Dev camp rosters, Tkachuk contract negotiations, and a league rebrand

It’s the Thursday edition of Links, News and Notes!

At long last, a little bit of Ottawa Senators news.

  • Here’s your first sign that the offseason is coming to an end: the Sens development camp starts this Saturday, September 11th. The team released its roster yesterday. Notable absences are NCAA players Jake Sanderson, Tyler Kleven and Tyler Boucher, who won’t be able to attend because of NCAA rules. The NCAA does not allow players to miss school for development camp, so this is less because of COVID rules and more because COVID forced the team to hold their development camp a little later than usual, meaning that it interferes with school this year.
  • And of course, we can’t talk about development camp - which will precede training camp - without bringing up the latest updates on the Tkachuk contract negotiations. Reports have been mixed. Obviously, the team has to get the deal done no matter what, and Dorion sounds confident that the next update will be a contract announcement. Brady is not in Ottawa at the moment and will not be in Ottawa until he has a contract. It sounds like the Sens have made him an 8-year offer, but the issue is money. * Insert a long, very tired sigh *
  • Switching gears a bit, the NWHL has officially rebranded to the Premier Hockey Federation, or PHF. They’ve given a few reasons for the rebrand, ranging from wanting to distance themselves from past controversies to wanting their image to be more inclusive of trans men and non-binary players. The Victory Press and The Ice Garden - two of the best places to go for women’s sports coverage - both wrote about the rebrand. One interesting thing to note: this rebrand apparently includes a commitment to providing content in French as well as English. An expansion to one Canadian city is certainly a good enough reason to add French content, but this might be a sign that the long-rumored expansion to Montreal is on the way.
  • The other women’s sports news is that the PWHPA is joining the NWSL’s “No More Side Hustles” campaign. This campaign encourages athletes who have played women’s sports to share the jobs they’ve had to work in order to support their dreams of playing professional sports. The fact that so many athletes have to work full or part time jobs on top of playing sports is, of course, one of the major challenges facing women’s sports right now. Just think of how good these athletes would be if they were able to dedicate their lives to their sport the way NHLers can, for instance.
  • Former Senator Anders Nilsson recently opened up about the concussion that forced his retirement. It’s a difficult read, but I applaud Nilsson for sharing his story and bringing attention to this issue.
  • Finally, Sens prospect Shane Pinto proved that he’s one of the more well-spoken members of the team in an interview on TSN 1200. Yeah, he’s going to be a fan favourite./

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