–Randy Lee offers his two cents on Binghamton’s camp (transcription courtesy of Nichols):

The biggest thing that we were impressed [me] about [player fitness] was the attitude. They really competed in the testing. Chris Schwarz and the testing group came down here and we replicated everything that we do at a regular training camp and there was some really good leadership shown from the veteran guys. You could see when guys were doing the test and looking at (the results), and coming back and saying, “Can I get another rep in, I want to see if I can beat that.” So the competitiveness is there, which is a great tell-tale sign for the future of this team.

A small correction for Nichols who believes Claesson left a comfortable situation in the SEL–his team was relegated to the Allsvenskan.  I think the odds are decent that Claesson will spend time in Elmira when the blueline is healthy and the lockout continues–his primary competition right now is Ben Blood and I expect the NCAA grad to get the edge.

Some guys who thought they would be guaranteed top six D, are going to have a tough time now with the numbers here. They are going to have to adjust. I think they are realizing… the players aren’t dumb. They do the math. They are realizing that there are too many guys here for the number of positions available, so some people aren’t going to be happy then and they’re going to have to adjust. And that’s one thing that we will look at, how did you handle that? If you do get sent down to the East Coast (Hockey) League, how did you handle that? What was your approach when you went down there? How did you work? Did you pout? Or did you embrace it and challenge (yourself) and force us to bring you back? We always tell them, “You make the decision, if you’re good enough, we’ll put you back on the team, but you have to prove it. If you pout, you’re sending us a really bad signal.”

He [Lehner] addressed some issues that we had. His weight was an issue and he addressed that. It’s down two camps in a row now. In terms of being at development camp last year, he was very good. He was under 10-percent body fat and under 10-percent fat now, so he has addressed that. That was part of his approach. He is sleeping better and eating better. You know what it is like, guys learn at different paces and some guys get it faster and some guys take a bit longer. Robin is a very good talent. He has just had to adjust his lifestyle. He has adjusted his approach to the game. He has been calm. He has been competitive. He has looked really solid in the net and that is great for him. It’s our job to support these guys. We know it’s not going to be automatic that once we explain this to you and say that you should be at this level, it just happens. Guys take longer and he did have big success. He won MVP of the Calder Cup and then we wanted that to follow that up. They have been very good. Rick Wamsley has worked with him and Bryan has been very (forthright) with him. We want you to play lots. We want you to dominate and we want you to be a great teammate and a great worker, and he has done that. He has done everything that we have asked of him.

-Binghamton still has a cluttered roster and the difficult decisions haven’t been made yet.  There’s no roster limit in the AHL, but once players are healthy the organisation is going to want them to play, so expect more movement.

–Hockey’s Future has begun their top-50 prospect countdown and thus far Robin Lehner (#46) and Jakob Silfverberg (#40) have made the list.  What relevance does this have?  Not much, although it’s a small indication of how prospects are viewed outside the Ottawa microscope.

-Elmira won their first pre-season game 4-1 against the Reading Royals (defeating Philipp Grubauer whom Binghamton beat a couple of days earlier).  Andrew Rowe, Brandon Blandina, Chris Wideman, and Dustin Gazley all scored.

-In an illustration of how badly a team can miss with a first round pick defenseman Mark Mitera (1-19/06, Brian Burke) was cut by St. John’s and is without a team.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 9, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Binghamton re-assigned one more player today, sending Jakub Culek to the QMJHL (and yes, I’d forgotten he was CHL-eligible).  This isn’t a surprising roster decision, but it does mean Culek fell behind tryout Jack Downing.  I think more roster moves may have occurred today were it not for the injury situation in Binghamton. [Sylvain St-Laurent has Tweeted that Jean-Gabriel Pageau is going to spend the year in Binghamton, but I haven’t seen any confirmation of that–he’s subsequently Tweeted that Luke Richardson has confirmed he’s staying, although I’m not sure if the “other decisions” will be made when Da Costa is healthy impacts Pageau or not.]

