The History of #29

NHL jersey numbers are weird. Football has strict regulations coded within the rulebook regarding jersey numbers and positions, baseball has very few customs other than pitchers wear double digits, which is being broken with increasing frequency these days. Basketball has traditionally kept numbers under 55, but nowadays more and more players are opting for higher numbers as the system seems to be growing towards "anything goes."

Hockey's numbers, on the other hand, are hard to understand with any certainty. There are some customs such as defenders normally getting the numbers 2-5 exclusively, and forwards having a monopoly on numbers like 9, 11, and 19. Numbers are retired liberally and traditionalists will always yell at a cloud when a younger player tries to wear the number of anyone who once scored 10 goals in consecutive seasons but otherwise, there's barely no template. Then there are the goalies. Goalies have been given the number 1 since as far back as numbers themselves were assigned. Goalies typically have also worn numbers like 30, 31, 33, 35, 40, and 41 with differing degrees of exclusivity. Today, goalies such as Braden Holtby and Sergei Bobrovsky have staked their claims to numbers like 70 and 72 respectively and Mikko Koskinen has threatened the stability of the jersey number kingdom by wearing number 19 between the pipes.

But there is one number that defies all conventions. One number that laughs in the face of goalies and skaters alike. One number that you read in the title of this post and already know is coming. That is number 29.

As far as I (hockeyreference.com) can tell. The number 29 dates back to the 1958-59 season when Charlie Hodge suited up with it for 14 games while backing up Jacques Plante with the Habs. This was right around the era when teams started to have designated backup goalies who would be around long enough that they wouldn't just grab the starters jersey after he had a bit too much to drink the night before and passed out in the coach's swimming pool (note to self: fact check if this ever happened). Eventually, when Plante left Montreal, Hodge got full-time starter duties and switched to number 1 for the 1963-64 season. Roggie Vachon briefly wore 29 during his rookie season as Hodge's backup but it wasn't until the 1968-69 season that another netminder would wear it again as Tony Esposito and Terry Sawchuk wearing it for the Habs and Red Wings respectively. Between those years however, three skaters wore the number: Poul Popiel, Bob Ring, and Ross Lonsberry. Only Lonsberry wore it for more than one season. In 1970-71 though, we saw a new era emerge for number 29.

To this day, Ken Dryden remains the only player for who number 29 is retired. While he did not usher in a swarm of goalies wearing the number immediately, he held onto the number almost exclusively. The only other player of note to wear the number (with all possible due respect to the 80-grade nickname of Larry "Izzy" Goodenough) was Dean Prentice. Mike Palmateer would soon follow in Dryden's footsteps but in the 1983-84 season, Jan Ludvig and Reijo Ruotsalainen joined Prentice as the only skaters wearing number 29 to notch a 20-goal season, but were still well behind his record of 26. With Dryden and Palmateer out of the picture, another era for the number began.

The following year, during the 1984-85 season, Ruotsalainen set the record for goals by a number 29 at 28, yet the number was still mostly designated for also-rans, as the next highest scorer was Buffalo's Mal Davis, with 17 goals in 47 games. Still, that was better than the goalies could claim, as Marc Behrend's 24 appearances was more than twice the rest of the goaltenders combined. Greg Millen and Joel Otto would come along for the goaltenders and skaters respectively, keeping the number just barely alive, but the 80s were certainly a dark era for the number after the triumphs of the Dryden years. In the 90s, Felix Potvin donned the hallowed 2-and-9, and a quasi-star on a quasi-contender in the league's top market helped propel the number to - just kidding, the number would remain fairly obscure, although Mike Vernon would wear it in Detroit and also Alex Selivanov became the first skater to score 30 goals with the number, notching 31 with Tampa Bay in the 1995-96 season before promptly falling off the face of the earth. How could you Alex? You were the chosen one! But in 2002-03, a saviour emerged for the number. That's right, legendary goaltender and expansion team saviour! Marc! Andre! (sets throat slashing sign from off-stage) (checks notes) Tomas Vokoun?

