Senators ups and downs: Week 19

(Ups and downs is a feature that looks at the individual performances of the Ottawa Senators during the past week.)

Before we start, I want to give a big shout out to community members SwedeTom and TheGuineaPig for their most excellent fan posts this weekend. Since there's a ridiculous afternoon game today, the front page is about to get spammed with a GDT, a recap, and maybe even some Silver Nuggets if there's no Star Trek marathon anywhere, so you may miss them, and that would be a shame. Check them out here:

• Jakob Silfverberg is ready. Let's just nickname him "Bonesaw" and be done with it.
• All-Time Sens Killers. Because masochism is okay if it's well-written, apparently./

Anyway, the Senators only played two games last week and won them both. That's because their daddies were with them. They don't lose when they do this dad's trip thing, and head coach Paul MacLean was smooth enough to include the dads in the locker room for pre-game preparations.

Why don't the Senators just have their dads along all the time, you ask? Because eventually they'd get fed up and hate hockey. Just ask Robin Lehner's dad's son.

Biggest gains: Hasse Alfredsson
No, I'm just kidding. Our newer readers may not understand the meme behind the image, which is not of Alfie's actual dad. During the Sens' first dad's trip, Hasse had missed a goal Alfie had scored. It was quickly decided in the comments that Hasse wouldn't have been impressed anyway, because as a dad, he would have been the one to teach Alfie everything anyway, having done it all before himself. Now Hasse is unimpressed by everything according to Silver Seven.

Biggest gains: Jason Spezza
We wanted to give this to the much-maligned Bobby Butler, who had a great week, but Spezza had seven points (3G, 4A) in two games. And on back-to-back nights. When you consider that the team scored 10 goals in those two games, Spezza's impact becomes even clearer: he was involved in some way on 70% of all of Ottawa's offense for the week. That's a good little run, there.

Biggest losses: Matt Carkner
Scratched for the entire father's trip, Carkner doesn't have much to show for himself recently. Considering Brian Lee's strong play and Carkner's UFA status, there's a very real chance that he might have played his last game in a Sens jersey this year--he might be eyed by a playoff team seeking toughness. If MacLean isn't going to play him, general manager Bryan Murray might just trade him.

(read on for the full rundown...)

ok, I believe you