Ottawa Senators Prospect Team of the Week

Forwards

I had an easy enough time rooting for Angus Crookshank as that prospect with the cool name but with the added intrigue of coming back after an entire season lost, how can any Sens fan not love Crookshank? At his current pace, he should have no trouble hitting the 20-25 goal mark in Belleville this season (his first proper AHL season). Although the points have tapered off somewhat of late, Crookshank still manages just under three shots per game and he could reasonably end the season as Belleville’s leading goal-scorer.

I remember this one time that I foolishly believed a trade from Vancouver to Winnipeg would mean less individual production for Zack Ostapchuk as a smaller fish (not literally) in a bigger pond. Anyway, I love when the universe proves me foolish. It turns out that playing on a better team with better linemates means putting up better numbers. Who could have seen that coming?! Only once since the trade has Ostapchuk gone a game without a shot on goal (and three other occasions without a point). While technically still a dropoff since he left Vancouver, Ostapchuk still averages over a point and two shots per game in Winnipeg.

You can pretty much copy and paste everything I said about Ostapchuk for Carson Latimer. Latimer has likewise seen somewhat of a dip since his trade from Prince Albert to Winnipeg but still gets on average two shots per game and has eight points in his last eight games for what that’s worth. Latimer didn’t have quite the same confidence with the puck upon his arrival with his new team but has started to shoot more with seven multi-shot efforts over that same eight-game span.

Defence

I don’t know that many players embody the injury woes and the resilience of the Belleville Senators like Jonathan Aspirot. After missing substantial time to start the season, Aspirot has quickly resumed his role as an anchor for the Senators’ defence. While he, like most of his teammates, has struggled to generate offence consistently of late, Aspirot can still absolutely rip it when given the opportunity. I would love to see Ottawa reward Aspirot with a call-up down the stretch (assuming some veteran defenders leave at the deadline) in the spirit of getting more seasoning in for the likes of Lassi Thomson and Jacob Bernard-Docker.

The hometown kid continues to carve his name in Sens prospect lore as Jorian Donovan sits fifth in OHL scoring among defenders (top-ten in goals) at the ripe age of 18. Unlike a lot of the other prospects covered here, Donovan has put up points consistently for most of the season (with a cold streak in the fall notwithstanding). Since November, Donovan has not abated in his generation of shots and points on a nightly basis. The Bulldogs as a team have picked up some steam of late in their quest for the OHL postseason and Donovan deserves credit as a foundational part of their roster.

Goaltender

The circumstances suck, a lot, but the season of Mads Søgaard has arrived and quite dramatically at that! Talk about a crucible, Søgaard and Kevin Mandolese, with just a handful of NHL games’ experience between them, face the prospect of four games in the next seven days. Last night Søgaard looked more than up to the challenge but none of us would complain if the Sens tightened up defensively just a touch in front of the very young and very tall netminder (*looks at Sens’ defensive depth chart without Jake Sanderson, stares*).

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