Ottawa Senators Injury News, Carter Yakemchuk's Big Weekend + Sens Prospect Rankings Reaction

Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

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On today's show, we'll discuss the injury updates on Jake Sanderson and Nick Jensen.

Plus we do a prospect roundup including Carter Yakumchuk getting A.H.L. player of the week.

This is Brad Kitchock and you're listening to the Lockdown Center Podcast.

You're Lockdown Senators, your daily podcast on the Ottawa Senators, part of the Lockdown

Podcast Network, your team every day.

Welcome!

You are Lockdown to the Ottawa Senators.

I'm Ross Levitt and alongside Brandon Piller today is Tuesday, March 17th, also known

as St. Pills' Day Happy Birthday, brother.

Hey, thank you, sir.

You only turned 33 once, so I'm enjoying it.

Coming off a weekend like that, that was a great birthday gift from the Ottawa Senators,

but I wouldn't mind Ross having a birthday week.

Let's keep these wins going because we got some big games coming up for the sense.

Huge.

They'll be on the road traveling this afternoon to Washington where they'll play the

capitals tomorrow, then coming right back home for the second half of back-to-back

against the New York Islanders, all roads lead to Saturday night, battle of Ontario

at the Canadian Tire Center, where our friends at Game Time just sent me a notice that the

prices have dropped to 23 USD.

I would like to say, haha, to all the Leaf fans who are trying to get rid of their tickets.

Yeah, well, I mean, Leaf's teammates don't show up when they need to and apparently the

Leaf fans don't either.

So make sure to pack the building with red.

If it's anything like this weekend, it's going to be a great atmosphere inside the Canadian

Tire Center.

Those were two of the best crowds I've seen in quite some time.

I mean, the Sunday game was their largest selling game of the year, and Sharks Media tried

to make it seem like the Sharks were taking over the CTC.

That was not the case.

I mean, we did see a decent amount of teal and 90% of them fresh, brand new, Macklin

Celebrini jerseys, but make no mistake.

Sense Army was there and the 7-4 wins, scoring 7 goals, certainly made it feel like a sense

home game.

Well, and what's the difference then between Macklin Celebrini jerseys at the Sunday

game and fictional ducks from the movie characters on Saturday, because I think the percentage

of fans wearing that jersey each day, probably pretty similar.

Yeah, definitely.

I mean, Macklin Celebrini is a real guy.

He's a real human.

I'm not sure.

He's pretty nasty out there, although the sense of a good job of limiting him other than

the one assist he had.

But good player.

Yeah, no time and space was given to Macklin Celebrini.

He had to earn that assist, winning a board battle and centering it out front.

So no, he's going to be obviously already is a superstar in the league and it was fun

to watch.

But even more fun to watch, Michael O'Matio, that guy is incredible.

And you go to games, Isocan, Michael O'Matio, because it's these little plays every, every

time down where he's just disrupting.

He is the ultimate disruptor.

Actually, I think it was J.Fresh, hockey tweeted out, like, who's the great value brand

player of others?

Like, who are very similar?

And every comment was Michael O'Matio, Mark Stone.

Like the puck is just, it's like a magnet to him.

And if he could finish like 10% more of his chances, this guy would be a 27 goal score,

not just a 28 point getter.

We know that he broke that career high on the weekend, but man, what an absolute weapon

he is for the senators in their bottom six.

So if they can keep it rolling and if Timmy can get back on the score sheet, I say he does

it this week.

I mean, they're in such a great spot right now.

I know the out of town scoreboard hasn't been perfect, but it wasn't imperfect last night

either.

There was the overtime loss for the Boston Bruins at the end of the show.

We'll discuss a little more in depth about how things have developed and what Ottawa's

situation is here going into a busy week, three games in four days for the Ottawa senators

starting tomorrow.

But Pilsy, Travis Green, after a very optional skate today, where a lot of the top guys decided

to take the option, pack their suitcase, get ready for a quick trip to the other nation's

capital.

You were got updates on both Nick Jensen and Jake Sanderson, which one do you want

to start with?

We'll start with Nick Jensen.

He is getting surgery on his knee, tore his meniscus, so a different lower body injury

than his hip.

He's going to be out six weeks.

You feel for this guy like he finally feels like he was turning a season around.

He was playing really good with Thomas Shabbat.

