–Bob McKenzie has Justin Schultz‘s final list of teams: Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and the New York Rangers. The two that make little sense to me are Vancouver and the Rangers. While Schultz would get an opportunity with both those franchises it would be less than with the other three, as the Oilers, Leafs, and Senators can all offer him top-four minutes and top-pairing powerplay time.
–Matt Carkner turned down a one-year deal from the Senators and is expected to test the free agent market. This doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t re-sign with the Sens, but he will explore free agency.
-The boys at Welcome to Your Karlsson Years posted an interesting post-draft discussion. Varada wonders if the Sens should have taken a forward (Teuvo Teravainen) instead of a defensemen given how difficult the latter are to project. He is also as puzzled as I was that the Sens drafted two goaltenders. I have to agree with James that “I’m not ready to buy into this 20 minute old theory of ‘don’t waste your first round pick on a defenseman’ that’s been going around lately.” I think many of the misses with blueliners is due to poor scouting rather than an overall difficulty in figuring defensemen out. James, incidentally, projects Mark Stone‘s post-draft stats as his draft stats. Finally, there’s a comment on the page about how little fans really know about the players drafted because of how little information is provided for any but the top players. For those interested in actual scouting reports on the Sens picks, go here.
-I’m hoping someone can explain Robbie Baillargeon‘s hilarious yet slightly enigmatic Tweet, “Went Rambo today in the fake hostage take down, got the mission accomplished by recusing Alfie.”
–Peter Raaymakers channels his inner wishes when he writes about who he’s looking forward to watching, “and Michael Sdao (both turning pro after college careers)“. While the Sens would have loved for Sdao to leave college early, I believe this is a typo for Ben Blood.
-The over inflated opinions of the Sens prospects makes for engaging reading (I’m still seeing Shane Prince being talked about like he’s a star in the making), but after going to these things for years and reading reports about them you have to take it all with a large grain of salt. To my mind, what you should pay attention to are: 1) the player given the hardest worker award, 2) players who are invisible (not including first-time attendees–Mark Stone was invisible his first year), and 3) organisational comments about specific players. Always keep in mind that marginal players can look good if they have the right linemates. In Raaymakers link above he mentioned being impressed by Corey Cowick last year and that’s a great example of how an older prospect who can’t establish himself in the AHL can look good at this level.
-The folks at Senshot are taking forever to grade all the Ottawa Senators, but they are a generous bunch giving a “C” to free agent and Don Brennan BFF Zenon Konopka. Who knew staged fights and warming the pressbox was so rewarding?
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