Hockey News in Summer? What's Going on Here?

Wow, so much Sens news!  Did the season start early or something?  Crazy.  I guess I’d better jump right in and get down to business.

I was busy when the awards were being announced but my mother came down to let me know Karlsson had won the Norris Trophy (did I mention he’s my favourite player?).  Neither of us were actually expecting him to win it, to be quite honest, but I am very excited that he did.  It really has been one crazy year for him and about to get even crazier since he’s off to get married now (at least he probably won’t be traded on his wedding day, unlike Jordan Staal).

Even more exciting though really was Alfredsson’s win for the King Clancy.  As I mentioned before, I will be sad if Alfie retires without a Cup under his belt (though let’s face it, the chances of him sticking around AND the Senators winning aren’t particularly great) but the more honours he gets, the better I would feel.  Plus he really just means so much to Ottawa and it’s great to see that acknowledged.

Finally, we’ve got the Draft to talk about.  Despite missing the awards I did actually watch some of this on TSN.  Trust me, it was riveting.

Okay, maybe not but there were some interesting parts to it as you try and figure out a team’s strategy (or maybe just try and figure out if the Flames were the smartest team or the dumbest).  For the Sens, the biggest news is, of course, the first round pick of Cody Ceci.  I am a bit of a lapsed 67s Fan but it is very exciting to see someone who grew up in Ottawa play here for the OHL and the NHL. 

The team picked up 6 other players and I’m excited for all of them to come on board, in particular our new goalie since I’ve always been partial to them when I’m not paying attention to Karlsson (I used to play nets myself).  Hopefully the team is on the path to doing a bit better in the coming years than in the last ones, since it wasn’t so long ago when we were at the top of the West. 

Though as long as we’re better than the Leafs I won’t be too upset.

Lucky 7 Years for Karlsson & the Sens

It's been pretty quiet for the Senators since their first round loss in the play-offs but things are looking up for the future.  Erik Karlsson signed a seven-year, $45.5 million contract extension today.


Seeing as he is my favourite player on the team, I am really happy about the news though also a bit worried at who the team may end up losing if the money runs out.  But if anyone is worth the money, it's Karlsson and at least now Daniel Alfredsson's kids won't lose their favourite babysitter.

There is still no news on the Alfredsson front.  I know that a lot of people will be disappointed if he decides to retire now, though after the many ups and downs of last season no one could blame him, especially given that he'll be turning 40 at the end of this year.  Still, it always makes me sad to see a good player retire without winning a Stanley Cup, even though I know it happens to a lot of them.  Of course he does have an Olympic gold medal, which is pretty damn impressive too.

All and all, it is shaping up to be an interesting summer and an even more interesting fall.