A couple of weeks ago, an exasperated Senators fan probably asked, “How could this season get any worse?”
It’s one thing for the team to be stuck in that zone in which they’ve not only been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs but also have incredibly long odds of moving up in the draft and procuring the kind of high-end talent that this organization desperately needs an infusion of.
It’s another to see Erik Karlsson not only lead the league in assists and project to finish in the top-five in league scoring. He would the first defenceman to accomplish the feat since the 1985-86 season. Despite the historical significance of this achievement and despite the fact that he’s putting up these kind of numbers in a year in which Ottawa’s power play’s been absolutely dreadful and the team’s number centre has been injured or playing on one-leg since the middle of December, Karlsson’s not getting as much Norris Trophy consideration because a number of PHWA members would prefer to use the Norris as a lifetime achievement award than wait and watch a player’s body of work be commemorated through a Hall of Fame induction.
And it’s another to see an owner hang this team’s coach and “friend” out to dry and create lame duck situation when there were still many games left on the schedule. If that unprofessional conduct wasn’t enough, this same autocratic owner dismissed analytics and the added value they can bring in the player valuation process. If that wasn’t bad enough, this same owner expressed pride in the organization’s willful ignorance saying that their general manager — the same general manager who has six head coaches and one playoff series win in the ninevitable years that he has been at the helm — does not need any help because of his experience level.
Nope, to make matters worse, Ottawa’s smartest and best forward is now out for the foreseeable future with a “chest” injury that he sustained after being hit by Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien.
Unbelievable front row video of Byfuglien’s hit on Mark Stone. Now in slow motion. #NHLJets (via @pegcityjay) pic.twitter.com/XPIEXUBe0o
— M Remis (@mremis) March 31, 2016
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Seriously, fudge this 2015-16 season. I give up.
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