Ottawa Senators: Rookies ready to shine

The Ottawa Senators annual Rookie Tournament is taking place this coming weekend. Many of the organization’s top prospects will make their way to Belleville to play against some of the top prospects from the Montreal Canadiens and the Winnipeg Jets.

The unofficial start of the hockey season has arrived! The Rookie Tournament always signifies the start of training camp, and it has been a long time coming. The Ottawa Senators’ prospects will have the opportunity to show off some of the results from the work they have put in throughout the summer in front of the entire organization’s hockey operations and coaching staffs.

This year’s Rookie Tournament is an all-important one for the rebuilding Ottawa Senators. This is one of the first times fans will be able to actually see with their own eyes some of the young players the team has brought in over the last year. The complete roster of players attending rookie camp can be found here.

There are a few players attending this year’s camp that I wanted to highlight. These are the players that the organization is very high on, and they are also the players that should have the best opportunity to compete for a spot on the NHL roster during training camp.

The games will be available for your viewing pleasure on TSN.ca and on TSN GO. You will also be able to stream the game on the Belleville Senators Facebook page!

Erik Brannstrom

Acquired at last season’s trade deadline for fan favourite Mark Stone, Brannstrom is easily the organization’s top prospect at the position. Considered by many to be one of the best defencemen outside of the NHL, the smooth-skating defenceman should have every opportunity to show that he has what it takes to make the NHL roster. Let’s not forget that Brannstrom already has one year of professional hockey under his belt, having split time between Chicago and Belleville in the American Hockey League last year, so the expectation should be for him to look like a man amongst boys out there.

Drake Batherson

Drake Batherson played his first NHL game late last season, after having been one of the most explosive rookies in the AHL last season. Probably considered by many inside and outside the Ottawa Senators to be the leading guy to crack the opening night roster come October. He is probably the player that has the inside track to land one of the openings on the roster, and his performance at rookie camp is his first step in taking that roster spot. Like Brannstrom, Batherson should look like a man amongst boys against the rookies from other teams. I’m really excited to watch him during rookie camp and into main camp to see if he will be able to lock down an opening on the NHL roster.

Alex Formenton

The speedy forward is now entering his first season as a pro hockey player. Having made the team out of training camp each of the past two seasons because of his speed, but later being sent back to the OHL, Formenton should be using every opportunity afforded to him to try and show the new coaching staff what he has to offer. It will be interesting to see how the change in coaching

staffs will affect the speedy winger. I will be watching closely to see if DJ Smith is as high on Formenton as former head coach Guy Boucher was. I think some time in the top-6 in the AHL would be very good for Formenton, but that speed is definitely NHL-ready.

Josh Norris

This will be the first time that Sens fans will be able to see Josh Norris in an Ottawa Senators jersey. One of the key pieces in the trade that sent Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks, Norris will more than probably spend the season playing in Belleville learning the “pro game”. However, this will be Norris’ first opportunity to show the Belleville and Ottawa coaching staffs what the strengths are to his game. The organization clearly has high hopes for the young forward if they targeted him in last season’s trade. Coming off a shoulder injury that cut his season short, you can bet on the fact that Norris wants to impress the coaches during the rookie camp.

Joey Daccord

In a very short amount of time, the Ottawa Senators managed to take their goaltending depth from barely existing to overloaded with solid prospects. Joey Daccord is one of those prospects. The young netminder turned pro at the end of last season and suited up in the final road game of the season. The number of professional goaltenders in the organization is going to make for some difficult decisions come the end of training camp. Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson are locks for NHL roster, leaving Joey Daccord, Filip Gustavsson, and Marcus Hogberg needing playing time split between the AHL and the ECHL. Hogberg was one of the best goaltenders in the AHL last year, so he should be locked into the top spot in Belleville. Daccord seems like the odd man out, considering that he has the least amount of professional experience.

There are many more talented players that will be suiting up this weekend, which is the nice part of a rebuild. There is a lot of talent and youth in the Ottawa Senators organization, and a lot of that youth is starting to graduate to the professional level, which makes it even more exciting for the fanbase. Regardless of whether you agree or not with the decisions that were made that led the team to this point, it is hard to argue with the job that the amateur scouting staff has been able to do.

Let’s not forget, that Lassi Thomson and Jacob Bernard-Docker are not going to be present during rookie or main camps. With all the talent we will see during rookie camp, there is even more out there coming in the future.

What are your thoughts on the young players mentioned above? Do you have other players you are excited about watching during rookie camp? What players are you high on? What about players you’re low on? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!