Ottawa Senators Training Camp Check-In and Preseason Game 1 Preview: Sept. 26th

We’ve all been enjoying the start of training camp, but now the real fun begins. Roster cuts are being made, and the team is gearing up for their first preseason game.

• The Sens played an intra-squad game yesterday, and Team White won 3-2 in overtime. You can watch the whole thing on the official Ottawa Senators YouTube channel:/

• Intra-squad games are always a little bit silly, since players not named Patrick Sieloff are usually pretty concerned with not injuring themselves or their teammates. Still, the game featured some very exciting offense. The Norris and White goals stood out especially.
• Of course, watching Sens forwards walk around opposing defensemen is all fun and games until you remember that the opposing defensemen are... also... Ottawa Senators players... but on the bright side, Matt Murray didn’t give up a single goal, and I’d say plenty of defensemen had good games. Brännström even scored the first goal of the game.
• Coach DJ Smith spoke to the media after the scrimmage. Like most of the press conferences from this preseason, it’s a little bit difficult to follow because you can’t hear the reporters’ questions. If you’re able to figure out what they’re talking about, though, it’s a good listen. Overall, it sounds like he’s happy with the squad, but looking forward to those exhibition games against other teams. As he says at the very beginning of the video, that’s going to be the real test./

• The coach was especially impressed with Zack Ostapchuk and Roby Jarventie. I would also personally say that Colin White had a pretty good game.
• Following the intra-squad game, Ben Roger, Chandler Romeo and Carson Latimer were all released from training camp to join their CHL teams. That means that fellow CHL players Ridly Greig, Zack Ostapchuk, Philippe Daoust and Leevi Meriläinen have all impressed the organization enough to earn at least another day with the big club./

Roster update: The #Sens have released three players from the team's training camp roster; defencemen Ben Roger and Chandler Romeo and forward Carson Latimer. All three players have been assigned to their respective @CHLHockey clubs.

— Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) September 25, 2021

• The Ottawa Senators will face the Winnipeg Jets at 8pm tonight in Winnipeg. The Sens have already released their roster for the game, although we don’t know what the lines and defense pairings will be. As expected, it’s mostly non-NHLers. The only established players on the list are Artem Zub, Austin Watson, Victor Mete, Josh Brown and Erik Brännström. You may also recognize Egor Sokolov, Shane Pinto, Alex Formenton and Parker Kelly, as well as a few established AHLers. The goalies will be Forsberg, Gustavsson and Meriläinen./

The #Sens have named a 25-man roster for Sunday's preseason tilt against the @NHLJets ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ndUOiiZozF

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) September 25, 2021

• You may notice that the team has chosen to bring in four established NHL defenseman. Mete and Brännström have been playing on the same pairing for a while, so it’s probably a good bet that they’ll be together, but we don’t know if Zub and Brown will be split up to give some of the younger guys more of an opportunity.
• You can watch the game on NHL Network or TSN5, and listen along at TSN 1200. It’s good to be back!
• Since it’s still preseason, we will not be putting up a separate preview and open thread for tonight’s game. You may discuss the game in this thread!/

Go Sens Go.