Prospect Team of the Week

Forwards

Zack Ostapchuk

Back-to-back world junior gold medals and two goals through his first two games with his new WHL team in Winnipeg, and it feels like Ostapchuk still has more tricks up his sleeve. After the unreal postseason numbers he put up with an underdog Vancouver team last spring, we can all hope for even bigger and better things considering the talent surrounding him this season.

Hey! Check out the new guy!🚨#WPGvsMH | #FeelTheFreeze pic.twitter.com/cltuz9SHBj

— Winnipeg ICE (@WHLWpgICE) January 15, 2023

Stephen Halliday

Could Halliday become the latest in a long Ottawa Senators tradition of drafting overagers? Halliday now has 11 points in his last six games (three goals and eight assists) including goals in two important series against Big Ten rivals Michigan and Michigan State. That’s one way to endear yourself to the Buckeye faithful. Ohio currently ranks eighth in the national polls with another Big Ten opponent forthcoming in Wisconsin.

Halliday with the Buckeye power play 🚨goal this period, from Singleton and McWard.

Halliday (G/2A) & Singleton (3A) both have three points tonight, McWard two assists.#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/aw8udPrItz

— Ohio State Men's Hockey (@OhioStateMHKY) January 14, 2023

Egor Sokolov

Who else but the big, loveable bear could represent the Belleville Senators at the AHL all-star game? Sokolov has maintained a point-per-game pace despite Belleville’s inconsistent play throughout the season while trending towards career-highs in goals, assists, and shots. Sokolov has three goals and four assists through five games in this the year of our lord 2023. We genuinely love to see these things happen for such a nice guy.

Representing the #BellevilleSens at @TheAHL All-Star Classic...

🚨 EGOR SOKOLOV 🚨

📰 https://t.co/1WaR2B88MH
#ForTheB pic.twitter.com/9FbcqS4MJi

— Belleville Senators (@BellevilleSens) January 11, 2023

Defence

Filip Nordberg

Ottawa’s first pick in the 2022 entry draft hasn’t put up eye-popping offensive stats so far in his first season in the system but it bodes well that the 18-year-old has already earned a call-up to Sweden’s top league (and one of the best leagues in the world really) as a young defender. We still have several years to wait before we know what Nordberg’s true potential looks like but so far he has checked off the necessary boxes climbing up the ranks in Sweden (even if he still needs to earn the trust of his new coaches).

🇸🇪 Filip Nordberg picked up a secondary assist in his SHL debut

Nordberg made the most of his three and a half minutes of playing time as Växjö's 7th defenceman in a 2-0 win. Congrats, Filip!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/hgT1xnlZLN

— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) January 12, 2023

Ben Roger

I haven’t had too many opportunities to write about Roger over the past year and a half but with an assist and four more shots last night (as I was in the process of writing this), he deserves some recognition. Of late Roger seems to have made a point of taking more shots and fewer penalties so, again, I wanted to give him some credit. He won’t suddenly top anyone’s prospect rankings but you literally cannot ever have enough right-handed defenders in the system.

Matthew Soto extends our lead on the @CintasCorp powerplay.

Assists: Owen Outwater and Ben Roger.#FrontsHockey | @OHLHockey pic.twitter.com/UFtP2Pzjsr

— Kingston Frontenacs (@KingstonFronts) January 17, 2023

Goaltender

Leevi Meriläinen

Meriläinen went winless this past week but he continues to put up the best numbers on a regular basis among a crop of Senators goalie prospects having a mixed to mediocre season wrought with injuries and inconsistency (just like the parent club!). Not once this season has Meriläinen given up more than three goals in a game and he has three shutouts through 22 games in Finland’s best league. If nothing else, the conversation around Ottawa’s best internal option for goaltending in the future has gotten more interesting this season.

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