(UPDATE 12:07 PM)- Oops. The Senators tried to sneak Rudolfs Balcers through waivers and they got caught. By the team that they acquired him from in the first place, the San Jose Sharks. All other players cleared. And no claims by the Senators.
With their final scrimmage in the books, decision day has arrived for the Ottawa Senators.
Teams across the National Hockey League have until 5:00 PM today to submit their final rosters. And with so many players on the waiver wire, including the likes of Rudolfs Balcers and Filip Chlapik, the pieces will start to fall in place shortly after 12:00 PM.
At the same time, there is some speculation out there that the Senators may be active on the waiver wire.
On the surface, it’s tough to see where they have a particular need at this point. Unless they feel like one of the defenceman available could step right into the NHL line up. We shall see.
Either way, Pierre Dorion and DJ Smith will have to make some tough calls before settling on a final roster. According to the Head Coach, there were some guys previously thought to be off the roster that played their way on last night while other guys may have played their way out of the mix.
Christian Wolanin and Filip Chlapik were among the players that stood out last night. Both guys started the night with the “B” group. Erik Brannstrom is another one of those guys right on the bubble but he missed last night’s scrimmage with a minor injury.
Here’s a best guess at where things stand into decision day.
Obviously some of the forwards not yet “in” the line up will be there when the dust settles but in some instances, it’s not clear exactly where they’ll play just yet.
FORWARDS
Stützle-Stepan-Dadonov
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Paul-Tierney-C.Brown
Paquette-Anisimov-Watson
White, Galchenyuk
Chlapik, Peca, Shaw, Beaudin, L. Brown, Formenton, Kelly, Sokolov, Abramov, Davidsson
DEFENCE
Chabot-Gudbranson
Reilly-Zaitsev
Wolanin-Brown
Coburn
Zub, Brannstrom, Jaros, Alsing, Thomson, Aspirot
GOALIES
Murray
Hogberg
Daccord, Mandolese
TAXI SQUAD
1. Haley
2. _____________
3. _____________
4. _____________
5. _____________
6. _____________
