Last season to be benchmark for Ottawa Senators as they look to improve in 2012-2013 -NHL Update
The past 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season was definitely one that went great for the Ottawa Senators, who took down 2011 Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins, in the playoffs after having missed the postseason for multiple seasons.
Next season on the other hand, will be one that fans expect much more of them since captain and veteran leader, Daniel Alfredsson, has decided to stick around for another season or two along with youngsters like Kyle Turris expected to have a breakout hockey
year.
Ottawa Senators general manager, Bryan Murray, definitely has a lot of hopes vested in his team for the upcoming regular season, but only time will tell whether their hard work and determination from last season will continue paying off or not.
One thing the GM is hoping to avoid is getting over confident, which took down Ottawa Senators in the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference against New York Rangers after embarrassing Boston Bruins in the opening round.
"I felt there were a couple of games and a couple of losing streaks where, if we were a little more poised, we could have got ourselves out of it," Murray told NHL.com. "But the opposite was true as well; when we got on a winning streak, we'd get so emotionally
wrapped up in it that it would carry us.
Craig Anderson is the man Ottawa has decided to keep at the top spot in their goaltending department, with Robin Lehner and Ben Bishop battling it out during training camp for the second place spot. It will be exciting to see whether these veterans will
be able to lead the club forward, which has always been struggling in the goaltending area of the game.
"We like both of them," Murray said. "They're both big, strong goaltenders who can stop the puck."
Staying healthy will be a main objective of most players on the Ottawa squad and for that, GM Murray has arranged for quicker shifts during games, meaning less fatigue on the veteran players, especially Daniel Alfredsson.
It will definitely be interesting to see whether Ottawa Senators play with the same momentum and carry out the same performance.
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