Two very disappointing Canadian clubs square off in a relatively meaningless game tonight at Canadian Tire Centre.
I know, a great promo for the game, right?
Ottawa signed defenseman Christian Wolanin, their 2015 fourth round pick, who recently completed his junior season with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and has decided to turn pro.
There were rumours as late as last week that Wolanin might forego signing with the Senators and go to free agency, but the Senators were able to sign him to a two year entry level deal. He will be with the Senators for the remainder of the season, and could make his debut as early as tonight since the club re-assigned Pat Sieloff to Belleville yesterday. That move means either Wolanin, who led the Fighting Hawks with 35 points in 40 NCAA games this season, will play or Erik Karlsson will return from his bereavement leave, which is unlikely at this point in time.
Jim O'Brien was also sent to Belleville, and Ryan Dzingel was back on his line with Matt Duchene and Mike Hoffman at practice yesterday, meaning he will likely return to the lineup after missing just one game following the scary shot to the back of the helmet he took in Columbus.
From the Edmonton standpoint Connor McDavid still has a chance, with a strong 9 game stretch to finish the season, to get to the top of the scoring race and a second consecutive 100 point season. He reached the 90 point plateau with an assist in Edmonton's 7-3 win over the Hurricanes on Tuesday. He trails Nikita Kucherov by 4 points in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, and his doing so would fire up the already contentious Hart Trophy debate of Most Valuable Player to his team as opposed to the Most Outstanding player in the league, and whether a player from a non-playoff team should be in consideration to win the Hart Trophy.
Both of these clubs can't wait to turn the page on this disastrous season but the games still have to be played and player pride dictates that they want to win, regardless of position in the standings.
Ottawa certainly wants to put forth a better effort than they did on Tuesday against the Panthers, where they weren't in the game from the start and they finished on the wrong end of a 7-2 final score.
After allowing four goals on 17 shots before being pulled before the game was half over on Tuesday, and his replacement not being any better, Craig Anderson will get the start again as opposed to Mike Condon, whose turn it would be in the normal rotation that they have been using because of the number of back to backs they have had of late.