A long and dramatic summer in the Nation's Capital is beginning to wind down and fans are shifting their focus to the exciting season ahead.
In just three weeks, the Ottawa Senators play their first preseason game in Winnipeg against the Jets. Three weeks! In the meantime, let's do a quick recap of the week that was for the Sens with some news and notes from around the internet.
- Like other fans, I'll be keeping a close eye on the annual rookie tournament coming up next week. The camp officially opens on September 4th and there are plenty of players worth watching. While this is a good chance to get a look at some relatively unknown prospects, I'm interested to see how some of the household names perform. Roster hopefuls like Jean Gabriel Pageau and Mark Stone need to dominate at a tournament like this.
- Whatever is holding up a new contract for Jared Cowen seems to be a fairly common occurrence around the NHL. Pietrangelo in St. Louis, Kadri in Toronto, Boedker in Phoenix. As you would expect, team are pretty careful with these post-entry level contract signings. As I've said from the beginning I believe that while the two sides have discussed the long term option, this negotiation is likely to end with a short term deal. We shall see.
- Craig Anderson has some new equipment heading into this season and took to Twitter to give fans a first glimpse. How refreshing is it to head into a season with no concerns about the goaltending? I really think we are going to see an intense battle for the crease in Ottawa this season. It's Anderson's job to lose but Robin Lehner is ready to take that next step and will be pushing for ice time all year.
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Daniel Alfredsson has put his house in Ottawa up for sale and some are taking that as a sign that the Captain is officially cutting all ties with the city. Eric Macramalla from Team 1200 and TSN suggests otherwise. My take?- The only way Alfredsson returns to this organization is under different ownership.
