Silver Nuggets: Who's your most improved Sens player?

Hi folks! The question-and-answer type Nuggets from a couple of weeks ago worked well, so I decided to do that again for today and Tuesday!

The Senators currently find themselves occupying the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with 20 points in 16 games. Though there are still some concerns with respect to defensive play, there have been many bright spots on the team. My question to you all this week is:

In your eyes, which Senators player has improved the most this season and why? How do you think they have made this improvement (development, used in the right situations, no longer injured, etc.)?

This poses a really interesting question in terms of how we conceptualize 'improvement' as well. Is the "most improved" player someone like Curtis Lazar, who went from being a junior-level player to an NHL-level player? Is it Mike Hoffman, who has translated his AHL play into NHL play after three seasons of development? Is it Jared Cowen, who is no longer a disaster every time he steps on the ice? The discussion around which type of scenario lends itself to best defining "most improved" is interesting to me.

Let us know in the poll and the comments!

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Sens Links

• Recaps from Tuesday's overtime loss against the Vancouver Canucks. [Silver Seven, Rank the Performances, Ottawa Citizen, SensChirp, SenShot]
• Recaps from Thursday night's overtime WIN against the Edmonton Oilers. [Silver Seven, Rank the Performances, Ottawa Citizen, Senstats, SensChirp, SenShot]
• Wishing the best of thoughts and well-wishes to Bryan Murray in his fight with Stage IV colon cancer. Murray's a fantastic person, and the outpouring of support for him throughout the hockey world + Ottawa community was really nice to see. I love that he's using the fact that he's been placed in this unfortunate situation to raise awareness around colon cancer, which can be prevented Don't ignore getting a colonoscopy. [TSN, Silver Seven, SenShot, Ottawa Citizen]
• Nichols has a great piece on some of the lineup issues we've discussed so far this season. Tackles ice-time and player usage. [6th Sens]
• Cody Ceci has been described as the most consistent Senators defenseman this season. Here's his feature from the Ottawa Citizen. [Ottawa Citizen]
• NKB breaks down Mike Hoffman's goal against Vancouver with some tactical analysis. Note: Mark Stone is very smart. [Silver Seven]
• George has the next entry in RBM's "It could be worse" series, this time discussing the Columbus Blue Jackets. [Bonk's Mullet]
• Sergei Gonchar was traded to the Montreal Canadiens this week and will likely see top-four minutes. Wonder how he'll be received in Ottawa when he returns? [SenShot]
• Bobby Ryan is aware that he has to score more, and he looks to be trending upwards. [Ottawa Citizen]
• Sens prospect Nick Paul has been named to the OHL roster for the Subway Super Series. Here's hoping for a big tournament, as Hockey Canada uses this as a testing ground for world junior participation. [Ottawa Citizen]
• Travis has a look at some Sens-related numbers. [SenShot]
• Also, make sure to read NKB's five thoughts for this week! [Silver Seven]
• Go listen to Episode 8 of WTYKY's 'Scotchcast'! Made me laugh a ton, as always. [WTYKY]
• Lastly, the thing that made me smile the most this week - a "too many cooks" parody by the Capital Gains and the Bonk's Mullet gang. [Bonk's Mullet]

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Who's your most improved Sens player?