Sens at Land’s End

A couple of ex-Vancouver citizens are making the move to Ottawa (or more likely Binghamton), as the Sens traded Lawrence Nycholat to Vancouver for forward Ryan Shannon this week, and also signed forward Brad Isbister to a one-year deal. Shannon and Isbister are both on two-way contracts.

There is now kind of a large number of potential third and fourth line players in the system, but I don’t think there will be too many open roster spots to be decided when camp starts (which, by the way, happens with player medicals on September 16). Speaking about the Nycholat for Shannon trade, Tim Murray had this to say about the forward situation:

Murray said Shannon would be one of about 10 players fighting for roster spots in camp. Among the players he mentioned in that group were Nick Foligno, Cody Bass, Jesse Winchester, Ilya Zubov, Greg Mauldin, Peter Regin and another right wing with whom Murray said he’s reached a verbal agreement.

It seems reasonable to assume that Isbister was the player with the verbal agreement Murray was talking about. He’s reaching a bit with that list of players who will be battling it out for spots, in my opinion. I’d be shocked if Nick Foligno did not make the Ottawa roster this year. I suppose stranger things have happened, but still, Foligno seems like a pretty sure bet, as does Cody Bass, who appears to be very well-liked by team management. I’ve also been working under the assumption all summer that Jesse Winchester will be with the big team when the season starts because of his one-way contract, and Tim Murray basically confirmed this with a comment he made about Nycholat:

“We had no plans for him to be down there (in Binghamton),” Murray said of Nycholat. He added: “We don’t want to pay one-way contracts in the American Hockey League. We don’t want to set that precedent. Other teams are doing it. That’s not what we’re here for.”

Unless they have separate standards for forwards and defencemen, it seems we can safely welcome Winchester to the team. Barring a trade, we can also pencil in Spezza, Heatley, Alfredsson, Vermette, Fisher, Kelly, Ruutu, Neil, Donovan, and McAmmond. That’s 10, plus Winchester, Foligno, and Bass makes 13. So — always barring a trade — I’d guess that Shannon and Isbister are unlikely to be seen much in Ottawa except as replacements for injured players.

I’m looking at that list of forwards, and I still have no idea who (other than Alfie) they’re going to get to play with Heatley and Spezza. There is no player who fits the profile of my ideal Heatzza winger; that is, there is no one on the team who is Rick Nash. But Rick Nash doesn’t grow on trees, and keeping the big three together may, unfortunately, end up being the best option for the team. My dream is to see a second line of Vermette, Fisher, and Alfredsson. Fisher’s effectiveness just about doubles when he gets to play with the Captain and I picture Vermette doing good things with those two. I can see a few different combinations of the rest of the forwards working, but I think a line of Ruutu, Bass, and Neil would be absolutely hilarious. We could all start a pool on how long it’d take before they made an opposing player’s head explode. Donovan, Kelly, and McAmmond is a decent-sounding line as well.

If the roster stays the way it is now, the real wildcard going into camp is Jesse Winchester. A lot is going to depend on how he plays and where he fits best in the lineup.