The Sens have released their roster for the rookie tournament and here’s my look at who they’ve invited. I’ve included where each player played last year in brackets, starred the free agent invites, and used italics for those who have participated in one of these tournaments for the Sens before:
Forwards (15)
Jakub Culek (QMJHL)
Vincent Dunn (QMJHL)
Derek Grant (AHL)
Wacey Hamilton (AHL)
Danny Hobbs (ECHL)*
Ludwig Karlsson (NCAA)
Darren Kramer (ECHL/AHL)
Curtis Lazar (OHL)
Jarrod Maidens (OHL – injured)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (AHL)
Shane Prince (AHL)
Matt Puempel (OHL)
Buddy Robinson (NCAA)
Cole Schneider (AHL)
Mark Stone (AHL)
Defense (8)
Ben Blood (ECHL/AHL)
Cody Ceci (OHL)
Fredrik Claesson (AHL)
Ben Harpur (OHL)
Danny New (ECHL/AHL)*
Troy Rutkowski (WHL)
Michael Sdao (NCAA)
Chris Wideman (AHL)
Goaltenders (3)
Francois Brassard (QMJHL)
Chris Driedger (WHL)
Andrew Hammond (NCAA)
The Sens invited two free agents (this isn’t particularly unusual; they only had one at their last tournament). Daniel New played for both Elmira and Binghamton last season, so only Danny Hobbs is unknown to fans. Hobbs was a 2007 seventh round Ranger pick who went unsigned; after finishing his collegiate career at UMass he spent the past season playing for the ECHL’s Greenville Road Warriors (53-9-22-31). As a forward there’s no chance he’s auditioning for Binghamton, but perhaps he’ll get a shot with Elmira for the upcoming season.
Ottawa did not have a rookie tournament last fall due to the lockout, so this is the first since 2011. For those you remember, that tournament featured Mark Borowiecki‘s double knockdown fight as well as a dominating performance from Mika Zibanejad. The tournaments aren’t harbingers of much, other than illustrating who isn’t ready to play pro and who is. For my part, seeing the players I haven’t seen play before is always the best thing about the games, although in this case I want to see if Jakub Culek has evolved at all or if he’s still as weak a player as I’ve thought he was every season.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
eyeonthesens 