We weren't having nights where everybody's piling on and he's kind of the scapegoat.

And then he gets injured a different injury and he's going to be out long term.

That's just too bad for Nick Jensen.

It's awful.

In his last seven games, which were the seven games following the Olympic break, Jensen

had two assists and was a team high plus eight over the course of that.

So he'd really started to figure it out after a very, very tough beginning and middle part

of his season.

So really, really tough news there.

When you think about it six weeks, would bring you to about the start of the second round

of the playoffs.

The regular season is done.

And if auto, what does qualify for the playoffs, it would be unlikely that he would find

a way in to that first round.

Now Nicholas Mountain Palo, look confident.

Look good.

That's the Nick Jensen replacement on the other side.

Dennis Gilbert's been in the lineup.

The analytics haven't been Denise Jabbat.

Oh, Denise Jabbat, yes, dude.

I liked his game.

I thought he kept it simple, stupid.

I thought he was making plays defensively and blocking shots, being hard to play against.

But you'd obviously rather number 85, get back in the lineup and Travis Green says Jake

Sanderson will begin skating in the next four or five days.

That's good to hear.

We talked about it when he got hurt.

This guy is going to be a beast in the rehab and recovery.

And we wouldn't be surprised if he beats his projected timeline by a while.

I want him to be there for that Tampa game March 28th, so badly Ross and he just might

do it.

It's not that crazy.

Yeah.

I mean, if he starts skating in four days, that's Saturday.

That would be a week before the senators are in Tampa selfishly, of course, for us.

We'd love him to be in the mix for that game.

That's our next boots on the ground opportunity.

And we're going to be dialed in for it.

But even if he gets back, let's say it's a full week and then some from when he gets

back on the ice, he's still looking at being in the lineup for at least the last

six games of the regular season.

So you're getting him back with not just a little runway left.

Jake Sanderson will be a big part of the final push.

And that has to be music to every sense fans ears.

Yeah, I mean, Brandon Pillar, not a doctor separated shoulder.

How soon can you start skating?

And then once you're skating, how do you progress to being fully cleared?

It's tough to say, but it's a good sign and I want to see that guy skating healthy as

soon as possible.

But yeah, I'm very, very optimistic that he's going to be back before the end of the regular

season, which is very important.

So when we bring up Nick Jensen being out for the remainder of the season, look, Nicholas

Matt and Paolo, it's his spot right now.

They also called up Lassie Thompson, who's a right shot defenseman.

Actually, leads all HL defenseman and goals this year, which I found pretty interesting.

It's been kind of a continuation from him leading the was it the Swedish league that he was

in or the Finnish league?

The Swedish league.

Yeah, he led all defenseman and that league, I believe in goals last season with 18 if

I'm not mistaken.

So he's a guy who we know has got the Tom bomb from the point and we'll see if he can sneak

in.

But Jack might be on to something with Carter, Yak and Chuck, coming up next, we'll discuss

how Yak has not only been able to produce a ton of offense in the last week, but I don't

know if he knew that he was lasting the AHL and plus minus.

He decided, no, no, no, let's make sure to get those numbers way out.

It was an unreal weekend for Belleville.

We'll get to that next.

And we'll wrap up today's show discussing Scott Wheeler's latest prospect rankings.

He's going through team by team.

How do the pools stack up?

Well, he did auto was over the weekend.

So we'll react to that and wrap up today's show with a little out of town scoreboard

talk.

You're listening to Locked On Senators, your team every day.

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All right, Pilsie want to say thank you again to everybody we got to see boots on the

ground this weekend and thank you everyone for making us your first listen each and every

day we're part of locked on podcast network.

It is the number one sports podcast network.

Pilsie the bellville senators finally starting to figure it out after the toughest stretch

of the season for them where they were winless in I think seven games in a row.

