Kelly was returning to the team on a one-way, one-year deal worth $900,000.

The centre, who was drafted in the third round (94th overall) in the 1999 NHL Draft by the Senators, returns after spending parts of the last six seasons with the Boston Bruins that included a Stanley Cup championship in 2011.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long since the Senators elected to move Kelly to Beantown for a 2011 second round pick, but here we are.

A return to Ottawa makes sense for both parties.

Without Kelly, Ottawa’s bottom-six lacked depth and quality and with him in the fold, it solidifies the centre picture and allows the organization to be more patient with its prospects.

It also makes the lines easier to project:





The only real question at this point pertains to where Curtis Lazar fits in.

There’s probably something to be said about the Senators having the option of penciling in Zack Smith and Mark Stone alongside Jean Gabriel Pageau and keeping that productive trio together, but essentially keeping them together to create a very good third line comes at the cost of being forced to play Lazar as a top-six right winger.

As an alternative, the Senators could reunite Stone with Kyle Turris, but that would necessitate using Lazar on the third line alongside Pageau and Smith.

Neither of those two Lazar situations is particularly enticing however.

I mentioned it in a previous blog post, but of the 240 forwards who played over 1,500 five-on-five minutes in the past two seasons, Lazar ranked tied for 236th in points per 60 minutes of ice time, but perhaps most importantly, in looking at his ‘With or Without You’ numbers, he’s essentially been a possession drag with every teammate that he’s played with over this span.

It’s easy to fall into the belief that Pageau’s ready to carry his own line, but having seen the third line struggle at the beginning of last season without a responsible two-way winger who could deftly and responsibly move the puck up the ice, I worry about how much Lazar could drag down the performance of that line.

With only 11 games left before he’s no longer waiver exempt, the Senators could theoretically elect to have Lazar start the season in Binghamton where he could ideally build some confidence with the puck and work on the offensive side of the game, but having already spent the past two full seasons in Ottawa, one has to wonder whether the organization would bite the bullet and essentially invite questions pertaining to their handling of Lazar’s development. Moreover, it would remain to be seen how Lazar would handle a demotion. He is after all, the same player who openly complained about how much it affected him being jerked around the lineup all last season and never really finding a role. Add these factors together and mix in the fact that Guy Boucher stated during his introductory media tour that Lazar was one of the young players that he was most looking forward to working with and I can’t possibly envision a situation in which Lazar isn’t logging minutes in Ottawa’s top-nine.

Even with uncertainty concerning Lazar’s impact and place on the roster, coming to Ottawa makes a lot of sense for Kelly.

He still lived in Ottawa during his offseasons and having played just 11 games last season before suffering an fractured left femur during a game against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, it feels safe to assume that there wasn’t going to be a ton of interest or multi-year offers for a 35-year old centre coming off that kind of debilitating injury.

And really, Kelly’s ability to recover to full-health is the only risk for Ottawa.

It’s not like he’s boxing out an NHL-ready prospect who’s had an impact or is ready to make an impact next season. Colin White and Logan Brown will return to college and junior respectively, while despite some flashes and good PDO-driven luck, neither of Ryan Dzingel or Nick Paul were particularly good down the stretch or did enough to warrant a guaranteed spot on the roster come fall.

Kelly’s simply the kind of inexpensive veteran placeholder that this team needed.

If he’s healthy, Kelly can still help on the defensive side of the puck and be a key member of the penalty kill unit and even at his age, it’s probably fair to assume that he can be a bigger contributor than a Dzingel or even a Paul. And if this proves to be true and the Senators fall out of the playoff picture, the Senators can even dangle him as a deadline chip to fetch a future asset or two.

Unlike many Senators moves these past few years, there’s nothing to really dislike or be wary of here. It might not be the kind of big splash that some fans were or are hoping for, but it’s a welcomed one.

Welcome back, Chris.



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Wiedmer: Bama and Buckeyes are best of the best at the moment - Chattanooga Times Free Press
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Wiedmer: Bama and Buckeyes are best of the best at the moment
Chattanooga Times Free Press
I'll then expect the Tide to top the Wolverines and their SEC-hating coach Jim Harbaugh in one semifinal in the Peach Bowl, with the Buckeyes beating the Huskies in the other semi at the Fiesta Bowl. After that, in a rematch of their 2014 semifinal ...
CFB Roundup: Clemson Escapes Disaster, Buckeyes Hold Off BadgersCBS Local Sports
Crimson Tide, Buckeyes top college football worldKansas City Star
Bowl projections: Ohio State, Clemson barely keep College Football Playoff spotsCBS sports.com (blog)

all 144 news articles »

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The Buckeye Battle Cry and The Sports Daily join NESN
tBBC Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

There are always moments in time which we can look back and remember when things changed. It may be the time you decided to buckle down for a job promotion. It could be the time you mustered up enough courage to ask out your now husband or wife.

