Ottawa starts the NHL pre\u002Dseason schedule with a pair of split\u002Dsquad games on Saturday.
After wrapping up Day 2 of training camp Friday at the Canadian Tire Centre, 45 players packed their bags and boarded a play for the short flight to the Big Smoke.Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc.
“You want to see what players can do it against other NHL players,” Smith said Friday. “Structure is going to help a lot of players, especially that have been in the league a long time. They’ll be able to rely on structure and their smarts. We’ll get our first chance to see top prospect Jake Sanderson against NHL players, while Alex DeBrincat, Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle will skate together up front for the first time. All this makes these games intriguing.
“It’s an NHL game and you’re going to do everything you can to be competitive, but, at the same time, we’re evaluating guys. It’s going to be more like an intra-squad game because the teams will be split fairly evenly.”Article content Anton Forsberg, who carried the ball for the Senators last season, will start the nightcap. Again, it would make sense if Belleville’s Mads Sogaard played the second half of that one.
As has been well-documented, the Senators made a lot of changes during the off-season, so they want to start building chemistry before the puck is dropped for real Oct. 13 against the Buffalo Sabres.