The Universal Cynic

Another year, another power-play perimeter game from the Sens. We all know the drill: Passes along the boards/blueline, shoot it to the man down low on the right side, and await the garbage goal. It's the Greg Carvel special.

The thing is, the man down low used to be Dany Heatley - remember? Well, it's interesting to look at the stats before and after No. 15's departure in the power-play department for Ottawa. In 2008-09, Ottawa was 10th in the league, with a PP percentage of 19.5. Last year, they dropped to 21st, with an average of 16.9.

Based on the pre-season, it appears that Carvel is going with the same plan. Regardless of whether there's an improvement on last year's numbers, would it kill the assistant coach to try something new? In the last four years, the Senators have yet to finish above 10th place in PP%, and three of those years saw Heatley at the helm, which likely boosted the numbers. Collapse down low, get a man in FRONT of the net - it's hardly rocket science. Carvel's been here so long, everyone already knows how Ottawa is going to play it. Not only is it predictable for the opponent and boring for fans, but lately it's proven to be ineffective for the team.

Go ahead and chew on that.