The Ottawa Senators are a few days into training camp, and we now have an early idea as to what head coach Travis Green is planning for lineup combinations.
After some of the moves that the organization made this summer, there was some speculation as to where everyone would slot in. And, now, just a few days into camp, it seems that some of those theories are coming true. At SenShot, Alicia Racine wrote a story about how William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund should be playing on a line together, and it turns out that Green felt the same. WIth that, let's take a closer look at where everyone is playing as we inch closer to the Senators' first preseason game on Sept. 21st.
Who is playing with who?
The Senators have split their team into two groups that consist of two lines of NHL and AHL players. Which tends to give the coaching staff a better look at both groups. For the Senators, there are some players that are fringe players like Phillip Tomasino or Ryan Suzuki, who were brought in on two-way deals that are getting a much better look in this setup. Rather than if everyone was in one group.
Group 1: (according to Andrew Wilimek)
Drake Batherson - Tim Stützle - Andre Burakovsky
Sammy Blais - Ridley Greig - Michael Amadio
Blake Montgomery - Ryan Suzuki - Kasper Halttunen
Adam Nemec - Philippe Daoust - Hayden Hodgson
Jake Sanderson - Caeter Yakemchuk
Tyler Kleven - Hoyt Stanley
Samuel Bolduc - Cameron Crotty
Gabriel Eliasson - Zachary Uens
Linus Ullmark
Samuel Ersson
Group 2: (according to Andrew Wilimek)
William Eklund - Dylan Cozens - Fabian Zetterlund
Nick Cousins - Shane Pinto - Philip Tomasino
Claude Giroux - Stephan Halliday - Tyler Boucher
Xavier Bourgault - Eskild Bakke Olsen - Oskar Pettersson
Jordan Spence - Thomas Chabot
Ben Hutton - Nick Matinpalo
Tomas Hamara - Matthew Andonovski
Scott Harrington - Djibril Toure
Leevi Merilainen
As we can see, there are line combinations that will likely be used when the puck drops on the regular season. As well as experimental lines, Green is seeing if there is a fit. For the fringe players like Blias, Tomasino, and even Cousins and Halliday who could be on the outside looking in. There is something to be playing for in camp. With Greig suspended and Warren Foegele dealing with an injury, there are spots open. And, if they play hard enough and impress the coaching staff, there is a chance their name will be in the lineup as of night 1.
It should be worth mentioning that both Cousins and Halliday should be in the lineup. If Green elects to go with the best available for Game 1 of the regular season. That said, there could be a few other names to consider. However, when Greig returns after serving his two-game suspension and Foegele is healthy. There are a lot of players but not a lot of spots, which is when we may see a name like Halliday or Cousins being taken out of the lineup.
Early opening night roster projection
Based on the first three days of camp. here is what I'd project to be the opening night lineup. There will be a full article out on this before the puck drops on opening night. So, this is just based on the early days of camp and no preseason games played yet,
Drake Batherson - Tim Stützle - Andre Burakovsky
William Eklund - Dylan Cozens - Fabian Zetterlund
Claude Giroux - Shane Pinto - Philip Tomasino
Nick Cousins - Stephan Halliday - Michael Amadio
Jake Sanderson - Caeter Yakemchuk
Jordan Spence - Thomas Chabot
Tyler Kleven - Nick Matinpalo
Linus Ullmark
Samuel Ersson
Extras: Leevi Merilainen, Sammy Blais, Ben Hutton
Injuries: Artem Zub, Warren Foegele
Suspended: Ridley Greig
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