Ottawa Senators Prospect Update: October 17-23
Drake Batherson, Logan Brown and Christian Wolanin are this week’s biggest standouts.
The past week saw some of Ottawa’s prospects quiet down, and others rise up. Drake Batherson’s continuing his rampage on the QMJHL, while the Belleville Senators went 1-2 while managing to keep an even goal differential.
Stats Sheet
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Biggest Standouts
Drake Batherson
We’ll likely see him a few more times in this section throughout the season, as the 19-year-old holds the QMJHL lead for both goals (15) and points (24), earning him the QMJHL Player of the Week (Update: he’s also been named CHL Player of the Week). More than half of that is on the power play (14 points), which has helped Cape Breton immensely giving them the league’s 3rd best power play (26.2%).
As incredible as he’s been offensively, his defensive play is still a bit of a question mark. At 5v5, he’s somehow managed to be on the ice for nearly twice as many goals against as goals for (19 to 11), although it’s still slightly better compared to when he’s off the ice (+3.3% relative). For now, however, we shall enjoy as we watch him obliterate the opposition offensively. Here’s all three of his hat trick goals.
Drake Batherson 🚨🚨🚨 Hat Trick! OT winner + an assist.
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) October 22, 2017
In 13GP he has 15G & 9A for 24 PTS. Leads the #QMJHL in goals and points. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3WYNOpzujY
Logan Brown
With all of Ottawa’s injuries at forward (Colin White, Bobby Ryan, Zack Smith), Logan Brown’s been getting his chance to show what he can do at the NHL level. He was deployed for only 5:21 against the Devils, but was bumped up to over double that against the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he earned his first NHL assist. For a player who was at times struggling last season, he hasn’t looked out of place whatsoever, especially on the power play.
Christian Wolanin
I won’t go over him in detail because he was featured in this section last week, although the defenceman has shown what he can do offensively, adding another three points in arguably the toughest NCAA division. Wolanin leads his team in shots on goal, which ties him for 15th across the entire NCAA. As you’ll see below, he has quite the cannon of a shot.
Christian Wolanin (#24) had 2 PPG in UND's 4-0 win over Minnesota.
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) October 22, 2017
3G & 3A in 6GP to start the #NCAA season for Wolanin 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xOG9Fb9tej
Silver Linings
- Marcus Hogberg’s first two games in the ECHL haven’t been too pretty, giving up 8 goals on 71 shots. Battling with Michael McNiven for starts, he wasn’t even listed as the backup on Saturday’s game. Tough break for a goalie who was an SHL star less than six months ago.
- Jordan Hollett’s been having a rough time with the Medicine Hat Tigers (SV% of 0.867), although they currently sit atop their division. As for Joel Daccord with Arizona State, he’s just coming off a strong weekend (SV% of 0.932) after a weaker start. Still a small sample size for both.
- Todd Burgess’ long-awaited return has been successful thus far, with three assists (all secondary) in his first four games after a year-long hiatus.
- Something you don’t hear very often: the London Knights are struggling. Sitting dead last in the Western Conference, their 1-8-1 record improved to 3-8-1 since the return of Alex Formenton. He has two assists in those two games, as well as a fighting major.
- Ben Harpur’s been re-assigned to the AHL, as he couldn’t be sent down until he came off the injured reserve./