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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)
  

A collection of Senators-related stories for your enjoyment:

• Qualifying offers have been extended to RFAs Peter Regin, Chris Campoli, Nick Foligno, and Jesse Winchester. (Sun)
• James Cybulski of TSN offers his take on the Jason Spezza situation in the eloquently titled "Be careful what you wish for, Spezza haters". (TSN)
• Our friend Jeremy Milks points out the interesting divide between the major sports media in Ottawa (who seem to be heavily promoting the idea of a Jason Spezza trade) and the blogging community (who tend to be a part of the "keep Spezza" camp). (Black Aces)
• The Senators realize it will be hard to move up in the draft without a second round pick, but may be interested in moving down in order to get an extra pick or two. (Sun)
• The official NHL schedule was released: home opener is October 8th against Buffalo, and Dany Heatley is in town December 2nd. (Citizen)
• There will be two official Ottawa Senators draft parties Friday night: one taking place at Bert's Bar in Scotiabank Place and one at the Boston Pizza location at 61 Boul. de la Gappe in Gatineau. (Senators)
  
• In case you missed it, the Bobby Ryan vs. Ryan Getzlaf sketch from the NHL Awards was pretty great. (NHL.com)

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Here are some quick links:

• ESPN's Pierre Lebrun has a quote from Andy Sutton's agent, Pat Morris: "He'd like to stay in Ottawa, but talks with them have been slow as they try to sign [Anton] Volchenkov first." Morris is also the agent of Matt Cullen, and he expressed that Ottawa has a great deal of interest in resigning Matt as well. (ESPN)
• Binghamton Senators goalie CHRIS HOLT! has decided to sign with Dynamo Riga of the KHL. He no doubt did this because with Mike Brodeur and Robin Lehner in Bingo, there's not much room for him this season. (Twitter)
• Yahoo! Sports' list of the top 50 unrestricted free agents includes Anton Volchenkov at #3 and Matt Cullen at #32. (Yahoo!)
• The Ottawa Senators have released their preseason schedule (Senators):
  Tuesday, Sept. 21, Ottawa at Toronto
  Wednesday, Sept. 22, Ottawa at Toronto
  Friday, Sept. 24, Ottawa at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
  Saturday, Sept. 25, Montreal at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
  Tuesday, Sept. 28, Kraft Hockeyville, Ottawa vs Buffalo, Dundas, Ont.
  Wednesday, Sept. 29, Toronto at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
  Friday, Oct. 1, Ottawa at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
  Saturday, Oct. 2, New York Rangers at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
• Our friends at The 6th Sens have a great new podcast up to prepare you for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft that features Pierre Doiron, Director of Player Personnel for the Ottawa Senators. (The 6th Sens)
• Listen to the sweet voice of Ryan Shannon as he talks on the phone about his summer, the World Cup, charity, and more. (Sens TV)

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It's been a while since I did one of these, but a few Ottawa Senators headlines are coming out as the off-season moves onward:

• TSN's Scott Cullen takes a look at the Sens' off-season game plan. (TSN)
• Unfortunately, the Senators don't have much cap room to put their off-season strategy into action. (Citizen)
• Extra! Extra! Anton Volchenkov is selling his house. But let's take a step back... he's probably leaving, but selling his house doesn't mean it's a done deal. (Sun)
• Alex Kovalev is apparently an untradeable asset. I'm not surprised, but I think if he can recover from his injury he'll be a good guy to have around next season. (Sun)
• Oh, and there's no market for Jason Spezza. Which brings about two questions: Why are people still looking to trade our number one centre, and if we were (we're not, by the way), any GM not interested would have to be crazy. And a third question, I guess, being why one would ask a former GM who's looking for work (Doug MacLean) about what current GMs are thinking. (Sun)
• We'll see CHL teams in NHL11 next year?!?! I'm getting it so I can play as Mike Hoffman's Saint John Sea Dogs. (From the Rink)

A few recent headlines about the Ottawa Senators:

