As long rumoured, Andre Benoit has signed a deal in Europe, heading to Spartak Moscow in the KHL (http://www.spartak.ru/press/news/item6968/). Benoit was a key member of the Binghamton Senators and acquitted himself well in the 8 games he played with Ottawa, but there were no plans to give him a shot at a regular NHL gig.
Senators Rookie Profile: Andre Petersson
This is my fifth profile of a Senator rookie.
Andre Petersson, LW/RW, Contract: 0.73/14 (RFA)
4-109 2008 (Murray), 5’10, Shoots R, YOB 1990, Olofstrom, SWE
2008-09 SuperElit 36-24-31-55 28pim
2009-10 SEL 37-10-5-15 14pim
2010-11 SEL 31-8-4-12 18pim
According to Anders Forsberg, taking the diminutive Andre Petersson in the 2008 draft was “a gamble” (http://www.the6thsens.com/Page-35.html, scroll down to May 1st), although Red Line Report ranked him in the first round (26th, transcripts.usatoday.com/ Chats/transcript.aspx?c=1855, you have to scroll down a bit). Coming into the draft Petersson put up 8 points in 6 games in the WJC-18 (tying Mattias Tedenby for the team lead) while finishing third in scoring on HV71’s junior team.
The following season Petersson lead HV71’s junior team in scoring and was third overall in the junior league (behind future Vancouver draft pick Anton Rodin and undrafted Henrik Thegel); he tied for fourth on Sweden’s WJC team. The following season he became a permanent part of HV71’s men’s roster, posting good numbers with limited playing time on a veteran team (he was the second most productive young player on the team, behind Tedenby). That year he lead Sweden in scoring at the WJC and there were rumours he might sign with the Senators at season’s end (see the link above), but much like Jakob Silfverberg this year he decided to stay in Europe for one more season.
This past season Petersson scored essentially at the same pace with the same limited ice time. He’d been suffering from chronic back problems, exasperated by the team wanting him to continue skating. He was loaned to Ottawa to receive proper medical attention and while here signed his ELC. He wasn’t fully over the issues when attending the team’s development camp, but is expected to be fully healthy for this year’s training camp.
Petersson has consistently been described as a one-dimensional scorer anecdotally, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on a serious scouting report about him, so I take that with a grain of salt. What he definitively has is great hands, great instincts, and a great shot. There’s little question that he’ll spend the upcoming season in Binghamton, where (if he can stay healthy) he should put up good numbers (Niclas Bergfors is a good comparable; he was on pace for 50-points his rookie year).
His Hockey Futures page (it reads like it was cobbled together by different hands and is somewhat garbled, but still worth checking out): http://www.hockeysfuture.com/ prospects/andre_petersson
Scores a goal in the 2010 WJC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC-jc8hGfIY
Scores in the SEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/KrazyTea8?blend=24&ob=5#p/ u/16/sm2vAuAEXEw
Derek Grant is next.
eyeonthesens 