The Sens CHL talent keep on trucking along this season. If they keep it up, we may be able to watch them on the big screen for Team Canada and Team USA at the U20 World Championships.

Stats Sheet

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Biggest Standouts

Alex Formenton

Formenton has been playing beyond our highest expectations, and we’ll likely continue seeing his name in this section for many weeks to come. He’s one of two Team Canada hopefuls (!!!) and had a great showing in the Canada-Russia Series last week. For those who don’t know, every year, U20 players for Canada and Russia play a six-game series (two games for each Canadian junior league) to help both organizations determine which players may be selected for the annual U20 tournament. Formenton didn’t score, but was named player of the game in game one of the series. He was also one of the few players to play both games for Team OHL — meaning that Canada’s brass wanted to get a good look at him.

Have you met Alex Formenton? 🚨 pic.twitter.com/VmutXAXHnd

— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) November 11, 2017

Formenton’s a rare player because he can pull off moves like the one above, while also using his speed as a defensive threat lower in the lineup. For coaches who still like to think in terms of roles, Formenton has the skill to be a complementary “top-six” player or can also be a PK specialist as a 12th or 13th forward. He’s been garnering so much buzz that he was even featured in a Sportsnet article (which features some good quotes from his management group in London and ex-Leafs player, Doug Gilmour).

Formenton’s 2.7 primary points/60 is higher than Logan Brown (who had a hat-trick and is still putting up ~2.0 PPG). I like primary points/60 as a measure because it usually helps indicate who’s driving the offensive production. Given how stacked London is with NHL talent, it says something that Formenton’s been such a force early on.

Drake Batherson

The other Team Canada hopeful and constant feature in this section, Batherson still leads the QMJHL in scoring and has been receiving buzz as well. He also was featured in a Sportsnet article (!) and played for Team QMJHL in the Canada-Russia series. An assistant captain, Batherson scored the game-winning goal (a powerplay marker) in the third period to help his team beat Russia 3-1.

#CANvsRUS: C Drake Batherson (OTT 4th/2017) bangs home a rebound on the PP as C Joe Veleno (Ranked No. 5) picks up the second assist. QMJHL up 2-1 on Russia early in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/cGOiryO5Vv

— Steve Kournianos (@TheDraftAnalyst) November 15, 2017

Silver Linings

• Christian Wolanin was North Dakota’s featured athlete in their ongoing video series. Fun watch and a glimpse into his personal life! I’m also partial to slapshot shootout attempts, and Wolanin pulled one off over the weekend.
• To the junior players: Jordan Hollett is still recovering, but is winning games for Medicine Hat. His .894 sv% has him ranked 13th out of 25 goaltenders who have played 10+ games.
• Spencer touched on this in his update (and Colin mentioned it last week), but Belleville is without rookie defenders Christian Jaros (concussion) and Max Lajoie (shoulder). All indications are that Jaros will be back sooner.
• Also back in Belleville? Nick Paul, Jack Rodewald, and Ben Harpur. Harpur was praised by Guy Boucher as someone who probably “shouldn’t be in Belleville”
• Chris Driedger has missed time since rookie camp with a nagging groin injury. He finally suited up for Brampton in the ECHL and made 28 saves to backstop the Beast to a 4-2 win. He’s currently on Belleville’s roster with Hammond (loan from COL) and Taylor, while Hogberg is back in the ECHL after joining Ottawa for the Sweden trip.
• Pierre Dorion was on TSN1200 recently and spoke for 20+ minutes about many Sens prospects, including Colin White, Francis Perron, and Gabriel Gagne.
• Ken Warren had a great piece on Thomas Chabot and Colin White’s time in Belleville. /