-Ottawa defeated Calgary 4-2 in a pre-season game no one saw. I’m not sure why the marketing geniuses that work for Ottawa, Calgary, and the NHL can’t figure out that it’s worthwhile to show the games (even if only by streaming it online). Alas! Prospects scored all the goals for the Sens (Buddy Robinson is working on his Brandon Bochenski award) and Michael Sdao had to fight twice after delivering a big hit–not that anyone has seen either the hit or the fights.
-The Sens had their first cuts at camp, sending Chris Driedger, Francois Brassard, Ben Harpur, and Vincent Dunn back to junior; there’s nothing surprising about the moves.
-Speaking of junior age prospects, Curtis Lazar signed his ELC.
-A number of stories have appeared discussing which Sens prospects are not waiver exempt (Cory Conacher, Eric Gryba, Mike Hoffman, Stephane Da Costa, and David Dziurzynski), wondering how it will impact roster decisions. I think the simple answer is not much, at least to start the season. The Sens have a bloated NHL roster which I think already includes Conacher and Gryba; the other three players will sail through to Binghamton along with dozens of other players. The threat of a waiver claim is much larger during the season and that could impact call-ups, but that’s about the only impact I foresee.
–Mark Parisi writes an interesting piece about how fans scapegoat players, but includes a defence of Matt Kassian which doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s too bad, because Mark’s general point about how fans indulge in confirmation bias when looking at players is spot on. Unfortunately, Kassian doesn’t fit the criteria. Kassian does one thing: he fights–that’s all he brings to the table. Most people who object to Kassian do so under the belief that his skill set doesn’t belong in the NHL and his roster spot is better used–which is an entirely different kind of criticism. Even in the context of enforcers he’s not really established (Minnesota buried him in the AHL for the bulk of his five and a half seasons there). Part of me wonders if Parisi simply picked Kassian to provoke a reaction. I wish he’d picked someone like Chris Phillips who, despite incredibly positive coverage in the media, is often a lightning rod for criticism among the fanbase.
–Amelia L writes an excellent piece about Bryan Murray (perhaps spurred on by Jeremy Milks‘ blog a few days ago), looking at his time with Ottawa and his background (although I don’t see the link between his handling of Paul Kariya/Paul Coffey/etc and Daniel Alfredsson‘s departure–none of the other moves involved murky finances).
–Peter Morrow joins the endless list of would-be Hockey’s Future writers attempting to cover the Sens (replacing, I presume, Jason Menard). He gives us the updated list of the Sens top-20 prospects according to HF:
1. Mika Zibanejad
2. Robin Lehner
3. Curtis Lazar
4. Cory Conacher
5. Cody Ceci
6. Patrick Wiercioch
7. Mark Borowiecki
8. Jean-Gabriel Pageau
9. Matt Puempel
10. Chris Driedger
11. Mark Stone
12. Shane Prince
13. Mike Hoffman
14. Fredrik Claesson
15. Stephane Da Costa
16. Derek Grant
17. Marcus Hogberg
18. Andre Petersson
19. Mikael Wikstrand
20. Vincent Dunn
I won’t get picky about the order of the players here, but there’s one comment I’ll address: Peter suggests Borowiecki could wind up in the lineup, but without a trade I don’t see that happening this season (presumably he’d be replacing Gryba).
-Here’s my updated look at post-lockout AHL Success Stories.
–ESPN continues “expert” rankings, this time looking at forwards: Jason Spezza clocks in at #33, Kyle Turris #68, Milan Michalek #71, and Mika Zibanejad #94. Yes folks, there’s no Bobby Ryan (but Chris Kunitz is #44!).
-Some Elmira news: the Jackals signed CIS grad Justin Gova; the winger spent five seasons at Guelph where he was a very productive player. The Jackals now have ten players signed along with three on PTOs.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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