The prospect tournament finished with the Sens 1-2-0 (beating Jersey 5-2, losing to Pittsburgh 8-3, and losing 2-1 to Montreal). The Sens had the most invitees of any team in the tournament (this is a weird year for prospects where the failures of the 2021 draft are hitting hardest) and high end prospect Ridley Greig only played in the first game (Scott Wheeler thought he was the best Sen in the tournament; Fizer, below, being the best invitee–we also get a shoutout from Wheeler for Josh Doan, the price paid for the Sens inexplicably picking up Derek Stepan during the rebuild).
ECHLer Tarun Fizer lead them in points (4-1-5) which likely earns him a shot at an AHL-contract (he’s made it to main camp). Leevi Merilainen was in goal for the win and the final game and was excellent in both; invitee (and local boy) Charlie Schenkel got lite up by the Penguins. Besides Fizer the tournament has served to remove invitees from camp (the wins and losses don’t really matter). For fans curious about Fizer, he was one of the few players at development camp with offensive talent (cf), whose background is as an undersized, productive center in the WHL (his last three seasons 112-42-82-124), who caught on in the ECHL last season (62-27-23-50, good for second on his team in scoring; none of his linemates from Victoria were drafted, but the top defenseman, Gannon Laroque, was picked by San Jose, 4-103/21).
The training camp roster is out, which naturally excludes the two unsigned RFAs (Pinto and Sokolov [he was signed hours after I posted this]). Besides Fizer above, 6’7 RD Toure has also been invited along with LW Clattenburg and LW Jackson Stewart. The latter is the only one who wasn’t at development camp, but like Clattenburg has no discernible skill so is simply an extra body. In essence, the only surprise is Fizer who, again, is simply looking for an AHL-contract. The only player fighting for an NHL spot is PTO Josh Bailey who will need to push someone out to get in.
There’s a rumour Peter Chiarelli is going to be added to the Sens management group and if that’s true let’s hope they keep him away from the draft. In both Boston and Edmonton his draft record is atrocious and whatever skills he has they do not apply to scouting or amateur talent assessment.
What do we make of the aborted Mike Babcock saga in Columbus? I think the story is less about Babcock, who simply can’t navigate modern coaching, and more about Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen and President John Davidson (no idea how either have maintained their positions). The only Sens connection I can really make to Babcock is when they had his son at development camp for a couple of years (2016 and 2017–he may have been there after, but I wasn’t paying attention), which fits Dorion’s obsession with bloodlines (passim). This likely finishes Babcock in the league (who wants the headache?), and probably helps the Blue Jackets as they will get a more fitting coach behind the bench.
This article was written by Peter Levi
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eyeonthesens 
[…] Mark Duarte, RW, 21, ECHL 36-14-10-24 0.66Former OHLer is coming off his first pro season where he had decent (if not remarkable) ECHL numbers. This would be the Fizer equivalent, but Fizer was much more accomplished both in junior are his rookie ECHL season (cf). […]