Ottawa Senators Training Camp Update - September 23rd

Live NHL games are finally back! We no longer have to settle for the Ottawa Senators prospects; instead, we got to see a real game played against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday. They had some of their regulars playing such as Thomas Chabot, Shane Pinto, Drake Batherson, and Michael Amadio, but everyone else was either on the bubble for making the roster or will begin the year in the AHL or junior. Despite the lacklustre roster, they were able to eke out a 6-5 overtime win against a star-studded Leafs roster. Here are some takeaways and other things to note from training camp:

• We have to start off with Carter Yakemchuk, because...wow. He scored the overtime winner with a phenomenal move to get around Jake McCabe, and he made it look like he's done it a million times. I'm intrigued about giving him a 9-game trial to see what he can do. He played the third-most on the team with 23:02 and looked very poised next to Chabot.

• Jan Jenik was another standout as he had one goal and three assists in just 13:48 of ice time. Jenik was acquired for Egor Sokolov, and the 24-year-old has a chance at making the 4th line but he has some competition. He began the preseason with a bang though and looks like he could be a good depth option.
• Cole Reinhardt also had four points but with two goals and two assists. He had even less ice time at just 12:34 but made the most of it and almost had the game-winner with 10:42 left in the game. A William Nylander goal with 22 seconds left to make it 5-5 made it so Reinhardt's was no longer the game-winner though. Overall, he probably doesn't have much of a shot at making the team over Jenik, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Zack MacEwan, and Zack Ostapchuk, but it's great to see new contributors.
• Donovan Sebrango boarded Ryan Reaves quite hard, which Reaves did not like as that immediately led to a fight. Sebrango fell before the fight could really begin though, so not the best first impression on the season. However, he did surprisingly (because he has five goals in four AHL seasons) score to tie the game at four early in the third period, right after the Leafs had scored three in just three minutes.
• Another longshot to make the roster, Adam Gaudette, scored to make it 3-1 in the second period and he looked elated when it squeaked past Joseph Woll.
• Mads Søgaard played the entire game and didn't inspire much confidence. Some of the goals were not his fault, but Max Pacioretty's second goal to make it 4-3 for Toronto early in the third period was incredibly deflating as that was three goals against in three minutes. Despite Toronto only having two shots in the first period, they had 37 in the end, but 32 saves out of those is not good enough for him. He'll need to be much better if he wants to get the call-up when there is an injury.

• It was incredible to see 38-year-old Nikolay Kulemin play against his former team after being in Russia for so long. I doubt he'll make the team, but he did have an assist.
• Overall it was an encouraging game where they controlled the play for 40 minutes despite missing most of their star players and their third-string goalie. But preseason is preseason, there's only so much you can take from it.
• In other camp news, Linus Ullmark and Artem Zub had "maintenance days" on Sunday, but it doesn't sound like they'll be out for any period of time.
• These were the lines among players who didn't play on Sunday, so I wonder if we see any of these combinations on Tuesday at home against Toronto.

• Those lines above mention Josh Norris, so hopefully he'll be playing on Tuesday. He practiced yesterday, so that's good news. It's still not great having to feel like he's a ticking time bomb. However, Travis Green says that they're just being cautious with him.
• Lastly, Elliotte Friedman is confident that the Senators will make the playoffs this season. Can we check back to see if he's good with predictions? I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.