The Ottawa Senators were back on the practice ice this afternoon, ahead of tomorrow night's match up with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With just 24 games to go, each night is taking on increased significance for the Sens as they currently sit 7th in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa will play a crucial back to back this week that begins with tomorrow night in Tampa Bay and Wednesday against the Florida Panthers.
As the Sens hit the road, the players have been joined by some special guests as the team embarks on the annual Father/Son Road Trip. You would hope the team gets an added boost heading into important match ups this week.
Here is how the Sens lined up at today's practice.
Michalek-Spezza-Butler
Greening-Turris-Alfie
Daugavins-Smith-Condra
Foligno-O'Brien-Neil
Phillips-Gonchar
Kuba-Karlsson
Cowen-Lee
Craig Anderson will start tomorrow night in Tampa Bay.
While the Sens have a relatively light schedule on the ice, it is expected that the drama will pick up a little bit off the ice with Bryan Murray and his staff expected to open negotiations with RFA defenceman, Erik Karlsson in the next week or so.
On a surprising Sens team, Karlsson has been the most impressive of all. Karlsson leads all NHL defenceman with 50 points, 11 points clear of his closest rival. While his defensive game still has some room for improvement, he has been much better in that area this year. At just 21 years of age, Karlsson has learned how to use body position and a quick stick as a way to make up for a lack of size.
Depending on who you talk to, Erik Karlsson could actually be a Norris Trophy candidate this season.
The length of the contract is still up for debate at this point although I would expect long term is the most likely scenario. With uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement (CBA) this is going to be a delicate negotiation for both sides. Early speculation has the cap hit coming in somewhere between $5.0-$5.5 million a season. What do you think Karlsson ends up signing for?
- According to @habinsideout1, the Sens have a scout in attendance at tonight's Hurricanes/Canadiens game. The Senators are one of the team rumoured to be interested in Tuomo Ruutu should the Hurricanes decide to move him. Important to note that Murray has been pretty clear he will not overpay for this type of player. Hat tip to the folks at The 6th Sens for passing this long. In an interesting twist, Ruutu suffered an upper body injury in tonight's game.
- The TSN Panel talked about some of the teams and players that could be in play leading up to the deadline. Bob McKenzie suggests that Filip Kuba could be had and that players like Butler, Lee and Wiercioch could be used as trade bait. No real surprises there.
- Mentioned this the other day but here is the video tribute that was featured the other night when Mike Fisher made his return to Ottawa.
