The rookie tournament is here and it’s always fun to see who is on the roster. I’ll skip the familiar faces, since our focus is on the invitees. Signed/drafted players participating: Merilainen (G), Andonovski (D), Donovan (D), Hamara (D), Kleven (D), Boucher (F), Daoust (F), Greig (F), Jarventie (F), Ostapchuk (F). The rest (which includes a ton of players from development camp, who are marked in green):
Goalies
Collin MacKenzie, DOB 04, OHL, .928 – undersized (6’0) local boy
Charlie Schenkel, DOB 04, OHL, .894 – 6’6 local boy
Defensemen
Caeden Carlisle (L), DOB 04, OHL, 59-5-13-18
Roberto Mancini (L), DOB 03, OHL 66-13-12-25
Simon Motew (R), DOB 03, OHL 57-4-25-29
Bronson Ride (L), DOB 05, OHL 71-4-12-16; 6’6
Thomas Stewart (R), DOB 03, OHL 61-4-17-21
Djibril Toure (R), DOB 03, OHL 57-5-11-16; 6’7
Forwards
Daniil Bourash (RW), DOB 04, QMJHL 66-41-29-70
Cole Burbidge (CL), DOB 05, QMJHL 68-19-31-50
Connor Clattenburg (LW), DOB 05, OHL 56-2-8-10; local boy
Tarun Fizer (CR), DOB 01, ECHL 62-27-23-50
Mikael Huchette (CR), DOB 03, QMJHL 15-4-4-8
Mitchell Martin (LW), DOB 03, OHL 47-13-21-34
Stuart Rolofs (LW), DOB 03, OHL 62-32-29-61; local boy
James Stefan (RW), DOB 03, WHL 64-22-42-64
Jackson Stewart (LW), DOB 04, OHL 54-8-3-11
Ty Thorpe (CR), DOB 02, WHL 65-37-34-71
Mitch Walinski (RW), DOB 98, CCC 22-14-12-26
There’s not much skill among the invitees and the only possible development to look for is players being signed to ECHL or AHL contracts (generally with older prospects like Fizer or Walinski).
The Sens signed Josh Bailey to a PTO. It’s rare for PTO’s to make a team, but it does happen (Brassard did it last year). My guess is he’s added to fill things out if Pinto‘s negotiations drag. His last two seasons:
Joshua Bailey, RW, DOB 89, 1-9/08 NYI
21-22 74-14-30-44
22-23 64-8-17-25
The soon-to-be 34-year old has spent his entire NHL career with the Islanders and is clearly nearing the end. He’s been a better in the playoffs (0.70) than the regular season (0.54), although the sample size of the former isn’t large. Because of MacEwen‘s contract there’s no space for him unless Pinto holds out or someone like Joseph is moved (which would free up much needed cap space for the Sens, but I doubt there are many takers–on paper only eight teams can afford him).
One thing worth considering for the upcoming season is the expected health of Ottawa’s blueline. While the top-four is solid on paper, two of its components have significant injury histories which would have a major impact on the team’s success. Let’s look:
Chabot GP over the last three seasons: 49-59-68
Injuries the last two years: ‘upper body’ (Feb/21), ‘upper body’ (May/21), Broken hand (Mar/22), Concussion (Nov/22), Broken wrist/torn ligament (Apr/23)
Chychrun GP over the last three seasons 56-47-48 (never more than 68 in his career)
Injuries the last two years: ‘upper body’ (Dec/21), Ankle (Mar/22), Wrist (Oct/22), Hamstring (Mar/23)
With Sanderson and Zub (who missed 29-games last year) you have a sophomore and a guy who isn’t valued as a puck mover. The defensive depth in Ottawa is not very good when it comes to the transition game (after Brannstrom, assuming he isn’t dealt, cf), there’s just two prospects: Thomson and Guenette. All the other blueliners (Hamonic, JBD, Kleven, Matinpalo, Larsson, Heatherington, Sebrango) are either established as deficient in that area or weren’t expected to do so as prospects. I don’t think the Sens can challenge for a playoff spot without having at least one of Chabot or Chychrun in the lineup.
The Sens hired Sean Tierney to be their Director of Hockey Analytics, which is interesting since the organization is notorious for its dismissal of analytics. Tierney’s background includes Analytics for Montreal’s AHL team (2017-21; Tierney’s Linkedin lists this entire era as Hamilton, but the franchise moved to Laval in 2017), which was under Andlauer, during which time (2019) he created Charting Hockey before moving to be the Director of Hockey Services for the Mark Cuban-backed Sportlogiq (2021) while continuing to teach for the Catholic Board (CDSBEO). What stands out is that he’s a local guy with a connection to Andlauer and no NHL experience. It felt like something Andlauer pushed and that has been confirmed, but whatever work Tierney does I think Dorion will ignore it as long as he’s the GM.
Back in June I talked about how the press had meaningfully ignored the NHL’s decision to give up on political messaging on jersey’s and how that fits the basic approach I see from those covering the league–wax poetic when it’s just talk, but ignore it if it might impact the bottomline. There’s a very easy comparison to make between TSN‘s coverage of Hockey Canada’s inclusion conversation and their approach to the NHL’s actions. This isn’t even addressing the issue itself, just an observation on the coverage. To quote George Carlin about censorship in the 70s: we’re just looking for a little consistency between rhetoric and action.
On the trivial side of things, apparently nearly all the usual local reporters who covered the Sens in the past are now off the beat (other than Bruce Garrioch). I stopped paying attention to Postmedia long ago (for obvious reasons), but at some point Don Brennan (passim) was removed and now even Ken Warren is gone (passim). Tim Baines, whom I’m essentially unfamiliar with (cf), is getting the beat according to Nichols.
This article was written by Peter Levi
eyeonthesens 