It does seem a bit early for coaches to go bonkers. First it was Torts and now Wilson. Crazy Yanks get stressed way too easily.

I still remember watching the game with Gretz. How people were hearing rumours that he was going to retire, and even before any official announcement just decided to give him that huge ovation and major sendoff. That's what I love about the game in Canada....whether its the fans trying to jazz up the players by singing the anthem out west, or the fans out here wanting to give the Great One a classy Canadian sendoff.

I have to ask.........why would anyone want to coach the Leafs? or the Canadiens? Any Canadian city has a huge microscope on everything the teams do, but man, you'd have to be nuts to go to Toronto or Montreal.

Bruce, it is an example of a bad coaches behavior. Loud and obnoxious in today's society is interpreted as leadership. I go back and ask again, what is the role of a coach? We all know what their objective is, win games; but how do you do that beating people up. Confidence is contagious and so is the lack of confidence. The term Coach is really a misnomer...he/she should lead and inspire and gets the most out of what he/she have. He should arouse enthusiasm, instill confidence, cultivate pride! Does anyone, anyone think the kids and veterans on TO didn't try? Is is within the realm of possibility that the team (like Ottawa) is just not that good? What does he expect from Orr, Rosehill, Wallin, Schen (who should have spent another year or two in junior), Axelby, and many others. They all love the game...fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing in the NHL and in only the 3rd game of the year and they don't try? Come on Ronny! Shakespeare wrote: on what meat does Caesar eat that he has grown so great. We might ask Ronny that question. I felt bad for the kids after listening to Wilson...he seriously is a fool! King Burke gave him a team that was supposed to be very physical; did Wilson have them play a physical game? What was his game plan? Is he not responsible for what happened? Is he not accountable? What, I wonder what the players on the team think of him now? Respect a man and he will do more!!! When I look at Wilson (and even when he was with San Jose and after he was fired) I am reminded of an old expression: a bore is a fellow who opens his mouth and puts his feet in it; and, leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality...I suspect he has to buy into King Burke's vision...doesn't he?

Wow, great quotes there Bobby. And true, so very true.

who is this donk?

he must get together w/ donkey cox and come up w/ this stuff as a social experiment

Nothing like a guy who runs his own site using this blog to get advertising. Wow.

No kidding Bruce...one word comes to mind: shameless

Shameless, stupid, silly, desperate, idiotic........

It's funny though. Nowadays it seems anyone who can string a sentance together wants to be some sort of "authority" or "source" on something on the net. Are there really that many people out there with such fragile little egos they have to start their own sites like that, and act so desperately for attention they actually go to a legitimate site to promote it?

Nancy, in the time that it took me to log in, you stole my thunder! No worries, you said it better than I could ever have!

The site is crap. Jumped on it to see.

I didn't even bother to look at the site. Those fly by night sites are usually full of worms, trojans and viruses. No point risking it for something you know has to be trashy.

Let's face it, if there's a good site out there, you'll hear about it often enough in conversation and as a refence during debates.

...you lay down with dogs...you wake up with flees or viruses....

It is interesting to see Picard get ice time in critical situations over Campoli. If Picard is expendable, why is this so? Is it only me that sees Campoli's penchant for being completely out of position; giving the puck away (not 150 feet away); avoiding the corners and losing every one on one battle? Alexadre played far better and at 222 is far stronger and more physical. He can play in the late minutes of a game and not put the team at risk (or so it would seem).

You heard it here first. If Ottawa plays their SYSTEM tonight, we will win 5-2.

That's funny, Daniel. It kills me all the talk of "systems" that you hear. Ridiculous, as you so rightly point out. I'd like to hear one of these analysts do a team by team 'system' summary so we can delight in the intricacies.

TSn was reporting last night a new low in gimmicky sales. Apparently the Isles are packaging a piece of the net Tavares scored his first goal in along with a puck for the ungodly sum of $91.91. Really, who would buy such a stupid thing? It's scarey how idiotic some collectors are out there.

Speaking of scary....

Anyone watch That's Hockey last night and the Sports Illustrated feature of "provocative sports bodies"?

I don't know which is scarier......Chara on skates or Zdeno in the buff.

Dan, you are right, if we play our game tonight and Pascal plays like he did in TO, we will be fine. The place is going to be rocking. A bit dissapointed that we are opening against the Isles though. I was hoping for a better team, like last year with the Wings. I doubt it will be a sell out, like really, who wants to come to watch the Isles on opening night huh? The place is still going to be rocking, but not crazy like it was last season.

Nancy, I do not think I ever, EVER want to see Chara in the buff.

4-1 tonight. Alfie scores. On pace for 82 goals! haha

Thanks for your great commentary as always Daniel. I find it so funny that all you ever contribute is something about systems and how sad you are that the writers, players and fans say the same things over and over again...

