Third in a flurry of free agent signings this week, the Ottawa Senators announced the signing of prospect Cody Bass to a one-year, two-way contract. Rumours are that the deal comes with an NHL salary of $500k (h/t to @thejpiga and @TomSENS) .

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According to reports out of News 88.9 fm in Saint John, Ottawa Senators prospect Mike Hoffman is expected to sign an entry-level deal with the team on Friday. No terms on the deal are available yet, but expect it to be a three-year, two-way, entry-level deal.

Drafted in the fifth round (130 overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Hoffman was named the QMJHL Most Valuable Players while with the Saint John Sea Dogs last season. He put up 46G and 85P in 56GP last year, bringing his career numbers to 227P (122G and 105A) in 180GP.

A natural centreman, Hoffman will definitely compete for a roster spot with Ottawa, who need scoring wherever possible. With the logjam of forwards on one-way contracts, though, Hoffman will likely spend a year playing in the AHL, competing alongside a huge group of newly-signed young offensive players, which will probably be a good thing for him.

When he's not defying gravity, Roman Wick will reportedly be playing for the Ottawa or Binghamton Senators this upcoming season.

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(UPDATE: This deal was finally confirmed by the Senators today: One-year, two-way, entry-level contract for Wick.)

A number of reports (in French, German [twice], and Italian) out of Europe have suggested that right winger Roman Wick has excercised an out-clause with his SEL Swiss Elite League club and come to terms on a one-year, two-way contract with the Ottawa Senators. Although the deal has yet to be confirmed by any North American sources, it has been rumoured to be in the works for quite some time.

Drafted in the fifth round (156 overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Wick was a largely forgotten prospect until this past February, where he had a coming out of sorts playing for Switzerland in the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Wick scored 2G and 3A in 5GP for the Swiss, and opened a lot of eyes in the process.

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After the NHL lockout, the Ottawa Senators got pretty lucky: Against very long odds, the Sens moved up to ninth overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, and were poised to make their highest overall pick since 2001. When they drafted Brian Lee, there wasn't much known about him; he was pretty big, and he was putting up big numbers in Minnesota high school hockey. Given the Senators' blue line at the time, which included Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Andrej Meszaros, Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov, and Brian Pothier, it looked like he was going to be given time to develop in the NCAA, and even the AHL, before being asked to step up to Ottawa's squad.

And he was given a few years. Two at the University of North Dakota, and he put up 53P (6G, 47A) in 82GP and looked ready to take the next step--which was Binghamton. Lee had a few games in 2007-08, but wasn't expected to stick in the NHL, and didn't, although he put up good numbers in a shortened season with Bingo--and actually looked like one of the Senators' best defenders in their ugly first-round sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Higher expectations came in 2008-09, and Lee played 53 games with Ottawa that season (mostly in the second half), registering 13P in 53GP. He was expected to get a real shot at full-time minutes this past season, but was outplayed by all of Erik Karlsson, Alex Picard, Chris Campoli, and Matt Carkner, and--perhaps a victim of his two-way contract--was demoted to the AHL again, taking a serious step back in his career. It was hoped Lee would use the demotion as motivation and step into a leadership role with Binghamton, but instead he wallowed and put up his worst AHL season statistically (on a per-game basis) in 2009-10. Late in the season, though, Lee was given a two-year contract, and this time he wouldn't be a victim of a two-way clause: It was an NHL-only deal.

It seems like we've been waiting for an eternity to see Lee step up and stake his claim on the Senators' NHL roster, but it's worth noting that he's still only 23 years old. The journey has seemed longer because he's been given short stints in the NHL, and those raised expectations for the following season. It certainly hasn't been a conventional path to the NHL (high school, USHL, NCAA, AHL, NHL, AHL... and so on), but with another shot at the NHL this season, everyone in Ottawa is wondering: Is Brian Lee finally ready to take the next step?

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For anyone who hasn't been following the Ottawa Senators player blog recently, I highly recommend you check it out. Prospect defenceman Bryce Aneloski, drafted in the seventh round (196 overall) of the 2010 NHL entry draft, has been blogging just about every day about his experiences at the Sens' prospect development camp, and he's offered some interesting insight into the process.

Aneloski's put together six posts so far on the experience: "A whole new world", "So far, so good", "One for the fans", "We're high on bonding", "Preparing for battle", and "Some fun and games". He talks about everything, from the experience of being drafted (he was at the zoo when it happened, apparently), his St. Louis Blue fandom as a kid, his roomie (Ruslan Bashkirov --not much in the way of conversation, as you might expect), and the general types of activities that the prospects are tasked with at the development camp.

