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The news isn't great today for Senators fans (Daniel Alfredsson's knee) or NHL players (the loonie got kneecapped yesterday), but it's the home opener tonight and time for optimism, so let's put as good and nice as positive a spin on things as we can, okay?
Alfredsson had surgery to have a bone chip removed from his right knee yesterday morning and could be out for about two weeks. The positive? He'll miss tonight's opener vs. the Detroit Red Wings, but with the Senators not playing again until Friday, he could be absent for as few as three games.
In his absence, Dany Heatley will take over his duties as captain and agitator Jarkko Ruutu will start tonight in his place beside Heatley and centre Jason Spezza.
'OFF THE WALL'
The Pizza Line just got some spice.
"(Ruutu's) strong. I think a lot of what our line wants to do, with or without Alfie, was to create a lot of chances in the zone off the cycle and from down low. Roots is one of the best at playing down low," said Heatley. "He's strong on the boards and can make plays off the wall. That's definitely going to be the game plan with Roots."
Senators coach Craig Hartsburg said he wants Ruutu to stick within his skill set. Bump and grind, get in people's faces. He did a great job of that in Stockholm against the Pittsburgh Penguins, giving Sidney Crosby a pretty good crunch behind the net and a facewash in a wrestling match in front of the benches. Crosby looked sour and frustrated for the rest of the day.
"Whatever line you put Ruutu on, he is going to play the same," said Hartsburg. "He is going to bring his game. He's a very intelligent player as far as the team game and the systems and winning loose puck battles and doing smart things with the puck. I think he'll feel comfortable going there. It won't bother him to go there. He'll go help those two guys.
"He'll be the same Ruutu whether he's playing on the third or fourth line. He'll do the job."
Talking in Sweden to people with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ruutu's old team before signing with the Senators, a couple of them said Ruutu's antics cast a long shadow, one that can obscure his puck talents.
"He's got more skill than people give him credit for," said Penguins winger Matt Cooke, a teammate of Ruutu's with the Vancouver Canucks. "But sometimes he lets his emotions get the better of him and the skill can't come out."
The bottom line is the Senators are hurt by Alfredsson's absence, but it will be interesting to see how they cope, maybe with a stronger team game and even tighter team defence than they showed in shutting down the Penguins Sunday.
Speaking of tightening, can you say "market correction?" It's tough to put a positive spin on what's happening with the world economy except if hockey fans thought NHL players were overpaid, that could change.
After three seasons of incredible growth in which the NHL salary cap went from about $39 million to almost $57 million, much of it fuelled by the surging Canadian dollar, events yesterday could indicate a bad trend for NHL players and maybe for Canada's NHL owners (in the short term).
DOLLAR DIPS
The loonie was getting hammered yesterday (it fell below 85 cents US) and was heading for its worst week since 1971. It had lost 7.4% of its value this week last time I looked.
It's dropped about 16% since the summer, so now all those payrolls for Canadian owners are suddenly costing guys like Eugene Melnyk here in Ottawa or George Gillett in Montreal potentially 16% more (some teams hedged their bets and bought U.S. dollars when the Canadian dollar was high, so they might not feel the impact of the tumbling loonie for a bit).
If the Canadian dollar doesn't rebound, the impact on NHL revenues could be significant when you consider the six Canadian NHL teams account for about a third of the NHL's revenues. The impact could be felt even when the market slide inevitably trickles down to the consumer and demand for tickets in Canada eases (just about every seat in Canada has been sold since the lockout ended).
It's going to be interesting to see what happens if the salary cap declines by a few million and teams are stuck with big, long-term contracts.
That sound you hear?
It might be the NHL's post-lockout bubble bursting.