Ottawa Senators Prospect Update - November 27th

The Ottawa Senators on a (one-game) winning streak? You better believe it! Can they make it two(?!)-in-a-row? In November?! With Josh Norris' name in the rumour mill (the articles conveniently seem to omit his history of injuries (and I really just want to manifest the Sens don't trade away my favourite himbo)), it seems fitting that Ottawa plays the same Sharks team tomorrow that gifted us our top-two centres (and Zack Ostapchuk, etc.). In the meantime, I have for you a little rundown of what Ottawa's non-professional prospects have gotten up to in the past two weeks. Enjoy the game tonight, folks! Who knows, I may just pull an all-nighter tomorrow myself.

• Owen Beckner has cooled down considerably since the start of the season with just one point in his last four games but continues to shoot the puck with decent frequency for a freshman. I'll let it slide for now. He plays for a very good Colorado team that has lost just twice in regulation this season.
• Tyson Dyck may have just had his best single week since Ottawa drafted him. He didn't shoot the puck as much but he had a goal and an assist in two games while taking no penalties. He exists for now.
• Cam O'Neill may or may not still exist at this point.
• Call Hoyt Stanly nothing if not consistent. He has produced eerily similar statlines in the two updates in which he has appeared this season. Of note, he cut down the penalty minutes, and I always like to report that about young defenders.
• Nick VanTassell definitely still exists. He proved as much by scoring his second goal of the season.
• Theo Wallberg hasn't had quite as much success with the Buckeyes since Stephen Halliday went pro. With that in mind, I hope this past weeks indicates better things to come for the under-the-radar defender. Wallberg had his best week of the season so far (two assists, no penalties, two shots) and Ohio State finds itself back in the national rankings thanks to a 9-2-1 record in the Big Ten.
• Javon Moore continues his streak as possibly my favourite player from the Sens' most recent draft class with two more assists in his last two games and still just two penalty minutes on the season, all while shooting at a pretty healthy rate for such a young player in a competitive league.
• I owe a shoutout to Filip Nordberg who got a point since our last check-in and didn't take any penalties in four games—baby steps.
• Matthew Andonovski, captain of the Kitchener Rangers, continues to languish offensively in his second season in Ottawa's system but with Kitchener comfortably in a playoff position as one of the best defensive teams in the OHL, I don't know that we should really worry about it too much.
• Gabriel Eliasson, probably Ottawa's most controversial defensive prospect (does anyone even register Nordberg anymore?) got his first assist of the season and had almost as many shots (seven) as penalty minutes (eight) since our last update. And the Tyler Kleven award goes to . . . (for the record, I have grown to quite like Kleven as a Senator).
• Luke Ellinas continues to shoot the puck relentlessly for Kitchener and he had his first multi-goal game of the season, last week against Sarnia. Ellinas has a pretty underwhelming overall statline given his apparent quest to win the Cy Young (just four assists on a good Rangers team). I wouldn't sweat it too much. Ellinas has some good hands.
• OHL overager Tomas Hamara has started performing a bit more as I would have expected as an adult among children, averaging almost five shots per game over the past couple of weeks (and a point per game for good measure). Hamara opened the scoring for the Bulldogs on the powerplay in this game that Brantford ended up winning in the shootout.
• Since we last checked in on Blake Montgomery (now of the London Knights), the forward has notched his first OHL goal and assist. You can check out the highlight of Montgomery's nifty puckhandling here. Hands up if you knew that the Knights are currently riding a 15-game (!) winning streak. What is that even like.
• Carter Yakemchuk continues to set the pace among Ottawa's prospects with another three goals on 15 shots since we last checked in. He hasn't set the world on fire by CHL D+1 standards but as some readers (editor's note: he's talking about me, Ross, a bona fide staff writer) have mentioned in the comments, let's choose to interpret this as a sign of a more well-rounded defensive game. Please enjoy this overtime performance from the large child on whom our dreams depend:

• Oliver Johansson scored his second goal of the season. Five points in 20 games definitely looks better than zero points in 20 games. Ottawa's European scouting still probably needs some work.
• In Finland, Eerik Wallenius had a respectable three assists in five games and had a much more disciplined stretch with just one minor penalty over that span.
• Kevin Reidler played a game! Despite making 41 (!) saves, Omaha lost the game 3-2 against ASU in Reidler's college debut.
• Vladimir Nikitin has also gotten some reps and while his save percentage looks far from sterling, it bears mentioning that he faces an average of 44 shots per game--not a recipe for success! And yes, that means both goaltending prospects here profiled have faced the same average volume in a very small sample size. They'll love playing in Ottawa (joking!) (maybe).

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