They battled back with three straight wins the first against the Utica comments finally

beating them after losing three straight games to them beforehand and then they go on

the road to Hershey against a really good bears team and beat the wheels off them 6352 and

the biggest reason why was senators 7th overall pick in the 2024 draft Carter Yakumchuk said

boys pop on my back I got this Carter Yakumchuk finishes the week three games with one goal with

seven assists eight points he was a plus eight had four pims and six shots on goal this guy

was a human highlight reel and you got to go check out his highlight reel because that assists

that he had against the Hershey Bears when they were wearing like their cream colored jersey and

he sets Graham Clark up absolutely amazing he's got three players fully pressured on him any

dangles through all of them and then him and Graham time this perfectly because Carter keeps going

keeps going and Graham cuts through the middle and he slides a pass through the D through the slot

right to him and patience gets it past the goal center like Carter Yakumchuk probably has the

nicest assist highlight reel of any prospect I've seen in a long maybe Stephen Halliday

oh would be right up there the dish or but like it's absolutely insane since Drake and Josh were

just wheeling and dealing in Belleville I mean maybe even better like not producing more points but

the way he's setting guys up and the way like when he has the puck one guy goes on him that's not

enough a second guy goes on him still dangles through and the third one's like hey I'm going to

finish this we got to get the puck off him and then that's when he passes it over like

Carter Yakumchuk dangles through everybody sure would you like him to be a little better

defensively yes would you like him to take less penalties yes would you like him to be a better

skater sure but the attributes that he is good at he is one of the best one of the best and it's

so so important for him to gain the confidence as well because we know that he he doesn't lack it

on even a bad day I don't think like he just the play that you reference like you have to have so

much confidence being able to to pull that off and it's it's great to see but when you're dead

last by eight in plus minus in the entire American hockey league and that's out of a thousand and

twenty skaters that have played at least a game in the league you want to make sure that that's

better now he's still last by one he's minus one worse and we we just brought up his stats from

the last three games the player of the week was actually just the last two the third game was the

Saturday before and guess what the difference is with these last two games he's got a new partner

Sam Bulldook so I want to give some credit to Matt Turg the GM in Belleville saying I got I got to make

a change no disrespect to Scott Harrington but it just wasn't working let's go out and get a

twenty five year old who's a big body who's responsible defensively and Bulldook has been

everything that Belleville could have hoped for and more since coming over and playing with Carter

Yakum Chuck like I think that that is such like it's a minor league trade but it could make a huge

difference in how your top prospect feels finishing the season definitely I mean he's the only

tight two games and in those two games he's got two assists plus four so that's great to see and then

I talked about him earlier Ross but we got to give some love to Graham Clark I mean three games

and nine points with the Belleville senators four goals five assists he put away that goal I was

talking about that Carter Yakum Chuck set him up on but good Ottawa boy he's in the Ottawa

organization now that's got to be a little motivation for him to one day put on that jersey that he

was a fan of as it's so huge and our guy Callum Fraser actually just did a great piece in the

Ottawa citizen we just retweeted at send central you can go check it out where like he's got an

expiring contract and this is like the the dream organization for him Ottawa kid wants to play

with the club and you're just in a situation now where he's a group six unrestricted free agent so

unless I mean obviously it would be a two-way deal it's not like he's fighting for a one-way ticket

right now after being in the minors and only playing in three NHL games not last year but the year

before it's a situation where he's not he's not wanting to go into July 1st saying what the heck

am I going to do next if he keeps being the way he is right now with Belleville you got to think

that he's a part of the fabric of what this team could look like next season and potentially a

call-up option so I'm really happy with with how the trade deadline went for for Belleville and

they're still in tough when you look at five teams make the playoffs in each division and Belleville

is currently three points back and the team ahead of them in Rochester has three extra games remaining

but Rochester only has one win in their last 10 games so it's not impossible and they traded

away their best one of if not their best player in Roseanne so that's going to help the Ottawa

centers and Ross I don't I don't want to give myself too much credit here but you can I I

essentially yeah okay well credit to me I pressed the proverbial panic button last week I said

Belleville season is over they're done and since then they're one and three on a three game winning

streak so it's going to be difficult to come back but when you've got guys coming in like Bulldoch

Graham Clark that are motivated and then you've got a goal-tending duel levy marijuana and

mad sogar like these guys got to be able to figure it out our our tukaliav still down there

lighting it up like the Xavier Borgo like this team has the talent to do it so it would be great

if they somehow pulled this off because if you look at the Belleville centers last couple of years

Ross either they just barely missed the playoffs like last year they missed by two points they were

right there right to the end and then they made the playoffs and then the year before I think they

missed by like four points so they like to keep it interesting so let's hope this year they figure

it out and they're able to squeeze in like they've done in the past there's 12 games remaining

