With all of the love that Ottawa Senators fans showed for their team through the voting process for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game—they singly-handedly voted in five Sens players—it’s only fitting that the most popular Senator, Daniel Alfredsson, would be named teamed captain.
The other team captain is none other than “the Big Z,” Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.
Alfredsson and Chara were teammates for four seasons in Ottawa (2001-02 to 2005-06), and they have both had terrific seasons thus far.
No surprises here: four of the top six vote-getters for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game—which happens to be hosted by the Ottawa Senators this season—are Senators.
Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson led the voting with 939,951 votes, receiving 42,536 more votes than veteran teammate Daniel Alfredsson, the Ottawa captain.
The game will be played at Ottawa’s Scotiabank Place Jan. 29.
| FORWARDS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | TEAM | PLAYER | VOTES |
| * Write-in candidate | |||
| 1. |  |
Daniel Alfredsson | 897,055 |
| 2. | |
Jason Spezza | 817,483 |
| 3. | |
Milan Michalek | 743,977 |
| 4. |  |
Phil Kessel | 701,833 |
The NHL has made it a point of emphasis over the last couple of years to crackdown on headshots in order to prevent concussions. They might be doing a good job with the former, but the latter still remains prevalent in the game. Especially with superstars.
Just one day after points leader Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers was ruled that he was out indefinitely after suffering a concussion, it has been confirmed that the Ottawa Senators’ Milan Michalek and the Carolina Hurricanes’ Jeff Skinner have also sustained concussions and will miss games.
With the first quarter of the 2011-12 NHL season now in the books, there have been plenty of surprises. However, there are a fair share of players who have had great starts to the season that have yet to be recognized for their contributions to their respective teams.
Here are the five most underrated players of the season thus far.
If there was one theme in the month of October in the NHL, it was to expect the unexpected.
With that in mind, as hard as it may be to believe, the current NHL standings are in fact correct.
So, where to begin?
How about over in the Northeast Division, where the last team you would expect to be at the top would be the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-3-1). However, the only thing that might be more surprising within that division is that the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins are dead last (4-7-0)—not only in the division, but in the entire Eastern Conference.
The Ottawa Senators are just five years removed from their 105-point season that saw them make a trip the Stanley Cup final.
However, since then the Sens have undergone three different coaching changes and qualified for the postseason twice (2008, 2010), getting knocked out both times in the first round.
Heading into the 2011-12 season, Ottawa will have their fifth different bench boss since their 2006-07 campaign as former Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Paul MacLean will have the responsibility of getting the Sens back on track.
On Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators announced that Paul MacLean, who spent the previous six seasons with the Detroit Red Wings as an assistant under Mike Babcock, will be the new head coach of the team. MacLean replaces Cory Clouston, who was fired in April after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.
Prior to becoming an assistant in the NHL, MacLean spent six seasons in the International Hockey League as coach of the Peoria Rivermen and Kansas City Blades. MacLean spent 11 seasons as a right wing in the NHL (1980-91) and has also worked as an assistant coach in the NHL with Phoenix and Anaheim.
I am happy to announce a new promotion here at Hockey Tickets Online. Beginning in October 2011, we will giving away way two tickets each month to a regular season NHL game.
To enter, simply leave your name and email address below. Once you are entered into the contest, your will be eligible to win tickets every month.
Congratulations to Eric who is our October ticket winner. Eric gets two tickets to the Panthers v Penguins game in November.
With only three games left in the season for the majority of teams, it’s hard to believe that there are still eight playoff spots that have yet to be clinched. However, tonight there are two divisions and four playoff spots on the line. Here is a look at a handful of games with playoff-clinching implications.
With Sidney Crosby’s return still uncertain and Evgeni Malkin gone for the rest of the season because of a knee injury, the Pittsburgh Penguins continued the remodeling of their offensive corps to get ready for the postseason.
Following the acquisition of Dallas Stars forward James Neal, Pens GM Ray Shero has gone out and picked up sniper Alex Kovalev from the Ottawa Senators. The 38-year-old spent parts of five seasons with the Penguins, and had his most productive season (44 goals, 95 points in 2000-01) while a member of the Penguins.
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