-Here are highlights from Binghamton’s 6-3 win over Albany.

–Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside‘s pre-season power rankings have the Sens 13th and 17th respectively.

–DJ Powers looks at the Atlantic Hockey Conference (NCAA), which features no Sens prospects, but does reference free agent signee Cole Schneider.

–Jason Chen offers an early look at some of Ottawa’s prospects thus far (there’s nothing new here, although I’m always happy to see Michael Sdao brought up).

–Jeremy Rutherford warns that the NHL is risking losing corporate ticket sales with the lockout, with Spotlight TMS CEO Tony Knopp saying:

Since 2008, I would say that one in every four [corporate] customers we talk to, somebody internally is telling them that they have to drop their tickets. I know (the NHL and its teams) are saying, ‘This is what happened after the last lockout, this is how much business you can expect.’ My argument is that’s not going to be the case this time. These guys are already looking for a way to get out of sports tickets, and now they’re just giving them bullets to shoot themselves with. The reality is, once budget gets cut, you don’t just add budget overnight. You have to justify why doing business with the St. Louis Blues is better than not laying off these three people. That’s an awful difficult fight to have post-2008.

The article also talks about how NHL players receive a greater percentage of revenue than the NBA and NFL and talks about how normal fans will return to the league like they always do after work stoppages.  It’s an interesting read.

-Here’s the weekly prospect update:

CHL
Matt Puempel (OHL Kitchener) 6-5-2-7
Cody Ceci (OHL Ottawa) 6-2-5-7
Stefan Noesen (OHL Plymouth) 5-5-1-6
Jordan Fransoo (WHL Victoria) 4-0-2-2 (injured)
Jarrod Maidens (OHL Owen Sound) (injured)
Francois Brassard (QMJHL Quebec) 6-1-0 2.00 .924
Chris Driedger (WHL Calgary) 4-0-1 2.34 .918

Allsvenskan (Swe)
Mikael Vikstrand (Mora) 9-3-2-5

KHL
Nikita Filatov (Salavat) 13-3-6-9

NCAA
Jeff Costello (Notre Dame) – junior year upcoming
Michael Sdao (Princeton) – senior year upcoming
Bryce Aneloski (Nebraska-Omaha) – junior year upcoming
Max McCormick (Ohio) – sophomore year upcoming
Ryan Dzingel (Ohio) – sophomore year upcoming
Tim Boyle (Union) – freshman year upcoming

USHL
Robbie Baillargeon (Indiana) – 4-0-3-3

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 8, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments

-Binghamton wrapped up its pre-season action with a 6-3 win over Albany.  Robin Lehner earned the win and Corey Cowick, Derek Grant, Mike Hoffman, Andre Petersson, Andre Benoit, and Mark Stone (empty-net) scoring.  I watched the game which was slow and sloppy, with the only takeaways being that Stone and Jean-Gabriel Pageau were completely invisible–that won’t impact Stone much, but may hurt Pageau (who is CHL eligible).

-Final roster decisions haven’t been made and given the injury situations of several players they may be delayed for some time.  My guess for the roster remains largely unchanged (in no particular order): Cannone, Da Costa, Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Petersson, Jessiman, Stone, Grant, Hoffman, Dziurzynski, Kramer, Schneider, Cowick; Benoit, Eckford, Borowiecki, Gryba, Wiercioch, Blood, Claesson,  The toughest guess is the extra forward, but assuming I’m right we’ll see Downing, Culek, Hamilton, and Caporusso sent to join Wideman in Elmira (any of the first three forwards mentioned could be swapped out with Cowick), while Pageau and Prince go back to junior.

–Nichols transcribes an interview with Tim Murray from Wednesday and there isn’t much of interest said.  A couple of quotes amused me:

The first thing that you notice about the league [AHL in lockout mode] is that maybe some of the one-dimensional players [goons] are going to be eliminated a little bit because you have to get your kids and your good prospects in the lineup and your good players in the lineup.