Pilsy they're coming right down to the wire they have one more game against Rod Chester as well they

play Syracuse a couple times so there's still some divisional matchups including Utica who's

below them in the standings so there there is still a path although it might be tough when you're

looking at it's going to be tough for sure but if you look at Carter Yakum Chuck sticking with him man

I know the plus-minus isn't pretty but if you told me going into the year that at 20 years old

Carter Yakum Chuck would have 35 points in his first 47 games in the American hockey league I'd say

hell yeah I think that's a great start to his pro career well let's get into this discussion a

little bit because if Jack Richardson is listening he's probably smashing his steering wheel right now

now that Nick Jensen out six weeks do we think there's an opportunity for Carter Yakum Chuck to get

called up we know Lassie Thompson was just the guy did that surprise you by the way that they let

along called someone up and then that it was Lassie Thompson I think that you want to have an

extra defenseman yep I think that that's fair right now they have two extra forwards right in

holiday and with Curtis McDermott so I think that it would have surprised me more if they had sent

down Steven Halliday it would have felt like they were they were trying to go for it in Belleville

so to speak whereas it's like even though they added Bull Duke like taking Lassie Thompson out of

Belleville's lineup you would think would hurt them but then they go into the weekend and get two wins

anyways so no I don't think we're gonna see Carter Yakum Chuck unless and hopefully this doesn't

happen if Ottawa is completely out of the playoffs with two or three games left you'd probably give

him two or three games at the NHL level but because we're getting close and I'm gonna go ahead and

say we will get to a point where he doesn't play an NHL game until there's at least nine games left

in the season probably Lass where he's gonna have three years of his entry level contract still

remaining after this season so to answer your question no I don't think Carter's gonna get that

opportunity I would almost say that the thought process for Steve Stale would be like he's rolling

right now keep the confidence high in Belleville don't put him into a new situation let him play

where he started where he's now getting comfortable and let him do the best he can for Belleville to

try to make their push well just to play Devils out of it here wouldn't this be the best time to

bring him up he's racking up points offensively is plus minus is good he's at an all-time high

confidence wise and it's not like you're kicking out an NHL vet to get him in the line up in Ottawa

yeah just an Olympian you wouldn't I'm what if you did Matin Palo on left Yakum Chuck on the right

like yeah I mean that would probably be the play but I mean Denny's my guy now like that's

thing I don't want to kick out Denny's jail there but like this to me would almost be like stars

are aligning for Carter Yakum Chuck together an opportunity here but it's it's tough I'm on

the side where I don't think you should rush into the NHL but I think it would be fun to get him in

a couple games yeah be fun but I think it'd be more fun if Ottawa just makes the playoffs and

Carter finishes the season down there and plays well I see the argument don't get me wrong but

I just think that the way auto is rolling right now defensively especially like would you be

willing to give up some of that step defensive play that's allowed Ottawa to win so many games recently

in return for what the second power play unit being a bit better probably not but I mean it is a

third paired defenseman that's where you put yak in my opinion that's going to play 12 to 15

minutes a night is that going to change your defensive structure that much when and arguably

he's going to be going up against other teams bottom sixes probably not no probably not

but is it I guess if he comes up he's going to play 11 minutes like is it better than for him to play

20 minutes plus even though we need to fix this for next season all loving respect to the NHL stats

people who do take ice time but it's not made public like we need to know what these guys are playing

you you can get ice time for the junior league in Russia yeah but you can't get it for the

American hockey league arguably the second best league in the world come on yeah we got to bump

that up for sure and Ross I thought you'd be all over the yak gets a prac do NHL practices

in the around the guys we did that it's time for him to lock in with Belleville they aren't

home for their next five straight games this is the time to win all five win eight in a row and

and go from there high bar yeah but that's what they need they've put themselves in the situation

much like Ottawa's put themselves in a situation where they're still on the outside looking in on

the other side we'll get to that situation for Ottawa and we'll discuss Scott Wheeler's top

list of senators prospects where he had a couple that I disagreed with but for the most part

I inhaled this one pretty good we'll discuss that next you're listening to locked on senators