For us, October 17th, 2016 is a monumental date for The Buckeye Battle Cry.

It is the culmination of a lot of hard work by our staff members to bring our fans the most unique coverage of the Ohio State University as possible.

Over the past two plus months, we have had tremendous growth and success here and it is entirely based on each and every one of your support for our website. With all of that support, we realize there were certain aspects to our website which made enjoyment very minimal. Namely, our host was very slow and advertisements seemed to pop-up and bog down which ever device you were using to read our page.

Despite all of this, fans kept coming and showing their support for our website. On Facebook, we gained over 2,000 fans in two months to put us over the 10,000 likes mark. This actually put us in front of sites like Land-Grant Holy Land on Facebook until recently.

Over that same span, 64 percent of the visitors to our site were new users and those readers spanned 10 different countries! Things were at their highest when the website had almost 15,000 page views on August 31.

Many websites will look at this number and scoff but for a website full of part-time “writers”, this is a big deal.

With all of this growth, we are extremely excited to announce that our website has now joined the New England Sports Network (NESN) family. As you may already know, NESN is primarily known for their broadcasts of Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins games but they are branching out to include other websites to further their reach.

So what does this mean for you? Well, the best thing for you all is a new host for our website which should help load times and stop some of the ads which ruined a lot of our lives. Secondly, it gives our writers a little bit of more connections at our disposal.

Even with this move, we are always looking to grow and become better. Please reach out and let us know what we can do to better the experience for you, the fan. Be open, be blunt, we don’t mind.

Our main goal is not to become internet famous like other sites. We want to provide unique content Tbut most of all we want each and every one of you to enjoy the experience. Without your feedback, we are unable to ensure we meet these goals.

Feel free to contact any one of our editors at:

Joe Dexter – [email protected]

Brandon Zimmerman – [email protected]

Shannon Sommers – [email protected]

Ben Van Ooyen – [email protected]



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Heard around the ‘Shoe: Emory Jones, Browning, Reigelsperger
Ben van Ooyen via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

Welcome to your tri-weekly look at all things Ohio State recruiting. Let’s get started!

Emory Jones on the Mend


In his game last Friday, Emory Jones suffered a shoulder injury that forced him out of the game and the outlook was uncertain on when he would be able to return. We know now that he will miss 2-3 weeks with a separated shoulder. Jones spoke with Landof10.com about the injury and his prognosis.

“I stretched the ball out to score,” Jones said. “When I scored, someone came and hit me late. I separated my shoulder.”

“I can’t move much,” Jones said. “It’s killing me.”

While the injury is not season ending, it is one that will keep Jones on the sidelines for a few weeks while he lets it heal. In what has been a high school season filled with future Buckeyes getting injured it is good to see this one not be severe.

Buckeyes Still Going After Virginia Star


While the Buckeyes are still in hot pursuit of Baron Browning and Anthony Hines out of Texas, they still have eyes in Virginia keeping tabs on Teradja Mitchell. Mitchell is the top ranked inside linebacker in the class of 2018. Mitchell holds 30 offers and this summer visited Clemson, Florida State and Georgia. Right now it seems like either Florida State or Clemson, but the home state Hokies and Cavaliers might have something to say about that.

Mitchell is hoping to get to Ohio State for a game this fall, but hasn’t made any official plans as of yet.

White Out for Reigelsperger


Dayton product Alex Reigelsperger will be in Happy Valley this weekend to visit the Penn State Nittany Lions when they take on the Buckeyes under the lights Saturday night. Reigelsperger does not hold a Buckeye offer or a Penn State one as of yet, but is taking the opportunity to go see some of the top colleges in the nation in action. He spoke with 11W about the trip and the Buckeyes recruitment of him.



“I can’t wait,” Reigelsperger said. “It’ll be really like my second or third time where [two teams recruiting me play each other]. It really just makes the game more interesting, more fun and puts you more into it.”

“[Defensive line coach Larry Johnson] says we’ll talk about an offer after they finish the season,” he said.

