Silver Nuggets: Recapping August and September to get you prepped for 2016-17

Training Camp

• Chirp and Joe previewed camp for us by highlighting the key storylines to watch for. [SensChirp, Bonk's Mullet]
• Chirp talked about the importance of "Boucher's players": Tom Pyatt and Mike Blunden, both of whom were signed right after Boucher agreed to be head coach. [SensChirp]
• After lots of talk, the Sens only ended up inviting one player to training camp on a PTO: ex-Canucks D Matt Bartkowski. He was cut last week. [Silver Seven, 6th Sens, Eye on the Sens, SensChirp]
• Guy Boucher spoke for 19 minutes at the start of training camp and had a TON of interesting things to say on the notion of culture, analytics, and rushing prospects. Thankfully, Callum transcribed it all for us. [Silver Seven]
• Training Camp started off on a somber note, with both Mark Stone and Clarke MacArthur leaving early with concussion problems. Stone should be healthy for Game 1, whereas MacArthur's status is still uncertain. [Silver Seven - Stone, MacArthur, SensChirp]
• The MacArthur concussion generated a ton of buzz, partly because it's is 3rd serious concussion in 2 years and partly because he's so important to the franchise. [Silver Seven, 6th Sens, Eye on the Sens, Ottawa Citizen]
• Your preseason game recaps, courtesy of SensChirp and the Ottawa Citizen. [v. Toronto - SensChirp, Citizen; v. Buffalo - SensChirp, Citizen; v. Montreal - SensChirp, Citizen; v. Winnipeg - SensChirp, Citizen; v. Toronto - SensChirp, Citizen; v. Buffalo - SensChirp, Citizen]
• Want to know which players were in the first two sets of cuts? We have you covered! [Silver Seven - Cuts #1, Cuts #2]
• The final set of cuts came on Wednesday, and left the Sens with 25 players entering into (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend. [Silver Seven]
• Callum transcribed two Guy Boucher interviews where he spoke about Karlsson, Puempel, and the concept of pace (1) and then his new system (2). [Silver Seven - Boucher 1, Boucher 2]
• After finishing 3rd in the league in preseason points, Joe introduces us to Phil Varone. [Bonk's Mullet]
• Nichols reflects on the end of camp by penning a piece about Boucher's love of the *process* and his plan for the 2016-17 season. [6th Sens]
• The Sens Callups crew previews opening week as the 2016-17 season gets underway. [Sens Callups]/

Prospects

• Most of our August content was centered around the Top 25 Under 25 series. Check out where your favourite prospect fell in our recap, and supplement it by reading our staff answers to how we came up with the rankings! [Silver Seven T25U25 - Recap, Staff Questions #1, Staff Questions #2]
• Trevor then had Hockey Prospectus' Craig Smith on the podcast to review our list and to give his ratings. [Silver Seven]
• Nichols reviewed the prospect lists of ESPN's prospect insider, Corey Pronman. [6th Sens - League-wide, Sens-centric]
• Episode 18 of the Battle of Ontario podcast featured special guest John Paddock: the current head coach of Filip Ahl's Regina Pats and ex-Sens bench boss. [Silver Seven]
• Andreas Englund has made his way over to North America for the first time. What's in store for the young blueliner? [Silver Seven]
• On a similar note, new BSens D Macoy Erkhamps has been off the radar his entire career, going undrafted and without a hint of NHL attention before he lit up the WHL in his final season. Will he be an offensive contributor for the BSens in his rookie AHL year? [Silver Seven]
• Nichols transcribed a Pierre Dorion interview back on Sept. 13 where the Sens GM touched on the expectations for many prospects, including Matt Puempel and Matt O'Connor. [6th Sens]
• These players aren't exactly prospects, but they're young Sens with a lot to prove in 2016-17. Who are we talking about? [Silver Seven]
• There wasn't a ton of coverage from rookie camp, but Chirp previewed the annual event, discussed standouts, and even had a game recap of the camp finale. [SensChirp - Camp preview, standouts, finale recap]
• After much internal debate, the Sens decided to sign 2015 2nd rounder Gabriel Gagne, allowing him to turn pro with the Binghamton Senators this season. [Silver Seven]
• The surprise of training camp was 2016 mid-round pick Maxime Lajoie, who the Senators signed to an Entry Level Deal before sending him back to Swift Current. [Silver Seven]
• Chirp's "One to Watch" series profiled Casey Bailey and Logan Brown. [SensChirp - Bailey, Brown]
• Jeff recapped two BSens preseason games, both vs. Rochester. [Silver Seven - v. Rochester I, v. Rochester II]
• Get a preview on all of the Sens junior-aged prospects in my 2016-17 prospect preview! [Silver Seven]/

