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Just over a week until the start of the season, its almost impossible to get a feel for how the Ottawa Senators will look. This is probably tied into the fact that their expected results and actual results have been all over the place over the last three years - the first two with Ottawa handily beating low expectations and the Senators woefully underperforming lofty dark horse talk last season. The general consensus for this season is that the team will struggle to beat last years 88-point total, primarily due to the fact that replacement options for Jason Spezza seem limited. Two of the three pieces in the trade that moved Spezza to Dallas will not play in the NHL this season, while the third - Alex Chiasson - is penciled in as a second/third-line winger. The franchise knows the difficulty of replacing such a prominent scorer, but believes theyll be a better team down the road after the three-for-one swap. Though the team was guarded in talking about Spezzas departure, I found it interesting how the team was using him last season. Despite being the face of the franchise and the highest-paid player on the team, head coach Paul MacLean deployed Spezza as the teams second-line centre. And he did this frequently. The emergence of Kyle Turris as a bona fide top-six pivot certainly helped things along, but it was fascinating to see the paradigm quietly shift during last season. Take, for example, a comparison of Turris and Spezzas teammates last year. Intuitively, first-line centres should enjoy more talented teammates - the trio earning decisive ice-time and, by virtue of deployment, facing tougher waves of competition. That said, Ive compiled quality of teammate numbers (based on ice time) for each centre and graphed it (first graph) using a 10-game rolling average. The higher the number, the better the teammate (Turris in blue, Spezza in red). If you watched a lot of Ottawa last season, the fact that Turris saw a better assortment of teammates than Spezza shouldnt be surprising. Turris played 75 per cent of his minutes with Clarke MacArthur, 66 per cent of his minutes with Bobby Ryan, and about 50 per cent of his minutes with Erik Karlsson. On the other hand, the only other regular forward Jason Spezza played with was the older Milan Michalek - Spezza played about 69 per cent of his minutes with the aging winger. As for the brief inversion of the teammate quality in the above graph, it can be explained in two words: Ales Hemsky. Ottawa acquired Hemsky at the deadline and put him on Spezzas wing, and the two made beautiful magic in their brief time together. That brief stretch aside, it was clear Spezza was getting second-rate forwards, at least relative to the younger Turris. We know how Paul MacLean assembled the lineup. But, how did other teams react to Paul MacLeans lineup assembly? Lets focus on the quality of competition each center faced on the left graph, again in rolling 10-game averages. The second graph (Turris in blue, Spezza in red) is best captured in one statement. Teams viewed the MacArthur-Turris-Ryan line as Ottawas biggest threat. Spezzas line generally saw weaker competition than Turris line and it would seem rather clear that part of it was due to the fact that Turris was surrounded by better wingers. Spezza, less so. This also makes sense if you consider that, after the Senators acquired Ales Hemsky, Spezzas line started to see a comparable or tougher wave of relative competition. Ultimately, replacing Spezzas production - his 2.22 points/60 was good for 25th in the league last year, a very respectable number - will prove difficult in the short-term for MacLean. But I think part of solving this issue is properly isolating the question. Ottawas going to need massive efforts from centres Mika Zibanejad, David Legwand, and Zack Smith this year as they attempt to mitigate the loss of Spezza and his 18-plus minutes from their lineup. The trickle-down effect is real and seeing if those who are replacing Spezzas minutes - especially the young Zibanejad - will be game to handle an increased workload is going to be one of the coaching staffs biggest challenges. Theres also the massive absence on the power play, where Spezzas magical playmaking ability and corresponding ice-time will be sorely missed. One question that doesnt need to be answered, though, is how to replace the loss of a first-line centre. Ottawa subtly answered that question one season ago. Carmelo Anthony Jersey . The Italian side scored twice in a four-minute span in the second half to defeat former stars from S. Jerami Grant Jersey .J. Ward appeared in court Friday on misdemeanour charges that he threw a glass mug at a bartender at a Denver strip club. http://www.cheapthunderjerseyschina.com/...oberson-jersey/. The league announced Thursday that Tom Higgins is leaving that post effective immediately. Authentic Thunder Jerseys . The rookie is rewarding their faith with a stellar first season. MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Jamie McGinn had two goals and an assist, and Colorado beat the Buffalo Sabres 7-1 on Saturday. Russell Westbrook Jersey . Neither made it that far in 2013. Not even close. Federer lost his second match at the All England Club. Nadal exited in the first round, a year after bowing out in the second.Steve Bruce has hailed a moment of Mo Diame magic after he fired Hull back to the Premier League with a stunning strike in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final. The Senegal international hit home from long-range in the 72nd minute to seal an instant bounce back for the Tigers after they beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at Wembley.And former defender Bruce - who has now achieved an unprecedented fourth promotion as a manager - was full of praise for Diames contribution. We had enough chances and youre wondering if it was going to be one of those days, the manager told Sky Sports. Highlights of Hull v Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship play-off final But to win it with a goal like that - that bit of quality can decide a big game - and Diame has produced a bit of magic to win us the match.We seemed to have so many good chances and Im thinking to myself are we relying too much on Abel [Hernandez] as usual but thankfully Diame, who has had his critics this year, has come up with a wonder strike and I am delighted for him.Hull captain Michael Dawson was also keen to heap the praise on his teammates effort, and also mentioned the fine work of Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Keiren Westwood. Utd should have considered Bruce Ian Holloway thinks it is only a matter of time before Steve Bruce gets considered for top jobs. Twelve months ago, it was tears of disaster and relegation but they are tears of joy now, he added. This group of players deserve to be in the Premier League.With Mo Diames goal, thats the kind of quality weve got and what finish.dddddddddddd Thats what we needed because the goalkeeper for Wednesday was unbelievable and put in world-class saves to keep them in the game. He was magnificent.Curtis Davies also put in a solid shift alongside his skipper and helped the Tigers hold on to their lead despite a late flurry from Wednesday. Michael Dawson hailed the quality of Diames goal while Curtis Davies says Hull have always been good at holding onto leads I think at the end when we got the goal, thats when experience does make the difference because we know how to hang onto a lead, Davies told Sky Sports Jonathan Oakes.Weve been good at that this year, not so good at coming back sometimes but weve been good at holding onto one and you can see from there that we were not going to let that slip.It was an amazing goal and it was going to take a great goal to win the game but however it went in, were just glad to be up. Mo Diame strikes to put Hull in front at Wembley and send them into the Premier League Diame was named man of the match following his spectacular efforts, and was pleased to have helped his side over the line.It was the most important goal Ive ever scored I think. It was tough and a long season but weve done it. Tonight were going to celebrate it like we have to do. 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