Are the Ottawa Senators finally giving up on Vermette?  After Ottawa's shootout loss to the Rangers on Monday night, Vancouver scouts were supposedly in New York to take in the game.  The Ohlund to Ottawa rumour has resurfaced and apparently Antoine Vermette is the bait.

I'm in the camp that likes Vermette, but I'm tired of waiting for this future star to emerge.  Tons of speed and no finish.

Ohlund has a no movement clause and would have to approve a move to Ottawa.  If I was him I wouldn't want to come into this mess.  At least he's used to the Canadian press in Vancouver.

Look for something to happen should we play another stinker against the Habs on Thursday!

GO SENS GO!

The Toronto Maple Leafs finished their unsuccessful road trip through western Canada with a loss to Kyle Wellwood and the Vancouver Canucks. They've struggled with inconsistent play recently and Vesa Toskala has been the biggest culprit. However, these concerns have been masked by the seemingly inevitable hiring of Brian Burke.

After parting ways with the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, it's probably just a matter of time before Brian Burke takes on the dual role of President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He may not be my first choice, nor the Leafs first choice (they reportedly offered Jim Rutherford the job in 2007), but he is the best available candidate. He's a good hockey guy who will demand that he makes all the hockey decisions.

If the Leafs somehow screw this up and don't end up getting Burke, they'll face an endless amount of criticism. They could only justify it by eventually hiring someone better, but wrestling Ken Holland away from the Red Wings is a near impossibility. I really don't think that the Leafs will even want to wait until someone else becomes available, and will do whatever is neccessary to get Burke into the fold.

They'll have plenty of time this week to get a deal done because they are off until Saturday after tonight's game against the 4th-overall Bruins.

A month and a half into the season and we now have a pretty good perception of all six Canadian teams' identities. Here is how the Six Pack stacks up as of November 16: 

1. Montreal (9-4-2)

It's hard to keep the Habs in the no.1 spot after a couple of poor weeks that have seen them lose four of five. Their only win this week was against the listless bottom-dwellers of this list, but the fact remains that if all six Canadian teams battled it out, Les Canadiens would emerge victorious.

2. Vancouver (10-6-1)

I thought long and hard about moving the Canucks up to the no.1 spot, but it's going to take a more tested week than the one the Canucks just completed. A light week of only two games (against the Avalanche and Leafs) is not a good enough indicator of where this team is. If the Canucks can continue their solid play, led by Luongo's near-unbeatable presence in net, and the Habs keep slipping, there will be a new no.1 next week.

3. Edmonton (8-7-2)

No one wants to take firm position of the no. 3 spot in this weekly ranking. Between the Oilers, Flames and Leafs, you could pretty much flip a coin right now. The Leafs beat the Oilers on the road but the Flames beat the Leafs, and it just goes on and on. The Oilers get this spot more out of default than anything else right now, but don't think that their early-week win against the Rangers went un-noticed.

4. Calgary (9-8-1)

The Flames lost two of three this week and their only win was a home-victory over the Leafs, which they nearly blew with an own-goal off a face-off. Their two losses were more of a statement than their lone win, dropping games 6-1 to Chicago and San Jose, respectively. Two shellackings in one week? Ouch.

5. Toronto (7-7-4)

The Leafs finished a week in Western Canada with a win and two defeats. They played the Flames hard to the last second, outplayed the Oilers from start to finish, and then battled to make a game of it in Vancouver after starting the game with what seemed to be an empty-net. It's hard to use the excuse they were on a road-trip though, when there were more Leafs fans in the Saddledome, Rexall Place and GM Place than fans of the home teams.

6. Ottawa (6-9-2)

How do you sink lower than last place in the Six Pack rankings? You drop two games (back to back might I add), to the lower than low New York Islanders. Even when the Sens get decent goaltending (from Alex Auld), they still find ways to lose hockey games. The Senators can not and will not go on like this. Expect big changes in the nation's capital very soon. 

For the third time this year, the Senators game was not televised on a Saturday night.  This time I didn't mind.  The slide continues and Ottawa has lost 4 in a row for the second time this season.  Someone said that the year we made it to the finals we had the same record after 17 games.  This isn't that team.

I'm still convinced that we're a playoff team, but something has to change.... and soon.  Defensively we're still in the top tier, but scoring has become a major issue.  With a Tuesday game against the Rangers followed by the Habs and the Rangers again, this slide has a good chance of extending.  Is Hartsburg the next coach to be fired in the NHL after Barry Melrose in Tampa Bay?  Someone should ask Strachan what the over and under is on that one as he pretty much nailed the Melrose firing to 15 games.

Is coaching the problem?  I don't think so.  With all of the the changes that were made in the offseason, there's still something wrong in the locker room.   Even Doug Weight was quoted as saying he was glad to beat Ottawa back to back because he knows we're a good team.

I'd love to know what's going through Melnyk's mind right about now!  At least the Leafs and Habs lost.... and Lesnar is heavyweight champ!

GO SENS GO!