Pensfan we can get into the whole cycle of pro franchises and the luck involved in being the worst team in the league for two years in a row just as two of the best players in a generation come along. Don't forget your Pens almost went to Hamilton and KC...so just give your drivel a rest.

The Sens really have to be 3-1 after play Saturday and then we can see how we look against a godo team, the Pens, on Monday. There is no way we can lose to the Isles or Thrashers at home and expect to make the playoffs so these next 2 games are HUGE for both the points and the confidence it can build.

I am hoping that the spark I saw from Kovalev on Tuesday is there and that line can be dangerous...having one of Kovalev, Spezza, Michalek, Cheechoo or Fisher break the goose-egg would be great too.

I am not saying that Campoli is good because although he certainly can handle the puck in the offensive zone he really seems to have regressed without the puck BUT trying to use Picard as a barometer is not a good thing (It's like us comparing the Sens to the Leafs) since he isn't an NHL defenseman either. He is big and has a good shot but he plays small and doesn't seem to have much hockey sense.

The Sens need to keep getting better as a team because there is no stand-out line to carry this team and score the big goal just yet so they need to play smart, move the puck out of our zone and hope that LeClaire keeps finding his form.

This season really hinges on the new players meshing with the old quick and LeClaire being as good as he can be.

I will be there with a bunch of friends tonight too.

GO SENS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David, many thanks for the compliment. I am glad to see you are catching on as to how silly the jargon and rhetoric being used all the time is. Next time Maguire or one of your hockey buddies starts blathering about the RUST factor or buying into the SYSTEM, you might want to challenge them to explain to you what they really mean. Did you know the Habs were FATIGUED last night, therefore the 7-1 loss. Those one hour flights kill me.

I just hope we start to see some goal scoring. Like I said earlier, only once in 8 games have we scored more than 2 goals. At this pace, things will not be very rosey down the road.

...and just how does he demonstrate no hockey sense (Picard)? As someone with no hockey sense he has similar numbers to Canoli...he hits people, wins one on one battles and is selected over the hockey sense blessed Canoli in critical situations...how does that work. Does is it work the same way BeauJest is a good defenseman (a guy who was not wanted in Anaheim)?

Bruce G. With respect to your comment about the fate of Ron Wilson, I have to agree with your thoughts. I personally can't see Wilson making it past Xmas if they continue losing with regularity. Personally, I can't see the egos of Burke and Wilson getting along at all or agreeing on anything ergo it is just a matter of time when Burke sends Wilson packing.

It will be interesting to see what happens but with Wilson being one of Burke's best friends and God Father to one of his children (somewhere) I don't think anything will happen this year. Don't forget that the expectation has already been established that they 'hope' to make the playoffs. With very low expectations, who fails? Not the architects or the foremen only the labourers. I suspect he will last as a minimum until Christmas next year and perhaps until the end of next year. He wont be fired, he will be told (arrange by Burke) to quit. I will guess they will go 0 and 6 to start the season!

I guess you answered your own question...Picard, the big, strong, fast, strapping lad that he is, with the great skating ability and the wicked shot has the same amount of points as your second favourite whipping boy - Campoli.

He doesn't hit people, he may run into them from time to time though and if he does win a one-on-one battle he usually gives the puck away or makes a poor pass.

Players move on all the time so not being wanted by a team doesn't mean squat and a few games of poor play with the Laffs doesn't prove a player is bad.

Picard isn't an NHL defenseman and the reason is that he has the tools but not the head for the big leagues.

Terrible turn out at the game and a brutal effort from the Sens for the most part...we are going to struggle to score goals and although I was a tiny glimmer of hope for Michalek on the first line I stil think that Foligno - Regin - Fisher need to be back together and that Kovy can hit the 3rd line with efforts like that.

We need a much better game agains the Thrashers on Saturday or we will get smoked.

Well we will just disagree OD. I like big guys who aren't agraid to go in the corner first. I like guys who are physical. I like players who make good decisions...and that is why Picard is on the ice in critical situations over Canoli! If I answered my question, I must have missed it. Did you watch the game last night? Let me ask you this...why is Canoli making 650 and Picard 1m? They came here with those contracts so it must be because someone else saw his value too huh? On a separate issue do you like Canoli and Karlsson as a tandem? Kovy is validating what we all knew already. 5m for 20% effort and 0 results...and having him on that line is silly. I agree that Regin should be centering Fish. ...the line looked great in the pre-season! Foligno looks lost his year. This was another very boring performance against a below average team. It looks to me that the team has borrowed something from the Jacques Martin school of coaching: simplicity = results = boredom. I got all excited about the game and invested 2.5 hours for that? In between appointments yesterday I caught Tim Murray on a talk show...he was tripping over his tongue, sounded over simple and spewed out over used cliches! I should add that I think Carkner is even better than he was the game before.