• Nick Foligno's written some thoughts heading into the 2010 World Championships, where he'll represent the United States. Apparently his first game will be Friday against Germany... and it will be outdoors, in front of 75,000 people. That's amazing. (Sens)
• Peter Regin (Denmark) and Erik Karlsson (Sweden) are also at the tournament in Germany, and they faced off against each other in a pre-tournament game on Wednesday. Sweden won 10-3. (Sens)
• Regin's also one of the Top 10 young guns in the tournament, at least according to some obscure (but still nice looking) blog. (School your Pool)
• Daniel Alfredsson had hernia surgery this week, and apparently it was a success--that's a good sign. (Citizen)
• Alfredsson is one of the best forwards in the league by yet another measure: QualComp. (Copper & Blue)
• Zack Smith's ready for his NHL rookie season next year. After seeing what he could do in the playoffs this year, I'm ready for it, too. (Sens)
• Ryan Shannon is heading home to Darien, Connecticut to take part in the second Big Assist fundraiser, which goes towards supporting Connecticuters living with spinal cord injuries. (Darien Times)

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Here are your Ottawa Senators headlines for today:

• Don Brennan and Bruce Garrioch gave their grades for the Ottawa Senators 2009-10 season. I actually don't have a big problem with (m)any of them. (Sun)
• Unreal: All of Chris Phillips, Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek, and Alex Kovalev are facing off-season surgeries. Some more serious than others. (TSN)
• Ian Mendes takes a look at the Sens' ten biggest questions of this off-season. Note: "Who will demand a trade?" is not on the list. (Sportsnet)
• Nick Foligno is one Senator player who'll represent his country at the 2010 World Hockey Championships; he'll play for Team USA. (Sens)
• Apparently Anton Volchenkov, on the other hand, told a Russian paper he's "not planning a trip to Germany" for the World Championships. (RussianHockeyFans)
• Meanwhile, both Jason Spezza and Chris Phillips offered a preemptive decline for their invitations to the World Championships. Mike Fisher said he hasn't been invited yet, but I don't know why he wouldn't want to spend more time with his fiance... (Sportsnet)

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• Seriously, can we pre-tire Daniel Alfredsson's #11 yet? A pulled stomach muscle... I can't imagine. (Citizen)
• Former Senator Jason York looks at the valuable experience Ottawa's young guns will have gained from even their short playoff run. (Sun)
• Of course, with the off-season now officially upon us, eyes turn to the salary cap, and how our free agents might fit under it. Bruce Garrioch looks at some of the inevitable changes that could happen. (Sun)
• Ottawa's going to do everything they can to re-sign Anton Volchenkov, though. (TSN)
• Some of the Senators big-money contracts are definitely going to make free agent signings tough this year. (Gazette)
• And who knows, with some 'next generation' players ready to step up (Erik Karlsson, Peter Regin, Nick Foligno, Zack Smith), perhaps Bryan Murray's going to look to move out some of the old guard (Filip Kuba, Alex Kovalev, Jonathan Cheechoo, even *sniff* Shean Donovan). (Vancouver Sun)
• Roy MacGregor does a review of the season. (The Globe and Mail)

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Here are some stories to read while you wait for the puck to drop on Game Six:

• In an unsurprising move, there are no changes to the line up tonight. Pascal Leclaire starts in net, while Shean Donovan starts on the fourth line. (Sens Twitter)
  
• An interesting look at the dehydration caused by marathon NHL playoff games, like the one we witnessed Thursday night. (Globe & Mail)
• An encouraging stat: Ottawa has won three straight game sixes. A discouraging stat -- they were all in 2003 or 2004, which makes it completely irrelevant. (Mendes)
• Don Brennan considers the morning after the 4-3 triple-OT win to be "the greatest morning in franchise history." And people say hockey fans have short memories? (Sun)
• The Citizen disagrees, placing it fifth on a list of the biggest playoff games in Sens' history (Citizen)
• Puck Prospectus has a list of the top 100 NHL prospects, and three Senators make the list: Patrick Wiercioch (17), Jared Cowen (63), Robin Lehner (76). (Puck Prospectus)
  
• Some terrible news to report, too -- a man in South Fayette, Pennsylvania has allegedly killed his wife after an argument caused by the triple-overtime game between the Senators and Penguins. (National Post)