Ottawa Senators Ups and Downs: Week 2
Pyatt's up, Ceci's down in this week's ratings
There have been only two games since the last time we rated the players: a high-scoring win over the Coyotes, and a predictable loss to the Lightning.
Biggest gains: Tom Pyatt
Most figured Pyatt had just lucked into the Sens having a bunch of injuries in training camp, and that once people started getting healthy he'd be one of the first ones down. He followed up a strong first week with an even stronger second week. He scored two points against the Coyotes, and then was arguably the Sens' best forward against the Bolts. And wouldn't you know it, Phil Varone is on his way down to Bingo to make room for Curtis Lazar's return. People were talking about the Lazar-Dzingel-Puempel battle to make the team out of training camp, and somehow the unheralded Pyatt has passed them all.
Biggest losses: Cody Ceci
Ceci finally picked up his first point of the season (an assist), but he hasn't looked great overall. After clearing 25 minutes against the Habs, he's back down to 22 minutes per game. Most importantly, Chris Wideman's been getting time with Phaneuf, and Phaneuf-Wideman has become the D-pairing for the second powerplay unit. That's not great for a young, offensive-minded defenceman to lose his shot there. Obviously it's still early in the season, but I think a Methot-Ceci pairing might be a good idea, just to try to ground Ceci's game a little more.
| Goaltenders | Trend | Notes |
| Craig Anderson |  | He has yet to clear a .900 save percentage in a game this season |
| Andrew Hammond |  | Hasn't played since a miserable loss last week |
| Defensemen | ||
| Mark Borowiecki | | Definitely not the reason for either the win or the loss this week |
| Cody Ceci | | See Biggest Losses |
| Thomas Chabot | | Showed some offensive promise and defensive inability in his first NHL game, which is about what we all expected |
| Erik Karlsson |  | Not even a question that he's the team's best player |
| Marc Methot | | A very strong week for Methot defensively |
| Dion Phaneuf | | Another dumb penalty, another week of not looking great in his own end. But hey, at least Michalek got waived, right? |
| Chris Wideman | | Earned a promotion to the second pairing, but that's more a function of the lack of competition than his own good play |
| Forwards | ||
| Derick Brassard | | Why doesn't he have six points yet? |
| Ryan Dzingel | | Another assist, and he's been looking dangerous with his speed |
| Mike Hoffman | | Finally got some points (three assists), and his 23 shots have him fifth in the NHL |
| Chris Kelly | | Put up some timely points against Arizona, and has been everything the Sens needed in a fourth-line centre |
| Clarke MacArthur |  | He says he's recovering much faster than he did the last time |
| Chris Neil | | A goal and the team's best 5v5 shot attempt rating against the Lightning |
| Jean-Gabriel Pageau | | He's been fine, but I can't help but think he should've been better considering how good his linemates' weeks were |
| Matt Puempel | | Didn't play |
| Tom Pyatt | | See Biggest Gains |
| Bobby Ryan | | His week was OK, which would be fine if he wasn't being paid $7M |
| Zack Smith | | Perfectly adequate week for Smith, which is great since he still looks fine as a top-six fill-in |
| Mark Stone | | Stone is pretty good at hockey, and he had a couple great plays leading to goals against Arizona |
| Kyle Turris | | A very dominant game against Arizona is offset by a not-great game against Tampa |
| Phil Varone | | Got into one game, played less than eight minutes, got sent down to Binghamton. It might be his last appearance on this list all season |
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