Doni Brennan on a Swede [Lehner]? Really? That would amaze me that he’d like a Swede or any other type of Euro.

I like Murray’s dismissal of the enforcer as a useful part of the team, as well as his poke at Brennan’s predilections.  Unfortunately that’s it; part of the problem are the questions he was asked, but there’s nothing of substance here.

–Sportsnet has announced the airing of AHL games, but so far Binghamton is not on the list (Toronto, Hamilton, Abbotsford, and Chicago are the Canadian affiliates being shown).

–Daniel Wagner looks at Don Cherry’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em on the hunt for illegal hits and its worth reading through what helped make Grapes rich.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 7, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-Binghamton defeated Hershey 5-3 in their second game of the pre-season, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Jakub Culek, and Andre Petersson scoring.  Of note, Brad Peltz got into a fight, which may be the first of his career.  Bobby Kelly watched the game and provides his insight on it.  Incidentally, Bobby expressed surprise that Culek was given serious defensive responsibilities, but the organisation has always projected him as a checking forward.  Binghamton’s final pre-season game is today against Albany.

-Lines for tonight’s game: Zibanejad-Pageau-Stone, Hoffman-Cannone-Petersson, Dziurzynski-Grant-Schneider, Cowick-Culek-Downing; Cowen-Benoit, Borowiecki-Gryba, Ekford-Claesson; Robin Lehner will start.

-Binghamton made their second round of cuts, sending Chris Wideman, Brad Peltz, and Danny New to Elmira and returning Scott Greenham to Bakersfield.  No surprises here, with only Wideman actually signed to an ELC.  This leaves the B-Sens with 3 goalies (Marc Cheverie will be sent back to Elmira when Nathan Lawson is healthy), 8 defensemen (Patrick Wiercioch has not played in the pre-season), and 19 forwards (including tonight’s game Da Costa, Jessiman, Caporusso, Hamilton, and Prince have not played in the pre-season).

-Speaking of Albany, here is their training camp roster.  They are 3-0 so far in pre-season action, with the team featuring NHLers Adam Larsson, Adam Henrique, Jacob Josefson, and Mattias Tedenby (and Bobby Butler).  The only significant roster loses for the team from last year are Vladimir Zharkov (KHL) and Peter Harrold (one-way with New Jersey).  I have no idea if class act Tim Sestito will play.

-Elmira made their first round of cuts, releasing 11 players: Yegor Bezugly, Tim D’Orazio, Luke Frey, Artem Gumenyuk, Matt Harrington, Nicolas Lareau, Ivan Lyaskevich, Jeremy Narducci, Kyle Pelke, Charles Vaillancourt, and Jon Vaillancourt.  None of these cuts are surprises.

-Former B-Sen Francis Lessard has finally landed elsewhere, signing with the LNAH Cornwall River Kings.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 6, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-Lineups for tonight’s game have been announced: Zibanejad-Pageau-Stone, Hoffman-Cannone-Petersson, Cowick-Culek-Schneider, Peltz-Kramer-Downing; Blood-Borowiecki, New-Wideman, Cowen-Claesson.  Marc Cheverie will play the first two periods, while Scott Greenham will play the third.

–Highlights from Binghamton’s exhibition game are available (the only thing missing is Mark Stone‘s shootout goal).

-Binghamton reduced its training camp roster by three today, returning Dustin Gazley, Jimmy Martin, and Matt Campanale back to Elmira.  Hershey, whom Binghamton is playing again tonight, has also reduced their roster (by 12 players).

-News has also come down that The Team 1200 will carry Binghamton broadcasts in the short term (including tonight).

-The 6th Sens interviewed Kurt Kleinendorst and its worth a listen for those wanting insight into KK’s time behind the Binghamton bench (he had a lot of praise for Bryan Murray, incidentally).

-Elmira held its intersquad scrimmage last night, with Team White defeating Team Blue 5-4.  Luke Frey, Jimmy Martin, Rob Bellamy, Yegor Bezugly, Jean Bourbeau, Andrew Rowe, Kevin McCarey (2), and Brandon Blandina scored (here are highlights).

