Official Ottawa Senators Thread

[Sucker Punch]

A financial dilemma for the Senators...?

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2012/03/01/sp-nhl-senators-liberals-tax-break.html

The cash-strapped government wants to put an end to a policy that allows businesses to write off up to 50 per cent of all tickets and luxury suites for sporting events and is asking the federal Conservatives to help.

The tax writeoff also applies to other live performances like theatre and concerts and costs the province about $15 million a year.

But the Senators, which operate in a smaller market than the Maple Leafs, can't survive without the tax deduction, said team president Cyril Leeder.

"We have a sizable portion of our operation that's run based on corporate support for suites and for tickets,"

"So if we had a 10 per cent to 20 per cent loss of that business, we would be out of business."

Corporations lease 120 of the 150 luxury suites at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, he said. About half of their season ticket holders ? who take up 11,000 of the arena's 19,000 seats ? are businesses.

And there's no waiting list for suites or season tickets, he said. If someone pulls out, there's no one waiting in the wings to take their place.



Infrastructure and Transport Minister Bob Chiarelli, a former Ottawa mayor who holds one of the city's ridings, played down the prospect of driving his home team out of business.

There are a lot of elements that determine the sustainability of the Senators, including the rise of the loonie, which is a "huge bonus" for teams that pay their players in U.S. dollars, he said.

"Certainly the governments have been very supportive in a number of ways over the years to the Ottawa Senators, the Canadian dollar has been very helpful to the Ottawa Senators," Chiarelli said.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan sent a letter to his federal counterpart, Jim Flaherty, requesting co-operation on a list of proposed changes to the tax system.

"It is not clear that taxpayers should be subsidizing certain business expenses for income and sales tax purposes, such as private boxes and corporate seats at sporting events," 

I don't even do my own taxes, so I don't pretend to understand this stuff.  Just let me know when I need to start being scared of losing my team.

A great blog post breaking it down can be found here, written by someone a lot smarter than me.

 

[Madferret]

SP you watching the game?

 

[Sucker Punch]

SP you watching the game?

Nope, and it sounds like that was  good decision.  Our team truly is Spezza, Karlsson, and 18 fillers.

Read somewhere that we've won 1 game all season in which Spezza and Karlsson didn't record a point.  They either win the game for us, or we lose.

EDIT: Also, I heard Karlsson probably earned himself a suspension with an ugly slash on Bergenheim.  Did you see it, Ferret?

 

[Madferret]

SP you watching the game?

Nope, and it sounds like that was  good decision.  Our team truly is Spezza, Karlsson, and 18 fillers.

Read somewhere that we've won 1 game all season in which Spezza and Karlsson didn't record a point.  They either win the game for us, or we lose.

EDIT: Also, I heard Karlsson probably earned himself a suspension with an ugly slash on Bergenheim.  Did you see it, Ferret?

It was a good slash yeah - well see what happens

 

[Erndog]

Ottawas other 9 forwards:


Colin Greening:  1 goal in last 18 games

Nick Foligno:  1 goal last 24 games

Erik Condra:  0 goals last 27 games

Kyle Turris:  1 goal last 14 games.  Empty Netter

Zack Smith:  1 goal last 25 games.  Was a weak wrister over Nabokov

Kaspars Daugavins:  1 goal last 42 games

Zenon Kenopka:  0 goals in 26 games

Bobby Butler:  1 goal in 19 games

Chris Neil:  2 goals in 15 games.


Essentially 8 goals in 210 games.  That is absurd.


Talk about a 1 line team?. Michalek, Spezza, Alffy?. And Karlsson obviously

 

[princedpw]

Weird.  How is it possible that Ottawa is 9 points ahead of us in the Standings? 

Scoring-wise, Kessel and Lupul are still over a ppg, which must be pretty similar to the Spezza-Michalek combo.  Is Alfie outplaying Grabbo?  Perhaps I'll see the same run down of our non-top-line forwards if I take a look at the recent results?

 

[Zee]

Weird.  How is it possible that Ottawa is 9 points ahead of us in the Standings? 