Reigelsperger has said he intends to get back to Ohio State to see them play the Wolverines at the end of November.

https://assets.247sports.com/Scripts/Shared/embed.js

Grimes set for Surgery and Rehab


If you remember a few weeks ago Trevon Grimes left his game against Bishop Gorman with an apparent ACL injury, and it was confirmed to be torn which means he will miss the rest of his senior season. He is scheduled to go under the knife tomorrow afternoon with one of St. Thomas Aquinas team doctors. After going through the same injury and rehab a year ago Nick Bosa is already on the field making big plays for the Buckeyes. Bosa recently spoke with Cleveland.com and gave Grimes some advice on the rehab process and how to handle it.



With Grimes attitude and competitiveness I expect him to recover in much the same fashion as Bosa, and should see the field next season as the Buckeyes need a talented deep threat on the field. We will continue to monitor the progress of Grimes rehab and post anything more as we learn it.



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Highlights: Ohio State defeats Wisconsin in Overtime
tBBC Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

Tyquan Lewis got the game-winning sack after a beautiful Noah Brown touchdown reception gave the Buckeyes the lead in overtime at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday. The Buckeyes are now 6-0 on the season and will face Penn State under the lights on Saturday.



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Buckeyes Goal-line Stance In OT Erases A Scare In Madison
JC Collingsworth via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

The evening in Madison began, frankly, terrifyingly. The images floating in all of our minds were that it just wasn’t going to be the Buckeye’s night.

The Badgers completely dominated the first half. The Buckeyes’ passing game was nonexistent. And, perhaps the worrisome part for all of us die-hards was that the defense, a source of excitement and optimism throughout the season, seemed to have hit a wall and knew not how to respond.

Camp Randall Stadium was filled to the brim, 81,541. They were loud and supportive of their team too.

But even when the Badgers shined, taking advantage, the Buckeyes did not wither – they fought and stayed close.

In OT Noah Brown set the evening into its rightful destination with a spectacular seven-yard reception from JT for the score. Tyquan Lewis would lift us all from our swollen seclusion as we fearfully watched what could have been …. sacking Alex Hornibrook on fourth-and-goal from the 4. The Buckeyes had a 30-23 victory.

The 2nd ranked Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0) has now won 20 straight games while on the road – currently the longest streak in the nation. It would require OT in Madison to go from 19 – to 20.

The Buckeyes overcame two crucial penalties on their touchdown drive in the OT period. Curtis “Everything” Samuel though delivered (as I feel he does more often than not) with an 11 yard reception from Barrett which would be the prelude for Noah Brown’s catch on third-and-two, which would make it 29-23 with the Buckeyes leading.

The 8th ranked Badgers (4-2, 1-2) on their possession had first and goal from the four after a 21-yard completion to Rob Wheelwright. It would be all they were allowed by the stingy Buckeyes defense.

In truth, it hardly appeared that it would be taking such a course after the performance we witnessed in the first half – trailing 16-6 at the half, and being totally dominated. But, as is the case, often, for the Buckeyes, after a “certain” Urban blistering lecture in the locker room, things were righted come the third.

Overcoming an interception in the end zone by Barrett on the first drive of the second half – right after the skies opened and the rain poured – the Buckeyes scored touchdowns on their next two drives to take a 20-16 lead.

JT scored on a 1-yard keeper to cut the deficit to 16-13. After Gareon Conley intercepted an Alex Hornibrook pass at the Wisconsin 38, Barrett would score again on an 8-yard keeper after avoiding the grasps of the pesky Badgers linebacker Jack Cichy.

Ohio State’s defense, which had been torched for 313 yards in the first half, allowed only 11 in the third quarter.

But just when it looked like Buckeye fans could relax, the Badgers shot back to life. Hornibrook connected with Jazz Peavy for a 36-yard completion on third down to start the drive and the Badgers went 81 yards to regain the lead 23-20 with 7:59 left.

Ohio State responded with a drive for a field goal set up by a broken-play 43-yard completion from Barrett to Dontre Wilson. This drive slammed in neutral at the 14 and Meyer elected to have Tyler Durbin take the matter in hand (or foot) with a 31-yard field goal as the clock showed 3:57 left in the game.

The Buckeyes appeared to have dodged a bullet when Conley was originally ruled to have intercepted a pass at the Ohio State 20 intended for Rob Wheelwright. It would be upon further review the ball was ruled to have hit the ground. The Buckeyes would force a punt anyway.

Wisconsin dominated the first half from start to finish, outgaining Ohio State 313-172. But it seemed much more than that as we witnessed the butchery in its act.

Barrett’s success was mostly derived from improvisation. Marcus Baugh and Curtis Samuel caught passes after Barrett fled pressure to remain alive during the second of the two Ohio State scoring drives.

