Ottawa Senators Farm System Gets A Boost This Year
This past season it became quite apparent that the Ottawa Senators farm system was lacking a bit. In previous years it had been amongst the leagues best, but then this season it was more like an average to below-average system. And it’s not necessarily because the Senators have bad players, instead it was mostly due to graduations of prospects.
Players like Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Robin Lehner, Cody Ceci, Curtis Lazar, Patrick Wiercioch and Mark Borowiecki are all recent graduates in the past few seasons, and that doesn’t even include Jakob Silfverberg and Stefan Noesen who were traded to Anaheim. So it has been a very long list of players that went from “prospect” to full-time NHLer, which is extremely impressive.
The Senators deserve some credit for developing their players, but in recent seasons they haven’t drafted as many top prospects as they had in the past. There’s Ceci and Lazar from 2012 and 2013 respectively, but they have graduated now and that meant that Ottawa needed some new blood.
The good news is that after that 2015 NHL draft, Ottawa has added some quality prospects. Furthermore, many players will be heading to Binghamton which will strengthen their team a lot. Before the draft, Ottawa’s top prospects included Nick Paul, Tobias Lindberg, Matt Puempel and Shane Prince, which isn’t a bad group of players, but it certainly isn’t as good as top farm systems.
After the draft though, they have added Thomas Chabot, Colin White, Gabriel Gagne, and Filip Chlapik in the first two rounds. None of those players will be Ottawa’s top prospect, but some of them will be in the top-10 for the team. On Jack’s ranking of the Senators prospects, personally I would rank Chabot 5th ahead of Matt O’Connor, White 7th ahead of Andreas Englund, Chlapik 10th ahead of Frederik Claesson, and Gagne 14th ahead of Max McCormick.
Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; Thomas Chabot poses for a photo with team executives after being selected as the number eighteen overall pick to the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Adding those four players to the top 15 is a huge boost that the organization needed. Not only that, the Binghamton Senators will also be receiving a boost this year. Last year wasn’t very good for them, as they finished 11th in the Eastern Conference and 11 points out of a playoff spot. However, they have some reinforcements from Ottawa’s prospects and some free agent signings.
The only action from Ottawa’s end on July 1st were three signings, but they were of the AHL variety. They should add some depth to the lineup though and make them a playoff team. Mike Kostka is a journeyman defenseman, but he has been solid in the minors. Eric O’Dell has been close to a point per game player in the AHL, as he has scored 71 points in his last 79 games over the past two seasons.
It would be fantastic to see [Wikstrand] in North America, but if not the B-Sens will still be getting three junior players
There’s also Zack Stortini who will add some grit to the lineup, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. So there’s those three players who add some leadership and should give them results. But there are some other reasons to believe why the Baby Sens could be much better. Tobias Lindberg, Nick Paul, Ben Harpur and Mikael Wikstrand could all be headed to New York state for the 2015-16 season.
Lindberg, Paul and Harpur are extremely unlikely to make the NHL roster, and they will most likely head to Binghamton. Wikstrand may not stay in North America, as he is apparently choosing in a few months if he wants to stay here or head back to play for Farjestad. It would be fantastic to see him in North America, but if not the B-Sens will still be getting three junior players.
Binghamton did lose Derek Grant, Carter Camper, Aaron Johnson and Alex Grant, but they should be much better next season with some solid additions. Here is a projected lineup:
D/G
— Tyler Ray (@DefenseMinister) July 3, 2015
Claesson-Wideman
Kostka-Wikstrand
Harpur-Rutkowski
Sdao/Mullen
O'Connor
Dreidger
I really like those forward lines, as each line has a player that can score. I’d be really interested to see what Paul can do if he’s paired with Prince and Schneider, as that could easily be a first line. The defense looks great as well if they can add Wikstrand, Harpur and Kostka, and having a solid prospect in Matt O’Connor as the starter helps a lot.
It’s not as if this Binghamton team is stacked or anything, but they do have some quality players and it’ll be interesting to see how certain players develop. There’s a very good chance that Prince, Puempel, and Wideman are on the NHL roster at the same time, but that just speaks to the depth that the organization has. If they get called up then that’s great for them, but if not then they can help out Binghamton.
The Ottawa farm system had taken a step back after a plethora of graduations over the past few years and the Baby Sens were back to being a non-playoff team. However, things have changed quickly and the organization has improved their depth with a good draft and some veteran AHL signings.
It may not be an elite system, but it’s an improvement from last season.
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