The Week Ahead: Post-All Star Edition

by Joe Boughner and George Marshall

Hello sports fans and welcome to the new and improved weekly previews here at RBM. This week, the boys in black and red kick start their road to the playoffs golf course with the homecoming everyone's been waiting for as Antoine Vermette and the Desert Dogs land in Ottawa for a classic Saturday night matchup and oh yeah Spezza's back too.

On to the insights!

Last week's record

• 1-0-1 (henceforth known as "Going Full Dalmatian")

This week's matchups

• Thursday night vs. the Stars
• Saturday night vs. the Coyotes

Storylines to watch

The Stars are coming home

For the second time this season, the Sens welcome a former captain home. And while being an active member of an opposing team means that Spezza won't be taking the warmup with the Sens, you can expect some sort of video tribute. Sources also say that the players themselves will be honouring ol' Giggles by throwing some no-look drop passes and laughing their way through scrums.

Lost in the excitement, though, is the return of Ales Hemsky. To honour him, the Sens will waive Colin Greening and make an ill-advised trade. Probably.

And so are these guys. Maybe

The hottest ticket in town!

Interestingly, this could also be a homecoming week for less notable former Senators. Namely, Patrick Eaves (Dallas), Antoine Vermette (Phoenix) and Mike McKenna (Phoenix). Except Eaves is hurt, McKenna's just up from the minors after the Coyotes dealt Dubnyk to Minnesota and Vermette is on the trading block. A footnote of triviality for most; a nightmare for the guys that produce the tribute videos for the Canadian Tire Centre.

It was the push of times, it was the tank of times

According to the internets, Sens fans are on one of two teams right now: #TeamTank and #TeamAntiTank. And while conventional wisdom (as well as historical precedent and all but the most optimistic of analytics-based estimates) dictates that the Sens aren't going to be playing hockey in May, it may take a few more losses before the powers that be at the CTC are finally ready to write off the year. Should Ottawa's strong performances at home continue over two other teams that are in dogfight for CMcD, the Sens could find themselves in the unfortunate position of not being <ZoolanderVoice> ridiculously out of the playoff picture </ZoolanderVoice> a month before the trade deadline.

Parting shots

• Statline of the week: 37 FPPS (face palms per second - reached during the US anthem at the All-Star Game)
• Imagined Sun headline of the week: "Off to Greening-er pastures!" 
• What Sens fans will be complaining about on Twitter: Ottawa losing to Dallas after Spezza and Hemsky combine for ten points on the night.