In the first, Ohio State stayed almost entirely on the ground. But even the Buckeyes’ ground game, which has been rather successful throughout this season, withered some. The Badgers were successful in preventing the Buckeyes from getting on the perimeter.

The Badgers’ offense shined with a tremendous performance by RB Corey Clement who on 25 rushes delivered with a fantastic 164 yard game. Jazz Peavy, WR, on end-arounds would also shine on the ground that on 6 rushes had 70 yards (a 11.7 yard avg.). It seemed as if the week off prior was sitting well for Wisconsin.

Clement’s 68-yard carry down the left sideline set up Hornibrook’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Peavy that completely silenced Buckeye Nation as Wisconsin jumped to a 10-0 lead.

Perhaps the most questionable call in the evening came with a 15 yard penalty against Urban Meyer for interference on the sideline after being hit in the face by a referee …. Too close to the action (??). The issue is only being mentioned because of the likelihood of its play time it will receive across sporting broadcasts across the nation. All we know, ultimately, is Urban, took one for the team.

One of the more excitable statistics of this game was that the Captain, JT, broke Braxton Miller’s all-time school record with his 89th TD pass; Congratulations Captain!

The Buckeyes now head to Penn State on October 22 for a scheduled 8:00 p.m. kickoff.

I will see you there!



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The Ohio State offense won the war against a tough Wisconsin defense
Christopher Jason via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


J.T. Barrett and co. fought through adversity to score 30 points in a tough environment.

The Ohio State offense had their ups-and-downs against one of the toughest defenses in the country, but ultimately passed the test. One could argue that Wisconsin had just about every advantage against the Buckeyes: They had two weeks to prepare for Urban Meyer’s offense, they had them at home — in one of the toughest environments in the country — and inconsistent weather again seemed to slow down the Buckeyes' speed and hurt J.T. Barrett in the passing game. Luckily for Ohio State, they won't face a tougher defense until they play Michigan on November 26. Saturday was a little too close for comfort, but the adversity that they faced should benefit them in the long run.

Here's how it broke down.


*Tap passes do not count as completions

The offensive line had its moments in pass protection. The numbers didn't look great -- 12 pressures, two sacks, five hits and four scrambles on 33 dropbacks -- but they made time for Barrett in big situations and more than did their job in the run game.

On this play, the offensive line gave Barrett 6.18 seconds in the pocket, which led to Barrett’s best throw of his career. He dropped it right over the outside shoulder of Dontre Wilson for a clutch first down, late in the fourth quarter.



Looking at the number of overthrows (six), it was easy to see that the slick ball, combined with nerves and pressure, resulted in those overthrows.

There was no more egregious of an overthrow than on Barrett’s lone interception of the day, which could have resulted in a Buckeye touchdown, or a goal-to-go situation. What was strange about that call, was that it was in the middle of a downpour, during a drive in which the Buckeyes were gashing the Badgers on the ground. Strange play call, but still, Barrett needs to complete that pass to Terry McLaurin, especially because Barrett rolled out towards McLaurin, which made the throw eight yards on a line.




For all of the inconsistency in the passing game, Barrett first made that perfect throw to Wilson and he also made the game-winning throw to Noah Brown, which couldn’t have been more accurate.

It started with the play-call. On 3rd-and-2, Ed Warinner typically dials up inside zone or a designed quarterback run just about 98 percent of the time. Barrett faked the hand off to Mike Weber and they pulled the backside guard, which sucked the linebackers in and creating passing lanes.



It’s strange that Wisconsin played pure man-coverage with no safety help on Noah Brown, who is really the only receiver that Barrett looks to on the goal line. He’s going to win just about every single one-on-one matchup on the perimeter. When the ball was in the air, Brown used his body to box out the corner, while Barrett threw the ball to his back shoulder, where only Brown could catch the ball. If it fell incomplete, they would either be set up with a 4th-and-2 or a very short field goal opportunity.



When talking about the receivers as a whole, they did not help Barrett out much during the course of the game. There were numerous instances in which their quarterback was able to evade rushers and keep his eyes downfield, but they either weren’t able to get open or let the ball slip through their hands.

This happened about three or so times on Saturday night:


If we were to go back to last week’s breakdown, we mentioned that Ed Warinner needs to figure out how to get the ball into Curtis Samuel’s hands more often. This week was quite the opposite. It was nice to see Samuel touch the ball 18 times, but he needs to figure out how to balance the carries between Samuel and Weber. At the half, Samuel had 11 touches, while Weber had four and Wilson had zero. It’s almost like they tend to overcompensate the following game to fix last week’s issues. It shouldn’t surprise us if Weber get the majority of the touches in the first half of next week’s game.

