Z. Smith and Regin change numbers
Allen Panzeri, who was at the scrimmage in Kanata, confirmed Sens Chirp's story about Regin changing his number to 13. Zack Smith has also changed his number to 15. If top prospect Jared Cowen makes the team, he's expected to wear the number 2.
Mock expansion: The Ottawa Senators protected forwards
If you've been following the SB Nation NHL mock expansion draft, by now you probably know a few things: We're pretending the league is expanding to 32 teams, so the fake Winnipeg Jets (managed by Gabe Desjardins from Behind the Net) and the fake Quebec Nordiques (managed by the Globe and Mail's James Mirtle) will be trying to get the best out of what the rest of the league leave behind.
So far, the fake general managers of the Ottawa Senators (the writers here at Silver Seven) have release the protected lists for goalies and for defencemen. Today, we move on to the forwards.
There are a few ground rules to go over. First off, any player who's appeared in 49 or fewer NHL games is automatically exempt; for this reason, there was no need for us to protect Zack Smith or Bobby Butler. Secondly, we had to make sure to leave "at least two forwards who appeared in 40 games last season OR 70 games in the last two seasons combined." This wasn't a problem for us.
Alright, let's get things started with easiest and then second-easiest decisions:
Team can't give up Spezza for nothing. He's going to be protected. He's paid a hefty salary, but he earns it (at least as much as anyone in the NHL "earns" multiple millions of dollars). There are people out there who might want to see him traded, but you're not going to find any of those people fake-managing this Senators team.
Mock expansion: The Ottawa Senators protected defencemen
Yesterday, we started releasing the list of protected players for the Ottawa Senators, part of the process for SBN hockey's mock expansion draft. We made the initial decision of protecting only one goaltender in order to protect five defenders and nine forwards, and also announced that the one goaltender we're protecting is Brian Elliott.
Today, we're onto the defenders. We've got to choose five, but our choices will be guided not only by those players who will be most useful. We also need to leave some decent players available: Each team must leave unprotected at least one defenseman who appeared in 40 games last season OR 70 games in the last two seasons combined. On the plus side, we don't have to worry about any players who have played less than 50 games in the NHL, so obviously someone like Jared Cowen is exempt from the draft.
So let's get moving: Our protected defencemen include:
1. Sergei Gonchar: We're not going to leave the new guy unprotected. Although some fans are already writing this signing off as too much, too long, for a player who's too old, Gonchar was signed for a reason: He's one of the league's best blue line producers, and he should awaken the powerplay. We'll give him a chance to try before closing the book on him.
Mock expansion: The Ottawa Senators protected goalies
Last week, we mentioned SB Nation's NHL mock expansion draft: Basically, we polled readers to choose two cities for a fictional expansion of the National Hockey League. The winners were Winnipeg and Quebec City, bringing the two most recent Canadian-based teams back into the fold. The next step in the excercise? Every team blog will be coming up with their protected lists, based on current rosters.
The first choice in the process is how we, the fictional general managers of the Ottawa Senators in the alternate universe, want to build our protected list. As was the case in the NHL's last expansion ten years ago, teams have two choices: We were given the choice to protect either one goalie, five defencemen, and nine forwards OR two goalies, three defencemen, and seven forwards.
For us, the choice was easy: The first format, protecting one goaltender, five defencemen, and nine forwards.
Senators' head physician in critical condition
TSN is reporting that Dr. Donald Chow, the Ottawa Senators' head physician, is in critical condition after a motorcycle accident. Dr. Chow was riding his motorcycle when it slammed into the passenger side door of another car, and he was thrown from his bike and rushed to hospital.
He is currently listed as being in critical condition with severe head and chest injuries, while the driver of the vehicle suffered minor injuries.
Update: The Ottawa Sun is reporting that Dr. Chow is currently in a coma.
Our thoughts are with Dr. Chow, his family and his friends at this time.
Silver Nuggets: Petersson lighting up European Trophy
Here's a collection of stories for you on this fine Friday:
- Prospect Andre Petersson is lighting up the European Trophy tournament right now, having put up 4 goals and 4 assists in his first 6 games, which had him 3rd in points. At the time of writing, he had just added another goal in HV71's game against Tappara, bumping him up to 5 goals in 7 games. (European Trophy)
- Daniel Alfredsson spoke at the World Hockey Summit, giving his take on the differences between the European and North American game, and why he prefers the NHL's ice surface. (NHL.com)
- Our friends at Battle of Ontario are reporting that there will be two Senators vs. Leafs preseason games, both in Toronto, on September 21st and 22nd. (Battle of Ontario)
- Ken Warren wonders just how long 38-year-old Daniel Alfredsson can continue to lead the Senators' offense. (Gazette)
- CSN Washington picks Ottawa to finish 8th in the East. Of course, it's hard to take the article seriously when it calls Bobby Butler and Patrick Wiercioch as "two of the most sought-after college free agents at the end of the NCAA season." Right. (CSN Washington)
- Our friend James Gordon offers his own prognostication: the Senators will finish fourth in the East. (Citizen)
- Rumour has it Peter Regin is switching jersey numbers to #13 this season, so if you were planning on getting a Regin jersey, you might want to hold off on putting #43 on the back at this moment. (Sens Chirp)
SBN Hockey hosting a mock expansion mock draft!
Because hockey news isn't easy to come by at this point in the summer, the SBN Hockey blogs are teaming up for our 2010 mock expansion mock draft. Next week you'll see the protected lists for the league's current teams (including the Senators), but in the meantime we're polling the community on where the two teams should be: Choose two of Houston, Hamilton, Seattle, Quebec City, Kansas City, Portland, and Winnipeg.
Senators appoint Steve Stirling to assistant coach of Binghamton
Stirling has some experience in the AHL as the former head coach of the Norfolk Admirals and the Springfield Falcons, as well as in the NHL with the New York Islanders from 2003-2006. He was recently the former head coach of the Iserlohn Roosters, of the German Elite League (DEL).







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