Senators Kick Off Rookie Showcase Tonight
Find out who’s at this year’s rookie tournament, when they play and where to watch
It’s the first sign of the new season getting started - the annual rookie tournament.
This year’s tournament is being held in home territory, hosted by Belleville. Apart from the location, there are some other changes for this year’s edition. The Maple Leafs have opted to participate in the Traverse City Prospect Tournament this year, with the Winnipeg Jets joining the Montreal Canadiens and the Sens in this one. There are also four games on the schedule this year, with the Sens and Jets playing each other twice. The first of those is tonight, the second is on Monday, and the Sens play the Habs on Saturday. Habs vs Jets rounds out the schedule on Sunday. All of the games are scheduled for 7pm starts.
TSN will be streaming all of the games on tsn.ca and through the TSN app and TSN Direct, with no blackout restrictions. The Belleville Senators will be streaming the games on their Facebook page, and TSN1200 will carry of each of the games on the radio.
Join us in the comments below to discuss the tournament as well.
The Sens have four goaltenders attending this year. Filip Gustavsson has been confirmed as the starter for tonight’s game. The plan for the other two games is to have Joey Daccord in the net for one of them, with Kevin Mandolese and Mads Sogaard splitting the remaining game.
The most anticipated name on the blue line is obviously Erik Brannstrom. Sens fans only got to see two games from him in the NHL and nine on the AHL last year after the trade. Brannstrom will be joined in the lineup by Clay Hanus, Conner McDonald, Jonathan Aspirot, Maxence Guenette, Miles Gendron, Nicholas Welsh, T.J. Melancon, Trenton Bourque.
The forward group contains a few more familiar names. Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson, and Logan Brown are all making a repeat appearance. We’ll also get to see Max Veronneau and Vitaly Abramov, and the first look at Josh Norris in a Sens jersey. The forwards are rounded out by Adam Capannelli, Andrew Sturtz, Jean-Christophe Beaudin, Jonathan Davidsson, Jonathan Gruden, Mark Kastelic, Maxim Trépanier, Nathan Todd and Parker Kelly.
You can check out the official roster here.
After this tournament wraps up on Monday, we’ll have a few days to wait before main training camp kicks off next Friday and pre-season games the following Tuesday.
