The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

If there's anything that drives me crazy about Sens fans (or maybe it's just the ones in the office I hear from), is that the glass is always half-empty. Ray Emery has been absolutely solid since the Olympic break, and even tied a record for most wins in a calendar month with last night's 4-1 win over the Rangers, even with a depleted lineup. Most fans, however, only remember his 4 game slump back in January. Listen, he's not Hasek, but his job right now isn't to steal games but just provide confidence for his team in front of him, which he has done in spades. Much like the Habs are delusional if they think Cristobal Huet can carry them to the Stanley Cup final, I can't expect Emery to do the same, but if he just plays as well as he's playing now, the Sens have more than a chance each night to win...Weird to see Brian Pothier with the "A" on his jersey last night, but I suppose it's normal to have at least one defenceman have a letter on with Chara, Phillips and Redden all out. He did have his best game of the season though...Senators Overtime is a 30 minute Rogers production that usually plays just before game time. A feature they do is asking each player something about their past or a personal question, such as "What was your first job?" or "What's your favourite food?" The question last broadcast was "What was your first car?" and I was dumbfounded to see the mic in front of Dany Heatley with that question. One word: inappropriate (I forget his answer but he did seem to hesitate slightly before his answer, giving a look that seemed to say, "You have the gall to ask me THAT?")...Back to Hasek: When is this clown going to PLAY? The latest development is that he went on the ice with his equipment on. Woo-hoo! This is the time of year he's supposed to earn his pay. Either he's overtly cautious or because they don't want to scare playoff ticket sales with an announcement he's out for the season, management is hush-hush about it. Just play already, geez, it's been 6 weeks...On the complete other end of the spectrum, Havlat has been skating with the team, dying to return and should do so in 10 days or so. Can't wait...Tyler Arnason played a good game last night despite coming short on the scoresheet, but does this guy know how to bodycheck? Look, it doesn't have to be Chara-quality, but this is a contact sport...Cool idea: The Royal Canadian Mint is issuing a 25 cent coin with the Sens logo in full colour. No so cool: It's only available in a set with the other coins in circulation, none of the other coins differ from what they already are, and it costs $24.95 for a set with a street value of $3.41 ($3.91 if the 50 cent piece is in it)...The same seat by the glass I purchased in 2003 for $180 for game 7 of the Conference final is going for $427 if the Sens make it that far...The Sun thinks that Chara will be offered the maximum $7.8M per year contract by another NHL club. It astounds me that NHL GMs still don't grasp the dangers of commiting 20% of your cap space to one player, but if it does happen I don't see Melnyk keeping him. The only way would be to offer a long term contract that pays less per year, then we'll see how long Chara really wants to stay in Ottawa...Martin Brodeur think the Hart Trophy finalists this season will be Jaromir Jagr, Eric Staal, and our Daniel Alfredsson.