- Connor Brown played more than 19 minutes last night, scoring a goal and an assist in the Ottawa Senators win over the Calgary Flames. He did it all with a broken jaw, apparently, as head coach D.J. Smith told TSN radio today that the forward was hit with a puck in the warm-up that caused the injury. He’ll is considered out week-to-week now as he recovers. Brown has five goals and 19 points in 26 games this season.
Senators Rumors
USA Hockey Notes: Sanderson, Beniers, Brisson
Ahead of USA Hockey’s roster unveiling tomorrow of the 25-man contingent that will head to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, a few names of players named to the team are leaking today. Per the Grand Forks Herald’s Brad Elliott Schlossman, one of those players is University of North Dakota defenseman (and Ottawa Senators prospect) Jake Sanderson. Sanderson, the fifth overall pick in 2020, has 22 points through 17 games as an assistant captain at UND. He’ll undoubtedly be a huge part of Team USA’s blueline in Beijing.
More Olympic notes for USA Hockey:
- Seattle Kraken prospect Matty Beniers will also be on the final roster, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler reports. The 6’1″, 174-lb center is enjoying a great sophomore season at the University of Michigan with 26 points in 22 games. He’ll also likely be one of the team’s big go-to players without NHL talent on the team.
- A second University of Michigan player will be going, per Wheeler — Vegas Golden Knights pick Brendan Brisson. The team’s 29th overall pick in 2020 has 27 points in 23 games there this year, and while he might not play as prominent a role as Beniers on the team, he’s a great two-way center who should be a great energy player for Team USA.
Senators Place Stutzle In Protocol, Send Daoust To QMJHL
The Ottawa Senators have announced a pair of very different transactions for two of their young players. Tim Stutzle has been placed in the COVID protocol, likely ruling him out for the team’s return to action on Thursday. Stutzle joins Anton Forsberg in the protocol and leaves just Brady Tkachuk and Artem Zub as the regular Senators that haven’t been in the protocol this season.
Still just 19, Stutzle has 15 points in 29 games this season and 44 in 82 career matches. That’s an impressive start for the 2020 third overall pick, but it still hasn’t resulted in much success for the team overall. Ottawa is just 9-18-2 on the season despite general manager Pierre Dorion suggesting in the offseason that the rebuild is over. The team hasn’t played since January 1 thanks to COVID concerns and attendance restrictions but will be back in action on Thursday against the Calgary Flames.
While Stutzle has an isolation period to look forward to, a future teammate is looking at a much more exciting prize. The Senators have loaned Philippe Daoust to the Saint John Seadogs of the QMJHL where he will chase a Memorial Cup after starting the year with the Belleville Senators. The 20-year-old forward has five points in 15 games with Belleville this season, but after the Sea Dogs acquired his rights a few days ago it was clear that he would be heading back to junior hockey to finish the year.
Daoust, selected 158th overall in 2020, was outstanding for the Moncton Wildcats in the shortened 2020-21 season, scoring 28 points in 21 games. The Sea Dogs acquired him as part of a ten-piece trade last week as they load up for a championship run. The 2022 Memorial Cup is set to be held in Saint John, meaning the host club will get an automatic entry.
Not yet signed to his entry-level contract, Daoust was playing for Belleville on an AHL deal and will still be in line for a three-year NHL deal whenever he does sign with Ottawa.
Ottawa Senators Sign Tyler Boucher
Jan 10: Boucher has been officially loaned to the 67’s, meaning he’ll be in junior for the rest of the season.
Dec 28: Tyler Boucher’s college career will last just 17 games, as the Ottawa Senators have signed the top prospect to an entry-level contract. Now ineligible to return to Boston University, Boucher is expected to be loaned to the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL, the CHL team that selected him in 2019. Senators general manager Pierre Dorion had this to say:
We’re pleased to have Tyler under contract. He’s a power forward who plays a heavy, physical game. He’s driven, is strong with the puck, has a big shot and goes hard to the net. His good hands in tight areas will be of particular benefit to him going forward. We expect him to be an important part of this team’s future.
Boucher, 18, was selected 10th overall in this year’s draft, picked just before Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger. A member of the U.S. National Team Development Program for the past several years, he played 17 games at Boston University this season and recorded just three points. Boucher had been invited to the U.S. Summer Showcase in June, but didn’t manage to earn a spot on this year’s World Junior team. He’ll be eligible again next year and should have a better chance after playing at the OHL level, where his offensive game should find more room to operate.
The son of longtime NHL goaltender Brian Boucher, he should have lots of support as he makes the switch to OHL hockey. Brian Boucher also played in the CHL, taking his talents to the WHL to play for the Tri-City Americans. His son will now try to make a similar transition before making the leap to the NHL down the road, and the Senators will be there to guide him the whole way.
