Ottawa Senators announce development camp roster
Camp starts on June 26th
The Ottawa Senators have announced their schedule and roster for their 2018 development camp. A number of workouts, training sessions, and drills will take place for the youngest players in the team’s system from June 26th to July 2nd. Though all on-ice activities are open to the fans, the highlight for most is the 3-on-3 tournament, taking place Monday, July 2nd, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Bell Sensplex. There will also be a public scrimmage on Friday, June 29th, starting at 6 p.m. at the Richcraft Sensplex in Gloucester.
The full roster generally contains who would be expected. There are five goalies, 13 defencemen, and 25 forwards. Of those, 23 are Sens draft picks, 19 are undrafted players, and Filip Gustavsson is the lone player who was picked by a different team then acquired by the Sens. We’ll see if any of the undrafted players follow in the rare footsteps of Parker Kelly, who was an undrafted 18 year old at last year’s camp, and signed an entry-level contract in September after impressing the team over the summer. All eight 2018 draft picks will be on hand for the camp, and 16 players who attended last year’s camp will attend again.
All eyes will be on some of the players that fans are hoping to see make an impact at the NHL level this year, including Christian Wolanin, Colin White, Filip Chlapik, Logan Brown, and Brady Tkachuk. People will also be watching the crease, as we remain to see if Gustavsson and Marcus Hogberg will be the goalies of choice for Belleville this coming season. Thomas Chabot will not take part, though after playing 63 NHL games this past season and playing for Canada at the World Championships, he shouldn’t qualify as a prospect.
We also got word this morning that the Sens have qualified their three NHL RFAs: Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, and Fredrik Claesson. What we haven’t seen yet is if they’ve qualified any of the AHL RFAs in Chris Driedger, Nick Moutrey, and Nick Paul. What’s curious is that none of them were listed on the development camp roster, which would suggest that the team isn’t bringing them back. This is surprising in particular for Paul, who played 11 NHL games last season, and has six points in 36 total NHL games. If Moutrey is not qualified, that would mean the Sens traded Ian Cole for a 3rd-round pick. Driedger makes the most sense to leave with a QO because he likely didn’t figure into the team’s future plans in net after acquiring Gustavsson. We’ll keep you posted as we find out more.
