Let The Kids Play ... And More On Brian Lee's Resurrection

A few quick notes on the second to last pre-season game for the Senators:

You couldn't say just two games ago that Mika Zibanejad was a lock to make this team. You can't really say it now either, but we're getting closer. Two games, two sickening highlight reel goals (tonight he batted one out of mid-air), and some big bodychecks have put Zibanejad in a good spot with just one game to go until the hard decisions get made. It probably helped his cause that Peter Regin left against the Leafs with what looked like a hurt shoulder. While Regin (who looked great in camp) can't seem to get any luck, Zibanejad doesn't need any. He already chews his mouthpiece like an NHLer and he's getting pretty good at the fly-by high fives at the bench after goals. Now he needs to work on actually winning a faceoff, but that will come in good time. He may or may not be this year's Jeff Skinner, but it's undeniable that Zibanejad is fun to watch and he doesn't look overwhelmed so far. He sometimes looks like a rookie, but then again he sometimes looks like Peter Forsberg if you've had a couple of beers and a shot of Drambuie. The Senators might as well roll with him to see what else he can do.....

...... In fact, why not play all the kids for at least the first couple weeks of the season? So far in camp, it's the kids who have provided most of the fun moments, from Jared Cowen (who's a lock anyways) to Zibanejad to David Rundblad (as stunned as he looks at certain moments). The Sens are well under the cap so they can afford to carry the max amount of players for a stretch of time. It will mean some vets will sit and they won't be happy with that, but it will also keep the level of competition high within that locker room and bring out the beast in everybody. Don't ask me which vets will sit - Nick Foligno actually looked pretty good tonight - but injuries may very well dictate in the end anyways.....

....... I've been hard on poor Brian Lee in this space the last couple of seasons, and for good reason I might add. But good play is good play, and Lee has been much better ever since getting out of Cory Clouston's doghouse late last season and into training camp under Paul MacLean (as I'm reminded regularly by readers and co-workers). I still don't buy this "shutdown defenseman" talk, simply because Lee has not shown he can be physical enough to really play that role the way it should be done, but he's starting to show he can be a dependable player because he could always skate well and he's making pretty good decisions with the puck. He also has some untapped offensive ability that he showed when he first caught on in Ottawa. Maybe I'm dead wrong and he does earn a regular role this year. If Lee and Rundblad keep getting better, Matt Carkner and Filip Kuba could lose some games, but Carkner would only be made expendable if Jared Cowen turns into this team's crease clearer on the blueline. They need sandpaper and size back there, preferably in more than one player, and that's something that Lee and Kuba won't be able to provide. Injuries may end up deciding who starts the year in the top six, but, begrudgingly, I have to give respect to Lee who is turning into quite a feel-good story after almost being left at the curb last year. I hope he pulls it off, but label me still skeptical for now........

....... Of the three college kids who signed their first one-way contracts this summer - Bobby Butler, Colin Greening and Erik Condra - only Butler has failed to show up so far in these exhibition games. Condra had at least one really good game and has been consistent in the others. Greening is getting better after a slow start, but Butler has been pretty much invisible so far. He was better tonight while playing with Jason Spezza, the centre who helped him to so much success last year, but Butler needs to get going. In case he hasn't noticed, the Sens have way too many forwards who could play in the NHL. He's one of them, but he needs to show the coaching staff he's got his hands working.......

........ Again, let me point out another indicative Nikita Filatov play. The guy opens the third period with a great scoring chance which James Reimer saves off his shoulder and Filatov ends up deep in the offensive zone as the puck begins to go the other way. By the time the puck is back in the Sens zone, Filatov has beaten every other Sens forward back across the blueline backchecking. For all the that's happened in the past, Filatov has showed up to play in Ottawa and he's not taking any shortcuts. Stephen Harper should lock up Bryan Murray in one of his new "super prisons" for absolutely stealing this kid from poor befuddled Scott Howson......

....... Sens management has been effusive in their praise for defenseman Mark Borowiecki and his future as a shutdown blueliner for this team in the next few years. That enthusiasm reminds me of how they were once very high on Zack Smith before he broke through and became a regular forward. Seeing how steady Smith was last year and now in camp where he is tearing it up, that could bode well for "Borocop" in a couple of years. Maybe even some games this year if injuries take their toll. You can already feel the rumblings from management that they have another steal in prospect Mark Stone as well. And then there's Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The Murray's just love those mid to late round guys who end up making them look smart. Who wouldn't?.......

..... Really like the 20th Anniversary logo at centre ice this year at the Kanata barn - much slicker than the too large, dark blotch of the 3-D with the red line through it from past seasons - but I imagine that they will be installing the All-Star game logo at some point in mid-season. Here's a question: Do arena staff just cut out the centre portion of ice, repaint the logo and then re-make the ice in just that one spot? Do they just drop the patch of ice they cut out back in there and patch it up? For some reason, that kind of thing keeps me up at nights......