Getting to know your enemy: The Ottawa Senators

Welcome to Friday Wilderness. Before you head out for your weekend, take a couple minutes and read todays NHL preview. Mark from Silver Seven Sens really went above and beyond with his preview.

We'll get back to the ice-cream division on Monday, but enjoy your last day of Floreast previews folks.

Speaking of Bobby Ryan, he's pretty good. One of the beautiful things about Jack Adams-winning head coach Paul MacLean is that he does a good job of putting his players in positions to succeed. That's how Karlsson went from a 45-point, minus-30 season to a 78-point, plus-16 Norris Trophy-winning one. Same thing goes for Spezza. Same thing should be true for Ryan, who's had the seventh-most power play time in Anaheim the past two seasons. That is highly likely to change in Ottawa. Ryan was brought in to score goals; MacLean is going to put him in positions to score goals. Spezza is going to set him up to score goals. Karlsson is going to set him up to score goals. Ryan could not have asked for a better opportunity.

Karlsson can gamble, of course, because of his partner, Marc Methot. Methot's job is essentially to play smart in order to allow Karlsson to gamble, and he's done such a good job of it in just one year that he earned an invite to Canada's Olympic Training Camp. Methot's actually a pretty smooth skater himself, so if teams open up space by focusing on Karlsson, Methot can take advantage to relieve pressure up the other side. He just isn't the same kind of threat in the offensive zone that Karlsson is, but that's okay--passing to Spezza isn't ever a poor decision. Methot's intelligence and durabilty also make him a PK stalwart, and he was a big reason the team finished with the top PK unit in the league.

Un-sung heroes - Hey, it's time to mention Clarke MacArthur again! MacArthur is totally under the radar because he was signed on the day that Alfie departed and Ryan arrived, but I don't think that's going to remain true for very long. Everything about his play seems like a perfect fit with MacLean, and more importantly, Turris.
Methot also doesn't often get recognition since he plays next to Karlsson, but it's important to remember he was essentially a castoff from Columbus. Sens fans have really taken a shine to him in a short amount of time. He's only played one season for the team, but it feels like he's always been a part of it. That's some pretty high praise. I don't even want to think what this team would look like without Methot, even though he rarely stands out on any given play.