Yes, Tomas Vokoun. Years before he was nearly decapitated by his own teammate, Tomas Vokoun took the torch from Felix Potvin and became the poster boy for the number 29. Vokoun was later joined by Martin Gerber and, yes, Marc-Andre Fleury, as the mid-2000s saw a trio of at the very least competent goaltenders wearing 29. Odd side note, for some reason there were no players whatsoever to wear it during the 2004-05 season, when I contacted the league offices to ask for a comment, all I heard was a vaguely familiar voice yelling from afar while assuring me that he loved my passion. After Gerber faded away, Fleury and Vokoun continued to stake their claim to the number for the goaltenders, although 20 goal scorers such as Ryan Clowe and Jason Pominville did start taking to it. The number also became a favourite for competent backups, as well as Justin Pogge. The number reached its peak usage in 2010-11 with 26 players wearing it over the course of the season, however, most of them were far from special and with Vokoun slowing down, Fleury seemed destined to become the Dryden of his era. In a cruel twist of fate, Vokoun would sign with Pittsburgh as Fleury's in 2012-13 and would play out the final year of his career wearing 92.

After Vokoun hung up the skates, the skater saw their opportunity to strike while the goaltending position was being held largely by one man. First came Nathan MacKinnon's 24 goal Calder campaign, coupled with Jason Pominville becoming the second number 29 to pot 30 in a season in 2013-14. Brock Nelson and Leon Draisaitl would also come onto the scene and defensive players like Bryan Bickell and Deryk Engelland complimented them. Meanwhile, the goaltenders shot themselves in the foot by putting their hopes in Matt O'Connor. In 2016-17 the big guns hit as Patrik Laine burst into the league and set a number 29 record with 36 goals, as a rookie nonetheless. That same year, William Nylander played his first full season and Draisaitl began to assert himself as a star. Last season, MacKinnon and Laine both had seasons for the ages and Laine scored 44 and MacKinnon almost reached the 40-goal plateau too, scoring 39 en route to being the Hart Trophy runner-up.

Now, with Fleury the only remaining hold-out among goalies the future of Ken Dryden's number would appear to belong to the skaters in this eternal struggle I just made up as a device to keep this article from being dry and boring. However, be on high alert as the ongoing William Nylander saga could change everything. Below I will outline by 2000 word opinion of the situa - (gets beaten to a bloody pulp by folding chairs).

The Ideal Sens Team

My last post (the one being considered "the triumphant return of the king" or "a cesspool of babbling crap" depending on who you listen too) touched on how, despite the deep, deep issues with the Ottawa Senators on and off the ice, I loved watching them play and even felt... good? Well that's not relevant anymore. No, now we're gonna blow this team up. Not fully, as the pieces are in place already for a rebuild, but instead, let's look at what this team could be in the future, starting with the ideal team and working our way towards a realistic scenario of what this team could look like.

The Ideal Team

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone)-Connor McDavid (Clone)

Connor McDavid (Clone, Genetically Modified to Play Goalie)

Connor McDavid (Clone, Same as the Other Goalie, but Catches Right to confuse the competition)

So this is the ideal Ottawa Senators team. However, this is unrealistic, obviously, as Melnyk would never be able to afford to pay this team. So, instead, let's go with a different approach.

The 'Everything Goes Right' Team

Brady Tkachuk-Colin White-Mark Stone

Ryan Dzingel-Matt Duchene-Drake Batherson

Alex Formenton-Logan Brown-Nick Paul

Rudolfs Balcers-Chris Tierney-Filip Chlapik

Thomas Chabot-Dylan DeMelo

Christian Wolanin-Christian Jaros

Max Lajoie-Chris Wideman

Filip Gustavsson

Marcus Hogberg

So this is a team where everything goes "right" as evidence by the title. This team is ignoring any possible acquisitions while still accounting for players leaving via free agency. This team assumes that prospects will develop to their full potential, which we know will never happen 100% of the time. The line combinations are just guesses and the second defence pair is structured like that solely so I can put a Christian-Christian pairing on the team. Start working on nicknames now, application may be filed in the comment section.

This team does have many issues beyond the idealist approach. For starters, the defence is weak. Chabot is great and DeMelo is possibly an ideal partner for him, but after that, even if players develop accordingly there is a steep decline in talent. With that in mind, let's take a look at an even more idealistic team.

