“There are not many openings in this camp with so many young players making up the returning core, but the Senators have a decision or two to make early and possibly another at the end.”
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The battles on the training ground are about to heat up for the Ottawa Senators.
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Following a 3-2 overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets Sunday night on the road, the Senators will begin a three-game exhibition streak over four nights Wednesday at the Canadian Tire Center that will go a long way toward determining what prospects will be packing their bags on the weekend.
After hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday and then facing the Montreal Canadiens in a home and home series that begins here Friday and will be completed Saturday night at the Bell Center, the Senators will assign players to their affiliate. from AHL in Belleville on Sunday. with their camp scheduled to begin Monday at CAA Arena.
No, there aren’t many openings in this camp with so many young players making up the returning core, but the Senators have a decision or two to make up front and possibly another at the end before facing the Leafs. in the first game of the season on October 14 at home.
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That means general manager Pierre Dorion, coach Dj smith and the rest of the hockey operations want to see the level of competition increase in this stretch of games with jobs at stake. The likes of Josh norris and Drake Batherson will not get well in this, along with the defenders Thomas chabot and Artem zub.
Smith and his staff are taking this approach because they want to see what they have. The hope is that Brady tkachuk He will sign in time to start the regular season, but there is no guarantee that he will, so there may be an opening that was not expected from the start.
“We’re still going to look at the guys a lot here,” Smith said Tuesday. “Those last three (exhibition) games we will be very close to what our team is. Yes, we will put some guys in and out, but for the next three games at least we’re going to have a pretty big group. “
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No extreme Tyler ennis He has no contract, but the expectation is that the 31-year-old winger will be signed, so some of the players in the bubble are trying to show they have what it takes to get called up by Belleville.
Defenders Lassi thomson and Jonathan Aspirot they’re in that mix to take on the Leafs.
“With the exhibition schedule, (the decisions) always work out (on their own), whether it’s a young man with too many practices or games in a row, starting to show mental fatigue,” Smith said. “Usually they end up solving themselves and there are some guys at the top, but we’ll see how it goes.”
SITTING THIS OUT
Ridly greig He committed the crime and now he has to serve the time.
While the Senators’ rookie winger arguably was impressive in his preseason debut with a beauty goal in the club’s win over the Jets, he was shown the door midway through the second period after picking up the stick and do a cross check. Pierre-Luc Dubois in the face.
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Greig, 19, who has been suspended three times in the WHL for club offenses with the Brandon Wheat Kings, was given an introduction to George Parros and the NHL player safety department on Monday with a hearing. He was suspended for an exhibition game and will also serve a regular season game when he begins his career.
Senators weren’t the least bit upset with Greig, the 28th overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft, because they like to watch him compete. He’s pushing to try to start the season here because he has to be sent back to Brandon, but the reality is that he has a chance to play a big role in junior.
“It’s unfortunate. He’s a young kid in his first game and I think it’s a bit of a reactionary situation,” Smith said. “But, the league is cutting that and you have to respect that they are getting rid of cross-checks and plays like that. so they are doing what they have to do. “
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Smith added that the NHL could be sending a message to a “young man who we think will be in the league for a long time. It will be a good learning lesson for him. “
THE LAST WORDS
We all saw Shane pinto put his best foot forward for the No. 2 center spot in Winnipeg and now a veteran Chris Tierney will have their turn. Will skate with extremes Tim stuetzle and Connor brown against the leaves. Tierney was a healthy scratch in the final game last season, but he came into camp in good shape and is ready to compete. “He did his part, so we want to put him in more offensive situations,” Smith said. “He had 48 points a few years ago, we are going to move them and see where the guys fit in better. We think we have a lot of penalty shootout killers and we think Chris is a guy who can be a little more offensive for us this year. ” … Filip Gustavsson He will make the start against the Leafs after stopping 14 shots in 30 minutes against the Jets. The expectation is Mads sogaard will see some action too, but Smith and the goalkeeping coach Zac bierk they were still hatching a plan … With increased capacity limits in Ontario, senators may have a little over 9,300 people on the track for this one. The club will have a good line-up for these two home games.
Twitter: @sungarrioch
Reference-ottawasun.com