A quick look at the calendar shows that the NHL Entry Draft is still more than a month away.
39 days to be exact.
It feels like an eternity. While the playoffs have provided some occasional entertainment along the way, the reality of a long off-season is already starting to take its toll. The Senators played hockey deep into the month of May last year but this season they barely made it into April. And they probably haven’t played a meaningful game since January.
It’s been 37 days since we last watched Senators hockey. That’s right. The Draft is still further away than the amount of time that has passed since the season finale in Boston. Yikes.
One day at a time, folks. Let’s see if we can scrape together another edition of Monday news and notes.
-The Senators wrapped up their scouting meetings last week which means that at this point, they have a pretty good idea of what their list looks like heading into next month’s draft. In a couple weeks, they’ll be in Buffalo for the NHL Combine which will give them an opportunity to get a closer look at some prospects they like, including one on one interviews with certain players. After that, they are expected to invite a handful of guys back to Ottawa for individual meetings with the team. Information gathered at each of those steps could lead to some small adjustments in their prospect rankings but for the most part, the list they finalized on Friday is the one they’ll bring to the Draft in Dallas.
-Drake Batherson’s rise up the Sens prospect rankings has been one of the best stories of the year for the organization. He got off to an incredible start with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, forced his way onto the World Junior team and then went there and dominated, leading the tournament with 7 goals in 7 games. It carried over down the stretch too. Batherson was traded to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and was a driving force behind their playoff run, which came to an end last night at the hands of a stacked Acadie-Bathurst team. Batherson scored the only goal for his team in their Game 6 loss, finishing the post-season with an incredible 13 goals and 33 points in 23 post-season games. He’ll be a player to keep an eye on during next month’s rookie camp.
-The votes have been counted and if it were up to Sens fans, well 40% of them anyway, Brady Tkachuk will be the name the Senators call out at 4th overall. In a somewhat surprising poll, Tkachuk was the top choice, with Adam Boqvist coming in second with 24% of the vote. Oliver Wahlstrom (19%), Quinn Hughes (11%) and Evan Bouchard (6%) rounded out the top five. While Tkachuk was the top option, it’s interesting to note that 41% of respondents want to see the Senators take a defenceman. Maybe not that surprising as according to MyTopSportsbooks.com the 2018 draft is loaded with elite defenseman at the top. The poll shows just how difficult a decision this really is with all five of the guys able to make a pretty good case. Let’s just hope one of those first three teams goes off the board and we can take Filip Zadina.
–Team Canada’s roster at this year’s World Championships is filled with young stars. They have two ’98 birthdays in Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tyson Jost and then four guys born in ’97 including Connor McDavid, Anthony Beauvillier, Matt Barzal and Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot. To this point, Chabot has primarily been used in a third pairing role but he may get an opportunity to take on a little more responsibility during today’s round-robin game against Latvia. Chabot was anchoring the team’s top power play unit in practice yesterday alongside McDavid, O’Reilly, Jost and Brayden Schenn. Great chance for Chabot to show what he can do on the world stage and maybe earn a little more ice-time heading into the knockout portion of the tournament.
-Last week, the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce issued a news release on the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats which basically read like a polite reminder to the parties involved to get to work. That the Chamber of Commerce felt this was necessary at this stage in the process is at least a little bit concerning. In the news release, they mention that a Task Force of senior business leaders had met the week prior and not surprisingly, listed the LeBreton project at the top of their list of advocacy targets. It would be fascinating to listen in on the conversation about LeBreton and the current status of the project. All has been quiet on the LeBreton front since last month when Mayor Watson openly questioned Eugene Melnyk’s commitment to the project.
-Still radio silence when it comes to two of the team’s key restricted free agents. Both Mark Stone and Cody Ceci are in need of new contracts and while Dorion has had conversations with both of their agents, it really doesn’t seem like they are in any rush just yet. The Senators have done a great job of using their leverage with RFAs over the last few season and presumably that’s the game plan here too. While the arbitration route has to tempting with Cody Ceci, primarily because both his point totals and underlying metrics aren’t strong, it’s a much scarier proposition when it comes to Mark Stone. Dorion has mentioned on a couple of occassions that he expects to be in contact with both agents towards the end of the month. Mark Stone is represented by Newport Sports while Cody Ceci is represented by JP Barry. During the Town Hall sessions, Dorion indicated that conversations with Stone’s Camp are further along than those they have had with Cody Ceci.