The 'Everything Goes Right and We Acquire Some More Talent' Team

Brady Tkachuk-Colin White-Mark Stone

Ryan Dzingel-Matt Duchene-Oliver Bjorkstrand

Alex Formenton-Logan Brown-Drake Batherson

Rudolfs Balcers-Chris Tierney-Filip Chlapik

Thomas Chabot-Dylan DeMelo

Christian Wolanin-Justin Faulk

Max Lajoie-Christian Jaros

Filip Gustavsson

Marcus Hogberg

As you may notice, this team is only slightly different from the previous scenario, this is because, if all the prospects develop as they should, the Sens will have a damn good team, but that goes for most rebuilders. Additions have been made based on potential free agents from the 2020 and 2021 classes, which is when the Sens could probably expect to start seriously thinking about contending again. It does not involve trades because future markets are nearly impossible to predict and situations could arise overnight (see Kyle Turris). We've replaced Nick Paul who, even if he develops well (and he has looked good in limited minutes this season), he likely tops out as a solid bottom 6 forward, but if Ottawa wants to truly contend, they need some serious production from that part of the lineup. Paul is fine and could be a weapon as the 13th forward, but he likely does not have a regular spot in the lineup of an elite team. His replacement, Oliver Bjorkstrand, slots onto the 2nd line, pushing Batherson down to the 3rd line which is probably better suited for him as he could feast on opponent's weaker defenders. I've always liked Bjorkstrand and think he has potential to be a high-end sniper in the league. A line with him alongside Dzingel and Duchene would be a nightmare for the other teams to defend, while the top line could act as a more all-around unit playing big minutes.

On the blueline, we have said goodbye to Chris Wideman. I've always liked Wideman and firmly believe that he was, and still is, underrated as he has produced fairly consistently for the Sens when healthy. However, he is not young and will be in his 30s by the time the team looks to contend. He likely would only serve in a 3rd pairing role and could garner a considerable return at the deadline this year. (For the record, I feel much the same way about Matt Duchene, but the targets to surpass, or even simply replace his production are limited so Duchene stays). Justin Faulk is an interesting choice to slot into the top 4 but, despite seemingly being forecasted as the odd-man out of Carolina's stacked d-core, he is a highly skilled player, much in the ilk of Wideman, only better. If he plays out his contract with Carolina, he likely does not re-sign with the team, if he is traded before his contract ends, he may still move as he would likely be acquired as a rental for a Cup run.

The left side still looks weak beyond Chabot, but the 2022 free agent class of left-handed defencemen could include the likes of Hampus Lindholm, Olli Maatta, and Calvin de Haan, so a deadline acquisition could help shore up that position, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here.

All in all, this looks like a very solid team with a few weaknesses. Those weaknesses could easily be addressed however, so this team looks like it would definately have the potential to do some damage in the post-season.

The 'Guy Boucher is Not Only Still Around but Somehow Also Controlling the Entire Organization' Team

Magnus Paajarvi-Tom Pyatt-Gabriel Dumont

Zack Smith-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Max McCormick

Mikkel Boedker-Former Lightning-Former Lightning

Former Lightning-Taylor Pyatt-Former Lightning

Mark Borowiecki-Cody Ceci

Dion Phaneuf-Former Lightning (Idk, maybe Coburn?)

Ben Harpur-Former Lightning

Mike Condon

Dwayne Roloson

Okay, so this might be a little extreme (Cody Ceci is still pretty young, you don't feed a baby steak you know!) but I think he all need to prepare for a world where Guy Boucher maintains at least some influence over the roster foundation. But first, a quick word about Guy Boucher. I honestly love the guy. Watching him on the bench going nuts has become a sort of national pastime over the past 3 years. For all the hate it gets, I still maintain that his 1-3-1 system has some merit and was in part (though certainly not as much as dumb luck or Erik Karlsson, or Craig Anderson, or Bobby Ryan, or, well, you get the idea) responsible for the run to the conference final in 2017. That said, Boucher is desperately trying to play players who fit his style and, whether or not the style is effective, these players seem to do more harm than good in most situations.

Now, about those players. For the most part, these players are all the current Sens that I did not include in any of the other proposed teams. Putting aside the totally serious new additions like Dumont, Cobrun, Phaneuf, Roloson and Taylor Pyatt, I want to look at why these players were excluded from my vision of the future of the team. The likes of Paajarvi, Pyatt, McCormick, Harpur, and Condon is pretty simple, they are not good enough. There really isn't anything deeper than that, the play of these players is not at an NHL level. In some cases, it was at one point, in others they were just destined to be Quad-A guys. No hard feelings here, this is just how it works. Smith and Pageau are more interesting, I personally love both of them and they are both solid bottom-6 players, but it is important for the Sens to look to the future. In 3 years or so, they will, in all likelihood, have lost a step. When you factor in the younger players who are coming up that they would be blocking, it does not seem reasonable to have these two playing everyday. Plus, contracts aside, they would both be attractive options for teams looking to add some two-way depth at the deadline, maybe they could even get a mid-round pick or a mildly intriguing prospect. That leaves us with four players left whose future and role are much more difficult to determine, they will get their own paragraph because this has been a big block of words and you deserve a break. Maybe even go outside and take a walk, I'm not going anywhere.