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welcome back locked on senators your team every day the vibes are high in Ottawa after a fantastic

perfect weekend winning their last two games and if you go back to that win against Vancouver

all the way on January 13th Pilsy the Ottawa senators are 14 4 and 4 in their last 22 games they

scored an average of almost four goals per game they've got 84 goals scored in their last 22 games

and they've only allowed 57 their their shot differential is almost plus 200 in their last 22 games

like it's insane this team is too good not to make the playoffs yes I can show to Shane Pinto

and Ross if you look the last 10 the column in the standings in the eastern conference other than

the Buffalo Sabers who are a wagon first in the east with 88 points 9 and 1 in their last 10

the Ottawa senators have the best last 10 record with 7 1 and 2 out of all the other teams

and it's just crazy because it doesn't feel like they're making ground which is so nuts

but all you can do is win the games in front of you and the center doing a very good job at that

no but they they are gaining ground I get what you're saying it's just like it's been so long

they're in the same spot in the standing so I should say they're gaining ground point wise but

as far as moving up and switching spots they've been stuck right there under Columbus yeah but

the thing is too and I think this actually plays a little bit in it they've also kind of been

with Columbus from the bottom right as Ottawa's gotten elite so has Columbus their record under

head coach Rick bonus is outstanding two regulation losses in I believe 20 games and one of those

against your Ottawa senators in their barn that said if you look at it and our guy Tyler Ray did

this on March 15 after the game so it's probably a little bit different but not much since January 12

so he's using the same date that I just did the Ottawa senators have gained 17 points on the Toronto

Maple Leafs 14 points on the Panthers and the Rangers 12 points on the Red Wings and the Devils

10 points on the Flyers and the Capitals 8 points on the Habs 7 points on Tampa and 4 points on

Boston so that's probably where you're saying like wait we've only gained four points on the Boston

Bruins which is the team we got a beat to make playoffs but I don't know if it is Pilsy I think this

might be a little smoke and mirrors and we're we're pulling up the wild card standings but if you see

those two teams there it you have to finish top five in the Atlantic so as much as you'd like to

get ahead of Columbus it's really Boston Detroit and Montreal that are all within five points of

you six points of you right now no five points five points math guy here and we've got a game

tonight that makes you plug your nose because the Ottawa senators have to root for the Montreal

Canadians and I know it's disgusting I know people don't want to hear it they don't want to do it

I've even had people in the mentions that said central say I can't do it well you know what

we did this to ourselves if Ottawa had beaten the Montreal Canadians last Wednesday in regulation

we would be actively rooting against them but the difference of those two points

is the difference of rooting interest in tonight's game and you could say well if Boston wins

they jump ahead of Montreal all of sudden Montreal is the team in the wild card spot but

I'm a games in hand fan and Ottawa will have two games in hand on Boston and Detroit after

tonight and only one game in hand on Montreal so do you want to be four points back of Boston with

two games in hand or do you want to be five points back of Montreal with just one game in hand

that's the conversation that sends fans are going to have to have and for me Ross the conversation

more isn't about what team it's where does that line cut off I don't care who's the team

in that second wild card spot it's what is the point threshold you have to pass to get above that

black line on the NHL wild card standings page and that's 81 right now now where I do have some

solace is the senators this weekend especially did themselves some big favors in the regulation

win column which is the first tiebreaker if teams are tied in points right now with 28 regulation

wins they now have more than Boston more than Detroit more than Montreal so that's a good place

to be at least you know what Pilsy they should just only count regulation wins that should be the

only point you get in the standings yeah yeah doesn't this standings look so much nicer when I

sort it by regulation wins it certainly does all all that to say I know that Detroit one last night

but that's the team with the hardest remaining schedule and last night was probably their easiest

game at home against Calgary and I know they gave up the first goal Calgary at a slight lead but

that wasn't one of those games where you're like damn Detroit really did themselves a favor that

was a whole serve game for them and they won it whatever move along they still have a tough schedule

coming up and without their captain number one center larkin and without their number two center

in and your cops so their next games Pilsy and this again speaks to why like we need Montreal

to win the next couple Montreal's next game after tonight is against the Detroit Redwings

and then I believe no so then Detroit plays Boston after that wow right so at that point you

want to be in a situation where as long as it's a regulation game that'll be the fork in the

road game where it's whoever loses that game that's who we're targeting yep definitely what what a

schedule like these are Detroit's next games home to Montreal home to Boston home to Ottawa at Buffalo

all Atlantic division teams oh my gosh so what's it going to be you look and now seeing that Ottawa's

got Detroit after Boston now I'm rooting for Boston in that Detroit game obviously it might depend

a little bit here there on what happens between now and then but if they're coming off two straight

losses to Montreal and Boston Ottawa could be them in a real good position but of course the

sends will have to take care of their own doing first Pilsy let's turn our attention to the world

of prospects and before we get to Scott Wheeler's list let's look at some of the players who seasons

are done there's two of them in the NCAA ranks yeah so the two players that the sends prospects that

seasons are done is Javon Moore and Owen Beckner so tough that they're out so early but there's some

other sends fans or sends prospects that are still going yeah I just want to have a quick note on