Don’t get me wrong, Samuel touching the ball 18 times is not a bad thing. He’s electric with the ball in his hands and has developed the strength to break tackles and turn nothing into something. The two plays in overtime could have been a disaster, but he found a way to gain 10 and 11 yards on plays where he had no right to gain that type of yardage.

This play should not gain 11 yards:



Overall, it wasn’t easy, but it was a hard-fought win in Madison, against a Top 10 team no less. The offense struggled at times, yet found a way to put up 30 in the rain, against a top defense. Barrett fought through adversity, Brown made a big-time catch, Samuel made plays and Weber converted twice on 4th-and-short.

It was a gritty win against a tough, tough Wisconsin team.

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Ohio State football | Jack Looks Back: Buckeyes thoroughly dismantled Nittany Lions in '96 - Columbus Dispatch
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Ohio State football | Jack Looks Back: Buckeyes thoroughly dismantled Nittany Lions in '96
Columbus Dispatch
Jack Park, a leading Ohio State football historian, checks in each week during the college football season with a retrospective about the Buckeyes. Second-ranked Ohio State will venture to Penn State this weekend for its second consecutive Saturday ...
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Ohio State football: Buckeyes quarterback JT Barrett returns to site of “coming of age” game as veteran leader - Akron Beacon Journal
via Google News using key phrase "Buckeyes".


Ohio State football: Buckeyes quarterback JT Barrett returns to site of “coming of age” game as veteran leader
Akron Beacon Journal
J.T. Barrett has had his share of adversarial moments as the Buckeyes quarterback, but arguably it all started at the place he returns to Saturday when Ohio State faces Penn State at Beaver Stadium. Many remember the 2014 game against the Nittany Lions ...


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Calm under pressure Buckeyes impress 5-star target - 247Sports
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Calm under pressure Buckeyes impress 5-star target
247Sports
Fairfield (Ohio) offensive lineman Jackson Carman is of the highest priority prospects when it comes to Ohio State 2018 recruiting. So any chance the Buckeyes ...

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Game Preview: Ohio State At Wisconsin
Ben Van Ooyen and Shannon Sommers via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

The eyes of college football world will be on the Big Ten this weekend. ESPN’s College GameDay is going to be on the campus of Wisconsin since the biggest game of the weekend will pit two Top Ten teams. (#2) The Ohio State University Buckeyes go into the hostile confines of Camp Randall to face the (#8) Wisconsin Badgers.

Paul Chryst is in the middle of his second year leading the Badgers. Already having victories over SEC power LSU in Week 1 at Lambeau Field and the mighty Spartans of East Lansing. The lone loss was against the scrappy Wolverines in Ann Arbor the week before their bye. Chryst having an extra week to get his team prepared for this Saturday’s game cannot be dismissed.

Ohio State will step foot on Wisconsin’s campus with an overall record of 57-18-5. The last meeting was in 2014 with a 59-0 thumping for the Buckeyes which helped propel them into the first ever college football playoffs, going on to win the National Championship. The Buckeyes last visit to the Cheese State was in 2012, Urban’s first year defeating Bret Bilelama 21-14.

The Intangibles

TV: ABC (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Samantha Ponder)

Radio: Ohio State IMG Network 97.1 WBNS (Paul Keels, Jim Lachey, and Matt Andrews

Online: WatchESPN I Ohio State IMG Network I TuneIn

Social Media: @OhioStAthletics I @UWBadgers

Series Record: 57-18-5 (Last meeting: Big Ten Championship OSU 59 – UW 0, Dec. 6, 2014)

Previewing the Badgers

Wisconsin has one of the toughest schedules if not the toughest one in the Big Ten this season. The #8th ranked team in the country will be playing against their third ranked opponent this season (Sparty not being ranked anymore excluded them from this conversation). This is the tenth time the Badgers will host a match-up of AP Top Ten teams, they are currently 7-2 with six straight wins.

Offensively, Wisconsin isn’t the run the ball down your throat powerhouse that the Big Ten is accustomed to seeing. Corey Clement has been hampered by injuries the last season and a half. Currently, the rushing game for Bucky is ranked 78th in the nation. Even with missing a full game Clement has 3.9 yards per carry average, 319 total rushing yards with five touchdowns. Dare


EAST LANSING, MI – SEPTEMBER 24: Corey Clement #6 of the Wisconsin Badgers runs with the ball during the game against the Michigan State Spartns at Spartan Stadium on September 24, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)

Ogunbowale has 185 yards with one touchdown (4.2 ypc) and Bradwick Shaw has the longest run for 35 yards (5.7 ypc, 136 rushing yards with one td).

