Cheechoo Train Derailed

To say that Jonathan Cheechoo has been living on borrowed time is a gross understatement. By all accounts, he is a great guy. He works hard, does what he's told and no one has a bad word to say about the guy. But this isn't little league, where just doing your best is good enough and you always get a trophy. This is the pro's and all that matters are results, and let's be real, he hasn't been getting it done for a long time.

In just his 2nd NHL season, he had a very unexpected 28 goals with San Jose and many were surprised. Could he do it again? Yep. The next season he lead the NHL in goals, with an unimaginable 56, playing alongside Joe Thornton, but San Jose wasn't fooled. Even after that amazing season, he was only signed to a contract of 3 million a year, hardly a fair deal for a 56 goal scorer. They knew what everyone else didn't, that he was getting lucky and his speed was a huge problem.

After that 56 goal year, the pressure was on, as people now expected big things from the Moose Factory native. He defied critics though, and posted a very respectable 37 goals in 2006-07. But that was the beginning of the end for Cheechoo. The next year he only scored 23 and last season was down to a measly 12 on a high scoring Sharks squad. The magic was gone and he was dead weight.

Imagine Doug Wilson's smile when he realized he would be able to dump Cheechoo's contract in the Heatley deal. So I'm gonna get ths best player, dump a horrible contract on you, no first round pick and all I really have to give up is a top six forward who has potential, but is completely expendable? Come on Bryan, what's the catch? You don't really expect me to believe you will take Jonathan Cheechoo do you? When Murray said yes, how long do you think it took Doug Wilson to say yes. A milli second? Wait, what's faster then a milli second?

All of us here in Ottawa all talked ourselves into him though the minute he became a Senator. I know I tried to. Oh he just needs a change of scenery, you don't score 56 by sheer luck right? I stand corrected, because as far as I can tell, apparently you can. Then I started bargaining with myself. Well 56 is asking too much, but he could maybe score 30 playing with Spezza right? How wrong we all were. Who knew we'd be all be longing for Patrick Marleau months later.

The NHL season is a long one and injuries are a large part of it. You almost certainly expect most guys to miss a few games. There are only 5 guys on this years Senators team that haven't missed one yet. The lucky 5 are Matt Carkner, Chris Kelly, Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Phillips and yep you guessed it, Jonathan Cheechoo. So injuries aren't the problem, his play is. I was all for giving him a chance when he got here and I think Sens Army and the Sens coaching staff have given him every opportunity in the world to get it going, but he hasn't. Our patience is wearing thin.

He's played on the 1st line with elite talent and that didn't work. He's played on the 2nd line, where maybe he could be a secondary scorer, nope! He played on the 3rd line with no success either. He now finds himself on the 4th line, averaging less ice time then any other regular Senator, with a miniscule 5 goals in 59 games played. It's a pretty big fall for a guy who just 4 seasons ago won the Rocket Richard trophy. No wait, that isn't right. A pretty big fall doesn't do it justice, the fall from grace is unbelievable.

The truly sad part is he doesn't even deserve to be on the 4th line. He deserves to be in the AHL, or quite frankly, out of hockey, as he has plateaued and would be taking up a roster spot of someone who has big league potential, like Zack Smith. How is it that Nick Foligno has been a healthy scratch this year but Cheechoo hasn't? Or even Shean Donovan for that matter? At least Chum brings a phsycial presence and speed to the rink each night. Cheechoo does neither.

As one of my favorite rappers Jay Z says, men lie, women lie, numbers don't. Sorry Jonathan but the numbers don't lie. Cheechoo has 5 goals and 8 assists this season, good for 13 points in 59 games and is a minus 11 on the season, which doesn't sound nearly as bad as it is until you have someone to compare it to. Let's look at our least offensively talented player on our team, Anton Volchenkov. The A-Train, who can barely hit the net with a shot, or who stickhandles with the grace of a cerebal palsy patient, has 3 goals and 9 assists, good for 12 points and is a plus 8, all in only 44 games, while playing against all the top lines in the league every night. Yep you read that right, Cheechoo has ONE more point the Anton Volchenkov in FIFTEEN more games.

The thing no one can figure out, is why he hasn't been watching from the press box, not even once this season. We all want to root for the guy, but name me one thing he brings to the table? He's unbelievably slow, as in he makes Carkner look fast. He isn't an enforcer or a physical player, who could at least set the tempo with a big hit. He can't score anymore, and as we've all seen, even if he has a great scoring chance, he finds some new weird way to not score. You can tell the guy is run down and has lost his confidence by his body language and his failure to complete even the simplest of plays, like dumping the puck in the opposing teams zone without it hitting an opponents player or fanning on the shot. It's honestly sad to watch.

Bryan Murray and Coach Cory Clouston are the Kings of preaching accountability, so why is he still playing? Would it be much better for our team with a player like Zack Smith in the lineup? A young, hungry player, who has speed, hits, has a scoring touch if given the chance and is willing to do whatever is he told to do. The answer is an easy yes.

With Nick Foligno being banged up, Cheechoo may have bought himself a few more weeks, but when Foligno does come back, there is no way there is a roster spot for him, and that's with Zack Smith remaining in Binghamton. That's also assuming we don't make a move for a top 6 forward before the Olympic roster freeze on Friday or the NHL trade deadline on March 3rd, as Bryan Murray has hinted heavily at doing.

I know it might not be a popular move around the NHL to send him to the minors, being such a good guy and all, but in a league where cap space is as valuable as can be, it's a necessity, and being nice doesn't get you any W's in April, May or June. Optioning him down to Bingo, would free up the much needed cap space to bring on another player for the cup run, and fresh off an 11 game win streak, Melnyk and Murray have to be feeling we have a decent shot at Lord Stanley this season. It's the only move to make.

That's the thing about living on borrowed time, you never really know how much you have left, until you have none at all.

Thoughts?