–Stu Hackel writes a long and interesting article about the problems with the CBA negotiations, believing Bettman and ownership have made settling it much more difficult for themselves by their approach.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 5, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

-I caught about half of Binghamton’s pre-season tilt with the Hershey Bears last night.  The game was slow and sloppy and lacked surprises (the best players were the best players).  Robin Lehner was good, but not great; Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad were excellent (making life great for linemate Jean-Gabriel Pageau).  There were three fights in the game, with Corey Cowick‘s specifically defending Derek Grant after he was run head-first into the boards (Kramer and Dziurzynski also fought).  Silfverberg, Zibanejad, and Eckford scored in regulation, while Silfverberg, Stone, and Pageau tallied in the shootout.  Luke Richardson talked about the goals allowed:

All three goals were probably bouncing off shin pads and went to the open guy. The second and third one, I thought we over back-checked and left guys open.

The Raaymaker offers his views of the game, but admits he “wasn’t watching it too closely.”

-My prediction that we wouldn’t lose any regular season games due to the CBA negotiations has crashed and burned as Bob McKenzie reports the cancellation of the first two weeks.  We’ll see how long it lasts, but I’m curious to see just how far the league is willing to go.

-A few more comments about EA Sports 2013.  The wonky draft trends have sorted themselves out in GM mode, but I do have a few comments about the play itself: 1) when an AI opponent throws any kind of hit, your player will go flying, 2) the AI takes virtually no penalties (a problem in virtually every version of the game).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 4, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 1 Comment

-Lineup for tonight’s game against Hershey: Silfverberg-Pageau-Zibanejad, Dziurzynski-Culek-Stone, Cowick-Grant-Peltz, Kramer-Gazley-Downing; Eckford-Blood, Gryba-New, Claesson-Wideman; Robin Lehner gets the start.

-Tim Murray has praised Robin Lehner and Jared Cowen‘s training camp thus far.

–Mark Borowiecki talks about this year’s training camp experience:

There’s nothing unexpected here, but there’s little reason to doubt Borowiecki‘s sentiment that the players feel like they have something to prove this season.

–SteffeG offers some insight on Mika Zibanejad:

I do think he’s [Zibanejad] better suited at wing. He likes to rush down the wing and try to beat his defender or fire a hard shot from distance, which might be a good way to create chances for a certain type of player, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the full capacity of the wingers are used if the finishing player is the centre. In addition to that, he’s struggled in the face-off circle in Sweden, which usually means he’d have an even tougher time in the NHL in that aspect. [Zibanejad‘s] shown great maturity and defensive qualities early in his career. Perhaps even more so in his first year, as an SEL rookie, actually. I don’t think he’ll ever be a part of a good PP unit. Well, he likes to shoot and his shot is his best PP quality, so if anywhere, that’s where he should be. Perhaps as the net-front presence if he can handle that on an NHL power play.

The description of Zibanejad‘s style reminds me a lot of Mike Fisher–a player who loved to rush down the wing and fire the puck (high, hard, and wide most of the time).  That style is much better suited on the wing, although for whatever reason Fisher was never able to thrive that way.

-Binghamton plays Hershey in their first pre-season game tonight so I thought I’d look at the Bears and the changes to their roster since last season (this is their training camp roster).  Six of the team’s top-eight scoring forwards are elsewhere (Chris Bourque with Providence, Keith Aucoin with the Toronto Marlies, Jacob Micflikier with Biel in the NLA,  Kyle Greentree with Zagreb in Austrian league, Cody Eakin with Texas, and Christian Hanson with Providence).  Remaining with Hershey are former B-Sen Ryan Potulny along with Boyd Kane, top-blueliner Patrick McNeill and the goaltending tandem of Braden Holtby and Dany Sabourin.  Veterans signed include Jeff Taffe (from Houston), Jon DiSalvatore (also Houston), and Garrett Stafford (from Hamilton).  In terms of interesting or highly ranked prospects there’s Dmitry Orlov (who spent most of last season with Washington) and former 8th overall pick Zach Hamill.  No word on either lineup as yet.  Addition: here’s a Hershey blog that examines the players in training camp.

–Bob Howard wonders if Luke Richardson will be the best coach in Binghamton’s history, basing his speculation on Richardson’s past as an NHL player.  I don’t follow the logic–Scotty Bowman never played in the NHL and that didn’t hurt his coaching acumen, while there is a long laundry list of former players who have crashed and burned as head coaches.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 3, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

–Luke Richardson singled out David Dziurzynski as the most impressive skater at camp so far.

-Besides Dustin Gazley being added to Binghamton’s camp there are two other roster notes related to Elmira: forwards Chris Campanale (SPHL 22-4-7-11) and Rob Bellamy (ECHL 63-11-13-24) were added to training camp.

–Bobbykelly begins projecting Binghamton’s lineup with the forwards because hey, why write one article when you can write two or three?  Before I get to his lines here’s a quote:

Being productive in the AHL versus the NHL are often two different skill-sets. To be a winner in the former, your body needs to be conditioned to handle the wear-and-tear of a very physical league, for up to three games in three days. Air Canada doesn’t charter many flights–you’re riding the bus. A player who can work in a third-line role in the NHL, cycling well from the corners and scoring goals from dirty areas might excel in the AHL. Similarly, a smooth-skating top-line NHL star could be slightly worn down by the drudgery of the AHL schedule. The Corey Lockes and Mike Zigomanises (Zigomanii?) are often the league’s leaders and top playmakers.

Let’s be clear, players who are good in the NHL are good in the AHL.  A more accurate way of looking at the differences between the leagues is that the AHL has a lower level of talent so players can get away with things in that league that won’t work in the NHL.  With that aside, onto his lines:

Silfverberg-Hoffman-Petersson
Zibanejad-Da Costa-Stone
Prince-Cannone-Dziurzynski
Hamilton-Grant-Cowick

There’s some speculation included here that I want to address before I consider his lines: neither David Dziurzynski nor Hugh Jessiman are in danger of assignment to Elmira; Pageau will go back to the Q before being sent to Elmira; it’s unlikely that college FA signee Cole Schneider will spend much time in Elmira; Darren Kramer is also unlikely to go to the ECHL given the lack of heavyweights in Binghamton; Petersson‘s production was consistent throughout last year (he finished 15th in AHL rookie scoring); Brad Peltz doesn’t have a contract yet so there’s no guarantee he’ll be in Elmira; the attempted speculation about translating European and Collegiate success in North America can be more fully explored here (Europe) and here (college).

So what about the lines?  First we can throw Shane Prince out as he’ll be returned to junior–his performance at camp is irrelevant because the team has too many forwards to indulge testing him out in the AHL (it would also make an already small forward group even smaller).  Bobbykelly’s top-six is reasonable, although it’s not identical to mine.  Grant won’t play on the fourth line, but I agree that Cannone is a top-nine forward.  Hamilton and Cowick are in the mix for fourth-line roles.  All that being said his line speculation is reasonable.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

October 2, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

–Sean Leahy provides an overview of the Sens last season and projects for this one:

There’s enough promise up and down the Ottawa lineup to believe they can make a return trip to the postseason. If the offensive leaders in Alfredsson, Michalek and Spezza don’t take big steps back and the defense improves slightly, the Senators will find their way into the Eastern Conference’s top-8 again. Anderson will once again need to play at a consistent level, with Bishop (or Lehner) providing reliable spot duty. If the youngsters like Zibanejad, Silfverberg and/or Stone are able to help make an impact offensively, there won’t be any questions about whether or not this team will be playoff-bound.

It’s hard to disagree with any of this given how vague it is, but I think Leahy misses what I see as the key issue for Ottawa which will be the offensive transition from defense to offence–will having only Karlsson and Gonchar as puck-movers be enough?

