Mock Draft, PWHL at the World's, Expansion Thoughts, and More
It's your Thursday Links, News, and Notes
- With the Ottawa Senators projected to draft in the top-ten yet again this summer, prognostications have commenced for the Sens draft plans. Among CHL players, the names Berkly Catton (C), Sam Dickinson (LD), and Zayne Parekh (RD) have floated around Ottawa. Rachel Doerrie has Ottawa drafting Dickinson at sixth overall in her latest mock (should the Sens fail to win the lottery and draft Macklin Celebrini). Maybe Ottawa doesn't need another left defender right now but a lot can change in five years.
- Amid another lost season, we can all take solace knowing that the first season of the Michael Andlauer era in Ottawa did see increases in gate revenue (top-four in the NHL this year) despite the appalling results on the ice (in fairness the Sens played better at home than they did on the road at least). As Wayne Scanlan notes, the fans have held up their end of the bargain so far, and we all expect some significant activity from management this offseason to atone for this squandered honeymoon season.
- In other Ottawa Senators news (and there ain't much good these days, lemme tell ya), Tim Baines published a well-earned bio for Boko Imama who recently made his Sens debut. Imama got to play his first home game as a member of a Canadian NHL team, not far from his hometown of Montreal and that seems pretty cool. Sadly, NHL fans know Imama primarily as a victim of on-ice racism as a professional hockey player. We can really only hope that by talking about his experiences as a Person of Colour in hockey, Imama can help make the game more accessible for the next generation.
- In PWHL Ottawa news, Chris Sinclair recapped some notable performances from Ottawa's tournament representatives at the WWC. Given how few of them had eye-popping stats (a common issue with these small sample sizes) I appreciate the individual player breakdowns, contextualizing the player performances. Ottawa hosts Minnesota next Saturday for their final meeting of the regular season.
- The NBA's Utah Jazz have reportedly started looking for an NHL roommate and while this started almost a year ago entirely as conjecture, the speculation about the possibility of the Coyotes moving north to Salt Lake City is looking more and more likely and could become official as soon as next Thursday. I guess I wouldn't have too much to complain about as long as the Coyotes name (and those jerseys) can live to see another season.
- On the subject of expansion/relocation rumours that will never die, count me among those totally on board with the idea of bringing back the Atlanta Thrashers, because why not? As Sens fans we know how painstakingly slow these processes can be and at the same time I wouldn't deny any sports fan the dream of one day seeing a professional team in their city.
- And finally, for those hoping for any kind of updates regarding the Hockey Canada case, we now know that we have to wait until at least November for a court date (barring a last-minute guilty plea, I suppose).
