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

New optimism, new attitude, new players. The summer has been a long one. We got crappy weather that was more Vancouver-like then anything emulating from sunny California, and there wasn't any NHL hockey to carry us over.

And some jerk named Dany Heatley tried to run my Sens into the ground.

Although GM Bryan Murray hasn't had too much success since taking over from John Muckler, I think he handled this past summer as best he could, under the circumstances. And just before that, he provided what could end up being the key to turn around the Senators failures into successes this season.

He landed goaltender Pascal Leclaire for plateaued-forward Antoine Vermette. Leclaire is good, as long as he can play. With so many injuries, the hope is that logic will dictate he's already had his share so he won't get injured again, right? Anyway, he looked great in the pre-season, most goals were weird deflections he didn't have much of a chance on. We'll have our fingers crossed he can return to the form that got him 9 shutouts in Columbus a couple of seasons ago.

Milan Michalek is a player that many Sens fans have been looking for. A skilled guy that digs in the corners and can pot some goals. He can probably be counted on to get 30 or so, and free agent Alexei Kovalev should be able to get in that range, too. Playing on separate lines, this might give my Sens the depth they haven't had since 2006.

On the other hand, I haven't been too impressed with Johnathan Chechooo so far. At $3 million a season, he's an overpaid third liner who's production has declined every year since winning the Rocket Richard trophy a few seasons back. All the better if he can find his way again, but I'm not going to hold up much hope for him from what I've seen.

We will see the first unveiling of the new-look Senators tonight when they face a team also trying to find itself in the New York Rangers. A decent enough test that has Ottawa forgoing their social lives to see them in regular season action for the first time in six months.

Lots of things have to fall into place for sure, but at this stage, there's no reason to be negative and every reason to be positive. My rose-coloured glasses are on and I can't wait for the boys to get things started tonight.