One of the first signs of a new season- the Annual team golf tournament.
The yearly charity function is always the first time the whole team, or at least most of it, gets together in-person and at the same time, it’s the first opportunity for the players and staff to speak to the media ahead of the new year.
It’s that special time of year when every player on the roster is in the best shape of their lives and when Coaches and Management provide some ‘”hints” a what we can expect from next year’s team.
A lot can change during training camp and the preseason obviously but a couple interesting notes jumped out from the various media availabilities of General Manager Pierre Dorion and new Head Coach Guy Boucher.
-Dorion is definitely still looking for a couple extra veterans ahead of camp. Both a forward and a defenceman are on his radar but it sounds like most of the names discussed will have multiple PTO offers. Going to be interesting to see if Dorion can sell any of them on the opportunity to crack the roster here in Ottawa.
-Boucher talked a lot about the role of Dion Phaneuf, mentioning that he even went to visit him at his place East during the off season. There was a question about whether or not Phaneuf would wear a letter next year and while he didn’t confirm one way or the other, it certainly sounds like he’ll be an important part of the leadership core next year.
-Dorion also mentioned that he sees 11 forwards that are pretty much sure things at this point. That would leave two openings on the roster or possibly three depending on how many guys they plan on carrying to start the season. Hoffman, Turris, Stone, MacArthur, Brassard, Ryan, Smith, Pageau, Kelly, Neil and presumably Curtis Lazar.
-On Curtis Lazar, he also spoke to the media and mentioned that he’s looking forward to having more of a role on the team this season. He bounced around the line up a little bit last year, playing all three forward positions and with all sorts of combinations. Considering the young players pushing for spots, seems like he should expect more of the same this year.
-Another interesting and not entirely surprising trend in all of Boucher’s media availabilities is Tom Pyatt coming up in his list of ‘key off season additions’. While fans usually list the younger guys as bubble players, Pyatt is clearly on the radar of the Coaching staff.
-There was a question about Karlsson’s absence early in camp and what it might mean for some other guys on the team. Boucher specifically mentioned Chris Wideman by name as someone who could get a serious look on the power play with EK out.
-Really going to be interesting to see what happens with Matt Puempel. He needs to clear waivers to be sent down but Dorion made it clear that his contract status doesn’t equal a spot on the roster. Biggest camp of Matt Puempel’s career coming up.
-Derick Brassard met briefly with the media too and hinted that in his conversations with Boucher, he was told he’ll start on a line with Clarke MacArthur and Bobby Ryan. No big surprise there but it’s out first look at some actual line combinations.
We’ll have actual line up decisions to discuss in a couple weeks! Rookie Tournament starts tomorrow in London.