The Wisconsin offensive line seems to have issues at times not being able to open up lanes for the running backs like they were able to do in years past. Having surrendered eight sacks in five games so far is high especially when you compare being spoiled looking at Ohio State’s numbers. Having an offensive line where everyone is over 6’5″ and average 315 lbs means there is some serious beef there. Left tackle Ryan Ramczyk was described by former Wisconsin linebacker Joe Schobert as the toughest lineman he faced when Ramczyk played offense scout team last season. Next to Ryan is the guard Michael Dieter who started seven games at center and six at left guard. The center is a redshirt freshman Brett Connors, to his right side is Bea Benzchanel who started six games at right tackle plus three at right guard last year. Jacob Maxwell who started three games in 2015 anchors the right tackle spot.

Wisky’s tight end have athleticism but lack experience. Currently, the starter 6’5″, 246 lb redshirt sophomore Troy Fumalli has 16 reception for 181 yards (11.3 ypc) has yet to find the end zone. Back-ups 6’5″ 262 lb Eric Steffes along with 6’4″, 236 lb redshirt freshman Kyle Pennington have both scored once. Steffes has four catches for 12 yards (3 ypc) while Pennington has three receptions for 35 yards (11.7).

The quarterback position has seen a change this season with Bart Houston starting against LSU in Week 1 only to see the redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook take over. Horinbrook at times looks fearless and has great precision as was evident in the Michigan State game. Alex claimed his bad game against UM for their loss was attributed to him being hurt with a broken rib or just general injury to his chest. He said it affected his throws which allowed the Wolverines to get picks off the youngster. Having close to a 60 percent completion rate the biggest issue for him is the wide receivers stepping up.

Jazz Peavy and Rob Wheelwright are the two main wideouts for Wisconsin. They are both averaging over 15 yards per reception. Wheelwright is the only one of the two who has a touchdown (2).

Statistically, Wisconsin’s passing attack is ranked 97th nationally, 88th at scoring along with 106th for total offense.

After reading about their offense, you ask yourself how is it they are ranked so high and only have one loss so far. It’s their defense which is second in red-zone defense behind Ohio State. Bucky’s defensive ranks are #2 in scoring, #4 total defense, #5 passing and #9 rushing. They bring their lunch pail and make you work for everything, even if their best defensive player has missed the last game and will be out for this weekend.

Lead by a defensive line that has four tackles for loss so far this season. Alex James, Conor Sheehy both have 9 tackles (James: 3 sacks, Sheey: 0.5 sack). Olive Sagapoli and Chickwe Obasih are the other two defensive linemen to keep an eye on.

Playing a 3-4 front means the linebackers are crucial to the Badgers. They have a great group of them also. Vince Biegel is the leader along with being the best defensive player for Wisconsin but sadly he will be out of the game due to injury. Have no fear because they have the next man up mentality too. Each linebacker has a minimum of one sack, Jack Cichy leads the team in tackles with 35 (3.5 TFL, .5 Sack), T.J. Watt is a beast and has 29 tackles (7.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks), T.J. Edwards has 28 tackles (2 TFL, 1 sack) along with Garrett Dooley who has 13 tackles (1TFL, 1 sack). This linebacker unit is fast while playing all over the field.

The secondary that Wisconsin has seems to be getting overlooked by some folks around the country. Cornerbacks Derrick Tindal (three INT’s/five PBUs) and Sojourn Shelton (one INT/two PBUs) have both played lights out at times this season. Free safety Leo Mussa has an interception plus a pass breakup and strong safety D’Cota Dixon has chipped in with one INT with two pass breakups.

Previewing the Buckeyes

The Buckeyes enter this match-up at 5-0 after a tough win against Indiana last week. The offense was not where it was in the first four games of the season and will need to find it’s mesh point this week if they want to take out the pesky Badgers.

The Buckeyes are led by junior quarterback J.T. Barrett, who comes into the game right in the thick of the Heisman talk. He is completing 64% of his passes on the season with a 15/3 TD/INT ratio. He has also rushed for 342 yards and four touchdowns. His ability when the play breaks down to find some yardage is uncanny and one thing the Buckeyes rely on from him week to week.

