-Senators president Cyril Leeder is trying to drum up pressure to fight against the plans of the Ontario government to eliminate the tax exemption for sports tickets. I won’t go into the specifics of how much business the team might lose (if any), but the idea that it threatens the franchise is a joke–Eugene Melnyk has nowhere to move the team and neither he nor the league are going to dissolve it. I expect the sports journalists in the city will push the panic button regardless.
–Ken Warren is worried about the length of Erik Karlsson‘s contract, but he doesn’t provide good comparables to make his point. Karlsson is 21 and has no history of serious injury problems, so how long a deal is too long? I don’t think there’s much point in fans speculating on the kinds of hypothetical’s that has Warren worried–Craig Anderson‘s four years will bother me more than Karlsson getting six or seven.
–Joy Lindsay reports that Mark Parrish will return to the lineup tomorrow. Here are the lines: Mike Hoffman-Corey Locke-Derek Grant, Rob Klinkhammer-Wacey Hamilton-Mark Parrish, David Dziurzynski-Pat Cannone-André Petersson, Jack Downing-Mike Bartlett-Francis Lessard; Mark Borowiecki-Eric Gryba, Tim Conboy-Dan Henningson, Patrick Wiercioch-Craig Schira, Josh Godfrey. Ben Bishop is expected to start Friday and Sunday with Mike McKenna on Saturday.
RTS Sport interviewed Roman Wick about his season last year and he had some interesting things to say, “I played three exhibition games in training camp. Each game, I had less than 10 minutes of playtime and it made me lose faith in myself. I felt that the coach [Corey Clouston] did not have faith in me. Da Costa arrived at the end of the season, but he played in the NHL directly, without going to the minors. Ottawa must think the NCAA is better than the NLA, but I know what I’m worth. I feel that I am better than him. I’m glad to have become the first Swiss player to win the Calder Cup. There were about 10,000 people in the streets of Binghamton, a city more or less as large as Zug [26,000], to celebrate our victory.” Wick said he has not given up his NHL dream (presumably he has an opt out clause in his three-year contract). I don’t disagree with him that Clouston was not interested in giving him much of a chance, but he shows considerably naiveté in not understanding the tools teams have to use to lure NCAA free agents. Ottawa retained his rights so he could be invited to training camp, but it’s difficult to see where or how Wick would fit into the organisational depth chart.
–The Silver Seven‘s bobbykelly continues to look at Ottawa’s organisational depth and includes Nikita Filatov at #22. “If Filatov plays in the NHL, it is sure to be in a top-six role” seems true enough. The other issue is that Filatov financially supports his family and cannot or will not do that with an AHL salary.
–Bobby Raymond has been sent back to the ECHL
-Elmira won last night with Brian Stewart earning the win and Corey Cowick held off the scoresheet.
–DJ Powers writes about the top free agent collegiate prospects, which he lists as follows:
Spencer Abbott, 5’9, LW, Maine, 33-19-37-56
J. T. Brown, 5’10, RW, Minnesota-Duluth, 32-20-22-42
Jack Connolly, 5’8, C, Minnesota-Duluth, 34-18-36-54
Dan DeKeyser, 6’2, D, Western Michigan, 36-5-8-13
Brian Flinn, 6’0, C, Maine, 33-17-28-45
Torey Krug, 5’9, D, Michigan State, 35-11-21-32
Jack MacLellan, 5’11, C, Brown, 27-15-14-29
Chris Rawlings, 6’5, G, Northeastern, 30-12-13-5 2.63 .919
Jeremy Walsh, 6’3, C/W, Union, 33-22-13-35
eyeonthesens 