Although it's rare for a seventh-round draft pick to make the NHL, Aneloski seems to have his head in the right place. Considering his huge offensive numbers last season (54P in 60GP with the USHL's Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) and the fact that he's heading to the University of Nebraska-Omaha next season, he seems to be doing what he can to increase his chances. Always a good sign. An over-ager already (he's 20 years old), Aneloski's a late bloomer--and will still likely have a few seasons of college hockey before really getting a shot at pro--whether that's AHL or NHL. A long way off, but he's obviously excited about it.

Bruce Bennett - Getty Images

No one can be told what The Matrix is, Neo. You have to see it for yourself.

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In case you haven't heard, on Tuesday the Ottawa Senators started their annual development camp. Many of Ottawa's top prospects are attending the camp including Jared Cowen, who did only drills last year because of his leg injury, Robin Lehner, Ottawa's only goalie prospect who is going to be playing in Binghamton next year, and Patrick Wiercioch, who, according to Ian Mendes, "wouldn't have left school if (he) didn't think (he) had a legitimate shot to make the team". Also joining them will be all 4 of Ottawa's 2010 draft picks, bringing the total to 31 players attending the camp. The camp will last until July 5th.

Click here for the full roster of invites as well the drills and practices that will be occurring. The Mayor at Sens Town went to the first day, and offers his thoughts on certain players along with some photos of the action (Spoiler alert: He gave Brad Peltz player of the scrimmage honours). 

More prospect news after the jump...

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Harry How - Getty Images

Jakub Culek, the Ottawa Senators third-round draft pick, puts on his best "Oh, what are you doing here?" face for the cameras and the 2010 NHL Entry in Los Angeles, California.

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You can always count on Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray to throw a curve ball on draft day. Although the Sens only went into the draft with five picks, Murray still kept fans on their toes by trading away the Senators first-round draft pick (16th overall) to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for defence prospect David Rundblad. As the draft went into its second day, the Senators also drafted LW Jakub Culek, RW Markus Sorensen, RW Mark Stone, and D Bryce Aneloski.

More on those four later, though; let's start with the acquisition of Rundblad. Although there is certainly initial disappointment at the lack of a first-round pick (for the first time in franchise history), the acquisition of Rundblad is almost like drafting an overager; the Swedish defenceman was drafted by the Blues in the first round (17 overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, so is a year closer to the NHL than anyone the Senators could have drafted would have been.

Looking superficially at his career numbers, Rundblad's statistics are less than impressive for Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Elite League, it's almost to be expected for younger players; keep in mind that Erik Karlsson, who's played with Rundblad in past World Junior Championships, had significantly better per-game production as a rookie in the NHL than he ever did in the SEL. Still, outgoing Senators scout Anders Forsberg had nothing but good things to say about Rundblad, wondering why St. Louis would trade such a promising prospect and calling him a powerplay force who reminds him of Karlsson--but bigger.

(More on Rundblad and the Senators' draft picks after the jump... )

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via www.ushl.com

With their final pick, the Ottawa Senators picked Bryce Aneloski. He's a 6'2", 205lb offensive defenseman who had a major breakout last year for his USHL team, the Cedar Rapids Roughriders, posting an impressive 54 points (15G, 39A) in 60 games. He led all defensemen in the league in scoring, and earned All-USHL First Team honours. Ottawa had interviewed him back in March (perhaps on the suggestion of teammate and fellow Senators property Jeff Costello), and clearly he had good enough answers to get himself drafted.

Aneloski will be playing at the University of Nebraska-Omaha next year under great head coach Dean Blais, who recently led the USA to a World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal. In a recent interview with McKeen's, Aneloski discussed the draft, his upcoming stint in college, and his progression as a hockey player. Here's how he described himself:

Well, I think I'm a good puck-moving defenseman. I think I can make a good outlet pass. I think I can play good stick-on-stick in the d-zone and stuff like that. I'd say the biggest strength that's come this year has been my play in the offensive zone, just making a little bit more stickhandles, like the feel of the puck and stuff like that, and I think my shot, too, just by working at it this summer.

It's worth noting, however, that Aneloski is an overager twice over. He was ranked 157th among North American skaters in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft but was passed over by every team, and the same the following year. Obviously, the Senators decided that he had enough promise to justify drafting him as an overager rather than risk having to wait until after his college career. Let's face it -- in the seventh round, it's not a bad choice to take someone who is making big strides in their game.