At running back the Buckeyes have thunder and lightning in Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel. Weber comes into the game as the 2nd leading rusher in the Big Ten with 566 yards, only trailing Penn State’s Saquon Barkley who has 582 through six games. Curtis Samuel is a do it all H-Back who has taken snaps at running back, wide receiver and as a wildcat quarterback. He enters the game with 410 yards rushing which is good for 9th in the Big Ten, and 345 yards receiving which is 7th best. The Buckeyes will need to get Samuel more touches this week, as he is averaging more than 10 yards per touch.

The wide receivers for Ohio State have kind of disappeared so far this season outside of Noah Brown’s big game in Norman. Last week the Buckeyes receivers had three total catches for 41 yards, which will not get the job done against the Wisconsin’s and Michigan’s of the world. Guys like Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin and Marcus Baugh need to step up in order to give J.T. Barrett some targets down the field.

One of the biggest surprises so far this year is the play of the offensive line. Led by senior Pat Elflein and junior Billy Price, the young Buckeye line as shown growth and dominance averaging 323 yards per game on the ground. With newcomers Michael Jordan, Isaiah Price and Jamarco Jones it was uncertain what the Buckeyes were going to get out of this group this year. The Buckeyes rank 3rd in the nation in rushing yards per game, and the big fellas up front are the main reason for the running games success.


COLUMBUS, OH – OCTOBER 8: Jalyn Holmes #11 of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Nick Bosa #97 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate after stopping the Indiana Hoosiers on third down in the second quarter at Ohio Stadium on October 8, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

On the defensive side of the ball, the defensive line has been nothing short of spectacular so far this season. After losing Tracy Sprinkle in the first game of the season, guys like Robert Landers, Jalyn Holmes and Dre’Mont Jones have stepped up to provide stability along the line. The Buckeyes enter play as the 9th best rushing defense in the country giving up less than 100 yards per game, but the stat the stands out the most is they have allowed zero rushing touchdowns this season. The defensive line came up huge last week stopping Indiana on a 4th down late in the game that would have given the Hoosiers a 1st down and potentially cut the lead to seven.

Behind the stellar defensive line is one of the best linebacking trio’s in the country in Raekwon McMillan, Chris Worley and Jerome Baker. While McMillan is a known commodity, and is as sure fire a tackler there is, the real surprise comes from Worley and Baker who replaced NFL draftees Darron Lee and Joshua Perry. There has not been much falloff if any from last year production wise. Jerome Baker continues to get the start due to Dante Booker’s nagging injury, but when Booker is healthy we may see him as the backup because of Baker’s great play.

There really is no need to talk about the secondary because they have been amazing so far this season. The back four coming into the season was quite the unknown with only Gareon Conley returning as a starter from last season. Enter Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore and the Buckeye’s have become ball hawks. The Buckeyes have 10 interceptions on the season, and more impressive is that four of them have been returned for touchdowns (should be 11 and 5, but Hooker’s return last week was wiped by a bad penalty call).

Three Key Matchups

1. T.J. Watt vs J.T. Barrett: Does the last name Watt ring a bell at Wisconsin? It should because All-Pro defensive end J.J. Watt roamed the field for the Badgers in the 2009-10 seasons and now his younger brother T.J. is doing the same. T.J. plays linebacker instead of defensive end, and will probably be spying on J.T. Barrett most of the night. If the Buckeyes can get blocks on Watt to spring Barrett on QB runs, then look out because we all know what he is capable of once he hits the open field.

1. Ohio State’s Blitz vs Alex Hornibrook: The Badgers enter the game starting redshirt-freshman Alex Hornibrook who took over for Bart Houston during a sluggish game against Georgia State. He comes in completing 56% of his passes but has thrown five interceptions, mostly when he is being pressured. If the Buckeyes can blitz effectively and get pressure on Hornibrook, expect him to make some bad decisions with the football, letting the ball hawks in the secondary make some interceptions happen.

1. Ohio State vs Camp Randall: The Buckeyes have had one road game so far this season, and it was in a rowdy environment in Norman as the Buckeyes battled the Sooners. I heard it was loud there, but the Buckeyes quickly quieted the Sooner Nation. Camp Randall in Madison is a different beast, as it is one of the toughest places to play in all of college football. If the Buckeyes can silence the fans early like they did against the Sooners, then they shouldn’t have an issue “Jumping Around” themselves entering the 4th quarter.

