Monday Links, News, and Notes: Vaccination Policy + Prospect Updates

Just nine days until Pierre Dorion’s unofficial deadline to sign Brady Tkachuk. Until then, there’s still plenty of excitement surrounding the team’s prospects, giving us plenty to discuss on this Monday morning.

• The Senators announced on Friday that they’ll be implementing a vaccination policy starting September 18th — entry into the Canadian Tire Centre will only be possible for fully vaccinated individuals, while also mandating face masks and proof of vaccination with photo identification. At the same time, the club expects to be able to welcome a full crowd for opening night, on October 14th against the Toronto Maple Leafs, though don’t be surprised if further updates regarding capacity are announced as we draw closer to the start of the regular season.
• Ottawa’s annual development camp opened on Saturday, with twenty-four prospects including a few undrafted free agents on amateur tryout contracts. One name that’s drawn tons of attention thus far is Egor Sokolov. A second-round pick from the 2020 NHL Draft, as well as an overager who previously went undrafted twice, Sokolov went straight to the AHL, contributing 25 points in 35 games with the Belleville Senators. He’s now become a candidate to make the big club on opening night, and he’s made tons of noise with his play thus far. Player Development Coach and former Senators player Shean Donovan, among other observations you can read here, is drawing comparisons between the work ethic of Sokolov, and that of Mark Stone.
• Sokolov also takes center stage in Ian Mendes’ latest from The Athletic, it’s a wonderful read on how Sokolov’s risen to the challenge of reinventing his skating technique, learning to speak English, and making other adjustments in order to get to where he is today.
• Angus Crookshank, Ottawa’s 5th-round selection from 2018, was featured on the Senators’ official site yesterday, and he’s thankful for his season-ending stint with Belleville, as well as being able to work with head coach Troy Mann.
• After not being able to play last season due to the pandemic, Ben Roger received a major vote of confidence from the Senators, being selected by them in the second round this past draft. A big right-shot defenseman, Roger is excited to use the ongoing development camp as his first opportunity to show what he’s capable of in full.
• While Ottawa’s development camp is still ongoing, a few prospects have already begun their seasons overseas, headlined by 2021 third-rounder Oliver Johansson. He currently has 3 goals and 4 assists in 3 games with Timra IK’s under-20 club and could be in line for a promotion to the men’s team, on which he’d play with Viktor Lodin, Ottawa’s fourth-rounder from the 2019 draft, who’s scoreless in one game thus far. Over in the KHL, Vitaly Abramov’s had a decent start with Traktor Chelyabinsk, with two points in four games./

Hey #GoSensGo fans, remember Vitaly Abramov? Well here he is picking up a sweet goal on Monday for Traktor Chelyabinsk. @SensProspects pic.twitter.com/IgwKHhR8TG

— MTLSens (@MaxTheLimitinfo) September 10, 2021