Okay so you didn't take that walk. That's fine, there's nothing I can do about that. Anyway, we left off with four (4) players left to project (actually 7 but don't worry about that yet). We'll start with Mikkel Boedker. Boedker doesn't really fit in with the first group as he definitely still has enough talent to stay in the league, but I am hesitant to put him in with Pageau and Smith because he is a skilled player that may fit better in a fast league or maybe even with the Sens. That said, he really hasn't shown much in his time with the team and could very well be washed up by the time the Sens want to contend again. He would be a traditional deadline pickup next year as his contract expires and I think it would be wise for the Sens to trade him for whatever they can get, much like Pageau and Smith.

The second player to cover is Mark Borowiecki. Boro is a real enigma as most fans probably don't know what to think about him. On the one hand, I wrote an article about him last year where I made what at the time was the very uncontroversial claim that he was perhaps the most beloved player on the team thanks to being born in Ottawa and his toothless grin, among other things. But, as anyone who even vaguely follows the Sens (or the NHL for that matter) knows, a lot has happened in Ottawa in the past 12 months. When he appeared in the now infamous Eugene Melnyk Variety Hour, many fans felt betrayed that he would prop up such a hated figure. His struggles on the ice despite copious amounts of playing time and an 'A' on his shirt have made many fans frustrated to the point that he has fallen to one of the most disliked players on the team. The problem is, as long as we aren't living in the fantasy world proposed above, he will likely stay until Wolanin or another prospect makes him completely obsolete, which, given how the two have been playing, may be a distinct possibility in the not-so-distant future.

Craig Anderson has been great this season. The season before he was not. The season before that, he was great! Anderson is an inconsistent player, but one that fans and players alike seem to love. He's getting old and is definitely not the same player he was in his first half-decade with the team, but he has one year left on his contract after this and at that point I'd imagine he'd either retire or try to go for one last hurrah if any team will sign him. Hopefully by that point Gustavsson will be ready to take the starter's job full-time and he can get a smooth transition in nets.

Before we finish, I should probably address a few of the missing players from either list. Clarke MacArthur and Marian Gaborik seem destined to remain of LTIR, with the latter possibly getting a few sporadic appearances here and there, these players are essentially done with the team and most likely playing hockey in general. Bobby Ryan is the other player missing and that's because he will likely just keep doing what he's doing. He will sometimes play at a solid second line level and will sometimes play like a bottom-6 forward. He is overpaid and may be traded in a salary dump, potentially with one of the team's better players soon. I wouldn't throw him in with a high-end potential rental like Dzingel of Duchene (or, god forbid, Stone) but maybe instead of going for a mid-round pick with Pageau, Smith, or Boedker, instead they dump part of Ryan's contract. The exact details probably wouldn't be so simple but it's a start.

So there, we've covered everyone on the Sens, in the system, and a few potential additions. There is absolutely no reason to continue. What? Do we have to? Oh boy, here we go.

The 'This Isn't Even Respecting the Format but This is Such a Mess We Need To Do an Entire Section on Cody Ceci' Team

Hey Sens fans, pull up a chair, we need to talk about Cody Ceci. There is one very simple bit of information that is necessary when talking about him: He is bad at hockey. Yes, I could have put him in with the Quad-A guys, or even with Pageau and Smith if I was feeling generous. But he really needs his own section, I know that plenty of members of the Sens front office are avid reader of this blog so settle in Pierre, this is gonna blow your mind. He really isn't good, did I say that? He is near the bottom of stats like CF% and xGF% while still playing big minutes and being viewed as a shutdown guy for some reason. I could give you one of the statistical analyses you've surely seen to describe that but I'm getting all my information from Corsica and you can just see for yourself here (or maybe not, Corsica has gone dark since I wrote this, it may come back, maybe not. The point is, he is not good). No, instead I'm going to talk about how Cody Ceci is just, plain, not good.

