Ottawa Senators Prospect Update - January 8th

Welcome back, folks. I hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as any Ottawa Senators fans could given the recent ups and downs. For the most part, Ottawa's junior prospects have gotten off to a perfectly on-par start to 2025 with a few standouts and mostly some guys.

Matthew Andonovski racked up a lot more penalty minutes (14) than points (two) in the five games since we last checked in. This season has felt like a bit of a disappointment from an offensive perspective but Kitchener has arguably the stingiest defence in the scoring-happy OHL so I won't complain too much.

Owen Beckner had a decent week for 13th ranked Colorado college with two assists in two games to get him up to 0.5 points per game in his freshman season.

Tyson Dyck earned his seventh point of the season (an assist) for unranked Wisconsin. He exists; I don’t have much else to add on him right.

Gabriel Eliasson still seems pretty tall and also he shot the puck a bit this past week-plus with more shots (eight) than penalty minutes (five) in his last four games for the Barrie (who have allowed fewer goals than any team in the OHL's eastern conference this season for whatever that's worth). Improved discipline is always welcome.

Luke Ellinas had some better luck the past couple of weeks with three goals, three assists, and 14 shots in his past five games coming out of the holidays. He still has plenty of time to compensate for his cold start to the season. On Sunday he opened the scoring against Guelph with a shorthander and he assisted on Kitchener's second goal to earn himself second star of the game.

Tomas Hamara continues to enjoy his renaissance in the OHL as he puts up the numbers we had hoped for two years ago. The still youngish defender had a goal, six assists, and 13 shots since we last checked in and it seems safe to say he has gotten his confidence back. At this point in his career, I mostly wonder if he can carry the production over to the AHL when he next gets promoted by the organization but the Senators also don't have too many jobs available for left-handed defenders anyway.

Oliver Johansson had one of his more productive weeks coming out of the holiday break with two assists and six shots in four games. I'm tempering the expectations accordingly.

Blake Montgomery continues to set the pace among Ottawa's prospects and has become arguably the story in the Senators' farm system. After a modest start in the USHL, Montgomery's move to the OHL looks like the right decision. Since we last check in, Montgomery added three goals, five assists, and nine shots for London. Montgomery had two goals (including the game-winner), an assist, and three shots on new year's eve and didn't even make the three stars. The OHL, I tell ya.

Javon Moore continues to pick up with pace in the USHL after a slow start to the season. Moore had three goals on 16 shots in his last five games and to date I would consider his season more unlucky than bad. With such a young, toolsy prospect I would really preach patience. I guess it also bodes well that Moore opted to spend another year in the USHL before going to college.

Vladimir Nikitin had a rough final stat line at the world juniors thanks largely to a couple of nightmare matchups against the Czech and Swedish national teams. Kazakhstan fared slightly better against Switzerland and Slovakia (with an overtime loss the high-water mark of the tournament). I guess you can't expect too much from a program that had no experience in division one and I like to believe that Nikitin will benefit from the experience long term.

Filip Nordberg went back to getting more penalties than offence with two minors, one assist, and three shots over his last five games. Can't teach physical.

Cam O'Neill finally got back into the action with four shots over his past two games while his teammate Nicholas VanTassell remains out of the lineup for UMass.

Kevin Reidler had arguably his worst start of the season, conceding three goals on just 19 shots but more importantly got his second win of the season and I once again would like to ask what it would take to get this guy some more starts for an unranked Omaha team.

Hoyt Stanley had one of his better stretches with two assists in two games and Cornell currently ranks 18th nationally in the men's division one polls. Granted if any more right-handed Sens defenders get injured, Stanley could sign a contract by the end of the month (joking! (only kind of!)).

Theo Wallberg still hasn't found his 2023-24 form as he mustered a lone shot and no points since our last update. For what it's worth, the Buckeyes currently sit 11th in the national polls so we may get to see Wallberg in tournament play.

Eerik Wallenius returned to junior after a brief stint in Finland's top circuit. The call-up didn't amount to anything on the scoresheets but I imagine it does a lot for a player's confidence returning to a U20 league after playing with professionals for a couple weeks.

Carter Yakemchuk, (as always, no pressure, big guy), had another strong week or two since the holidays with five points and 14 shots over his past six games. I can't be the only person who actively cheered against the Canadian national team in the WJCs and who feels extremely vindicated knowing that Yakemchuk and others got to sit back and laugh from home. Yak had arguably his best game of the week on new year's day with a goal and two assists (even if it was an empty-netter, they all count the same). The bad news, though, is that Yakemchuk seems to have suffered an at-least moderately serious injury and is considered out week-to-week. Get well soon, big guy!

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