"You respect the guy for the great career he's had, the offensive numbers he's put up and the Stanley Cup he helped win.

You thought he was a good signing, too. Oh, the term was too much at three years, with him being 36, but hey, that's where the Senators needed to go to get him, so they went. At least they did something.

And he seems like a good addition to the dressing room, and a quiet, pleasant, polite man to the visitors who ask to speak with him.

But on the ice, through his first 35 games as a Senator, Sergei Gonchar has been a colossal disappointment, and that's the only thing that really matters.

Asked Sunday night if he's ever gone through anything like this in his previous 15 years of NHL play, Gonchar looks straight ahead at nothing.

"No," he says. "No."

Why? Why is he a minus-19? If it wasn't for Ilya Kovalchuk, James Wisniewski and Andy Greene, Gonchar would have the worst rating in the league.

Why does he look so slow out there?

Why does he get beat to the puck so often?

Why does he only have four goals and 12 assists?

Everyone expected more.

Everyone expected so much more.

Gonchar doesn't have the answers, at least not that he's sharing.

Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he's old. Or maybe he's just stubborn.

"He's just got to keep working hard, he's got to keep it simple," says Cory Clouston, repeating the hockey man's cure-all remedy. You hear "keep working hard" and "keep it simple" and your eyes glaze over. Come on. There has to be more to it."