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Ottawa Senators Prospect Update - December 8th

Someone from the 2021 draft class finally did something!

While the Ottawa Senators won three games in a row this past week, it was a quiet stretch for most of their prospects as Belleville lost three in a row, scoring just one goal in the process. That said, the usual suspects from the CHL and NCAA continued to shine, and one member of that underwhelming class of 2021 had a week for the ages.

Forwards

Zach Ostapchuk

A second-rounder from the aforementioned draft, Ostapchuk had severely underperformed at the start of his year with the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, but in three games this week, he had five (!!!) goals and two assists, to bring him up to 12 points in 16 games. Perhaps he too was bitten on the hand by Brendan Lemieux.

As shown in both of his goals in the above clip, he’s got the hands to create high-danger chances and is capable of quickly accelerating to blow past opposing defenders. It’s disappointing that after such a dominant stretch of games, he’s still only around the same point-per-game pace as he was last season, but we could be seeing the beginning of a massive turnaround here.

Ridly Greig

After breaking out with 9 points in a 4-game stretch, Greig’s one appearance this week saw him get two assists in a 4-1 win over Medicine Hat on Saturday. He’s now up to 25 points in 17 games, which is actually a slower pace than his total last year. The Senators will look to Greig to complete his fourth season with the Brandon Wheat Kings on a high note before he potentially challenges for a spot on the big club in 2022-23.

Jakov Novak

While it's not looking like he'll receive an entry-level deal from an NHL team at this point, Ottawa's first of two seventh-rounders from 2018 had a decent two games for Northeastern University, tallying three assists. He's got 8 points in 18 games in his senior year.

Defencemen

Jake Sanderson

Like Greig, Sanderson is a first-round pick from 2020 who's made constant appearances in this weekly series. Far and away the most promising prospect in the organization, he's kept up his strong sophomore season with three assists in two games this week. With the departure of high-end forwards such as Collin Adams, Grant Mismash, Jordan Kawaguchi, Jasper Weatherby, and Ottawa's Shane Pinto, Sanderson has been relied on to factor into the bulk of UND's offense this year, and he's responded by leading the team in scoring with 19 points in 15 games.

Olle Alsing

You may remember Alsing in a couple of NHL games last season — he’s not under contract with the organization right now but he’s still on the team’s reserve list, as he received a qualifying offer during the offseason. With one assist with Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL this past week, he’s up to 8 points in 33 games.

Goaltending

Leevi Meriläinen

It’s difficult to evaluate goalie prospects beyond their numbers, and Leevi was the strongest performer this week, allowing a single goal on 49 shots, in back-to-back victories for Kingston.

Like with Ostapchuk, we see a prospect who after a big week, still doesn't have fantastic numbers at this point in the season — the 2020 third-rounder has an .897 save percentage through 19 games, and has received support from a strong team to earn his 12-4-3 record.

Silver Linings

  • Mads Søgaard was a close second in the race for top goaltending prospect this week, with a .926 save percentage despite two losses with Belleville. After a slow start, the 6’7 Dane has settled in nicely with a .915 save percentage, and a 6-5 record in his first pro season in North America.
  • Carson Latimer, recently traded from the Edmonton Oil Kings to the Prince Albert Raiders, had an assist in his first game with his new team. He’s up to 9 points in 19 WHL games.
  • Cole Reinhardt had the honour of scoring Belleville’s only goal this week, in a 3-1 loss to Manitoba on Saturday. Reinhardt’s been one of Belleville’s more productive forwards with 10 points in 19 games, not bad for a seventh-round pick who went undrafted two years in a row. /

Stats:

Pro (NHL, AHL)

----Sincethelastprospectupdate-|-TOTAL-
PLAYERPOSAGELEAGUEGPGAPPIMSOGSH%|GPGAPPIMSOGSH%
Jacob Bernard-DockerRD21AHL3000030%|1821381513%
Jacob Bernard-DockerRD21NHL0000000%|2011000%
Erik BrännströmLD22AHL0000000%|912310215%
Erik BrännströmLD22NHL0000000%|2000210%
Philippe DaoustC20AHL2000010%|140554120%
Maxence GuénetteRD20AHL3000030%|1222421613%
Parker KellyC22NHL0000000%|111014911%
Parker KellyC22AHL3000470%|813414186%
Shane PintoC21NHL0000000%|5011250%
Jonathan AspirotLD22AHL0000000%|6033490%
Angus CrookshankLW/C22AHL0000000%|0000000%
Roby JärventieC/LW19AHL3000030%|193696398%
Mark KastelicC/RW22AHL3000650%|20459263611%
Cole ReinhardtLW21AHL31012714%|19371023359%
Egor SokolovRW/LW21AHL3000280%|16491344010%
Egor SokolovRW/LW21NHL0000000%|4000450%
Lassi ThomsonRD21AHL0000000%|61126166%
Lassi ThomsonRD21NHL3000040%|90332120%

NCAA

-----Sincethelastprospectupdate-|-TOTAL-
PLAYERPOSAGETEAMGPGAPPIMSOGSH%|GPGAPPIMSOGSH%
Tyler BoucherRW18Boston University2000220%|16213342010%
Tyler KlevenLD19Univ. of North Dakota2000030%|1732550339%
Luke LoheitRW21Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth0000000%|81016147%
Jakov NovakLW/C23Northeastern Univ.2033420%|18538162917%
Jake SandersonLD19Univ. of North Dakota2033060%|156131944613%
Jonny TychonickLD21Univ. of Omaha2000710%|4000960%

CHL

------Sincethelastprospectupdate-|-TOTAL-
PLAYERPOSAGETEAMLEAGUEGPGAPPIMSOGSH%|GPGAPPIMSOGSH%
Ridly GreigC/LW19BrandonWHL1022440%|17121325468314%
Carson LatimerRW18Edmonton/Prince AlbertWHL1011220%|1963943816%
Zach OstapchukC18VancouverWHL35272956%|166612154314%
Ben RogerRD19London/KingstonOHL2000240%|2203314260%
Chandler RomeoLD18HamiltonOHL3000240%|2214528254%

Europe

------Sincethelastprospectupdate-|-TOTAL-
PLAYERPOSAGETEAMLEAGUEGPGAPPIMSOGSH%|GPGAPPIMSOGSH%
Vitaly AbramovLW/RW23ChelyabinskKHL31010813%|365813245010%
Olle AlsingLD25Nur-SultanKHL3011270%|3326812514%
Eric EngstrandLW21MalmöSHL3000000%|1531401127%
Eric EngstrandLW21Troja/Ljungby IFAllsvenskan0000000%|801127120%
Oliver JohanssonC/LW18Timrå IKJ20 Nationell0000000%|14591442818%
Oliver JohanssonC/LW18Timrå IKSHL2000030%|100000130%
Viktor LodinC/LW22Timrå IKSHL1000020%|174913294210%

Goalies

-----Sincethelastprospectupdate--|-TOTAL--
PLAYERAGETEAMLEAGUEGPWLOTLSOLSAGASV%|GPWLOTLSOLSAGASV%
Filip Gustavsson23BellevilleAHL00000000.0%|1010032487.5%
Filip Gustavsson23OttawaNHL1010035682.9%|1036103463589.9%
Kevin Mandolese21BellevilleAHL0000038392.1%|834002362489.8%
Leevi Meriläinen19KingstonOHL2200049198.0%|19124305655889.7%
Mads Søgaard20BellevilleAHL2020054492.6%|1165003182791.5%

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