Belleville Senators Prospect Update - December 18th

Points in the standings are about quantity over quality. The Belleville Senators went 3-2 over the past two weeks despite two blowout losses, to improve to 12-6-4, the 7th-best record in the Eastern Conference by points percentage. Additionally, a few players had standout weeks, more so than what we saw previously in the year.

• Friday, Dec. 6th: @ Manitoba Moose- 6-3 Win
• Saturday, Dec. 7th: @. Manitoba Moose - 4-3 Win (SO)
• Wednesday, Dec. 11th: VS. Syracuse Crunch - 2-1 Win
• Friday, Dec. 13th: VS Rochester Americans - 7-4 Loss
• Saturday, Dec. 14th: VS Rochester Americans - 8-2 Loss

Notable Performances:

Stephen Halliday

After a slow start, Halliday has resembled the player who led the squad in playoff scoring earlier this year. An eight-game point streak, including 2 goals and 5 assists in his last 5 games has him up to 15 points in 22 games. That's a stat line of a top-six forward, ladies and gentlemen. I was looking at him as a potential call-up to step into the third line for a game or two, but Shane Pinto appears to be returning to form even without him.

Donovan Sebrango

Speaking of call-ups, not to discredit Tyler Kleven's effort and play, but the battle for that spot on the blueline should be continuously up for grabs. Sebrango factored in both of Belleville's goals in last week's 2-1 victory over Syracuse (eclipsing his AHL career-high production in the process), and the breakout blueliner currently ranks second on the club in points from the back end, with 10 in 19. If anything, bring him back up to the NHL just to light a fire under Kleven, flash that ticket to Belleville in his face – pretty sure he scored his first NHL goal the last time they did that.

Angus Crookshank

Aside from Cole Reinhardt, no Belleville Senator has even half as many goals as Crookshank this year. Last year, the trigger-happy winger added some finish to his game and he's continued to lead the way with 12 goals, including 3 since the last update. The main draw against him is that compared to Halliday, and especially to Sebrango and Reinhardt, there hasn't been much progression from his All-Star season a year ago. He'll likely need to significantly increase his pace to get Staios' attention at this point.

Silver Linings

• 'Twas a rough stretch for B-Sens goalies, as Mads Søgaard returned to action only to allow 8 goals on 33 shots in his two appearances. Leevi Meriläinen was better, with a 2-1-0 record, despite allowing 5 goals on 22 shots against Rochester. Again, quantity over quality, two wins is better than one. With Anton Forsberg out for the short term, Meriläinen has been called up to the big club, and will likely make his third career NHL start against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday or the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (neither what one might call an easy opponent).
• Maxence Guenette hasn't been off to a great start offensively, but has been his usual, steady self on the blueline and added 3 assists since the last update, while Cole Reinhardt rounds out the multi-point prospects with a pair in a pair, maintaining his breakout campaign.
• Xavier Bourgault got on the board against the Moose two weeks back on Friday, while Oskar Pettersson and Philippe Daoust each added an assist to their respective totals.
• Lastly, 2021 10th-overall selection Tyler Boucher scored his first AHL goal of the year in that 6-3 victory. He has more AHL goals than Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk combined. Makes you think.

Stats: