Monday LNN: Season Previews, Player Interviews, and Ads on Jerseys

At last, the Ottawa Senators preseason is here!

• Unfortunately, as I’m sure you are all aware, Brady Tkachuk is still not present for training camp as he still does not have a contract. Darren Dreger spoke about the situation on TSN 1200, and depending on how you look at it, what he said could be considered good or bad. If Dreger is to be believed, it sounds like they’re not especially close to a contract, but we shouldn’t be too concerned about the relationship between the player and the team, as Tkachuk has a lot of people on his side.
• Senators podcast Locked On Senators spoke to another Sens player this week in Alex Formenton./

#LOSP September 24, 2021- Ep. 395

Interview with Alex Formenton + Overreacting To Day One Line Combinations

📺🎙️https://t.co/xR2UMkeeO0

Subscribe on YouTube!@Senators #Sens #GoSensGo@LockedOnNetwork #HockeyTwitter@RossLevitan | @brandonpiller1 | @88Forms pic.twitter.com/VbS9X1GNHa

— Locked On Senators (@SensCentral) September 24, 2021

• It’s season preview time, and unfortunately the Sens are not faring quite as well as we might hope. Some people didn’t get the memo that the run of unparalleled success begins this year, apparently, but that’s okay: we’re gonna sens ‘em this season. Our old friend Travis Yost wrote about Ottawa’s advanced stats, arguing that the rebuild is not yet over. It’s a good article, but unfortunately his analysis failed to consider Ottawa’s hugs/60 and other friendship-related stats, and is thus invalid.
• The other noteworthy season preview post comes from The Athletic, and it’s also not overly optimistic either. Ian Mendes would never be so mean. If you’re a subscriber, make you you also check out Mendes’s piece on Logan Brown.
• The Sens have been cleared to welcome 50% capacity at their home games this season. The NHL has cleared them for full capacity, but the Province of Ontario is keeping them at 50%. They’re hoping to eventually be cleared for 100% capacity. In the meantime, I look forward to the return of the tarps!
• Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan spoke to Tim Stützle and a few of his teammates about his game, and unsurprisingly the team agrees with the rest of us: Stützle is good at hockey.
• You may be familiar with Icethetics, the blog about hockey jerseys and logos. They’ve had some really good posts over the years, and I always love reading their take on all NHL designs. Unsurprisingly, they are not happy about the NHL’s plan to put ads on jerseys.
• Good news: it looks like most NHL players are fully vaccinated! There are only a handful of players holding out. CKSN had a really good piece about the players who aren’t getting vaccinated.
• Brock McGillis recently did a very good interview about the LGBTQ+ advocacy work he does in hockey.
• Finally, our late friend Brian Fraser is being honoured by Algonquin College. They have renamed one of their Alumni Distinction awards to the Brian Fraser Recent Graduate Award. The write-up on CTV is quite touching./