ottawasportsblog

The Renegades have taken the plunge and have re-signed linebacker/free safety/special teams whirling dervish, and Renegade Nation Player of the Year winner Kyries Hebert to a 5-year contract (only the first two are guranteed).

Listening to the TEAM 1200 on the way to work, I was a bit surprised to hear the morning guys' disappointment with the deal. They were disappointed not only with the size and length of the deal, but also that it wasn't a more high profile position like a RB or QB.

For me, that misses the point a bit. If you'll excuse the hockey comparison, Hebert is like a Mike Fisher for the 'Gades - a guy who brings more than his numbers indicate. An energy guy. A heart and soul guy. A guy, unlike some Renegades this year, who goes, 100%, full speed, every play.

The signing is a statement: "we want our best players back and are willing to pay what it takes". They probably overpaid a bit, but that's the "losing tax" that they'll have to pay to keep guys until they can get things turned around. The important thing is that they're making the effort. For all the Glibermans' marketing and PR mis-adventures this year, they are *starting* to make good on their promise to put money toward maintaining and improving the team. That's more than could be said for the Watters regime who was content to do it one the cheap and cash out after Grey Cup.

While there still lots of work to be done, seeing some of the Gades better players starting to get re-signed instead of getting signed away is a step forward from the past few years. Now it's time to follow it up with Ranek and some FA signings (Hello Barrin Simpson... we have a MLB spot waiting for you) come February.

I've added the excellent new blog, Hockeydirt to the blogroll. In addition to being from Ottawa (although much more than a mere Sens blog), Hockeydirt has hosted the voluminous Carnival of the NHL #14 and has an absolutely amazing post about what keeps us playing hockey.

I've been getting a few searches on Scanlan, which I assume means people are looking for Wayne Scanlan's outstanding piece from the Citizen yesterday in which he details the awarding of the Senators franchise. You can find it here, although I'm not sure the link will work beyond the 7-day archive. It seems to be in font of the subscriber wall.

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Had a chance to get out and experience the "Barrhaven nightlife" and watch the Bochenski show last night. Like Chris at Hockey Country, I was a bit surprised that they recalled Bochenski over Eaves. While Eaves had been solid in his pair of callups, Bochenski had been all but invisible before being sent down. What goodwill he had lost in his first stint, he's rebuilding now.

Since Chris didn't see the game, I'm going to borrow his patented Good/Bad/Opposition format for today. The royalty cheque is in the mail. Since this is a Reader's Digest Condensed version, the cheque is only for $0.02.

Good

• as mentioned above, Bochenski. I particularly liked that he was generating his own scoring chances rather than only finishing
  

• Luck. You've gotta be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. I don't know how he does it, but the sight of Dominic Hasek charging at you must freak players out. Even when he gets beat to a loose puck, the other team misses the net more often than not.

• The wings at Greenfield's pub

Bad

• Hasek let in a couple of "he'd like to have that one back" goals

• The big line took the night off

• Greenfield's was out of Guinness on tap so I had to drink Boddingtons. Metaphorically speaking, this is not unlike replacing Havlat with Bochenski. Passable in the short term, but not really a long-term solution.

• That's about it. Then again, when you're watching at a pub, you're not really breaking down the film, and not much to complain about in most 6-3 wins.

Opposition

Some basic Florida Panther mathematics: Florida Panthers + bad night by Luongo = no chance