It has been days without a transaction.
After a stretch of what felt like a move a day, it appears as though Pierre Dorion, one of the league’s most active General Managers this off-season, has finally taken his foot off the gas.
Dare I say, outside of the one-year deal for Christian Jaros that still hasn’t been announced for some reason, the Ottawa Senators might be done.
It’s a terrifying possibility when you consider that we are a good two months away from the potential start of training camp. Closer to three months before the Sens actually play a game of hockey.
Pierre did a fine job of serving up content for the last month or so but it’s becoming clear that we may have to actually come up with some things to talk about around here.
It’s Monday and usually this would be a fine time for news and notes but with no sign of either of those things, we’ll have to try something else. And because there are no noteworthy events to discuss in the next couple days, this feels like a fine time to project the forward combinations for the upcoming season.
What choice do we have really?
Line 1- Tkachuk-White-C. Brown
Seeing Colin White listed on the top line is going to come as a shock for many. He’s coming off a disappointing year and there’s really no indication he can handle the responsibility. In fact, he’s probably best suited for third line duties to start. But it’s not like Ottawa has a ton of options at centre and they certainly don’t have any slam-dunk number one centres to fill the void. What you get in a Tkachuk-White-Brown trio is three guys that have played together quite a bit in the past so a good place to start if you’re trying to project line combinations.
Line 2- Stuetzle-Tierney-Dadonov
While the first trio has plenty of experience together, I’m not sure any of these three players have even met. Putting Tierney and Dadonov together to start makes some sense but who lines up on the left side of those two is a complete guessing game. Could be the recently signed Alex Galchenyuk or it could be the recent drafted Tim Stuetzle, assuming he’s in the NHL next season. That’s certainly not a sure-thing but I think if he does come over, he’ll start on the wing and I would assume they’d want to line him up with a couple of their more experienced forwards.
Line 3- Paul-L. Brown-Batherson
These three names will look pretty familiar to Belleville fans but it’s a combination we haven’t seen at the NHL level yet. The way I see it, the Senators are going to have only two or three roster spots available to prospects to start. I think Stuetzle gets one, assuming he comes to North America, but predicting the other two is a little more difficult. Despite the fact that Sens Management regularly ignores Logan Brown’s existence in their interviews (which seems super intentional, by the way), I am going to pencil him in on opening night. It’s not hard to picture a scenario where Josh Norris edges out Brown for that spot but I’m going with the slightly older/more experienced Brown. If Logan Brown is going to be a thing in Ottawa, he has to kick the door down at this year’s Camp. Weird to call it a last chance with a 22-year old but it does feel that way. I think Drake Batherson is pretty close to a lock but with so many guys on the bubble, he has to have better Camp/Preseason than he did last year.
Line 4- Galchenyuk-Anisimov-Watson
And then there’s these three. I actually think Nick Paul starts on this line and Galchenyuk plays further up in the line up but when I wrote Galchenyuk-L. Brown-Batherson as a trio, it just seemed a little too defensively unpredictable for a DJ Smith line up. So I switched ’em for now. Three months ahead of the season and I’m already line juggling. I do hope that the Senators are at least open to the idea of both Artem Anisimov and Austin Watson potentially losing their spots to more deserving guys in Camp but I’m skeptical.
Extras- Balcers, Chlapik
Both Rudolfs Balcers and Filip Chlapik will need to clear waivers if they’re going to be sent down so as far as bubble guys go, I think they have the best shot at sticking around. At least to start. I also think it’s entirely likely that the NHL starts with expanded rosters in some capacity so it may mean more roster openings than we realize. One of these two guys slides into the opening night line up if Stuetzle doesn’t make it over to North America.
Starting in Belleville- Norris, Formenton, Abramov
If I’m being perfectly honest, it’s not that difficult to imagine a scenario where all three of these guys are in the line up on opening night. Josh Norris has already proven he can dominate at the AHL level, Alex Formenton forced his way onto the roster as an 18 year old and Vitaly Abramov has looked incredible in Finland over the last few weeks. There are going to be tough decisions to be made during Training Camp and for now, I’m assuming the guys with one more year of experience (Brown, Batherson) have the edge over Norris and Formenton while Abramov loses out to the two guys that need to clear waivers in Balcers and Chlapik.
Tell me why I’m wrong in the comment section below.