Remember when Cody Ceci was drafted? Everyone was happy! The Sens had drafted a player who grew up and played his junior hockey in Ottawa. Not only was he a local boy, but he was also coming off a 17 goal season and helped a star-studded 67s team with the likes of Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli, and Petr Mrazek, to a semi-finals appearance. His 60 points that season were good for second among OHL defensemen, behind only Dougie Hamilton, who tallied a remarkable 72 points from the backend. Yet now Cody Ceci is known as a shutdown guy? In his rookie season, Ceci had 3 goals in 49 games. After a bit of a sophomore slump, Ceci exploded in 2015-16 with 10 goals, it seemed like the Sens had found their man to play on the second pair behind Karlsson and put up big numbers. But then the numbers just dried up, with a combined 7 goals in the past two seasons. While he does have 4 goals already this season, the underlying numbers suggest that he is merely the product of high ice-time and just plain ol' dumb luck. So, naturally, unable to fathom that such a promising prospect would be a bust (which isn't so bad, considering other players drafted 15th overall recently include the likes of Zach Senyshyn, Derek Forbort and Peter Holland... but also Dylan Larkin and Erik Karlsson), the narrative was created that Ceci had developed into a "shutdown defensemen". The cynic in me says that this was Dorion covering his ass from his scouting days, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt (I guess) and say that he is just wrong.

Either way, the Sens will need to make a decision on Ceci one way or another sooner than later. Chris Steveson of The Athletic seems to think that the arbitration hearing has fractured the relationship and he'll be gone by the deadline, while others seem to think that he'll be handed a blank check before July 1. I don't know which will happen or if it'll be something in between, but for the sake of the organization, Cody Ceci should not be on this team come training camp.

 --------------------------------

So there you have it! I realize that I didn't finish with one final team but that's because I honestly can't do much more than guesswork here. The most likely result will probably be similar to the one where everything goes right and we acquire some more talent, but those additions were mere speculation. Also, I don't see Duchene sticking around on this team and think that if the Sens can get anything comparable to what Colorado did for him they should trade him yesterday as he's approaching the age where things can start to slow down quickly, if not outright fall apart. And yes, not to be a downer, but not all the prospects will develop to their full potential. Wolanin is looking great in Belleville but he's already 23 so the clock is ticking on his development. Players like Balcers and Formenton just haven't gotten enough solid looks to comfortably predict that they will be anything notable and while I do think they'll be valuable contributors in the not-so-distant future, it's really hard to say for certain. As we know all too well in Ottawa, goaltending is voodoo so who knows if Gustavsson and/or Hogberg will turn out as expected or not. Maybe Hollett is the goalie of the future? And finally, if Duchene or anyone else if moved, some prospects and/or picks (on top of the ones we already have) will likely be added to the system.

Predicting the future is a fool's game, and while I certainly played the fool for most of this article, I am not crazy enough to adamantly state anything for certain. For proof, you need only to look at what people were saying at the start of last season.

We're Back and Everything is TOTALLY FINE

Well, we're back. Sure this blog is written solely by me but I'm going to use the royal plural because on this page, I am king. Sorry, WE are king. We could give a long winded explanation as to why we didn't write any articles about OUR favourite team but in reality, I was just lazy (not we, some of us were trying to write, one idiot just got in the way). Now that we (I?) have gotten the confusing use of pronouns out of the way, it is time for me to explain why, in the midst of a dumpster fire rolling down a cliff into a pit of venomous snakes (fire-proof snakes of course, so they will not be killed when the dumpster crashes on them, they fill simply feast on its contents), am I writing about what my editors (me) assures me is still, in the strictest sense of the word, a professional hockey team playing in Ottawa? To that I respond, none of your business do you want to read this or not? No one made you click this buddy. But I would also say this: This is the most excited I've ever been about an Ottawa Senators team.

Okay, now that you've had time to reread that a dozen times to make sure that you saw that correctly, followed by a puzzled look on your face, followed by hours spent ensuring this isn't a Melnyk burner account (I fully expect you to do that, if I am spending time writing for you, you sure as hell better be putting in the same effort on your end, welcome to the big leagues kid, keep your head up) I will now go into more detail on what in the name of all that is holy I just said. Now, you're probably wondering, "Hey doofus, the Sens went to the Cup Finals in 2007, everyone was happy! Are you going to tell me you don't like fun? This blog sucks, I'm leaving." Well first of all, I've rigged the close button with explosives, you are captive here, there is no escaping until you get to the end, buckle up baby, this is about to get fun. Secondly, when the Ottawa Senators got throat-stomped by the Anaheim Ducks in the massacre of ought-7, I was still convinced that Elmo was talking directly to me (I now realize that that is foolish, Count von Count is the only Muppet with the commitment to talk to each kid directly) and the most excited I was about hockey was the new air hockey table we got which I mostly used to play with Pokémon figurines with my brother. So I'd say you owe me an apology, go ahead I can wait.

