Sometimes it feels like training camp and the preseason are never going to end, but here we are. After dispatching the Vancouver Canucks in a 6-2 victory last night, the Ottawa Senators have only one pre-season game remaining. That final game, scheduled for Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens, should tell us what we need to know about the roster heading into the regular campaign:
Smith says the final game of the preseason will be the team.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) September 25, 2019
The Senators are still carrying a relatively heavy roster, with more cuts to come; there are currently six forward lines, four defence pairings, and three goaltenders. Simple math tells us that all those players won’t be around come opening night on October 2.
With all that in mind, here are some of the storylines I’m keeping an eye on in this final week of the preseason: 1. What happens with Erik Brannstrom? Anyone who has watched the Senators in the preseason has been at least somewhat impressed with Brannstrom; that point is not up for debate. He’s likely a better option than Ron Hainsey or Nikita Zaitsev at the point.
The question, though, is: Will the Senators keep him on the main roster, even if it’s likely to be a rough season? We saw this debate play out very similarly in Edmonton, where the Oiler recently sent Evan Bouchard, arguably their *best* defensive option, down to Bakersfield. They felt that it was more beneficial for him to play top-pairing minutes in a development league than low-to-mid pairing minutes on a bad NHL team. There has already been some suggestion that the Senators will follow a similar path with Brannstrom:
Remaining defencemen in camp:
— Brent Wallace (@tsn_wally) September 22, 2019
Chabot Zaitsev
Brannstrom Hainsey
Borowiecki Jaros
Goloubef Demelo
Wolanin (inj)
I suspect unless Brannstrom steps up this week he will start the season in Belleville. You don’t want a young player as the 7th D. Better to go down and play +mins
2. Is Nikita Zaitsev really going to take Dylan Demelo’s spot next to Thomas Chabot? Playing alongside Thomas Chabot, who recently signed an eight-year extension with the team, is a pretty sweet gig. Chabot is one of the brightest young stars in the game today, and has a proven ability to drive play and create offence. As discussed previously on this blog, the coaching staff seems fairly set on pairing Chabot with someone who, despite having that mystical ‘veteran presence’, is going to do nothing but sink the on-ice results.
Despite playing nearly 800 minutes together at 5v5 last season, per Natural Stat Trick, Demelo and Chabot have barely seen the ice at the same time this preseason. It’s disappointing, because together they formed a pairing that held its head significantly above the water level set by the rest of the team. They had an xGF% north of 50% on a team that was undoubtedly one of the league’s worst. Why fix what clearly wasn’t broken?
Instead, we’re left to see Chabot play with Zaitsev. The results, quite simply, have been abysmal. I’m not going to cite numbers given the small sample size, but rest assured that they are bad.
I don’t get it.
3. Does Drake Batherson earn a spot based on last year’s performance? Batherson is in a bit of an awkward spot. His play to end last season with the Senators, when he tallied 9 points in 20 games, suggested good things to come. Unfortunately, he’s been largely invisible in the 2019-20 preseason. Being waiver-exempt means that sending him down to Belleville would be an easy thing to do, especially seeing as the Sens still need to make a number of cuts. Still, the tools he possesses are more than intriguing. It’s easy to see him lining up next to some of the team’s other young players, providing them with a bit of size on the wing.
The decision will likely come down to how much weight the team puts on last year’s audition, which is interesting because the coaching staff is new. The GM is intimately familiar with what the player has the potential to do, but the coaching staff has only seen this underwhelming meaningless stretch.
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With respect to the final few cuts, which players are you looking at for the next few days? Let me know in the comments!
As always, thanks for reading.
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**UPDATE**
The Senators announced that goalie Marcus Hogberg and forwards Parker Kelly, Nick Paul and Jordan Szwarz have been assigned to Belleville in the AHL.
News Release: #Sens reduce training camp roster by four players: https://t.co/CtqHyDWR0A
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) September 26, 2019
Communiqué : Les #Sens retranchent quatre joueurs de leur alignement du camp d’entraînement : https://t.co/0jBOp17csx
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Michael Stuart was the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz from 2012 to 2015, and has been the Ottawa Senators writer since September 2019. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.