Two more sleeps!
That’s all that separates us from the start of the 2023/2024 regular season.
Actually, it’s just one more sleep if you care about teams other than the Ottawa Senators for some reason. And really, who am I to tell you how many times you can sleep in the next two days? Anyway, watch what you want and sleep all you want, because Sens hockey is back in like 57 hours.
As we get set for puck drop, let’s cobble together the latest edition of Monday News and Notes. High on notes, low on news but a very healthy dose of Monday.
-Final rosters are due to the league at 5:00 PM today and as you might expect, there’s still some tinkering to do for the Ottawa Senators. Yesterday, they assigned both Jiri Smejkal and Max Guenette to Belleville but they may not be there for long. These moves get the Senators just under the league salary cap but should Josh Norris ultimately land on the LTIR to start the season, they would then have some additional flexibility under the cap which they could then use to either bring those guys back up or uh, sign Shane Pinto?!
-The situation with Josh Norris continues to be mostly strange. He was on the ice for practice yesterday, in a regular jersey, but spent the practice skating on an extra defence pairing with Max Guenette. There is nothing about the current situation that makes a whole lotta sense but comments from both DJ Smith and Brady Tkachuk yesterday certainly didn’t make it sound like Norris was headed for the LTIR. DJ Smith used the term ‘day to day’ a couple times and certainly gave the impression that they are waiting for that full green light any day now. The Senators have a full day off today and are back on the ice for practice tomorrow at 10:30 AM.
-Early yesterday, they made a tough call and released Josh Bailey from his professional tryout agreement. Bailey became a fast target of Sens Twitter for some weird reason but he really did everything you would expect from a veteran trying to catch on with a new team. He produced at a pretty good clip (point a game!) and seemed to fit in quickly with the group. There were valid concerns when it came to his ability to keep up with the play at times but even though he’s lost a step (haven’t we all?), he found ways to contribute. Ultimately, the Senators are up against it from a salary cap perspective and just couldn’t find room.
-Speaking of unable to find room, it didn’t take long for the Anaheim Ducks to get there with Lassi Thomson. Days after claiming Thomson off waivers from the Senators, Anaheim has now also placed the young defenceman on the wire. This opens up an interesting scenario for the Senators where they can now reclaim Thomson from the Ducks and if their waiver wire is successful, they would then be able to assign Thomson to the American Hockey League. Managed the hell out of that asset!
-With the question marks around Josh Norris and the location of Shane Pinto mostly unknown, the Senators are going to have to make do with the guys that are here and healthy. And based on yesterday’s practice, that will mean Ridly Greig centring line two (with Joseph and Batherson) while Rourke Chartier skates on a line with Dominik Kubalik and Vladimir Tarasenko. Chartier is certainly the biggest surprise of this year’s Training Camp. Not sure anybody even had Chartier sniffing a call-up this year let alone centring the team’s third line on opening night.
