Take a look at the 2011-2012 Ottawa Senators depth chart. What you see today may hardly resemble the roster pieced together by head coach Paul MacLean a couple of years from now.

Ottawa's talented prospect pool has generated a ton of buzz around the National Hockey League, and rightfully so; there's high-end skill, there's quantity to match the quality, and by and large, no position has went blissfully ignored. Bryan Murray, who has rightfully received lashings during his run as the general manager of the Ottawa Senators, has done a fantastic job of rebuilding this team from top-to-bottom.

The goal of today's blog - or any blog highlighting 'the future' in Ottawa - isn't to pump tires endlessly. While I'd much rather talk about the current team, one that looks like they could remain relevant for all eighty-two games (plus?), the fact is this team is still being groomed on a game-to-game basis.

With so many prospects, Bryan Murray and Paul MacLean are in a position where they'll have a luxury of finding the best fit at each level. Some youngsters are going to be left in the dust. Some are going to be given real opportunity to succeed. Projecting what names will fall into which category is a near impossibility, but the only certainty appears to be that right now, everything is in flux.

Consider some of the younger names currently towing TOI with Ottawa right now. Bobby Butler one year ago appeared destined to play a role on this team in one way or another, but a lackluster follow-up year has his status in serious limbo with respect to the future. What is Butler's game, exactly? Right now, he looks like a finisher without finish.

Peter Regin - plenty of skill, plenty of durability issues. There's no positive way you can spin his trouble to stay healthy, and it's not some freakishly skewed correlation that's not cause for concern. His shoulder is legitimately battered, and the missed time and subsequent development has really hurt his stock.

Kyle Turris was brought in courtesy of a serious package (David Rundblad + a second-round selection), and the suits in Ottawa remain adamant that he's going to be given every opportunity to succeed. So far, he's played respectably and inside of the top-six, but to say he doesn't have competition here would be a blatant lie. I'll touch on this later.

Kaspars Daugavins gives this team a nice burst of energy and has fit in on the bottom-six this year, but he's not an irreplaceable commodity.

Stephane Da Costa's brief run at the NHL was premature, and it was a smart move by the Ottawa front office to send him down to Binghamton to fine-tune his game. One problem: Centers are in high-supply right now, and SDC is more and more marginalized by the day. Another quality prospect, but one who might be victimized by a numbers game.

Put some serious emphasis on that final comment; that is, the numbers game. See, the struggles of the above-mentioned players wouldn't matter in the slightest if there weren't guys pushing for TOI behind them.

Erik Condra, Colin Greening, Zenon Konopka, Zack Smith, and Nick Foligno might fill out the NHL ranks, but are any of these names locks for a roster spot two years down the road? Even my man crush on Zack Smith wouldn't go as far as suggest that.

In Ottawa, these young players - whether fairly or unfairly - are constantly looking over their shoulder. Don't perform, don't play. Right now, there's room for error. But when camp opens up next year, guys are going to be forced into precarious spots.

Consider Bobby Butler. He's a winger on a team that's lost some pop on the outside, but Jakob Silfverberg could be the first man to marginalize his worth. Silfverberg has been a big-gun with Brynas in the SEL, scoring 24 PTS (12G/12A) in just 27 GP. He's recovering from an injury right now, but Silfverberg has come into his own as a major asset for Ottawa in the past couple of years.

Consider Peter Regin. Of all of the young players, he's really up a creek with no paddle. Kyle Turris makes Peter Regin a bit more expendable, especially since what Regin does as a playmaker is what Turris arguably does a bit better.

Consider Kyle Turris. Perhaps he is a better version of Peter Regin. But is he a better version of Mika Zibanejad? Both are centers vying for top-six time, but Zibanejad has a bit more skill and far more upside. Anyone catch Zibanejad against Latvia? A beautiful pair of goals, following up a two-goal effort in a nice - albeit exhibition - win against Team Canada.

See, Zibanejad is a blue-chip prospect. You don't throw that label around often because it's only applicable to a handful of names around the world. There's no weakness in his game, and the only thing that really held him back during his first nine-game tryout with the Ottawa Senators was his age. When he physically matures and adapts to the North American style of hockey, he's going to be terrifying.

All of this, and I still haven't even touched on Mark Stone, the 178th overall selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Amazing that such a player can be found so low, but kudos to the Ottawa scouting department for finding a diamond in the rough. Often ridiculed for his lackluster skating abilities, Stone's worked his tail off to develop as a player, and after his first performance with Team Canada at the WJC (a hat-trick against Finland), you'd be foolish to ignore his play.

The Team Canada coaching staff has praised Stone, even mentioning how vital his production is for this team going forward. Remember, this is Team Canada - the best of the best.

If Stone continues to progress as a skater, he could become quite the top-six winger. Considering Stone's almost innate ability to find loose pucks in dirty scoring areas and his willingness to play the physical game, I'd imagine Bryan Murray's grinning from ear-to-ear as this kid continues to develop.

Speaking of prospects: Remember that kid Robin Lehner? Yeah, this is probably the last year you won't see him at the NHL level. Craig Anderson's numbers aren't impressive, but his defense hasn't helped him in the slightest. Regardless, at the NHL level, you need a gamechanger, and that's the only adjective I'd slap on the hulking Swedish netminder. Anderson is a bridge from the ugly past to a hopefully bright future in Lehner, and I do commend him for sitting in a crease that's bombed like Europe during the Blitzkrieg. It's not an enviable position to be in, but Anderson's done well in stemming the tide.

All of this without touching on Matt Puempel, Stefan Noesen, Andre Petersson, Mark Borowiecki, Shane Prince, and a handful of others.

It's a beautiful problem to have in Ottawa, a franchise that's committed to building a sustainable, winning hockey program in the long-run. But, big moments await the players, just as bigger decisions await the suits in this city.

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