Tight Playoff Race, Coyotes Future Plans, Halloween Costumes, and More!

It’s everyone’s favourite day of the year when strangers are somehow allowed to knock on your door and you have to give them candy!

I hope you are/were able to celebrate a fun Halloween this year, I do enjoy being able to dress up as something silly, and this year I went as “Coach Beard” from Ted Lasso. I’d be curious to know if anyone has ever done any funny Ottawa Senators or hockey-related costumes in the past, there must be some good ones out there! Here are some links, news, and notes, on Halloween:

• The Eastern Conference has been ridiculously difficult so far this year, especially the Atlantic. In the East, Columbus is the only team below “.500”. Even if you count overtime losses as normal losses, only Columbus, Toronto, and Pittsburgh have more losses than wins in the East. That’s how you get a Senators team that has a fine record of 4-4-0 yet they sit 15th in the conference and last in their division. The hilarious thing is that with a single win, they would leapfrog all the way to 7th, which shows how close things are. Making the playoffs is going to be an absolute dogfight.
• The Arizona Coyotes playing in a 5,000-seat University arena is a joke, and I can’t believe it even got to that point for the NHL. At the same time, at least the arena looks nice for a university arena. It doesn’t look like a real NHL arena, but the atmosphere looks fun and they’re at least doing the best with what they’ve got. I still feel bad for the players that have to play here:/

Thoughts on the Coyotes’ dressing room in Mullett Arena? pic.twitter.com/b8a8BQOg4Q

— Men's League Sweaters | Custom Hockey Jerseys (@MensLeaguers) October 28, 2022

• Speaking of Arizona, the city of Tempe will be holding a public referendum about the Coyotes’ $2 billion arena and entertainment district plan. According to Craig Morgan, the plan seems to have public support, so there’s a good chance that Arizona will get a full-time home in Tempe instead of Glendale like they had before. However, the vote wouldn’t be until 2023, so even if the motion passes and they begin construction at some point next year, they might be stuck at Mullett Arena for a few more seasons.
• Ottawa is running a contest where an “inspiring Sens fan” will win a flight and tickets to the Senators game in Chicago, so if you have someone you want to nominate, be sure to submit their name!
• Rick Westhead reports that there will be a Parliamentary committee that plans to hear testimony from survivors of abuse in sports. The inquiry will look into sexual, physical, and psychological abuse in sports, which includes hockey and other sports as well. These things are only going to be more prominent moving forward, and hopefully people get their day of reckoning.
• Although the San Jose Sharks aren’t off to a good start, Erik Karlsson has been very hot with 11 points in 11 games. He’s catching the attention of others as well, even if he’s still not what he used to be.
• The Vancouver Canucks acquired right-handed defenseman Ethan Bear (and Lane Pederson) from the Carolina Hurricanes for a 5th-round pick. The Hurricanes are retaining 18% of Bear’s salary, meaning his cap hit in Vancouver is only $1.8M until he’s an RFA in the summer. It’s a no-risk move, and Bear has been better than what his deployment showed in Carolina. He could’ve been a nice stop-gap solution with upside for Ottawa on the right side, but perhaps the money wasn’t there.
• The Boston Bruins were a popular pick to miss the playoffs this year, but they’ve been the class of the NHL so far and just got Brad Marchand back in the lineup. It’s no surprise that The Athletic ($) has them at the top of their power rankings.
• Brady Tkachuk and his wife keep pumping out elite Halloween costumes, and Mark Kastelic goes with the most obvious (but fantastic) idea:/

Brady Tkachuk on choosing Buddy The Elf Halloween costume:

“My fiancé and I had that dialled in back in July. I think we have the next two or three down the road too.”

Are the next ones still Will Ferrell-themed?

“Yes. We’ll keep the trend going until there are no ideas left.” pic.twitter.com/cLXzDXuLBZ

— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) October 28, 2022

Blessed pic.twitter.com/ToRzjWcAK3

— Lalime's Martian (@LalimesMartian) October 27, 2022

• Finally, the most important topic of the day: Halloween candy. Do you agree or disagree with the rankings for these players?/

We asked our guys to rank Halloween candies 🍬

What would your ranking be? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Km1kGLD1MG

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 28, 2022