WRITTEN BY SENSCHIRP READER- DORION IS A GENIUS Aka CICERO

Woke up early this morning and reflected on how this season has unfolded.

It started long before Opening Day. The arrival of Boucher and Crawford meant a new culture and a new identity for the Ottawa Senators. We know today exactly what that means — but last summer none of us had a clue.

The trade for Brassard was a tough one for this Sens fan (always a big fan of Mika), but I get it now. Brassard is a more complete, veteran presence, and he never, ever disappears for stretches during games, nor across a span of games.

MacArthur going down in scrimmage looked like the end of a promising season to come. But if there’s a silver lining to such an awful incident, the hole he left created opportunity for others since everyone needed to find a way to help repair the damage of that loss.

Boucher set the tone before opening day: He said the season comes up quickly and that other teams are going with the same coaching and systems. The Sens need to learn more quickly to adopt and adapt to his new systems. There were a lot of bottom forward lines and defence pairings competing for roles, and that decisions were made based not just on ‘hard work’ or ‘where you were drafted’ — they were made based on how ready and how quickly players could absorb information and how fast they could show results.

Although it had not yet been named as such, ‘The System’ was already beginning to shape and sculpt the identity of the Ottawa Senators who are winning today. The impact of Boucher and Crawford on creating an identity for this roster, and the players’ total buy-in, led by the amazing adaptation of captain Erik Karlsson, has transformed this team from previous seasons. Setting an example for all, Erik changed his game approach and style from well before Opening Day.

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Team defence was no longer something that depended too much on stellar goaltending night in and night out. When Andy needed to take a leave of absence for Nicholle and their kids, the Sens continued to maintain their identity. In fact, this whole episode of courage and devotion may have helped the team to become closer and more passionate about competing for Andy in his absence.

In a move that caught many by surprise, GM Pierre Dorion acquired Mike Condon. After all, Dorion didn’t jump quickly to acquire players via waivers or trade earlier in the fall after losing MacArthur. I think everyone expected that this is how the breaks go with a budget team — you play the hand you’re dealt. Condon performed at least as well as expected, and the Sens gained a reliable pro back-up while Condon also gained from backstopping behind a systematic team defence.

After the infamous ‘Anaheim Game’ in early December, the Sens bore down and started to play more consistently, realizing that they can’t afford to take 20+ minutes off each game — and they added another quality to their identity: relentlessness. I think this quality has helped them elevate their game and tie-up all the loose ends to play the higher level of hockey the stretch run demands of all teams.

At around Christmas time, some of the more knowledgable fans here were coming into agreement about what the Sens needed most to improve their consistency — more depth in their bottom six. Later, after MacArthur was shut-down for the season, there were also calls for a true top-6 replacement, as well as the ongoing cry to improve the top-4 defence pairs. But the resounding call was to acquire more depth up-front. You can’t get far at all with a fourth line that plays five minutes per game.

Lo and behold, Pierre Dorion answered the fans’ call last week. It has taken no time at all for Burrows and Stalberg to make an impact. In fact, these acquisitions may not only be one of the smartest made by any team this season — it may turn out to be one of the best deadline trades ever made by a Sens’ GM. The arrival of these two have shown immediate gains, but it shouldn’t be a surprise, since their characters align perfectly with the team identity: relentless and responsible at both ends of the rink.

It’s fun to look back at where fans were at in the fall. SensChirp polled fans on what part of the team they were most worried about going into this season. The results were:

The defence (44%, 424 Votes)

Goaltending (20%, 195 Votes)

Special teams (19%, 184 Votes)

The bottom six (17%, 159 Votes)

The System took care of the first, Condon took care of the second, Boucher has taken care of the third (granted, it would likely rank first of worries today), and as the season progressed that bottom six became the biggest concern — but today we need not worry one bit.

The Sens began the season a bubble team hoping to get into the playoffs. By mid-season, the Sens were playing like a playoff team, positioned well in a dogfight for a spot in the East.

During the Stars game on Wednesday night, one of the analysts used a term I haven’t yet heard to refer to this year’s Ottawa Senators: He said that the Sens are looking like a ‘contender’ in the East. A contender.

Overall, how can a Sens fan not be truly excited about this year’s team? It’s all happened very quickly, but the Sens look for real and I doubt there’s one team that would freely choose to face them in a 7-game playoff series now. As Guy Boucher has noted a few times throughout the year, there is a soul to this team.

It is a good time to be a Sens fan again. It’s been worth the wait.