I think the major problem with this team is that it’s completely lacking a Team Identity.
Two and three years ago, we were an offensive juggernaut and won a lot of games by outscoring opponents
Last year, we battled through injuries, a slow start and turned the season around with a strong team commitment to defence
This year everything is a mess. Nobody knows if this team is really as good as their 16-3 start or as bad as their multiple 5 game losing streaks. It really surprised me to see that the Senators are actually leading the league in Goals/game but are a ridiculously pathetic 23rd in the league in Goal Against/game.
I think a major proponent to the Team’s defensive shortfall is that no one has been given clear understanding of their roles. Two sets of players can reasonably expect themselves to play the same role game after game. They are the Big Line along with Phillipes and Volchenkov.
All the role players like Antoine Vermette, Chris Kelly, Randy Robitaille, Dean McAmmond and Cory Stillman have absolutely no idea if they’ll be called upon for secondary scoring or for checking roles or even if they’ll see more than 5 minutes a game on the 4th line. Their roles are confusing and ever changing and they’re playing like a confused team.
Even on defense, Commodore has already played with Phillips on the penalty kill, Richardson and Redden on regular shift and that’s only in the past 4 games! The Power-play units see Alfredsson and Redden, Meszaros and Schubert and Stillman has seen some time on the point as well.
This is all ON-TOP of the goaltending situation… is Paddock running a 1A and 1B combination? Is it win and you’re in? Is it lose and the coach choose?
How can the players build any rapport with their linemates or even know their role on the Team when it changes multiple times a game and is never the same from one game to another. Right now I have a hard time identifying with the Team because frankly, there is none!
