Monday LNN: A New Logo and No Captain

The Ottawa Senators finally let the worst kept secret on planet earth out of the bag while Head Coach DJ Smith confirmed they’ll go with leadership by committee for the upcoming season.

Unlike many of these posts, we have some interesting news from the past few days that does relate to the Ottawa Senators. The long awaited logo release was rushed to the presses while another Senators prospect has signed a deal overseas. That, and a few other items, in this week’s Linked, News, and Notes.

  • Beata kind of got what she wanted... except we didn’t get a new jersey yet. On Friday afternoon, the Senators released the long awaited new-old logo. This particular bit of news was one of the worst kept secrets in the 613 and was very clearly rushed to be released on Friday, after some alleged pressure from the NHL to do so. While it’s exciting for fans to see the new logo, and learn that we’ll officially see new uniforms at the draft, one is left wondering what kind of awesome, 90’s themed announcement the previous Sens social media team would have cooked up. We miss you, Craig.
  • Yesterday, we learned that 2014 second round pick Andreas Englund has signed a deal to head to Sweden ahead of the NHL season. Englund, 24, has spent the past four seasons of his professional career in North America, amassing 33 NHL games and 228 AHL games in the process. Currently without a new contract, the Senators will have to make a decision soon on whether or not they’ll qualify the restricted free agent. If they don’t, Englund will likely spend the entire year and Sweden and could end up staying in his home country for good.
  • Senators Head Coach DJ Smith doesn’t expect the team to name a captain for the upcoming season. While both Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk have been mentioned in the captaincy conversation, Smith isn’t sure he’s ready to thrust that kind of responsibility on one of them just yet. One has to wonder if this is a plan to see which player steps up this season or if, perhaps, the Senators brass wants to give Tkachuk one more year of experience before handing the “C” to the guy who just turned 21 last week.
  • The Senators gave the community of Ottawa a boost this past weekend when they announced the use of the Canadian Tire Centre as a pop-up COVID-19 assessment centre. A timeline for how long these centres will be open is unknown but it’s great to see the Sens putting those empty parking lots to good use.
  • Ahead of puck drop for game one of the Stanley Cup Finals, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had a media availability of his own, covering a number of topics including his thoughts on the 2020-21 NHL season. While he feels the league will see a normal, but postponed, 82-game season, the big question remains on what, if anything, the NHL will be able to do about having fans in the stands. This will, of course, be a big storyline as teams head into the offseason and look to spend money - or not - on free agents.
  • Veteran blueliner Alex Pietrangelo appears to be heading for the open market, as talks have stalled with the St. Louis Blues. Josh Wegman put together a tidy list of possible landing spots for the soon-to-be 31 year old pivot. If one thing is for certain, wherever Pietrangelo lands is going to have to have cap room to play with, as it’s possible his resume will garner an AAV that begins with a nine.
  • Jimmy Howard is unlikely to return to Detroit next season but wants it known that retirement is not something he’s considering. While he hasn’t had stellar numbers in the past few seasons, there may still be a spot somewhere for Howard to give a team 20-30 starts behind a bonafide NHL starter. Will he find a home in Ottawa?? No, almost certainly not./

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