For the first time in almost five months, the Ottawa Senators will actually play a hockey game on Friday.
The club’s future will be on display as top prospects participate in the annual Prospects Challenge, a six-team event to be held in Buffalo this weekend. it features the Senators, the Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Piittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blule Jackets, and the New Jersey Devils.
The Senator games are set for this Friday, Saturday, and next Monday, all in the afternoon.
Image Credit: BuffaloSabres.com
Ottawa’s roster includes Carter Yakemchuk, the Sens’ seventh overall selection in June and their top prospect at the moment. Others to watch include highly regarded prospects Gabriel Elliasson, Jorian Donovan, Matthew Andonovski, Tomas Hamara, and Djibril Toure.
Up front, Tyler Boucher remains the big name. At this point, the club just wants him to get some reps and games and see if he can stay in the lineup. If the former 10th overall pick (2021) ever does stay healthy, Boucher’s game translates perfectly to the Senators new identity of being harder to play against.
Stephen Halliday might push for a job at main camp and Oskar Pettersson may have a future here as well. Both will likely be key players in Belleville this season.
It will also be our first look at Jake Chiasson, Ridly Greig’s longtime junior teammate at Brandon. Chiasson came over with former first-rounder Xavier Bourgault in the Roby Jarventie deal with Edmonton this summer. Bourgault will not participate in this event.
In goal, Leevi Merilainen is the top prospect. Although, back-to-back OHL Championships and a playoff MVP last year makes ATO Michael Simpson more than worth a look.
Here’s the full Senator roster:
The club also has some intriguing NCAA prospects away at school like defencman Theo Wallberg (Ohio State), Javon Moore (Minnesota), and Blake Montgomery (Wisconsin).
This year’s tournament will again be held at the LECOM Center, and at least some of the games are usually streamed live online (details TBA). It will be the third time the Senators participate in the Challenge and it’s the first appearance at the event for the Columbus Blue Jackets who, as an organization, get back to work with heavy hearts.
Last year, the Senators faced off against the New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Montreal Canadiens.
Some notes about the Senators’ opponents:
The Devils’ roster features top defence prospect Seamus Casey out of the University of Michigan.
The Penguins are expected to have Casey’s former teammate, the newly acquired forward Rutger McGroarty, along with former first rounders Brayden Yager and Owen Pickering. The Pens also have forwards Vasily Ponomarev and Villie Koivunen who were both acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Jake Guentzel trade. Full Penguins roster here.
The Blue Jackets have already ruled out 2024 first-rounder Cayden Lindstrom due to that lingering back injury.
The Senators won’t play the Sabres or the Bruins in the event.
Following the challenge, a good number of the Sens prospects will head for main training camp. Only 11 days now until the preseason schedule begins:
Sunday, Sept. 22: Ottawa at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 24: Toronto at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 26: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 29: Ottawa vs Pittsburgh at Sudbury, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 1: Ottawa at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 4: Ottawa at Detroit, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 5: Montreal at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
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