Offseason Preview(s)

• Ross asked each team's SBN blog 3 Questions about their offseason so that we could get caught up on all of the changes around the league! [Silver Seven 3Q's - Devils, Isles, Jackets, Canes, Flyers, Pens, Rangers, Capitals, Preds, Blues, Stars, Wild, Avs, Jets, Hawks, Yotes, Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Kings]
• Want some reasons to get amped for the new NHL season? Callum has some league-wide reasons. [Silver Seven]
• There's a ton of offseason content spread over a couple of Callum and Alex's Battle of Ontario podcast. Episode 17 recapped the busiest day of the offseason for Sens archrivals, the Montreal Canadiens, while the dynamic duo put together a two-part series just on the Atlantic Division to get listeners up to speed on changes within a much more competitive division in 2016-17. [Battle of Ontario - Episode 17, Atlantic Division #1, Atlantic Division #2]
• What about the Sens competition in the rest of the Eastern Conference? Trevor, and special guest Scott Wheeler, have you covered in Episode 5 of the Cost per Pointcast! [Silver Seven]
• Chirp shares his predictions for the league standings. Do you agree with them? [SensChirp]
• Trevor predicted who will take home the big awards at the end of the year, and unfortunately for Mr. Shackles, I disgree with everything. What do you think? [Silver Seven]

Sens Season Previews

• Trevor had an informative two-part series that has five reasons the upcoming season can go well, and then five reasons the upcoming season can go poorly. Chirp chimes in with some reasons for optimism as well. Gotta hear both sides! [Silver Seven - Optimism, Pessimism, SensChirp]
• Although the coaching change will have an unknown impact on the team, Trevor took a look at five Sens players who may see a dip in their performance this season. [Silver Seven]
• Brian and his famous granny previewed the Sens 2016-17 season in Episode 1 of his YouTube video series. [Bonk's Mullet]
• Who doesn't love player projections???? Agree/Disagree with Callum's point estimates in the comments! [Silver Seven]
• Nichols transcribed and commented on a Pierre Dorion media availability on Sept. 16 where the Sens GM gave his outlook for the 2016-17 season. Somewhat obvious note: he expects the team to make the playoffs. [6th Sens]
• We asked what y'all expect from the Sens as a team this season. The answer: overwhelmingly in favour of winning a round or two in the playoffs. [Silver Seven]
• What happens if the Sens don't make it? Joe goes through the 'nuclear option' [Bonk's Mullet]
• Chirp has a fun set of 10 questions that help preview the important storylines of the 2016-17 Sens season. Participate and see how everyone else voted! [SensChirp]
• Varada walks us through his excitement for the upcoming season. How excited are you compared to previous years? [WTYKY]
• Our annual Sterling Prediction series is well under way. Chime in via the comments section so you can say that you were right at the end of the year! [Silver Seven Sterling Predictions - Turris v. Brassard, Shots against, Mike Hoffman, PP & PK, Smith v. Pageau, Claesson v. Borowiecki, Scoring Leader]
• Michaela, Callum, and Nate contributed to SBNation's NHL season preview by answering three questions about the Sens on Derrick Brassard, the D corps, and Guy Boucher's (potential) impact. [Silver Seven]/