Scoring-wise, Kessel and Lupul are still over a ppg, which must be pretty similar to the Spezza-Michalek combo.  Is Alfie outplaying Grabbo?  Perhaps I'll see the same run down of our non-top-line forwards if I take a look at the recent results?

Well, Leafs have 2 games in hand so if won then it's really 5 points ahead.  That's easy to see when you look at them as +4 in Goals for/goals against and Leafs -7.  That easily equates to an extra 2-3 wins which is the point difference.  The standings are tight and a few wins here or there is the difference between playoffs and not.

 

[Madferret]

Weird.  How is it possible that Ottawa is 9 points ahead of us in the Standings? 

Scoring-wise, Kessel and Lupul are still over a ppg, which must be pretty similar to the Spezza-Michalek combo.  Is Alfie outplaying Grabbo?  Perhaps I'll see the same run down of our non-top-line forwards if I take a look at the recent results?

We're a better hockey team.

 

[Deebo]

Weird.  How is it possible that Ottawa is 9 points ahead of us in the Standings? 

Scoring-wise, Kessel and Lupul are still over a ppg, which must be pretty similar to the Spezza-Michalek combo.  Is Alfie outplaying Grabbo?  Perhaps I'll see the same run down of our non-top-line forwards if I take a look at the recent results?

Goaltending hasn't really been a problem for the sens.

 

[Kin]

Weird.  How is it possible that Ottawa is 9 points ahead of us in the Standings? 

Scoring-wise, Kessel and Lupul are still over a ppg, which must be pretty similar to the Spezza-Michalek combo.  Is Alfie outplaying Grabbo?  Perhaps I'll see the same run down of our non-top-line forwards if I take a look at the recent results?

Toss in more consistent goaltending and a guy who's at least in the conversation for the Norris and I think you've closed the gap.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Anderson and Karlsson are the difference.

 

[Erndog]

Anderson and Karlsson are the difference.

I think that's your answer.

Like you and Nik said, more consistent goaltending and a Norris candidate and that's the difference.


Edit:  I guess it goes to show you what difference 1 or 2 guys could do.  Throw in Ryan Suter and Zach Parise this summer, and a bounce back year for Reimer and we're talking home ice advantage


I kid.  Somewhat  ???

 

[Zee]

Anderson and Karlsson are the difference.

I think that's your answer.

Like you and Nik said, more consistent goaltending and a Norris candidate and that's the difference.


Edit:  I guess it goes to show you what difference 1 or 2 guys could do.  Throw in Ryan Suter and Zach Parise this summer, and a bounce back year for Reimer and we're talking home ice advantage


I kid.  Somewhat  ???

Karlsson, Anderson and the coach are the difference.  We have a coach now, we need a few pieces as you suggest.  Before the wheels came off this team was in the top 8 for 53 games so they *were* good enough.  This latest slump was ridiculous.

 

[Corn Flake]

Anderson and Karlsson are the difference.

I think that's your answer.

Like you and Nik said, more consistent goaltending and a Norris candidate and that's the difference.


Edit:  I guess it goes to show you what difference 1 or 2 guys could do.  Throw in Ryan Suter and Zach Parise this summer, and a bounce back year for Reimer and we're talking home ice advantage


I kid.  Somewhat  ???

Karlsson, Anderson and the coach are the difference.  We have a coach now, we need a few pieces as you suggest.  Before the wheels came off this team was in the top 8 for 53 games so they *were* good enough.  This latest slump was ridiculous.

Coach is the #1 answer for sure.  Look at guys like Spazza playing with a brain for once in his life.  Huge difference. Plus he's also squeezing all kinds of useful play out of guys like Smith and a few other misfit toy kind of players. 

Early this year, Anderson looked worse than Reimer on his worst days.  Looked like another Bryan Murray goaltending whupsie. I think good coaching and patience lends to that turning around, plus maybe being a bit older he can handle bad runs.  But it was a pretty bad run there for a while. 

Then again, not like they are winning a lot of games 2-1 either. 

 

[Erndog]

Weird.  How is it possible that Ottawa is 9 points ahead of us in the Standings? 

