Tuesday Grab Bag

I don’t need to preface a bunch of links to check out from around the interwebs do I?

• With Sergei Gonchar out of the lineup with a concussion, Patrick Wiercioch is the latest AHL callup to be rewarded with a “show me” game for his marked improvement in play. The popular opinion of Wiercioch is that he’s a bit of a project who needs refinement and strength training before he can be expected to contribute consistently at the NHL level. In light of this, you can attribute this recall as an opportunity to give him a taste of life in the NHL and inspire him to bust his ass in the offseason.
• Now that Craig Anderson, the best bald saviour since Robocop, has signed an extension, Senators Extra is featuring a slideshow of Anderson photos. On Twitter (@6thsens), I provided a caption to this photo, “Easy on the cold water Craig. It’s not a dream. You did get a four year deal.”

• These Senators wins are not only carrying the Senators away from better lottery pick odds, I’m too stubborn to bet on them in the Senators Extra prediction panel.
• Wayne Scanlan had a nice article on yesterday’s Anderson announcement and tied it to the rhetoric coming out of Senators camp. I highly recommend giving it a read.
• Binghamton Senators beat writer Joy Lindsay has penned a nice article that features a conversation between her and Senators prospect Robin Lehner. For a kid who flew off the handle following a 4-3 semi-finals loss to the Russians at this year’s World Junior Championships, he’s saying all the right things now. “When you sign a four-year contract, or any goalie in the league signs a four-year contract, it’s for they want stability. Ottawa deserves it. The team up there needs a first goalie, and I kind of want to work in the shade of it. When my time is there, when they think I’m ready and I can push for it, I’m going to try. But you never know where it’s at. And it couldn’t be better than sign a goalie like Anderson, too, because he helps me a lot during practices. He talks to me. He gives me pointers and stuff like that. He’s a quality teammate, and you kind of need that to go around — even if it takes me one year, two years, three years or even 10 years, or if I ever play up there a solid amount of times. You can never predict the future. I know if I can make a push for it and start playing, then Anderson would be there. He’s a good guy that would still help me. He’s a good fit. He’s a really good fit in that organization. I don’t see anything bad, in my stance, because to be honest, people haven’t expected me to go in this year or next year as the first goalie anyway. They’re up there, and I have a lot left to learn. It depends how hard I work and how determined I am. You never know the time of it. It can be any time, and it’s basically all up to me now.”

• One of Eklund’s sources says, “we will see BIG changes happening, and happening quickly. The asking price for Jason (Spezza) will be quite high, but with limited big names available via UFA, the Sens will get their price.” So naturally, we can expect a quiet offseason.
• One ill advised Hfboards.com thread dedicated to bleeding heart Wade Redden fans everywhere.
• From @SunGarrioch, Chris Neil will be wearing the “A” tonite with Sergei Gonchar out of the lineup. Finally rewarded with a letter. Nice to see. I can’t tell if Bruce is happy that Gonchar is out of the lineup or that Neil received the ‘A’.
• According to Sportsclubstats.com, Ottawa has an 82% probability of finishing last in the Eastern Conference.
• In light of Bryan Murray’s comments yesterday that he informed his scouts that they should be looking at taking a goalie in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, The Hockey News‘ Ross MacLean has an article detailing a number of draft eligible goalies.