Sens at Land’s End

Big things are happening with Ontario’s two NHL teams these days. Cliff Fletcher is taking a machete to the Leafs’ roster, hacking off player after player. Kyle Wellwood and Darcy Tucker — gone. Mats Sundin would seem to be on his way out, Andrew Raycroft has now been put on waivers twice, and TSN reports that Bryan McCabe is also no longer welcome. I’m not too sure what Fletcher’s overall plan is — Is he really going to dump everyone and start fresh, or are they still trying to be competitive for 2008-2009? On the other hand, is dumping everyone and starting fresh the best way to be competitive in 2008-2009? — but it seems certain that the Leafs are going to be a very different looking team when the season starts. Maybe a more likeable team? … nah.

While the Leafs are having whole limbs chopped off, the Ontario team I actually care about is … er … attempting chemotherapy, to keep with the medical imagery, on that little locker room cancer problem they’ve been dealing with. Ray Emery is gone, and now Brian McGrattan, his best friend on the team, joins him on the road out of town, having been traded to Phoenix for a fifth round draft pick. Why the Coyotes want McGrattan when they’ve got Carcillo, who is a penalty minute machine, is a bit puzzling to me, but oh well. Gratts, have a good time with the Great One! Ooh — Gratts. Gretz. I hope people don’t start getting them mixed up!

Don Brennan had a pretty interesting article about this trade in the Sun on Thursday, with a revealing quotation from Bryan Murray:

In sweeping McGrattan out of town four days after buying out Ray Emery’s contract, Murray acknowledged he was doing some spring cleaning.

“From my point of view, I want our team to kind of knock the label of a dysfunctional room, if that’s the right word,” Murray said. “With Ray and Brian and people like that, all I ever heard were the stories of all these guys doing different things … I want a team of real character people, as best I can, and I want very definitely good people in our room.

“I think anything I read, and you guys wrote it, is that we had some issues in our room. I want to clean that perception up.”

“Character,” it seems, is a new key word for the team, along with Craig Hartsburg’s “accountability.” Other bloggers have pointed out the weirdness that seems to go along with this whole thing — the focus in Murray’s comments on the public perception of a problem rather than on the problem itself, which is never named by anyone — and I agree, but I am still feeling good about the changes being made. Am I a sucker for falling for the management line so easily? Maybe, but I’ve got to say that after this past season, what they’re selling sounds pretty darn appealing.

My ideal Sens player at this point is just about totally angelic (or at least a really nice guy) off the ice, but still fine with beating the living crap out of someone during a game. He is a guy you can not only bring home to mother, but also count on to defend your honour in a barfight. Basically, I want a team of Alfies, Mike Fishers, and Chris Phillipses. I’m assuming the team’s new focus on ”character” means I’ll hear no more shady rumours about this or that player getting up to mischief at some bar (it was Barrymore’s in the story I heard), while “accountability” means I’ll be able to count on seeing them put in a full one million percent effort on the ice at every game and every practice. I accept that not everyone can be a shining example of virtue or a pillar of the community like the three players I mentioned, but if they can at least show me a real commitment to the team while managing not to have road rage issues or be constantly dogged by nagging rumours of other mysterious and unmentionable “off-ice problems,” I’ll be quite happy.

At the moment, Cody Bass — a player I was very impressed with last season and hope to see more of in 08-09 — is being held up by management as an example of the type of player the team wants. From the Citizen:

Veteran Chris Neil and Cody Bass, who was one of the club’s few bright spots late in the season and in the playoffs, can hold their own against rivals. Just as importantly, new coach Craig Hartsburg can trust them to contribute while taking a regular shift.

“We want gritty, competitive people who the coach feels comfortable putting on the ice. Someone who can finish checks, kill a penalty or win a faceoff,” said Murray. “That tells the coach he’s a safe guy.

“That’s what (Bass) is. He’s a hard-working kid. He’s not afraid to run into people. I hope he will be a good penalty killer. He looks like a coachable guy.”

For his part, Bass, who is in town for the Sens’ Development Camp tells the Sun:

“I’m not a fighter, but at the same time if I have to I will,” Bass said at the Senators development camp yesterday. “I think every team will have the guys that if a game gets out of hand, guys will stick up for each other. I’m only a young guy, but I think that’s a huge thing.

“When you have a team that’s so close, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to stick up for each other. I think that’s what they’re trying to look for this year. Hopefully, we’ll have a real close team.”

And this, I think, ties in pretty well with something Craig Hartsburg said at his first press conference:

“We want this group to take great pride and passion in being a team. To me, that is one of the utmost important things right from the start that we’ll stress.”

So for the Sens it’s out with infighting, and goodbye to the tiny personalized rainclouds that hovered over each of the players’ heads last season; in with sunshine and roses and a healthy desire to pummel your opponent instead of a soul-destroying urge to murder half your teammates. Can you feel the love? I can feel it. I hope this plan works.