World Cup of Hockey

• The lone Senator to play in the World Cup, Erik Karlsson was featured in an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and had a ton of interesting things to say. [Silver Seven]
• Ol' Bonk had a guide to watching the Sens at the World Cup of Hockey that made me laugh really hard. [Bonk's Mullet]
• Just because Karlsson was the only Senator selected doesn't mean that there weren't other players who *should* have been there, argues Ross. [Silver Seven]
• Episode 16 of the Battle of Ontario podcast focused on the World Cup of Hockey, among other things. [Silver Seven] /

Miscellaneous

• Mark your calendars for December 29th because it's Daniel Alfredsson Jersey Retirement Day! [Silver Seven, 6th Sens, WTYKY, SensChirp]
• Michaela's interview with Cassie Campbell-Pascal is one of my favourite pieces of the offseason. [Silver Seven]
• Chirp has a piece on an August Pierre Dorion interview, where the Sens GM talks about the importance of Derrick Brassard to the roster this season and the rationale behind the trade. [SensChirp]
• The last RFA to sign got his deal done a couple weeks before camp opened, just like Pierre Dorion promised. [Silver Seven - contract, analysis, 6th Sens, SensChirp]
• Do people really know what a "top-six forward" is? Or a first line centre? Trevor took a look at forwards league wide in order to create some thresholds. [Silver Seven]
• Chirp profiles Marc Methot, and the important year he has to have after a bit of a rough 2015-16 season. [SensChirp]
• I forgot that Chris Phillips retired this year. Thankfully, Nichols didn't, and instead wrote a wonderful piece on the 1996 1st overall pick. [6th Sens]
• Speaking of old players name Chris, is this the final season for Chris Neil? [SensChirp]
• In a fun piece, Eric Lapointe reworked the old Sens 'centurion' logo to hypothesize what it could look like on a modern Sens jersey. I like it. [SensNation]
• Capital Gains pens a satirical piece on the Sens Hometown Tour and the legend of Spartacat. [Bonk's Mullet]
• A SensChirp reader wrote a great piece on the wonderful Mark Stone. [SensChirp]
• To celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary, the Sens are bidding for an outdoor game. The kicker: they want it to be held at Parliament Hill. Brad takes us through the ramifications of this request. [Silver Seven]
• What do Marc Methot and Capital Gains have in common? They both love Harambe. [Bonk's Mullet]
• The Sens lost a key piece of their Hockey Operations team to the new Las Vegas group, with Chief Amateur Scout Bob Lowes joining the unnamed franchise in a player personnel role. [Silver Seven, 6th Sens]
• Rob reviewed NHL 17. #EASHLForever [Bonk's Mullet]
• After much speculation, the Sens AHL franchise relocation rumours were confirmed: the Binghamton Senators will become the Belleville Senators in 2017-18. [Silver Seven, 6th Sens]
• Callum previews Mike Hoffman's season now that he doesn't have to fight for a contract every game. [Silver Seven]
• A Chirp reader had a fun piece on 10 things every Sens fan should know. I knew all but one! On a similar note, James ran through some fun moments in Sens history, featuring video! [SensChirp, WTYKY]
• Rob chimed into the ongoing Brassard v. Zibanejad debate by looking at their... off-ice contributions, while Peter gave his opinion on the controversial trade. [Bonk's Mullet, Eye on the Sens]
• Brad penned an open letter to Cyril Leeder to talk about the Sens broadcast options, among other things. [Silver Seven]
• Chirp has a piece on the third-pair, and argues that the team should at least give Thomas Chabot a 9-game tryout. Given all that has happened in training camp, this seems likely. [SensChirp, Ottawa Citizen]
• The final preseason Battle of Ontario podcast recapped the Sens and Leafs preseasons and turned their attention to the Winnipeg Jets, who have to come to some sort of solution with young rearguard Jacob Trouba. [Silver Seven]
• Missed a lot of the offseason news but want to get caught up in 30 minutes? Chet & Luke have you covered! Alternatively, James and Luke (double-dipper!) ran through some of the key Sens offseason highlights in an entertaining piece over at WTYKY. [Silver Seven - The Chet Sellers & Luke Peristy Podcast, WTYKY]