The Ottawa Senators have announced this year’s complete training camp roster, which will be held at Canadian Tire Centre and Bell Sensplex. The camp is made up of five goaltenders, twenty defencemen and thirty-one forwards. Fitness testing is set for Wednesday, and the on-ice stuff will fire up on Thursday.
Simply put, there are only a couple of jobs up for grabs. 11 of the 12 opening night forward spots are taken, five of the six defence positions are set, and the goalies will be Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg.
Here’s the full camp roster. The players we believe are “sure things” are in bold. The players who will get a long look at camp are indicated with an asterisk. After the long scroll, we’ll share our prediction on which two players will grab those last roster availabilities.
Goaltenders (5)
1. Linus Ullmark (Boston – NHL)
2. Anton Forsberg (Ottawa – NHL)
Mads Sogaard (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
Leevi Merilainen (Allen – ECHL, Belleville – AHL)
Michael Simpson (London – OHL)
Defencemen (20)
*Calen Addison (Minnesota – NHL, San Jose – NHL)
Matthew Andonovski (Kitchener – OHL)
*Jacob Bernard-Docker (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
1. Thomas Chabot (Ottawa – NHL)
Jeremy Davies (Rochester – AHL)
Jorian Donovan (Brantford – OHL, Saginaw – OHL)
Gabriel Eliasson (HV 71 – Swe. Jr.)
*Maxence Guenette (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
Tomas Hamara (Kitchener – OHL, Brantford – OHL, Belleville – AHL)
*Travis Hamonic (Ottawa – NHL)
2. Nick Jensen (Washington – NHL)
3. Tyler Kleven (Belleville- AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
*Nikolas Matinpalo (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
Filip Nordberg (Växjö J20 – Swe-Jr., Muskegon – USHL)
*Filip Roos (Rockford – AHL, Chicago – NHL)
4. Jake Sanderson (Ottawa – NHL)
Donovan Sebrango (Allen – ECHL, Belleville – AHL)
Djibril Toure (Sudbury – OHL, Windsor – OHL)
Carter Yakemchuk (Calgary – WHL)
5. Artem Zub (Ottawa – NHL).
Forwards (31)
1. Michael Amadio (Vegas – NHL)
2. Drake Batherson (Ottawa – NHL)
Wyatt Bongiovanni (Manitoba – AHL, Belleville – AHL)
Tyler Boucher (Belleville- AHL)
Xavier Bourgault (Bakersfield – AHL)
Jake Chiasson (Fort Wayne – ECHL, Bakersfield – AHL)
3. Nick Cousins (Florida – NHL)
*Angus Crookshank (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
Philippe Daoust (Allen – ECHL, Belleville – AHL)
Lucas Ellinas (Kitchener – OHL)
*Adam Gaudette (Springfield – AHL, St. Louis – NHL)
4. Claude Giroux (Ottawa – NHL)
5. Noah Gregor (Toronto – NHL)
6. Ridly Greig (Ottawa – NHL)
*Stephen Halliday (Ohio State – Big-10, Belleville – AHL)
Matthew Highmore (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
Hayden Hodgson (Ontario – AHL)
*Jan Jenik (Tucson – AHL, Arizona – NHL)
*Nikolay Kulemin (Salavat Yulaev – KHL)
*Zack MacEwen (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
7. Josh Norris (Ottawa – NHL)
*Zack Ostapchuk (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL)
8. David Perron (Detroit – NHL)
Oskar Petersson (Rögle BK – Swe. Jr, Rögle BK – SHL, Belleville – AHL)
Garrett Pilon (Belleville – AHL)
9. Shane Pinto (Ottawa – NHL)
Jamieson Rees (Springfield – AHL, Charlotte – AHL, Belleville – AHL)
Cole Reinhardt (Belleville – AHL)
10. Tim Stützle (Ottawa – NHL)
11. Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa – NHL)
Keean Washkurak (Springfield – AHL)
We may get some pushback for listing Tyler Kleven as a sure thing. But GM Steve Staios is already on record as saying Kleven could have been in Ottawa last year. He has the size and physical play the club now covets under Staios. And to be honest, there are no other left-shot defencemen in his class who might derail the TK-O-Train.
The other spot will go to one of Travis Hamonic, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Max Guenette, or Calen Addison. We favour the veteran Hamonic, who’s feeling healthy again after two knee procedures. He’s a former teammate of Staios and played under Travis Green in Vancouver. He’ll get the first look and JBD will probably be the seventh D to start.
At forward, it’s a big group battling for one spot, and we’re rolling with Zack Ostapchuk. His offence is just as good as anyone else’s on the “maybe” list, but he can also fill the physical (and fighting) role left by Mark Kastelic.
There it is. The opening night roster is set. Go ahead and cancel training camp.
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