Fansided

Ottawa Senators: Getting Ready For The Pre-Season

By Alexander O'Reilly |
OTTAWA, ON - MAY 23: Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators looks on against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on May 23, 2017 in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - MAY 23: Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators looks on against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on May 23, 2017 in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The time is finally here, time for hockey season. Although it will still be a few weeks before the regular season starts there will still be hockey. The pre-season has already begun and the Ottawa Senators will play their first game tonight as they get ready for the season.

Tonight the Ottawa Senators will play the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first pre-season game. Over the course of the next two weeks there will be a few crucial things to keep an eye on before the regular season starts.

The status of the injuries on the Sens will be a crucial point of the pre-season. Will Brassard, Karlsson, or MacArthur see any playing time during pre-season? At this point it seems doubtful that MacArthur will make a return to the Sens at all. Karlsson is looking like his return could be pushed to November. Brassard is the most likely at this point to return prior to the season for the Ottawa Senators.

After Methot was taken in the expansion draft the Sens’ defence was left in flux. It will be interesting to see what Boucher does with line combinations during pre-season. Will Phaneuf and Ceci stick together? Will Chabot be given a lot of ice time? Will Claesson finally be given his shot for a full-time role? All these questions will be heavily observed during the pre-season.

Next: Ottawa Senators: Patrick Sieloff Starts Incident In Scrimmage

The final point that will be interesting to watch is which rookies are given serious looks during the pre-season. Thomas Chabot and Colin White are the two biggest candidates for the Ottawa Senators at this point. Especially with injuries it would be rather surprising for them to not at least start the season in Ottawa. However, with the injuries there may be a chance that other player such as Andreas Englund and Logan Brown are given closer looks.

Home / Ottawa Senators News