Cowen and the Immovable object

Ok. First off, lemme say I am very happy with the drafting of Jared Cowen. I think that this year's draft is full of some incredible talents and that everyone who drafted in the top 15 has potentially drafted a top end player. Really some fantastic talent pouring out of the CHL these days. And those sweedes, holy moley, they rocked the draft this year.

Very decent numbers for a solid Defensive Dman with average Offensive capabilities. (Although I'd like to see more playoff points. But that will come.) I'm not excited about this guy for his ability to put up numbers. I'm excited by his size. 6 Feet, 218 Lbs. He's got incredible reach and he takes the body. And as someone who learned Hockey from Gordon Bombay, I can say: Taking the body is Good defence. Let them Make the first move.

When I look to our D-Corps, I don't see enough sandpaper. Exception: Volchenkov and Phillips. They are big guys who will block shots, take the man and play hard along the boards. Campoli and Picard are small guys. Kuba is tall and lanky. Erik Karlsson, who is up and coming, has incredible firepower, but he is tiny. There is simply not enough grit on the back end. plain and simple. Enter Bryan Murray who - only now - is finally putting hsi stamp on this team. Murray sees that problem, and picked up Cowen. This kid is only gonna get bigger, and he is showing no signs of letting up on his physical play. What's best, is he never sacrifices his Defensive responsibilites to make a play, or make a hit. I love that. THAT'S WHAT MAKES GOOD DEFENCE. know your priorities. And this kid knows them.

Just think Sens fans... Pair him up with Karlsson and you have our top D Pairing. I forsee Karlsson/Cowen as potential Lidstrom/Foote-esque players respectively. Which is very exciting for the future. Very exciting!

And I don't wanna hear griping about his knee. We'll see how that plays all. He's had reconstructive surgery. Which means DON'T GIVE HIM A LIFETIME DEAL. Cuz his knees have a limited lifespan. But whatever. His prime years will NOT be affected by it.

All that said, I'm Glad Burke (in his brian burke way) told Murray "You want Kadri? Oh. Well, we are taking him." Because as much as I would have loved to see Kadri on our team, the more I think about it, the more I see him as Afinogenov. Too many flashy moves, not enough fundamentals. Only time will tell.

Second on my list. Dany Heatley.

The more I think about this, the more I think this might work. Basically, Dany Heatley's monster deal is not movable. Plain and simple. No one will touch that for several reasons. a) The cap Hit. b) Heatley now has a reputation as a bad team guy.

SO, we are gonna have him next year. Because Murray is already on the record saying, 'if I have to pay half his salary on July 1st (which whoever has him has to do) he's gonna play for us.' and even today at the draft he said 'if we can't get a deal he is playing Left-wing for the Ottawa Senators.' And I think that may be the best thing.

The first few months will be rough. no doubt. If he thought the media was bad then... wait till he sees what's coming. The fans will be all over him. But he will play. And he will play well. When he adapts to Clouston's system and quits complaining, he'll realzie that his ice-time will go back to what it once was, he'll find his way back onto the First PP unit, and find his way back onto the top line. At which point, one of two things will happen.

1) His stock rises, and teams realize that YES they do want to invest in him and Murray pulls the trigger on a deal.

2) He realizes that his demotion last season was due to his poor performance, and as long as he plays up to standard, he has no problems in Ottawa.

Now, the optimist in me likes to think that he'll make all these life changing realizations, but all this drama has just shown that he's a drama queen who really can't deal with not being considered "number one" on a team. So, I think maybe halfway through the season he will get dealt. But here's hoping that he gets this epiphany and changes his outlook in Ottawa. If that's the case, I'll gladly let him finish out his contract. I'll take a good Dany Heatley anyday!!!

That's it for me!

Oh and one thing i forgot to add. Until that Epiphany happens, take the frickin A off his sweater and give it to Spezza for cryin' out loud.

This is our year. Or was that last year? I forget.

So, welcome welcome welcome. I've started this blogging thing. Really looking forward to it. So much so, that I have shamelessly taken a page out of the Book-o-Bingham and made myself a blog for Ontario's team. (I don't actually believe that. We all know Hamilton is Ontario's team. C'mon now.)

Seriously though, I was sitting on my computer listening to one of my many man crushes, Darren Dreger (What can I say I love the Dorks) and I started getting really excited for tomorrow's draft. Then for free agency. Then for the start of the season. Then I got really sad because I haven't seen my team play in several months. So i put on my Alfie Jersey (Yes, Alfie. Our Heart and Soul.) and started setting this space up. It is my hope that throughout the off-season I can keep my cravings for sens related news and games satiated with this blog. Probably won't happen, I mean what can I post about if nothing is happening? Ok. So I didn't think that through. But that's ok. Anyway. On to buisness.

I figured the subject of this post would be to explain the signifigance of my blog title: "No One Remembers Number 2." For those of us uneducated in hockey history, this is the infamous phrase uttered by Ottawa's First Overall draft pick in the 1993 Entry Draft. He was touted as "the next great one" Basically he was the equivalent of today's Sidney Crosby. The only difference between the two of them: Crosby doesn't suck. Oh was it ever bad. Sure it was "The Right Pick to Make" just like Economically Hitler was "The Right Person" to Save Germany.

Who else was available in that draft? Well the "forgotten" Number 2: Chris Pronger. Number 4: Paul Kariya. Also available: Rob Neidermayer, Jason Arnott, Saku Koivu, Todd Bertuzzi to name a few. Ottawa was even apparently offered Owen Nolan, Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall and an Array of Draft Picks for that top pick, but they didn't budge. Oh no, instead they draft him and let him pose in a nurse's uniform. (See bellow.)











All that to say, I picked that title because for years and years and years I keep hearing "Favourites to win", "Legitimate Contender", "Playoff Bound." And If Ol' #91 has taught us anything (Apart from fiscal managment of Rookies' Entry Level Contracts) It's that you should never count your chickens before they hatch.