Nick Paul’s road to the National Hockey League has been filled with ups and downs.
Acquired in the trade that sent Jason Spezza to the Dallas Stars, Paul was seen as a key part of that deal at the time.
Drafted in the 4th round of the 2013 draft, Paul was billed as a power forward with good hands and strong offensive instincts. He scored 37 goals in his final season with the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League and turned heads with a strong performance at the 2015 World Junior Tournament.
Everything seemed to be trending in the right direction.
He then appeared in 24 games with the Senators during the 2015/2016 NHL season, racking up 2 goals and 5 points, while regularly playing more than 10 minutes a night. It seemed like he had solidified his spot as one of the organization’s rising prospects.
But things turned south for the 6’4, 230 lb forward last year.
The organization was extremely critical of Paul last year, questioning his commitment on a couple of occasions and making it clear that he needed to work a lot harder if he expected to be an everyday NHL player let alone a call-up at some point during the season. Paul appeared in just one game last year and it came on the final day of the regular season.
A pretty clear message was sent to Paul that if he wanted another call-up, he needed to be better. And when guys like Max McCormick, Alex Formenton, Logan Brown, Chris DiDomenico and Jack Rodewald all got call-ups before Paul this year, it was clear that he was at risk of being permanently passed by some other guys on the depth chart.
Pierre Dorion met with the media in Sweden earlier today and mentioned that Nick Paul will likely get into one of the two games against the Avalanche this weekend, presumably in the spot currently occupied by Jack Rodewald.
While Dorion didn’t say it specifically, you sort of get the sense that this might be Paul’s last chance to make an impression on the Senators organization. Dorion mentioned that he has been one of Belleville’s best forwards over the last few games.
Now he’ll get a chance to prove he can do it at the NHL level.
The Senators have a full day off today and will return to the practice ice tomorrow. And one day, in the not too distant future, we may be able to watch an Ottawa Senators hockey game again.
-Dorion gave updates on a couple of the injured guys, mentioning that Bobby Ryan could be ready to return shortly after the team gets back from Sweden. Their next game is on November 16th which would be five days ahead of the original one month timeline. Ryan is skating in Belleville and is expected to start shooting the puck in the next couple days. In more concerning news, Dorion reiterated that Mark Borowiecki is dealing with personal health issues and will be away from the team for “a little while”. The organization may provide more detail when they return from the trip.
-The Senators made a huge splash on the trade front over the weekend but according to the latest edition of Insider Trading, they may not be finished just yet. The Senators would still like to add another forward if they can although it’s not seen as an urgent issue. Dreger mentioned that the team wants to see what they have in Nick Paul first and then will make a decision after that.
-Details continue to emerge for the festivities surrounding the upcoming NHL Centennial Classic. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the team is hoping to host an Alumni Game at the new outdoor rink on Parliament Hill, which will feature Team Alfie taking on Team Phillips. This will be a free event although tickets will still be pretty hard to come by as the current set up only allows for about 1,000 fans. So that means there’s 998 tickets remaining because I am not missing that event.
