FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
– In the first three games of the preseason, it was sort of difficult to separate the good performances from the bad. Things had gone so well for the Ottawa Senators early on that everyone looked good. It was the complete opposite last night. The Sens just didn’t have it from the moment the puck was dropped and the Devils made them pay for the full sixty minutes. It’s hard to imagine a team playing a worse 20 minutes than the one the Sens played in the first period last night. Sorry about that, PEI.
– In the next few days, we’re going to find out if there were any actual battles for roster spots happening during this year’s Camp or if all decisions are really made by contract status and individual player development. There is just no way the Coaching staff can watch these four preseason games and think Thomas Chabot isn’t one of the best six or seven defenceman on the roster. Especially when you consider the fact that Ben Harpur really hasn’t done anything to stand out and Mark Borowiecki has got off to a dreadful start. Chabot has been primarily playing the right side to this point and he’s certainly outplayed Chris Wideman. And at centre, Logan Brown has clearly been one of their best options and has probably earned an NHL audition before going back to Junior. We’ll see.
-One of the areas the Senators need to address this year if they’re going to have a better regular season is their nightmare of a power play. Boucher has talked about having more time to work on special teams this year which will certainly help but so too will having the right personnel. While his ability to defend one on one may be a bit of a work in progress, there is no doubt that Thomas Chabot can immediately help the team’s power play, if given the opportunity. That’s where the Senators are going to have to make a difficult decision about what’s best for Chabot as a player. Is playing third pairing sheltered minutes plus power play time good for him at this stage of his career? Or should he be playing top pairing minutes in the American Hockey League? Tough call.
-Listening to Guy Boucher after the game, it sounds like this could be the end of the line for a few of the bubble guys. Tyler Randell has had a good showing in the preseason and will be a useful player in Belleville but there’s no room for him on the roster right now. Alex Formenton is probably the biggest surprise of this year’s Camp but he’ll be heading back to Junior shortly. That will leave Logan Brown, Filip Chlapik, Max McCormick and Chris VandeVelde as the remaining bubble guys up front.
-Speaking of Chris VandeVelde, if this truly is a try-out, there’s no way the organization has seen enough from him to offer a contract. At least not an NHL one anyway. Certainly makes sense that they wanted to have another guy with NHL experience in Camp and throughout the preseason but he hasn’t really done enough to stand-out in any particular area of the game. Boucher talked about him as a penalty kill specialist the other day but the team has other options there.
Boucher’s Post-Game Comments
Player Interviews
Boxscore
Advanced Stats
Schedule
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