Ottawa Senators Prospect Update: The Belleville Connection

In last week’s prospect update, Ary looked at some of the Sens’ CHL prospects who were firing on all cylinders. But as has become a reliable source of content for this series this season, the AHL prospects stole the show yet again. Top scorers, injury updates and everything in between are included in this week’s prospect update.

Biggest Standouts

Literally Everyone In Belleville

Look out for Spencer’s Belleville recap tomorrow, because this week is up there as one of their best this season. They only had two games, but the B-Sens came through with two exciting victories over the Laval Rocket, a team battling tooth and nail for every point in the tight North Division. With four wins in a row, the B-Sens now have the second most points in the AHL (62) and are fifth in points percentage (66.0%).

As has been par for the course, their charge has been led by the young guns, despite not having Drake Batherson in the lineup this week. The second game may go down as the franchise’s most exciting game to date, staging a comeback after being down 4-1 with six minutes to play. The goal scorers: Logan Brown, Josh Norris and Rudolfs Balcers. Jordan Murray scored the OT winner, assisted by Alex Formenton.

📹 The #BellevilleSens staged a wild third period comeback to secure a 5-4 overtime victory over Laval! #fortheB pic.twitter.com/nu363Jtsm6

— Belleville Senators (@BellevilleSens) February 2, 2020

Formenton and Norris were this week’s leading scorers, with the 20-year-olds scoring five points each. Brown had two goals, Brännström had two assists — even Michael Carcone, who I’d barely still consider a prospect, stepped up with a goal and assist. Christian Jaros also scored his second goal of the season, his first since returning from injury.

On top of all this, the goalies pulled together some solid performances. Joey Daccord stopped 40 of 43 in the first game, and while Gustavsson allowed a couple questionable goals (4 goals on 22 shots), it was just enough to come away with the victory. It was Gustavsson’s worst game in a while, which I think speaks more to how sneakily well he’s been playing as of late. The AHL awarded him Goaltender of the Month for January, going 4-0-1 with a save percentage of 94.2%.

The kids are rolling in Belleville. It may have been a relatively quiet week for everyone else, but when the players closest to the NHL are on a tear, you just love to see it.

Silver Linings

• Not everything can be positive for Belleville, unfortunately, as Jonathan Davidsson is reported to be having concussion issues. He’s been out since the beginning of January, and now we know why. The Sens seemed pleased with what he provided in his couple short call-ups, so hopefully he can return to full health.
• Some more injury news: Olle Alsing injured his knee in practice this week and is expected to miss the next 6-8 weeks. At 23 years old, Alsing was on fire for the season’s first couple months, but has been nearly invisible since.
• Pierre Dorion was in Europe this week on a scouting trip. In an interview with Hockey News he touched on a bunch of Sens prospects, and had this to say about Alsing (translated):/

“He is a very good skater, he moves the puck well and defends himself well with the help of the club and has good gap control. He made a very good impression when he came over to our development camp and in the long term we see him as an NHL defenceman.”

• In the NCAA, Shane Pinto and Jakov Novak both scored at least a point-per-game, with Pinto being named the NCHC’s Rookie of the Week for the third time. He had two goals in as many games, one of which was assisted by Jacob Bernard-Docker.
• Viktor Lodin was sent down to the Allsvenskan again, after playing bottom line minutes in the SHL. He picked up an assist in two games this week.
• As the Cape Breton Eagles continue to surge, Kevin Mandolese continues to make a case to be signed, going 11-1-0 in his last twelve games with a save percentage of 93.4%.
• Lastly, a shoutout goes to Tony Ferrari who covers the Senators at Dobber Prospects. He released a bunch of prospect profile updates today, which you can find here./