Another one of the team’s high draft picks, Boucher was nevertheless selected a little higher than many expected. Ranked 25th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and 29th by TSN’s Bob McKenzie, most thought he’d come off the board right around the end of the first round. Instead, the Senators obviously saw a player that could support some of their other high-end talent with his physical brand of hockey, something that didn’t diminish even in a more limited role at BU. At the CHL level he should be able to use that power and strength to find some more space.
Anton Forsberg Removed From COVID Protocol
- The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they’ve removed goaltender Anton Forsberg from COVID protocol, paving the way for him to rejoin the roster. With Ottawa now off until Monday, that will give him a chance to get a practice or two in and potentially be ready to return against Edmonton. The Sens now have three goalies on the active roster so Matt Murray could potentially return to AHL Belleville to get some more game action in since he hardly played in his first stint with the team.
NHL Postpones Two More Ottawa Senators Games
Two more games for the Ottawa Senators have been officially postponed due to attendance restrictions in certain Canadian cities. The games will be rescheduled for later in the season, with the hope of full attendance being possible. The following will not be played:
- Saturday, Jan. 8
Ottawa @ Vancouver - Saturday, Jan. 15
Ottawa @ Winnipeg
That leaves the Senators playing the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames next week, games that were meant to be bookended by these matches in Vancouver and Winnipeg. Ottawa has had many of their games to this point rescheduled and currently sit with only 29 played, second to only the New York Islanders for the fewest in the league.
For the Canucks, this means that they will have no games between January 1 and January 11, which is now their next match and scheduled against the Florida Panthers. The Jets, meanwhile, played yesterday but won’t hit the ice again until January 13.
Nikita Zaitsev To Be Out Longer Than Expected
The Senators will be without defenseman Nikita Zaitsev longer than expected as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays (Twitter link) that the veteran hasn’t resumed skating and will likely be out through the end of the month. Originally, it was expected that he’d miss between three and five weeks due to his heel injury but that will now likely be pushed to six weeks or longer. The 30-year-old had gotten off to a quiet start to his season with just two points in 22 games while logging 18:32 per night, the lowest ATOI of his career.
Senators Notes: White, Forsberg, Kuzmenko
During general manager Pierre Dorion’s interview with TSN 1200 today, he gave a variety of updates related to the short- and long-term future of the team. One of those updates surrounded forward Colin White, who hasn’t played this season due to a shoulder injury suffered during the preseason. Dorion says that White still isn’t close to returning, and hopes for an early-March season debut as the best scenario. That jives with White’s original five-month timeline on the injury, but many hoped for an earlier return. The 24-year-old forward is under contract for three seasons following this one with a $4.75MM cap hit.
More from the Senators on this Thursday morning:
- While Chris Tierney and Thomas Chabot are exiting COVID protocol, the same can’t be said for goalie Anton Forsberg. Dorion says the netminder is still experiencing symptoms and may be quarantined for 10 days instead of five. For now, the crease will continue to be manned by Matt Murray and Filip Gustavsson.
- Dorion also says that the Senators are in on KHL forward Andrei Kuzmenko, a former teammate of Senators defenseman Artem Zub. Kuzmenko is second in KHL scoring with 19 goals and 52 points in 42 games. The 25-year-old Russian is in the final year of his KHL contract and will be one of the most hotly-contested European free agents this summer.
Ottawa Senators Remove Three From COVID Protocol
Jan 5: Ennis, Norris, and Paul have all cleared the protocol and can rejoin their teammates at practice. With the team now off until January 8, the Senators will hopefully be mostly out of the woods.
Jan 3: The Ottawa Senators have added three more players to the COVID protocol, as Thomas Chabot, Zach Sanford, and Chris Tierney are now unavailable. With the extra roster spots, they have recalled Michael Del Zotto from the AHL and added Scott Sabourin to the taxi squad.
The Senators now have nine players in the protocol, though Anton Forsberg is expected to clear tomorrow. Joshua Norris, Tyler Ennis, Dillon Heatherington, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and Nick Paul are all on the sidelines, along with assistant coach Bob Jones and three members of the support staff.
Nearly every member of the Senators roster has now spent time on the COVID list at one point or another this season. Ottawa is set to play next on January 6 against the Seattle Kraken, but will be seriously shorthanded.
Senators-Kraken Game Postponed
The NHL has postponed another match, this time between the Ottawa Senators and Seattle Kraken on January 6. The Senators placed several new players in the COVID protocol earlier today.
By postponing this game, the Senators are now off until January 8, at which point they should have several players back from the protocol. This is not the first time that Ottawa has dealt with postponements; quite the opposite, in fact, as the team has seen games rescheduled for both COVID outbreaks and attendance restrictions.
The Kraken are now off even longer, as they don’t have another game scheduled until a week from now. That means they will have played just three games between December 18 and January 10.
There have been more than 90 postponements so far through the first half of the season.