Here are a few Senators stories making the rounds.
-Damian Cox has included a bizarre rumour in the Toronto Star (www.thestar.com/ sports/hockey/nhl/article/1049293–unfinished-business-dogs-nhl): “But what does the future hold for Bryan McCabe? His name is linked to any team short on veteran blue-liners (Senators, Islanders).” Needless to say, unless McCabe wants to play in Binghamton there’s no interest in Ottawa–the Senators have more than enough blueliners.
-Jeff Blay of The Record-Gazette wrote an article about Senators prospect Darren Kramer awhile ago (www.prrecordgazette.com/ ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3240308) and I wanted to quote some of it. Kramer talks about working on his footspeed while following programs given to him by Spokane (WHL) and Ottawa. In talking about his future, he says “I had to use my strengths in the physical side of the game to progress and fit in somewhere. I think the biggest thing is my character and charisma; bringing positive energy to the rink everyday and making sure everyone is having fun. When it comes to on the ice, it’s energy, energy, energy; helping make sure the guys are fired up and the fans as well, but also staying composed, sticking to my role and making sure my teammates feel safe on the ice. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fight, but could be a big hit, an energizing play or an unexpected goal when we need it most, so just being a player that knows his role on the team is most important.” Prior to the draft Dan Sallows of Hockey Scout compared Kramer to Bob Probert (dansallows.com/player-profile-darren-kramer). While fighting will be what carries Kramer forward in his professional career, if he can improve the other facets of his game he’ll be a true draft steal for the Senators.
-Cam Collingwood has a Senators fantasy preview posted on The Silver Seven (http://www.silversevensens.com/2011/9/5/2398114/senators-2011-12-fantasy-preview#storyjump); he is very positive about Ottawa’s value for fantasy GMs. His player predictions:
Jason Spezza 76-29-40-69
Erik Karlsson 75-15-34-49
Daniel Alfredsson 72-20-29-49
Bobby Butler 77-23-24-47
Nikita Filatov 73-25-21-46
Milan Michalek 72-23-20-43
Stephane Da Costa 70-14-27-41
Colin Greening 73-19-20-39
Peter Regin 75-12-22-34
David Rundblad 76-11-23-34
Nick Foligno 80-15-18-33
Erik Condra 76-19-14-33
Sergei Gonchar 70-10-22-32
Filip Kuba 71-3-23-26
Chris Neil 80-8-10-18
He also discusses several Senators prospects:
–Rundblad: “Swedish prospects with his experience in the SEL don’t typically spend much time in the AHL, so we’re pretty comfortable he’s NHL-ready and will be in Ottawa for most/all of the season. His situation could be better as he’ll have to defer to Gonchar & Karlsson for PP minutes but assuming Gonchar misses a chunk of time injured (or maybe is traded) then Rundblad would get a boost. Given Ottawa’s youth movement, we think there will be enough minutes for Rundblad to produce right away.” There are a lot of assumptions in Collingwood’s analysis, but I cannot imagine the rookie out-scoring Gonchar (as indicated above).
–Butler: “There are a few areas of concern here and we may be overrating him and the impact of playing with Spezza but we really like the look of this kid and think he could surprise with a breakout season.” His fantasy performance is based on his final stretch of NHL games, which to my mind is too small a sample to work from. Regardless, if he spends an entire season in the top-six he should put up the numbers similar to those suggested.
–Filatov “has a ton of potential but needs to get his head screwed on straight before he can start to realize said potential. He could get an opportunity on one of the top two lines but we have a hard time seeing this guy consistently produce over the course of a full season.” No reason is provided for why Filatov won’t produce consistently (as he has in the AHL and KHL; his NHL sample is simply too small). I think it’s safe to say Filatov is the most talented forward added to the lineup, so it’s interesting he isn’t given the highest fantasy value among them.
–Regin “is in danger of being leap-frogged on the depth chart by a few prospects with more upside than what he supplies.” Collingwood admits he’s not a fan of Regin‘s, but his point projection is reasonable.
–Da Costa: “Given the hype surrounding him he’ll likely make the team out of training camp but the Sens have a number of younger players that will compete against him for ice-time. So he may have to start out in a lesser role and work his way up… a breakout coming from that position will be difficult.” I think Collingwood’s analysis demonstrates a misunderstanding Da Costa‘s place on the depth chart. There’s only room for one two-way contract among the forwards and that’s not going to go to Da Costa (who needs time to develop and get stronger).
–Red Line Report‘s pre-season look at the top prospects going into the 2012 draft is out. Here’s their top-thirty:
1. Nail Yakupov (Sarnia, OHL)
2. Nick Ebert (Windsor, OHL)
3. Ryan Murray (Everett, WHL)
4. Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton, WHL)
5. Henrik Samuelsson (US NTDP, USHL)
6. Mikhail Grigorenko (Quebec, QMJHL)
7. Alex Galchenyuk (Sarnia, OHL)
8. Olli Maatta (London, OHL)
9. Zemgus Girgensons (Dubuque, USHL)
10. Morgan Rielly (Moose Jaw, WHL)
11. Filip Forsberg (Leksand, Sweden)
12. Matt Dumba (Red Deer, WHL)
13. Jacob Trouba (US NTDP, USHL)
14. Martin Frk (Halifax, QMJHL)
15. Sebastian Collberg (Frolunda, Sweden)
16. Jordan Schmaltz (Sioux City, USHL)
17. Derrick Pouliot (Portland, WHL)
18. Slater Koekkoek (Peterborough, OHL)
19. Pontus Aberg (Djurgarden, Sweden)
20. Matia Marcantuoni (Kitchener, OHL)
21. Gianluca Curcuruto (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL)
22. Eric Locke (Barrie, OHL)
23. Chandler Stephenson (Regina, WHL)
24. Brendan Gaunce (Belleville, OHL)
25. Cody Ceci (Ottawa 67s, OHL)
26. Ryan Olsen (Saskatoon, WHL)
27. Luca Ciampini (Halifax, QMJHL)
28. Teuvo Teravainen (Jokerit, Finland)
29. Patrik Machac (Brampton, OHL)
30. Scott Laughton (Oshawa, OHL)
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