Ottawa Senators Prospect Update: North Dakota Are On Top

Ready to sop up some more of that prospect goodness? I sure am, so let’s dive right into this week’s update in the land of Ottawa Senators prospects!

Biggest Standouts

Alex Formenton

Speedy Gonzales himself takes the top spot in this week’s edition, having scored twice and adding three assists in Belleville’s three-game week. As one of the few prospects in Belleville who have yet to receive a call-up, he’s vaulted his scoring total all the way into 6th in the entire AHL, and 2nd amongst rookies behind Josh Norris.

We marvel plenty around these parts about Formenton’s separation speed — the clip below (an OT winner!) shows just how world-class his skating is.

Shane Pinto

It was a massive week for the trio of NoDak prospects, as they clinched the Penrose Cup as regular season NCAA champions. It came in a thrilling overtime game against Western Michigan University. The hero? None other than our very own, Shane Pinto.

Words from the freshman hero:

“I think that’s the best goal I’ve ever scored,” Pinto said. “Just everything about it. Winning it for the seniors. Winning the Penrose Cup. Just the whole moment is something I’ll never forget.

”It was insane. I really can’t gather my thoughts yet.”

The season really couldn’t be going much better for Pinto, who surpassed nearly all expectations placed upon him at the beginning of this season. He’s currently tied for 4th on North Dakota in scoring, with his P/GP ranking 8th in the NCAA amongst freshmen. His shooting is even better, as his 2.81 shots on goal per game ranks 5th amongst NCAA freshmen.

Mads Søgaard

With his fourth shutout of the season, and two goals allowed on 20 shots in his second game, Mads Søgaard was named the WHL goaltender of the week. His performance brings his save percentage of the season up to 90.3%, which is still a ways off from his 92.1% of 2018-19, but slowly improving following a slump in the middle of the season.

Silver Linings

• He’s been moving up and down between leagues as of late, but Josh Norris still took home the AHL’s Player of the Month honours, with an astounding 16 points in nine games. Oddly enough, though, he didn’t also win Rookie of the Month, although I guess he’s got to leave some of the awards for others.
• A trio of Sens prospects received game misconducts this week: Michael Carcone (Belleville), Chris Wilkie (Colorado College) and Jakov Novak (Bentley University). For Novak, it was his second game in a row receiving 15 penalty minutes.
• Troy Mann gave the update yesterday that Erik Brännström will be injured for 4-6 weeks, which lines up to around the start of the AHL playoffs. With Logan Brown already out too, those are two of Belleville’s top players who won’t be around down the stretch.
• A couple other key prospects not playing right now are Joey Daccord (day-to-day injury) and Marcus Högberg (personal reasons). Filip Gustavsson was given his first sight of NHL action from the bench against Pittsburgh, leaving Belleville’s goalie situation very thin at the moment.
• Johnny Gruden and Mark Kastelic had identical stat lines this week, each putting up a casual three goals and two assists, with 15/16 shots on goal. They’ve both been remarkably consistent this season.