Apology not accepted, but we can keep going anyways because I'm told it's "not good for business to be so openly hostile to your clientele" and that "this is borderline abuse and you could wind up in prison." Stupid lawyers ruining my fun. Other examples of exciting Sens hockey since then include the Hamburglar run in 2014 and of course, the run to game 7 of the conference final against the Pittsburgh Penguins, approximately 72 billion years ago. Sure, both of those moments were fun, but we all knew it wasn't sustainable, plus, they both ended in heartbreak which shouldn't impact how anyone felt at the time but this is my blog and despite my legal council I still hold all of you in contempt so I'll write what I damn well please thank you very much.

We're not going to get into what has happened since the last post that appeared on this website because that would take at the very least an edition of the Encyclopedia Britannia and I'm not doing that. Some people (fools) will try and spin this as me being lazy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was something like, what, two word? That sounds right, "No Slaves" that was it. Now, I know what you're thinking? Did this guy just anoint himself the Abraham Lincoln of Sens blogging in his 10th post and first in almost a year? Yes. Lincoln also got shot at a play so do with that information what you will but I am most certainly Lincoln in the Sens blogging world (For the record, bRian5or6 is Andrew Jackson and SensChirp is Millard Fillmore). So, in the spirit of Lincoln I will give my Gettysburg Address:

"Very Bad"

There, now we're all caught up. The team is screwed and everything sucks. Now, some of you are probably wondering when I'm going to get to my point and explain why I've dragged you all here today, to which I respond: Shut up, I'm under a lot of stress, I'm about to be assassinated for Christ's sake! But my point is simple, I get excited watching this team play. Am I concerned that this team is poorly structured? Yes. Am I worried that the coaching staff has lost the players? Yes. Do I live everyday in fear knowing that one day in the near future Craig will tweet out the lineup and it will just be Tom Pyatt's name 20 times? You best believe I do. And most of all, I am concerned that we will lose our star players for nothing, or very little. For such a scenario I propose a strategy for dealing with the four cases we might see before this season is done:

• Chris Wideman: We all politely post tributes to his time with the team before we realize that he's gone from being incredibly underrated to perhaps a tad overrated and Christian Jaros slides into his spot fairly seamlessly.
• Ryan Dzingel: We mourn the departure of the team's Goodest Boi and unbiasedly analyze the return (trade) of the price required to have kept him (free agency). I will be unconsolably scooping my homemade Ruffles All-Dressed Chips Ice Cream out of the jar but this is for PERSONAL REASONS THAT ARE NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
• Matt Duchene: We angrily call out the team for abandoning a core piece that could also serve as a mentor for the young players coming up through the system. Possible public demonstrations. A very aggressive resistance campaign.
• Mark Stone: The Purge

There, now we don't have to deal with the worst-case scenarios for the rest of this piece. Because this is a positive piece where everything is sunshine and rainbows, as you can no doubt tell by the writing style. This team is FUN. Also, they are young. Yes, Borowiecki and Co. are getting way too much ice time but seeing Colin White and Brady Tkachuk generate offence is so refreshing from sitting back and simply hoping Bobby Ryan scores before he breaks his finger again. Christian Jaros and Nick Paul are getting less time but have been effective when they do play and players like Drake Batherson and Filip Chalpik are tearing up the NHL. What's more - and I can't believe I'm writing this - but the return for the Karlsson trade is looking half decent! Tierney and DeMelo have been contributing nicely while Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Norris are looking real promising in the AHL and NCAA respectively. Those four players I mentioned might leave? They're still here! They could stay here! Filip Gustavsson gives us a promising future in goal and - oh yeah - HOTSAM BATCHO IS THE BEST! Not just best defenceman today, or even ever. Not just the best hockey player, athlete, or even all-around person. He is just THE best. You know it too, you're just in denial you cowards.

Yes, the healing process for the fanbase is not over and until Melnyk sells the team there is quite possibly no way to fix the trust issues between us and the ownership. Yes, I was almost numb to the controversial non-call on Anderson last night, because winning or losing doesn't really seem to matter for this team right now. And, of course, yes we don't have a first rounder this year because management is incompetent at best. But, we do have a genuinely lovable team. I really have no urge to support Melnyk by going to the games this year or for the next little while, but I do love this team, and I think deep down, no matter what, we all do. So let's not worry about the long-term future of this team or what could happen down the road, the best we can do now is to live in the present, and the present has Mark Stone and Hotsam Batcho, so, really, it's not so bad.

#MelnykOut