Ottawa Senators Prospect Chabot Underwhelms at Camp
By Ian Smith
It’s a bumpy road to the NHL for a lot of highly touted prospects. The news coming out about Thomas Chabot’s performance at the Ottawa Senators’ development camp is disheartening.
Chabot was the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, and the most optimistic of expectations were that he would make the Senators’ lineup next fall for the start of the season.
The Ottawa Senators recently lost defenseman Patrick Wiercioch to free agency after not giving him a qualifying offer.
The team views Chabot as a left handed defenseman to eventually crack the 6 blue-liner group of the Senators.
With Erik Karlsson, Dion Phaneuf, Marc Methot, and Mark Borowiecki anchoring their defense, the Senators still have a few questions to answer.
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Cody Ceci is a restricted free agent, and the team has the ability to match any offer that comes his way from another team. Considering that he has improved every season he has been in the league, it’s likely that he’s going to return to the Senators.
The team was hoping that Chabot was going to be ready to take that 6th spot on the depth chart, but his underwhelming performance at the development camp puts that in question.
This places Chris Wideman in a better position to secure that spot in the lineup, and Chabot may need more time to develop his game.
Assistant general manager Randy Lee was left wanting more from Chabot, who was coming off a great season with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL. Chabot scored 45 points in 47 games for them.
“I thought Thomas should have been a bit more intense,” Lee stated. “I think Thomas should have dominated.”
He’s being billed as the Senators’ future star. Hefty praise like that comes with great expectations, and while Chabot’s lack of dominance is disappointing, it’s certainly nothing to panic about.
While this will probably set back his endeavor to claim a roster spot to begin next season, there are still opportunities to erase this lackluster performance.
The future remains extremely bright for Chabot. Every player faces adversity along their journey, both on and off the ice.
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Look for this to be a great learning experience for Chabot, who will try to elevate his performance this offseason in preparation for a roster spot with the Senators to open the regular season.