Sens depth chart

EDIT: D Andre Benoit was signed today(Friday August 6th) to a 1 year, 2 way deal.

With the signing of Corey Cowick to an entry level deal today it would appear the Sens are pretty much done signing players...for now. So as we look at the depth in the organization it appears there will not only be some great battles to make the make the big club, but sticking around in the AHL might even be dicey for a few players. By my count there will 46 players in camp that have at least a 2 way contract. I'm sure there will also be some Amateur and Pro try outs as there were 55 players at last year's camp.

One way contracts(+Karlsson): 21

Regin Spezza Alfredsson
Michalek Fisher Kovalev
Foligno Kelly Neil
Ruutu Winchester Shannon

Phillips Karlsson
Gonchar Kuba
Campoli Carkner
Lee

Leclaire
Elliott

-of course Jared Cowen is a wildcard as he has to go back to junior if doesn't make the big team. Also of note, David Rundblad has an entry level deal but will spend another year overseas.


Two way contracts: 24
Entry Level: 15 (waiver exempt)
Veteran: 9 (Locke, Keller, Lessard, Bass, Hale, Kinrade, D. Smith, Benoit, Brodeur)

Wick Locke Butler
Hoffman Z. Smith Keller
Daugavins O'Brien Condra
Cowick Greening Dziurzynski
Bailey Bass Lessard

Wiercioch Gryba
Hale Kinrade
D. Smith Schira
Benoit

Lehner
Brodeur

-Players like Wick, Butler, Z. Smith, Locke, Keller, Cowen, Wiercioch, Gryba, Hale, Lehner and Brodeur will all head to camp believing if they really stand out and outplay some veterans the big club will find a spot for them. The trickle down will be interesting to watch as Binghamton fans should benefit.

Campoli deserves some slack...but

It's old news now, but in case you started your long weekend early the Sens avoided going to arbitration with Chris Campoli. As the veteran d-man signed a new 1 year, 1.4 million dollar contract on Friday. While interviewing Campoli on Friday afternoon, I was surprised to hear him say he had played last season with a sports hernia that he just had corrected with surgery about 8 weeks ago.

This was surprising because not once did we hear one peep from Campoli during what can only be characterized as a disappointing season. A season where the 25 year old saw his stock fall on the blueline to the point where he was scratched and dressed as a forward. The only ailment everyone knew about was the knee injury suffered just before the Olympic break that caused Campoli to miss 8 games.

When you hear fans and media question your play(and don't believe it when players say they don't hear it...they all do, at the very least indirectly) on a constant basis wouldn't it only be human nature to eventually say?

"listen, I'm putting off surgery for a sports hernia until the off-season because if you haven't noticed we're not overly deep on the blueline".

But he didn't. Campoli just rolled with it.

When faced with the choice of easing public criticism by admitting you're playing hurt, or earning more respect from teammates and the coaching staff by sucking it up, Campoli selected the latter. We'll call it anti-Hasek road.

Make no mistake. Bigger things were expected than an 18 point, 67 game season. Whenever the coaching staff was asked about Campoli's sub-par play the common refrain was they wanted to see him be harder on the puck and to just be more consistent with his overall level of play. Garry Galley once told me that if you make the decision to play hurt, you'd better play well because nobody cares how you're feeling once you decide to compete.

In hindsight, knowing what we know now about his season Campoli deserves a little slack. However, with a crowded blueline, he knows that slack won't matter once training camp starts and he's battling the likes of Brian Lee, Matt Carkner and host of youngsters led by Jared Cowen for the last 2 spots in the top 6.