Rookie Camp line-up notes

With the rookie camp roster having been released about a week ago, we finally got to see how some of the pieces could fit together in Laval this weekend after the team's first on-ice session.

Obviously, decisions still need to be made prior to the tournament opener against the Canadiens on Friday night but there were a few notable line-up developments during the team's inital practice that should help get Sens fans excited to see the prospect squad in action this weekend.

Forwards

With 15 forwards invited to rookie camp, the line rushes were a little jumbled this morning but a pair of trios did jump out though as the combos of Brady Tkachuk - Colin White - Filip Chlapik and Drake Batherson - Logan Brown - Alex Formenton were consistently paired together.
Belleville head coach Troy Mann, who will be on the bench for the Senators this weekend in Laval, shared that he was hoping to rely on some previous chemistry between players in lieu of a more structured game plan due to limited practice time before facing Montreal and Toronto.
"We've tried to implement a little bit of structure because that's something we'll need this weekend," said Mann. "For the most part though it'll be what we call 'organized chaos' out there simply as a result of not having a lot of practice time before Friday's game."
Tkachuk and White spent time on lines together during Development Camp earlier this summer while White and Chlapik played together in both Belleville and Ottawa last season. On the other line, Batherson and Formenton were both members of Team Canada's gold medal winning squad at the World Juniors last year which followed brief NHL stints for both Formenton and Brown to kick off the 2017-18 season.
"We're hoping to have some of our veteran guys at this tournament lead the charge and for the new guys, it's a great learning opportunity," shared Mann. "We've told the guys that we fully expect a lot of mistakes this week but we want to see them play with a little bit of structure and pace and utilize the skillsets that we have on our roster."
Another pair of players that seemed to find themselves on the same line at practice this morning was a pair of recent signees in Aaron Luchuk and Andrew Sturtz. Both undrafted free agents inked contracts with the Senators last season and are expected to play in Belleville to start the year.
Here's a look at the forwards on the roster for this weekend:

Defence

The defensive pairings were a little less clear this morning with just the duo of Christian Jaros and Christian Wolanin seeing the bulk of time together during the team's first skate. This tandem does make sense though as Jaros and Wolanin are the most experienced defenders at rookie camp with both having made their NHL debuts in Ottawa last season.
For Wolanin, who is one of the more senior invitees this week, this will actually be his first experience playing in the rookie tournament after playing the previous three season for the University of North Dakota.
"It's just great to be back in hockey mode again," he said about participating in his first rookie camp. "Everyone came into this camp in great shape following their offseason routines so I'm excited for this group to head to Laval this weekend."
Here's a look at the defencemen on the roster for this weekend:

Goalies

The Sens will have a pretty young group of goaltenders this weekend with Filip Gustavsson the elder statesman of the three at just 20 years old. With Gustavsson set to play professionally in North America next season, Sens goalie coach Pierre Groulx confirmed that he'll receive the start against Montreal on Friday night while Jordan Hollett and Kevin Mandolese will split the team's second game on Saturday against Toronto.
"With Gustavsson turning pro, we want to give him the first game in full," said Groulx following Thursday's practice. "After that, Hollett will start the second game with Mandolese coming in for the second half. It's unfortunate we only have two games but we'll make it work and everyone will be given an opportunity to showcase their skills."
This tournament provides Groulx with the unique opportunity to work with the team's goalie prospects in a live game environment where he can better evaluate their development outside of a practice session.
"We're always looking to see progression," said Groulx. "We always leave with things to work on during the summer after Development Camp so we want to see what kind of progress they've made in those areas."
"It's fine and dandy to work on things like reads and positioning in practice but what we want to see is how they react in a game," he continued. "When you do goalie drills in practice everything is simplified and controlled but when you get into a game…now it's live and things happen. Now you have to react so we're looking to see how they can apply everything we're working on into a game situation."
And finally here's a look at the goalies on the roster for this weekend:

Tournament Schedule

Things kick off on Friday night in Laval for the Senators against the host Canadiens and wrap up with a Saturday matinee against the Maple Leafs. Both Sens game will be broadcast live on RDS Info as well as being streamed on
RDS.ca here
.
Full tournament schedule: