(note: This one goes in a lot of different directions (and in drafts it went in a lot more) and it was hard to present in a neat, concise way....please bear with me!)

At the moment, as the Senators sit in a bye week and the midway point of the season fast approaches, the biggest elephant in the room on a team with a bunch of question marks just might be, What is up with Curtis Lazar?

Lazar, the Senators 2013 first round pick (17th overall) came to the club advertised a quality person, a potential complete player, and most likely a future captain of the franchise.

Now midway through his third professional season, there are more questions than answers about him, his potential, the way the club has treated his development as well as what the future holds.

The biggest problem is, there aren't many options left. A huge window closed on December 17th when Lazar played his 11th game of the season, putting him over the games played experience level that would have kept him exempt from waivers. Now, in order to send him to Binghamton he will either have to agree to a conditioning stint or pass through waivers. As much as he has struggled, I wouldn't think for a second that he would be passed over by 29 other teams if the Senators tried to send him down. A conditioning stint isn't likely either, because it is not like he is not playing games. He is just not playing them well.

I won't go too in depth with the whole history, as most of you know it as well as I do. WHL all-star, 2 time 40 goal scorer and Memorial Cup winning captain. Made the team as a 19 year old because there was no AHL option and nothing really left to prove in junior. Loaned to captain Team Canada in the World Juniors, helping to bring home a gold medal on home soil. Modest numbers in rookie season with 6 goals an nine assists.

Year two is where the controversy begins, because at that point the option to develop in the AHL opened up. The Senators made the decision to keep him with the NHL club, on e that many, including myself, was against. I felt at the time, and still do, that the place for him was to play key minutes in the AHL, and develop his game properly and not to rush him. It was a step back, although his point production was slightly higher (6 goals - 14 assists - 20 points) and his penalty killing acumen was on display, his offensive instincts were really called into question and serious doubts about whether or not he would ever be an NHL producer.

Which brings us to year three, which has been pretty much an unmitigated disaster for Lazar. Struck my mono in training camp, he was assigned (finally) to the AHL to start the season and get in shape. Rather than dominate at that level, he netted just three goals and one assist in 13 games, before a rash of injuries necessitated the call-up.

Now he has played 17 games in the NHL and he holds the distinction of being one of five forwards to have played at least 15 games and not have a point this season. He is obviously feeling it, has been defensive about it publicly.

Now, he is still just a 21 year old who has a long career ahead of him. The question is will he ever show the offense that I think many people expected from him, or will it be a guy who carves out a nice career as a third line grinder and leader type player that never turned the corner. He doesn't have to look too far to see an example of that, as Chris Kelly has made a pretty solid career out of that. But I don't think Kelly ever had the potential offensively that Lazar was supposed to have, and like a majority of players Kelly spent a couple of years in the minors before becoming an NHL regular.

And where will Lazar's career go? He will be a restricted free agent after this season and regardless of how the rest of it goes, he certainly isn't going to cash in this off-season. Is it worth the Senators protecting him in the expansion draft or would it be an insignificant loss, and almost to the Senators advantage should the Golden Knights pluck him?

I am not saying Lazar should be Jonathan Drouin or Sean Monahan, because he was a mid first round pick. But there is a reason the AHL is there, and why it is more the exception than the rule for players to spend a year or two in the minors, and that is because it is going to do far less harm than good in almost every player's development. Now, because they kept him here instead of returning him before he had played 11 games, their only real option is to sink or swim with him and wait to see if he can accelerate his development.

I don't think the Senators drafted him with the intention of having him play his career on the third line, but they have done a poor job of allowing him to develop into a top 6 forward. Sure, having no points in 17 games is frustrating, as much for him as anyone else, but how much production can you expect from him playing with Chris Neil and Casey Bailey or whatever other AHL depth player is the flavor of the week on the fourth line. It is not exactly putting him in a position to succeed now or develop offensive skills for the future. He may get there in spite of that, and he is still young enough to make strides. He might never get there, and maybe even if the club had done everything possible to put him in the position to succeed he might have topped out at quality third liner.

And finally, is there a lesson to be learned as the Senators deal with a very similar type player in Colin White (21st overall pick in 2015). He came in two years later, with a very similar scouting report to Lazar in terms of player and character. Has the Lazar experience taught the Senators anything in terms of how they handle White, where he will play and who he will play with? A lot of people seem to be anticipating that White is going to step right into the lineup as soon as his Boston College season is done later this season (assuming they can get his name on a contract). His play right now is enticing, but is he really at a level much higher than where Lazar was at around the same stage in his development?

I, for one, feel that the Senators made a number of big mistakes in how they developed one of what was at one time (and may still be) one of their best and most promising assets in Lazar. Regardless of what your expectations for him were, whether they have been tempered by his play the last two seasons, he hasn't met them so far this season, and that blame can be spread around to a lot of places, past and present.

When White does finally leave college, the Senators can't afford to make the same mistakes twice. As enticing as it is to showcase assets at the NHL level, and as much as the team suggested that the decisions they were making were in the best interest of the player, I can't see how that was the case, either at the time or in hindsight.

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