For those of you who don’t know yet, the Ottawa Senators sent forward Zack Smith to the Bingo Sens while placing Christoph Schubert on waivers. If Schubert clears waivers by noon tomorrow, he will also be going to Binghamton. Really, there weren’t any surprises in the cuts today. Smith lost the rookie battle with Peter Regin by leaps and bounds while Schubert never really found his groove in the pre-season. Schubie Doo always was an effective plugger but last year, he played less then half of the season which hurt his conditioning. Then, when Harts or Cloo Cloo called him up to play, he never was in the right mood. I hope a team takes him off waivers so he can play full-time minutes somewhere else, but I doubt it. I think he’ll be playing either in Binghamton or in the KHL next season. On the other hand, Smith didn’t play like he was really wanted to make the team. I personally think he’ll have a great year in Binghamton, and let’s hope he will make the team next year.
Now with those two cuts, there are 22 players left on the team. Technically it’s 23 if you include the injured Winchester. The Ottawa sun suggests Murray is trying to move out a forward to clear up space up front. I’ve been talking to a couple of sources for some days now and they tell me it’s Shean Donovan that’s likely going to get moved out. I personally am shocked when hearing this, because Donovan still has a role on this team and he needs to stay. I would rather see Winchie or Kelly shipped out. Donovan can be a very effective 4th-liner IMO. His grit, toughness, and ability to lead this team is valuable and with the loss of Jason Smith it is needed even more. I don’t care if he’s mainly a healthy scratch, he’s a guy the team needs to keep.
As mentioned, Jesse Winchester may be a guy that could be shipped out. Winchester played solid last year but his injury problems and the emergence of Peter Regin has likely shortened the leash on him.
On defense, it seems like Brian Lee will head down to the AHL while Picard starts on October 2nd and Carkner is the team’s new “swingman”. We’re only a couple of days away from starting the season, and it’s getting tense for some Sens players—and their fans!