Prediction

This will be a tough match-up no matter how you slice it. I expect Wisconsin to come in and try and run the ball against Ohio State’s defense as I don’t think they have a lot of confidence in Alex Hornibrook. However, I don’t think that the Buckeyes will let Corey Clement run all over them, and will make Wisconsin have to throw the ball 25-30 times. If that is the case the Buckeyes walk out of Madison easy winners. If Wisconsin is able to establish the run or make some key defensive stops then its a whole other ballgame. Final Score: Ohio State 34 – Wisconsin 13



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A View From the Fan – Wisconsin vs. Ohio State
Ben van Ooyen via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

This article originally appeared at ohiostate.scout.com

Thoughts on Last Week


I worried Ohio State might be in trouble last week when Indiana came out and scored immediately after halftime; needless to say, I was unimpressed with the Buckeyes’ performance. Luckily, Ohio State’s defense was able to rise to the challenge and shut down the Hoosiers the rest of the afternoon, including a huge fourth down stop that would have cut the lead to seven late in the game.

I continue to have concerns about the wide receiver position. They’ve had one good game with Noah Brown against Oklahoma, but other than that, they just aren’t producing. I know the talent level is there, but they’re struggling to find ways to get open or separate from defenders. The passing game has to show up soon if the Buckeyes want to keep winning against other Big Ten opponents like Wisconsin and certainly Michigan.

On Wisconsin


The Buckeyes travel to Madison this weekend to take on the rested Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall. The Badgers come in having lost their last match-up to the Michigan Wolverines 14-7 in a tightly contested defensive battle. They’re now starting redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook after Bart Houston struggled against Georgia State in their third game. Hornibrook hasn’t impressed me so far, and the Buckeyes – forgive the blasphemy – should try to emulate the Wolverines, whose defensive scheme caused him to panic all day and forced three interceptions. Wisconsin’s defense is as stout as always, and they’re led by J.J. Watt’s little brother T.J. He’s accounted for 5.5 sacks already this season, and he makes his presence felt all over the field.

The Buckeyes need to find a rhythm early offensively if they want to come out of Madison with a win. I’m not sure if a performance like last week will get the job done against the Badgers. I expect Wisconsin to load the box and force J.T. Barrett to make passes. Running the ball on them will be difficult, but the Badgers haven’t faced a dual-threat quarterback like J.T. so far this season, so his read-option ability will be something to keep an eye on. If he can find some throws early and get the Badger defense guessing, then that will open up running lanes for Curtis Samuel and Mike Weber. Speaking of Samuel, he needs to get more touches either in the wildcat or some jet sweeps. Ohio State is underutilizing his speed, and when you have a dynamic playmaker like him, you need to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.

I see a tough game under the lights this weekend, but I think the Buckeyes will work through their issues this week in practice. They should come out looking much better on offense, and the defense should easily shut down Wisconsin’s anemic attack.

Prediction: Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 13

A Fan’s Playoff Standings

1. Alabama – Moved the Tide back to No. 1 after last week after their win over ranked Arkansas. Jalen Hurts looks like the real deal at QB, and he accounted for four touchdowns to lead Alabama to the 49-30 win. The Crimson Tide travel to Tennessee this weekend in what should be a good match-up.
2. Ohio State – A ho-hum 21-point win over Indiana drops the Buckeyes to No. 2. J.T. Barrett couldn’t seem to get his passes on target, and the entire game seemed a little off. Let’s hope it gets back on track this weekend at Wisconsin.
3. Clemson – I mean, everyone expected Clemson to handle Boston College, so their 56-10 thrashing of the Eagles wasn’t a surprise. Deshaun Watson looked good on the deep ball, and the Tigers are back on track after some early-season struggles.
4. Washington – The Huskies continue to impress me with their juggernaut offense. Jake Browning has 23 touchdowns and only 2 picks this season, and he’s running the offense about as well as anyone in the country right now. If they weren’t a west coast team, I think they’d be getting a lot more press.

A Fan’s Heisman Standings

1. Lamar Jackson – Jackson was on a bye week after their thriller with Clemson. He looks to add to his already impressive touchdown total of 28 this week as Louisville hosts the Duke Blue Devils.
2. J.T. Barrett – J.T. didn’t look very Heismanesque on Saturday throwing the football, as he completed only nine passes. However, he did finish the game as the leading rusher and scored two touchdowns. Let’s see how he does this week at Camp Randall.
3. Deshaun Watson – Watson has put himself right back into the conversation for the Heisman with great back-to-back games against Louisville and Boston College. He had four TD passes as the Tigers beat the Eagles 56-10 on Friday night.
4. Jake Browning – Washington sure seems legit now, don’t they? Led by sophomore Jake Browning, the Huskies are 6-0 and rolling. Browning notched 11 total touchdowns in big wins against Stanford and Oregon.

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