I guess it’s been a while since I last posted here … I was going to write something about Voldy the Goalie first signing in Russia (which totally shocked me) and then appearing on Leatherface’s TV show just to state that being late is no big deal (that part was less shocking), but then I realized that hey, he’s not our problem anymore. He’s some Russian team’s problem now. Let them write about him!

And then I could have written something about Jason III signing almost signing never actually coming close to signing being plucked out from under Bryan Murray’s nose possibly having some form of interaction with the Sens but actually I was in LeafLand last weekend so I missed the whole non-event. Instead, I went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and visited my friend Stanley, whom I previously met at the Draft. Now that we’ve met twice, he and I are totally tight. We’re like Heatzza. We’re Meaghanley. Or Steaghan. Something like that.

I could also touch on those wacky trade rumours involving Ottawa, Los Angeles, and Chicago. I might actually do that, if at some point a version of the rumour that doesn’t involve the Kings being insane and giving up Anze Kopitar surfaces.

Anyway, there have been a few notable happenings in the world of the Sens since my last post, which I will write about now that I have finished listing all the things I’m not going to write about.

For one thing, they’ve signed former Ottawa 67’s defenceman Brendan Bell to a one-year, two-way deal. It seems likely that he’ll play in Binghamton next season; still, I love to see ex-67’s coming back to Ottawa (except Mark Bell, who is no longer welcome).

24-year-old goaltender Mitchell O’Keefe, a native of the excellent town of Almonte, has also been signed to a one-year entry-level contract.

And the 2008-2009 coaching staff is now complete, as the team has brought in former Regina Pats head coach Curtis Hunt to fill the second assistant coaching slot. Hunt, who also served as Hartsburg’s assistant during the last two World Junior tournaments, is apparently not afraid of a challenge: he will work on the Sens’ defence and penalty kill, so let’s hope he’s really really good at his job. If you’d like to learn a little more about this brave soul, here’s a nice article about him from the Regina Leader-Post.

But by far the most important, most exciting, and all around best news of the week was the release of the NHL’s schedule for the 2008-2009 season this Thursday just after noon. I don’t know about you, but I was sitting at my computer at work refreshing the Sens’ official site over and over starting at noon, waiting to find out which are the 82 evenings between October and April for which I’ve already got plans.

You can find the Sens’ schedule here, but in case you are too lazy or not enough of a nerd to go through it all with a fine-toothed comb, I present some of the highlights:

• The team will open the season, as we already knew, with two games against the Penguins in Stockholm on October 4 and 5. Ottawa is the home team for the game on the 4th and the visitor for the game on the 5th. Clearly, though, the Sens will be the crowd favourites for both games, what with Alfie being by far the greatest (and only) Swedish player on either team.
• The Sens’ home opener takes place on October 11 against the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings. This makes two seasons in a row that the Wings have visited Ottawa. Hopefully they can find it in their hearts not to break our Heater this time.
• The game against Detroit is the first game of a five-game homestand for the Sens. Ottawa’s first non-European road game is not until October 25 when they visit the Leafs. The visiting team for the last game of this homestand will be the purest form of evil known to man, the Anaheim Ducks. Scotiabank Place crew will take advantage of the Sens’ subsequent four-game road trip to perform purification rituals and fumigation in order to eliminate the foul stench left behind by Chris Pronger and hell’s other minions.
• The Sens’ longest homestand is an eight-gamer in that goes from February 24 to March 11. It’s a homestand with a high CanCon rating as the Oilers and Flames will both show up during that time, while the Leafs will visit twice.
• Ottawa’s longest road trip is also eight games long and encompasses the Christmas and New Year’s breaks in order to accommodate the World Junior Hockey Championship, which takes place in Ottawa from December 26 to January 5. The Sens play the Dallas Stars at home on December 20, and will not play at Scotiabank Place again until the New York Rangers visit on January 10. Other long road trips: one six-game trip (March 22-April 2) and one five-game trip (February 11-17).
• The new schedule format sees every team play each team in its division six times, each other team in its conference four times, and each team in the other conference once each, leaving three “at large” interconference games. The Sens’ at large games are against the three western Canadian teams, meaning that they play each of Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver twice this season. They will hit the western provinces for three games between Christmas and New Year’s. This is a bit of a hardship for the team — who really wants to be away from home at that time? — but I choose to look at it as a wonderful potential Christmas and birthday gift (I was a Christmastime baby) from the Sens to me, assuming I am actually in Vancouver when they visit and not away for the holidays. If I end up being away when they make the trip, then I will change perspective, and be forced to start wondering why they’re so determined to avoid being in the same city with me.
• Having visited the Pacific Division last season, the Sens now host that division this season. Anaheim (sucks), Phoenix, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Jose will each pay a visit to Scotiabank Place.
• Last season, each team in the Central Division visited Ottawa. This season, the Sens will visit each team in that division, except, for some reason, Detroit, which as I already pointed out will visit Ottawa. Why? Payback from the NHL for losing a Crosby homedate? Random scheduling quirk? I don’t know, but I guess we can’t complain (unless they break the Heater again, in which case they will be dead to me).
• Weirdness alert: Wade Redden will make his first ever regular season appearance at Scotiabank Place as a member of the visiting team when the Rangers come to town on November 22. Personally, I hope he gets a nice big cheer.

The pre-season schedule has also been released:

September 20 - Rangers at Senators
September 22 - Senators at Rangers
September 24 - Flyers at Senators
September 26 - Senators at Canadiens
September 27 - Canadiens at Senators

The Sens will play their final pre-season game on October 2 in Alfie’s hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, against his former team, the Frolunda Indians. Now that is a website with a truly fantastic looking splash page.

Clicking around a bit further inside the site, I have found out a few very interesting things. First, I can understand Swedish! At least I’m assuming that “klicka här för mera information” means what I think it means. Second, though Sens prospect Erik Karlsson plays for Frolunda, he plays for their under-20 team, which is not the team the Sens will be playing. Whether there’s a chance of him making the big team this season I don’t know, but he isn’t listed on their current roster. (EDIT: Actually, Karlsson finished last season with the Elite League team, and is apparently expected to be on their roster this year. My mistake!) Third, the site contains a downloadable PDF ad for the game that features a scan of a fax from Alfie. Neat!

Now all we’ve got to do is make it through the rest of the summer and hockey season will be here. I count … 62 days until that first pre-season game against the Rangers. I’m sure it’ll just fly by.