Owen Beckner he tied for the team lead on Colorado College and he played six last games then the guy

he was tied with in first and you'll look at what he's been able to do the last couple he

excuse me last couple years in in Colorado it's put up 50 points in 67 games on a team that really

doesn't have a whole lot of depth so I want to give some sticktaps to him and for Javon Moore he finishes

his freshman season with 21 points in 36 games and did the season really well too if you look at it

only one of the final eight games he didn't have a point now he was dash four in a six two loss

to Penn State in their elimination game but he still scored a goal not game as well had a two point

game against Notre Dame so offensively he finished the year really well and at no point did we think

that the fourth round pick and Javon Moore was going to sign after this season so a real good building

block for him to go into his sophomore year yeah definitely I think overall he had a decent season

and he's got some good highlights to show from that like he only had two points in his first 12 games

so started slow definitely so you look at it like that's the kind of progression you want to see

from a mid-round pick so sticktaps to him the point in the college season they're at now is they're

going in to the semi finals and finals of the conference tournaments and those winners are guaranteed

a spot in the final 16 the main tournament the main bracket but other teams like Penn State

they're going to make the tournament no matter what so Kevin Reedler actually lost

in the quarters or semis in the big 10 tournament to Michigan but their season isn't done

they're guaranteed a spot in the frozen for the ice the frozen for us just when it's the final

four but it is the division one men's championship bracket there's going to be 16 teams in there

and we're going to see quite a few sends prospects in there UMass is likely to be in there too

a couple late-round picks for the sends there and who's there it's Camo Neal and Nick Vantassel

so you're going to have some some lower ranked guys but also Reedler's going to be there they obviously

have high hopes there in Penn State so it'll be fun to watch and the the selection show is going to

be pretty soon here Sunday March 22nd at 7 p.m. and then that tournament will get underway March 26th

another team that lost in their regional tournament was Wisconsin the Wisconsin's obviously a little

bit of a downer not having first-round pick Logan Hensler available he's out for the year with

a lower body injury but still we will continue seeing Blake Montgomery Bruno E. Jan Tyson dick

their next game will be in that opening weekend of the tournament so we'll get back to that when

things develop fillty what were your thoughts on Scott Wheeler's Ottawa Senators prospect rankings

I was nervous that this is where they were going to end up Ross for those that don't know Wheeler has

the Ottawa Senators prospect pool 26 in the league hey one better than he had him last year

yeah but when you're moving on up like when teams that have won the Stanley Cup recently in the

Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights are the two teams ahead of you that's not great usually

their prospect pools are a little shallower since using all those picks of prospects to acquire

other players but hey this is this is where the sends are at that's why it is so so good that the

awful lot of Senators got their first round pick back this year and we're excited Wheeler just

put out his draft rankings his newest updated draft rankings for that so go check that out as well

but yes 26th prospect pool this this is where this team is at and trading away picks to acquire

players like to bring it Jacob Chichran and then essentially renting them for a year or a year

and a half and not getting good value on return in trading them away is ultimately a main reason why

the Ottawa Senators prospect pool is where it is so he considered levy marijuana line in a prospect

but not but not Stephen Halliday and we did consider Stephen Halliday prospect so I asked him I

said if Stephen was in it where would you have him and he said either two or three we had Stephen

at number two yep we had marijuana line in at three he also had marijuana line in at three but he

had Logan Hensler at number two we had him down at number four so he's a little bit higher there but

if you take out Halliday the only difference in our top five actually was flipping marijuana and

Hensler because he had Blake Montgomery at four we had him at five but with Halliday in the mix

and then his next prospect was Jory and Donovan who we had sixth with Halliday in so pretty similar

going in that term and he was a little bit higher on Owen Beckner but we didn't have in our top

ten but he had him at number six so that was the first like oh wow like okay he's a guy who's

on the radar and is it good or bad Pilsy that out of the top eight prospects for the Ottawa Senators