–Mika Zibanejad talked about playing the wing in Binghamton:

I’ve played pretty much every position: Right wing and centre as well. I’m comfortable (with the change). I played left, right and centre at the world juniors. I played half-and-half back at home as well. I don’t mind the switching around. It’s good to be able to play different positions as well. If it’s going to give me a bigger chance to make the team, it’s good. For me, it doesn’t matter. I just want to go out there and play.

The organisation wants Zibanejad to play in the top-six and believe the wing is the only way for him to do so (which makes sense given the contracts of Spezza and Turris).

-In the same article Garrioch reports that Hugh Jessiman suffered a shoulder injury in the team’s scrimmage (Stephane Da Costa and Shane Prince [strained knee] also had issues); presumably one of these injuries was enough for Dustin Gazley to be called up from Elmira.

-Speaking of Jessiman, he talked about the opportunity with Ottawa:

They said we need size. We don’t have a lot of it. We think you can be a Dwight King kind of guy for us and if willing to take that chance, we’ll sign you. I’m not a heavyweight fighter, but I’m not afraid to stick up for my teammates and drop the gloves. Both here and (in Ottawa), I can do that. It might be a touch different role here than (in Ottawa). [When I turned pro] I was forced to not only use by body, but back when I came in here, five, six, maybe seven, years ago, there was a lot more fighting, it was a lot grittier. It was a different game. Hartford and New York wanted me to be a gritty, two-way power forward, but to do that, you have to be able to stick up for yourself and your teammates. So I had to learn how to fight. You learn the hard way. A lot of these young guys will go through this in the next year or two or three…or four, if it takes them as long as it did for me. It takes awhile for guys to bring the same game every night. It’s really hard to do. Not everybody can do it.

-The ECHL has announced training camp rosters and Elmira’s includes (players from college, junior, or pro leagues below the ECHL are highlighted in green):
Goaltenders
Bryan Kalczynski (NCAA III 2.54)
Nicholas Lareau (has not played since the BCHL in 06-07)
Nick Niedert (ECHL 2.07)
Joe Spagnoli (FHL 4.44)
Defense
Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel (ECHL 62-3-11-14)
Lucas Frey (FHL 38-7-16-23)
Artyom Gumenyuk (NCAA III 26-4-2-6)
Ivan Lyaskevich (GMHL 31-6-17-23)
Jeremy Norducci (NCAA III 23-1-10-11)
Andrew Rowe (AHL 34-8-3-11)
Jarrett Rush (ECHL 57-0-13-13)
Jordon Southorn (ECHL 50-8-13-21)
Forwards
Corey Bellamy (FHL 32-6-8-14)
Yegor Bezugly (ACHA II 6-3-6-9)
Brandon Blandina (NCAA 39-4-5-9)
Jean Bourbeau (ECHL 49-10-16-26)
Artem Demkov (ECHL 67-20-37-57)
Dustin Gazley (ECHL 72-25-60-85) – called up to join Binghamton’s camp
Matthew Harrington (FHL 43-11-30-41)
Kevin Harvey (ECHL 34-3-8-11)
Chaz Johnson (ECHL 64-20-15-35)
Alec Kirschner (ECHL 30-0-2-2)
Kevin McCarey (NCAA 37-4-8-12)
Tim D’Orazio (NCAA III 21-8-6-14)
Jordan Pietrus (ECHL 65-13-27-40)
Charles Vaillancourt (NCAA III 10-0-0-0)
Jon Vaillancourt (NCAA III 22-1-2-3)
Kyle Watson (SPHL 53-6-16-22)

Some of the league acronyms may not be familiar, so: SPHL = Southern Professional Hockey League (a feeder for the ECHL), FHL = Federal Hockey League (feeder league for the ECHL), ACHA II = college three-tiers below the NCAA, GMHL = Greater Metro Hockey League (independent junior league).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

September 30, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: 2 Comments