Silver Nuggets: Rookie Tournament

If you happen to find yourself in London, ON sometime this weekend, consider checking out the annual rookie tournament between the Senators, Penguins, Canadiens, and Maple Leafs. The games are taking place at Budweiser Gardens, and you can check out their website for tickets and all necessary information. The Sens rookies take on the Leafs tonight at 7:35 p.m. (what's with the baseball start times?), the Pens at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and the Habs at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The tournament is a chance to check out the Sens rookies in person.

For a good breakdown of the Sens' roster, check out Sensfan90's primer piece. One quick note is that Nick Paul will not be at the tournament due to a hamstring injury. Randy Lee spoke to the media yesterday and confirmed that Paul is skating with player development consultant Shean Donovan. Paul should be fine to go by the time training camp rolls around, keeping him out is just a precaution. If you're wondering why Shane Prince isn't there, he's no longer on his ELC and therefore is ineligible.

A few interesting battles will show up at this tournament. Most notably, it will be the first time Chris Driedger and Matt O'Connor are competing for ice time. This tournament is mostly for fun, but as Jeff Ulmer noted yesterday, these two will continue to battle for the starting role the rest of the year. It should be a good chance to see some of the differences in the style each one plays.

Additionally, 2015 picks Thomas Chabot, Filip Chlapik, and Gabriel Gagne will be present. For many Sens fans, this will be the first chance to watch these players since they became part of the organization. It's too bad college-bound players lose their college eligibility by showing up, because it would've been good to get a look at Colin White.

In all, the rookie tournament looks to be a fun showcase of some of the up-and-coming talent on the roster. And after far too many months of no hockey, anything remotely resembling NHL hockey is a welcome treat.

Sens Links:

• Top 25 Under 25 may be over, but we're looking for your input for a reader-voted edition of the rankings [Silver Seven]
• Jeff asks if having a pair of rookie goaltenders will be an issue for the B-Sens [Silver Seven]
• Callum makes his top picks for Sens players who will be under the microscope this coming season: Cowen, Hoffman, and Hammond [Silver Seven]
• The schedule of the 54 TSN regional broadcast games was released yesterday [Senators]
• Joe Boughner reveals how Phillips passed on his assistant captainship to Lazar [Bonk's Mullet]
• SensChirp talks about the big expectations the team has for Patrick Wiercioch and Cody Ceci this coming season [SensChirp]
• SensChirp reader Pascal with a thoroughly-researched piece asking if the Sens should retire Chris Phillips' jersey when he retires [SensChirp]
• As great as ever, a SensNation hotstove [SensNation]
• It's been a while, but the SensNation podcast is back with a look at some of the big offseason storylines [SensNation]
• Nichols looks at what should be the swan song season for both Phillips and Neil [6th Sens]
• Nichols also had some thoughts on Randy Lee's chat with TSN 1200's In The Box [6th Sens]
• Wayne Scanlan looks a little more at Alfie's role with the organization for the coming year. It's not been finalized, since Alfie and Murray are still talking, but it's clear it will only be part-time this year since his family is still in Detroit [Citizen]
• Curtis Lazar predicts Chris Phillips will play this season [Citizen]
• Ken Warren picks five players to watch at the Sens' rookie camp [Warren]
• Peter Levi's latest thoughts on the Sens, including Phillips' injury and player projections using baseball techniques [Eye on the Sens]
• SenShot is looking for writers [SenShot]

Non-Sens Links:

• One great way to get ahead in a sport is to look at progress in other sports. Jack Han uses his interest in tennis to look at the meaning of quality of competition [Hockey Graphs]
  
• Travis Yost with another great article, this one looking at the ability of defencemen to limit high-danger shots. An interesting finding is that Marc Methot is one of the best in the league at this [TSN]
• The Leafs continue their quest to have their entire team on one-year deals to make for easy trade deadline bait, offering PTOs to Brad Boyes and Curtis Glencross [The Score]
• With all the World Cup of Hockey announcements this week, TSN projects the rosters for the Canadian team and the North American U-23 team. Interestingly, Craig Button has both Ceci and Lazar making the young squad [TSN]
• The World Cup of Hockey won't fill the void if NHL players stop going to the Olympics [Globe and Mail]