While the Ottawa Senators are still sitting at the bottom of the league, their AHL affiliate the Belleville Senators are surging at the right time.
Although they are the 2nd youngest team in the AHL, average age being 23.46, they continue to turn heads at both that level and the big club.
They are 2nd in the league with an impressive record of 37-17-5 for 79 points in the standings. The only team ahead of them at this point are the Milwaukee Admirals, who aren’t in their division, so they won’t have to face them in the regular season at all.
Belleville Senators head coach Troy Mann has done a fantastic job the last two seasons in developing players to eventually play big roles in Ottawa down the road.
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The team has improved great lengths since last season, already tying last years mark in wins 17 games sooner. Developing prospects is one of the harder jobs a coach can be entrusted with, and Troy Mann is one of the best in the business at this.
The team is producing well under his tutelage, this is likely going to go down as the greatest season in Ottawa Senators affiliate history.
While that may not mean much to some, this means that finally things are going the right way for this franchise. The rebuild has benefited Belleville in the short term, supplying them with a steady stream of talented prospects.
But more than that this rebuild has enabled management to restore at least a bit of the hope lost, with the departure of all the big names that we lost.
The B-Sens are currently 1st in the AHL in terms of goals per game, and can hold their own as far as letting in goals. Tied for 21st in least goals against, that is an issue but they have two very capable goalies in Joey Daccord and Filip Gustavsson.
The later stages of the season should get interesting as teams buckle down for the playoffs.