Silver Nuggets: A Reintroduction

Hi all! I'm thrilled to announce that starting today, Silver Seven will be bringing back Silver Nuggets. In a nutshell, this feature aims to collect a majority of the recent and relevant Sens news in one place, with some general hockey links at the bottom as well. I know that in the past, Dave, Amelia, Mark, Brad, and others have done a fantastic job with this feature, and I'll try my best to make this a relevant hub for discussion! We hope to publish every Tuesday and Friday afternoon, so look for it then.

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Now that the Sens Development Camp is over, what were your impressions of this batch of Sens prospects? I personally have heard a lot about Mark Stone excelling, which is fantastic because he definitely looked like an NHL player at the end of the year. Hopefully he can get a full season in so we can assess where he fits in the lineup appropriately. Curtis Lazar added to the hype by taking home the "hardest worker" trophy - Max McCormick and Garrett Thompson, both bound for Binghamton this year, were also finalists for the award.

A lot of weight is put on development camp performance in the eyes of the fans, and for good reason - they're one of the only showcases of the Sens prospects to the Ottawa community unless a) the prospects play locally, or b) you decide to independently follow the prospects yourself. However, it's important to take into account a player's performance throughout the season as well. Case in point, Matt Puempel had a fantastic year in the AHL, but is suddenly being questioned because of a poor scrimmage at development camp. Snipers like Puempel can go 59 minutes without you noticing them, but then score and have us conclude that he had a good game. Part of being an NHL player is to work on consistency, and that's exactly what Puempel has been doing in Binghamton - he's always had the elite shot, but he's working on rounding out his game. If he's working on his overall game, it's only fair for us to evaluate his overall season, not just one showing, right?

Sens Links

• The Senators 'Inside the Senate' blog run by Chris Lund and his team have done a fantastic job covering the Senators development camp. The seven part series is linked here: I, II, III, IV, V, XI, XII.
• Wayne Scanlan recapped Development Camp for the Citizen, and James over at WTYKY gave his (always funny) impressions of the scrimmage as well. [Citizen, WTYKY]
• We've also been hard at work with our Development Camp coverage! Amelia has a series of 1-on-1 interviews with Cody Ceci, Buddy Robinson, and Shane Eiserman. [Ceci, Robinson, Eiserman]
• In case you missed it, the Ottawa Senators announced that Bryan Murray has been diagnosed with cancer. Our thoughts and well-wishes are with Murray and his loved ones at this time, and here's to a speedy recovery. [Senators Official Statement, Our discussion thread]
• The Senators also announced that they've re-signed 24 year old Derek Grant to a one year, two-way contract. Grant did well in a limited role for 20 games in the NHL last year, and is on the cusp of becoming a regular NHL player. Nichols and Yost have recaps of Grant's season and what we can expect from him in the future. [Ottawa Senators, Our discussion thread, 6th Sens, Yost]
• Jeff at SenShot looks at the Grant signing as well, but also delves into some of the AHL rule changes for this upcoming season. These are important to note, especially as the AHL is often used as a testing ground for rule changes before they make the NHL (hi Hybrid Icing!) [SenShot]
• Nichols also transcribed Spezza's press conference with the Dallas Stars where he stressed the willingness of the Stars ownership to win. [6th Sens]
• Nate and Michaela have also written two fantastic pieces on the tactical formations of hockey, covering the Breakout and the Penalty Kill respectively. Keep your eye out for posts on the Powerplay and the Dump-in later on! [Breakout, Penalty Kill]
• Don't forget to read our Five Thoughts for Friday as well, this time, brought to you by Mrs. O! [Silver Seven]
• Podcast time! First up, a summer podcast from the folks over at Sens Callups! [Sens Callups]
• Lastly, the forever funny Chet Sellers and Luke Peristy have Episode Eight of their podcast over at Bonk's Mullet. Give it a listen! [Bonk's Mullet]

NHL Links