Wheeler had three goalies let's go with good okay I'm down because I mean the Senators fans aren't

exactly stoked with the goal tending in this organization so if you're gonna have a weaker

prospect pool and some of your best prospects are goalies that gives a little hope for the future

okay yeah he had marijuana and again at three then he had Luca Beckman at seven and he had Kevin

Readler at eight those are the process and he's got great write-ups on all these so go check out

the entire article for sure and then he had Hoyt Stanley at Tenge Von Moore 11 so those guys are

getting a little recognition as fourth round picks to be able to move up but what he wrote and

it's a lot of writing on Carter Yakum Chuk he kind of says it's gone about how he expected it would

and I think that can give sense fans a little bit of an exhale saying like okay like

he will get a bit better defensively like it is a big adjustment going there so I'm happy with

with the overall thought process of course you'd want to be higher up on the list and you want to

be a better prospect pool but the Senators they they got a lot of fourth round picks in the mix

they got a lot of late round picks because of Pierre Dorian's addiction to trading draft picks later

on in his term with Ottawa but expect the Senators first round pick this year to find themselves

as a top four probably prospect in the Senators organization yeah I feel like that's fair and I

think two Ross people get stuck in this comparison of prospects comparison the thief of joy the

classic quote just because you see other guys who were drafted in similar areas playing in the NHL

some of them having success some of them struggling I think they start to look well Yakum Chuk was

drafted seventh and he's getting so many points in the NHL he needs to be playing in the NHL is he

a bust what's going on here look when you're drafting someone in the top 10 or prospects that are

considered your top prospects like Yakum Chuk is for the Senators it's not about how quickly can

we get him to the NHL it's about how good can he be once he gets here like you don't draft a

prospect to be like we need him paying dividends immediately you draft him because you're like this

guy eventually who knows when it's going to be everyone blooms at a different rate development

is not linear for all guys when he's there how good do we think his potential can be and I think

that's one thing especially with defense when you got to be patient sometimes so I still have a

lot of excitement and hope for Yakum Chuk even if he doesn't end up playing in the NHL games this

uh neither us nor Wheeler had enough patience for Elias and to put him in the top 10 is the

second round pick in 2024 he was omitted from the list I was a little surprised the Tyler

Bouchet didn't get a spot lower down he was number 10 on our most recent rankings but like

it's been a good season for him in Belville he got in a fight by the way on Sunday in in Hershey

he's he's got five points in his last four games and that's without a point Sunday so

it was five points in three games before that and he's up to 21 points in 35 games a plus eight

with 56 pins like I know that the injuries and everything that was going on and it just wasn't a

good start to his pro career like if this and I know it's his third season but it's almost matching

the amount of games played he played last year if this was his first or second season in the NHL

you'd probably say like okay like you can see the development coming along so I stopped a little

bit of hope for Tyler Bouchet and I'll say I was a little surprised that he wasn't at the lower end

like Javon Moore or Tyler Bouchet yeah I probably I probably still have Tyler Bouchet a little bit ahead

especially when I know it's his third season like you mentioned but look at the games played

has he even acquired a full season of games played in the NHL like a little a little bit more

but it's close 103 games in the NHL oh damn that's more than I thought okay yeah yeah across three

seasons he played 47 last year it did not go well but this year I mean he set a career hind

goals career highnesses career hind points career hind pims and he was minus eight in his first two seasons

combined and he's plus eight this year so okay just saying just saying all right pills any final

thoughts on today's show final thoughts for me is thanks everyone whether it's on YouTube

Instagram Twitter our discord channel for wishing me happy birthday appreciate it usually the

Ottawa Senators play a game on my birthday not this year but with what how they did on the weekend

that's totally fine by me and like I said I want this via birthday week so I need them to keep

it roll and the rest of the week for me it's going to be a game day preview tomorrow for the

Ottawa Senators in Washington we'll get everything you need to know from that game and more

we'll wrap up what we see on the Editown scoreboard tonight as well for today we say goodbye thanks

so much for liking watching listening and engaging with the show for Brandon Piller I'm

Ross Levitan and this has been another edition of the Lockdown Senators podcast your team every day