Senators Ups and Downs: Week 23

Another week of excitement as we got both a winning streak and another trade.  Hail and farewell, Alex Kovalev.  The team also sandwiched a loss against Buffalo between wins against Florida and the East-leading Philadelphia Flyers.  We were wondering how Craig Anderson would look against some better competition and so far, it's promising.  Of course, there's a small chance he won't be an Ottawa Senator at the end of the day. Let's not think about that right now, and get on to the Biggests.  Yeah, I made that word up.

Biggest Gains: Erik Condra
Sorry, Bobby Butler, but you get jacked for the second week in a row.  Condra's two-goal game came against the Flyers while Butler's came against the Panthers, and that's really the margin of difference between these two players this week.  Condra also had an assist in the loss against the Sabres, and is making the most of his early audition for next year.

Biggest Losses: Pascal Leclaire
Another week, another goalie in the biggest losses spot.  Craig Anderson's play has enamored the Sens so much that Leclaire was sent down to the AHL and then waived, presumably because he had even less trade value than Brian Elliott.  Yikes.  Leclaire managed a start on Saturday night, losing in the shootout to the Rochester Americans.  Leclaire let the fifth shooter, Kenndal McArdle (projected by Hockey's Future as an energy player) score the winning goal.  Yikes.

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Pascal Leclaire		See "Biggest Losses."
Robin Lehner		Lehner hasn't come off the bench since Craig Anderson's first start.
Craig Anderson		Let's just say he's been pretty good in his starts so far. Would have had a second shutout in a row against Florida, and couldn't really be faulted on the goals Buffalo scored. Gave the team a chance to win against the Flyers; Ottawa was outshot 15-3 but only down 1-0.
Defensemen
Filip Kuba		The green arrow has arrived for Kuba. Plus-3with two assists against Florida. His plus/minus rating was not as good against Buffalo and Philadelphia (minus-3 combined) but that stat belies his play this week. He hasn't been this player for almost two seasons, so it was good to see a return.
Chris Phillips		Phillips topped off a strong week with his first goal of the season against the Flyers. If he played like this all season, there'd be a lot less debate over his future.
Sergei Gonchar		Still injured. Filip Kuba has managed the power play pretty well in his absence.
Brian Lee		Here's Peter with some commentary: "Vintage Brian Lee." All joking aside, Lee's new Z. Smith-inspired attitude is fitting him well.
Erik Karlsson		Karlsson's struggles continued this week. It's disturbing to watch Filip Kuba and Ryan Shannon run a better PP than our All-Star defenseman.
Chris Campoli		Had seven blocked shots in three games this week. He's no Anton Volchenkov, but he's better than Andre Benoit.
Matt Carkner		His two-game points streak was broken against Philadelphia. Yeah, Carkner had a scoring streak going.
Andre Benoit		Sent back down to Binghamton once Campoli returned to the lineup.
Forwards
Jason Spezza		With six points (2G, 4A) in just three games this week, Spezza easily could have been the biggest gainer.
Alex Kovalev		Only worth a conditional pick in trade. But, hey, he feels bad about not doing more in Ottawa! If only there was a way he could have done more, then! Like, I don't know, effort?
Daniel Alfredsson		Out indefinitely with a back injury.
Milan Michalek		Three points (2G, 1A) in two games before letting Spezza pull a Mike Fisher on him on Saturday night. Hopefully his foot is stronger than Pascal Leclaire's face.
Nick Foligno		Had a strong power play goal to rally the team to victory against the Flyers, but we're not ready for the green arrow just yet. Foligno shows flashes of chemistry with his new lines (Condra and Shannon, in this case) but they don't seem to last.
Marek Svatos		Claimed via waivers from Nashville, Svatos has paradoxically looked good but done nothing. Erik Condra took his spot on the second line against Philadelphia and scored two goals.
Chris Neil		No word on his return from injury yet.
Corey Locke		Absolutely wasted on the fourth line.
Peter Regin		Had continued to look good as the center for Foligno and Kovalev before suffering what looked to be a pretty bad shoulder injury against Toronto.
Jesse Winchester		Supposedly close to returning, which is good news for Binghamton's playoff hopes -- Corey Locke is being wasted on the fourth line.
Ryan Shannon		Building on his good effort from last week, Shannon put together four points (1G, 3A) in three games. His second line with Condra and Foligno had more energy than they knew what to do with.
Zack Smith		Seems ready to center the third line, but needs to stop taking stupid penalties.
Bobby Butler		Butler's two goals on a team-high seven shots against Florida were his third multi-point game this month. Also assisted on Chris Phillips' first goal of the year. He seems to be figuring out the NHL game rather quickly. Would have been the biggest gainer except Erik Condra stole the show at the last minute.
Colin Greening		Had two assists this week on the third line. Seems like he has the speed, shot, and size to be a bigger contributor. Maybe we're expecting too much too soon, but we want to see more from him next year.
Erik Condra		See "Biggest Gains."
Francis Lessard		Not really clear why he was on a line with Corey Locke and Roman Wick.
Roman Wick		Was not given much of a chance to shine on the fourth line, but didn't look terrible in his minutes.