Scoring-wise, Kessel and Lupul are still over a ppg, which must be pretty similar to the Spezza-Michalek combo.  Is Alfie outplaying Grabbo?  Perhaps I'll see the same run down of our non-top-line forwards if I take a look at the recent results?

I didn't bother with Kessel and Lupul, but I picked the last 20 games (it's a good sample size) and came out with:

Grabovski:  6 goals in 20
Bozak:  7 goals in 20
MacArthur:  7 goals in 20
Connolly:  3 goals in 20
Kulemin:  2 goals in 20
Lombardi:  5 goals in 20


I stopped there as I figure Crabb, Army/Frattin and Steckal probably combine for maybe 2.... but the others weren't too bad, certainly a lot better than Ottawa's "2nd/3rd" line forwards.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Edit:  I guess it goes to show you what difference 1 or 2 guys could do.  Throw in Ryan Suter and Zach Parise this summer, and a bounce back year for Reimer and we're talking home ice advantage


I kid.  Somewhat  ???

I mean, the odds of those 3 things all happening are pretty slim, but if they did I don't think it'd be outlandish to say the Leafs could compete for home ice.

 

[Erndog]

Ottawas other 9 forwards:


Colin Greening:  1 goal in last 18 games

Nick Foligno:  1 goal last 24 games

Erik Condra:  0 goals last 27 games

Kyle Turris:  1 goal last 14 games.  Empty Netter

Zack Smith:  1 goal last 25 games.  Was a weak wrister over Nabokov

Kaspars Daugavins:  1 goal last 42 games

Zenon Kenopka:  0 goals in 26 games

Bobby Butler:  1 goal in 19 games

Chris Neil:  2 goals in 15 games.


Essentially 8 goals in 210 games.  That is absurd.


Talk about a 1 line team?. Michalek, Spezza, Alffy?. And Karlsson obviously

So I emailed this to the Team1200 yesterday and guess what?



You are The Healthy Scratches emailer of the day for Monday March 5, 2012 which nets you:

A PAIR OF TICKETS TO SEE THE SENS TAKE ON THE HURRICANES, TUESDAY, APRIL 3RD AT SCOTIABANK PLACE. VISIT CAPITAL TICKETS DOT CA, OR CALL 599-FANS FOR TICKETS.  PLUS a $40 gift certificate TO ?Da Sergio restaurant? AT 338 preston st. in little italy - home of the award winning veal parmesan dish, only $12 per person for a limited time. VISIT DA SERGIO DOT YP DOT CA.


;D

 

[Sucker Punch]

Hah, congrats, Dredj.

 

[L K]

Ottawas other 9 forwards:


Colin Greening:  1 goal in last 18 games

Nick Foligno:  1 goal last 24 games

Erik Condra:  0 goals last 27 games

Kyle Turris:  1 goal last 14 games.  Empty Netter

Zack Smith:  1 goal last 25 games.  Was a weak wrister over Nabokov

Kaspars Daugavins:  1 goal last 42 games

Zenon Kenopka:  0 goals in 26 games

Bobby Butler:  1 goal in 19 games

Chris Neil:  2 goals in 15 games.


Essentially 8 goals in 210 games.  That is absurd.


Talk about a 1 line team?. Michalek, Spezza, Alffy?. And Karlsson obviously

So I emailed this to the Team1200 yesterday and guess what?



You are The Healthy Scratches emailer of the day for Monday March 5, 2012 which nets you:

A PAIR OF TICKETS TO SEE THE SENS TAKE ON THE HURRICANES, TUESDAY, APRIL 3RD AT SCOTIABANK PLACE. VISIT CAPITAL TICKETS DOT CA, OR CALL 599-FANS FOR TICKETS.  PLUS a $40 gift certificate TO ?Da Sergio restaurant? AT 338 preston st. in little italy - home of the award winning veal parmesan dish, only $12 per person for a limited time. VISIT DA SERGIO DOT YP DOT CA.


;D

Ugh, sorry man.  That's a brutal response to your email.  My suggestion, a nice big bonfire. 

Nice win.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Just givin' away tickets to those games, eh?