Silver Nuggets: Senators start pre-season; Melnyk says Sens the most skilled club

Tonight, the Ottawa Senators visit the centre of the universe and start their pre-season schedule at the Air Canada Centre. They will play their first home game on Wednesday against the Boston Bruins, which will be on TSN.

Here are today's links:

• The Senators are taking a strong group of forwards (in the top six anyway). The lines will be 1) Nikita Filatov - Peter Regin - Bobby Butler, 2) Milan Michalek - Mika Zibanejad - Mark Stone, 3) Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Chris Neil, 4) Mike Hoffman - Zenon Konpka - Francis Lessard. Poor Mike Hoffman. (Brent Wallace)
• On defence, the pairings are 1) Erik Karlsson and Filip Kuba, 2) David Rundblad and Jared Cowen, 3) Patrick Wiercioch and Tim Conboy. (Brent Wallace)
• Robin Lehner and Alex Auld will be the two goalies tonight. Auld will play the first 30 minutes and Lehner the last 30. (Ottawa Senators)
• Paul MacLean started his tenure with the club by making the club skate, and skate some more. The Citizen reports he is also more willing to involve his assistant coaches. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Nikita Filatov is going to get the chance to be an important player for Ottawa. Jason Spezza believes it is good that Filatov doesn't know anyone in Ottawa and no one in Ottawa knows Filatov, allowing for a completely fresh start. (Ottawa Sun)
• Jesse Winchester will miss the rest of camp after he injured his shoulder. (Ottawa Sun)
• Daniel Alfredsson feels good so far after his return from offseason surgery. He also doesn't like the fact that pre-season games are starting so soon after the start of camp. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Craig Anderson is saying all the right things, noting that he will play as many games as he earns. He also said the pressure shouldn't be a problem, because he likes the media so much. Ha! Funny Craig! (Ottawa Sun)
• Filip Kuba had a better start to camp than last year, where he broke his leg on the first day. I think Kuba is going to have a decent season, I am saying 30 points! (Ottawa Sun)
• The CBC notes that after last year's season, there is no where to go but up for Ottawa. Not everyone agrees, with many 15th place predictions. (CBC)
• No matter how much of a steal Mark Stone ends up being, he is unlikely to ever become the best sixth round pick the club has made. (Ottawa Sun)
• There are three former 30-goal scorers at training camp. Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson... and Mark Parrish. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Eugene Melnyk had another interview and the highlight of this one was "What people have to realize is the level of skill that we have is second to none in the NHL". Maybe he was talking about the prospects, but you never know with him. (Ottawa Sun)