Tag: Ottawa Senators

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Rumor: DJ Smith sends a harsh message to Cam Talbot.

Marc DesRosiers/USA Today

The Ottawa Senators may have sent a harsh message to veteran goaltender Cam Talbot, and we likely won’t have to wait long to know for sure.

On Thursday night, the Senators suffered an ugly loss at the hands of the Florida Panthers, one in which they gave up 7 goals and only managed to score 2 of their own. Notably absent from that performance however was veteran goaltender Cam Talbot, who was made a healthy scratch by Senators head coach DJ Smith.

You could wave it off as a veteran being rested in a season that is, at least as far as the Senators are concerned, effectively already over, but Ottawa Senators insider Bruce Garrioch doesn’t appear to think so.

From Garrioch:

This decision to scratch Talbot in Florida marked the beginning of the end for him with the Senators. It was a relationship that carried so much hope, but it will end in disappointment as both sides prepare for the breakup.

There are a number of potential reasons why the relationship between the two sides may have deteriorated, not the least of which is contract demands. According to Garrioch, the Senators were prepared to offer Talbot a 1-year extension at a discount earlier in the season, with Talbot’s camp looking for a raise and multiple years on a new deal.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Senators have to be looking back in the rearview mirror at the trade they made to acquire Talbot, a trade that sent goaltender Filip Gustavsson to the Minnesota Wild. Gustavsson has gone on to appear in 36 games for the Wild this season, recording a 2.03 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. Talbot, who was brought in to shore up the Senators’ goaltending situation, appeared in just 35 games this season due in large part to a barrage of injuries, and recorded a 2.89 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.

All this appears to be pointing towards an ugly divorce in Ottawa, with Garrioch indicating on Saturday morning that he doesn’t expect Talbot will play against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, in spite of poor performances from goaltenders Mads Sogaard and Leevi Merilainen in their last outings.

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Senators officially shut down 3 players on Saturday.

NHL/Twitter

The Ottawa Senators are throwing in the towel with any hope of making the Stanley Cup playoffs now officially out of reach.

The Senators have 3 games remaining on their regular season schedule with a a matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday followed by a pair of games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres next week, but many of the team’s core players will not be present for those games.

On Saturday, the Senators announced that they would be shutting down 3 defenseman with Jakob Chychrun, Thomas Chabot and Travis Hamonic all wrapping up their seasons prematurely. Chychrun and Chabot are under contract for next season so it makes perfect sense to shut both players down and avoid any potentially serious injuries. Hamonic will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season but the Senators could look to resign him, or he simply could be banged up and in need of respite.

The Senators will, despite the huge blow to their blue line, still feature many of their regulars today including captain Brady Tkachuk and veteran forward Claude Giroux. Here is how their lines looked during the morning skate:

Tkachuk Stützle Giroux
DeBrincat Pinto Batherson
Joseph Gambrell Brown
Sokolov Kastelic Gauthier

Sanderson Zub
Brannstrom Holden
Kleven Bernard-Docker

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Terrible news for injured NHL veteran Derick Brassard.

On Thursday night, longtime National Hockey League veteran Derick Brassard suffered an ugly looking injury when he went down during a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Brassard appeared to suffer a nasty ankle injury as his foot and ankle bent back the wrong way during a scoring chance for the veteran forward, and unfortunately the updates on his status may be even worse than the initial images of the incident would have led you to believe.

On Saturday, Ottawa Senators insider Bruce Garrioch was able to confirm that Brassard would not play again this season due to the serious ankle injury he suffered, but even worse than that the insider raised the possibility of this being a career-ending type of injury for Brassard.

From Garrioch:

In the case of the 35-year-old Brassard, not only may his season be over, but there’s also a chance that could have been the final shift of his National Hockey League career.

Brassard has played all across the National Hockey League during his career including stints with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, New York Islanders, Arizona Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, and of course the aforementioned Ottawa Senators. As a result he has amassed a huge following of fans from around the league, all of whom will no doubt be devastated by this latest update on the health of the 35 year old veteran centerman.

Update: Brassard has now undergone surgery and is confirmed to have broken his fibula.

At this point we can only hope for the best, and hopefully that means we will get to see Brassard healthy once again and back playing the sport that he loves.

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Ryan Reynolds wants to make Welcome to Wrexham-style show about Ottawa Senators: report

Ryan Reynolds is reportedly looking into producing a documentary on the Ottawa Senators.

Speaking to TSN, Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch said the Vancouver-born actor wants to give the Canadian hockey team the Welcome to Wrexham treatment.

That documentary, released earlier this year, follows Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Rob McElhenney’s efforts to run their Wrexham A.F.C. football club. The actors purchased Wrexham, the world’s third-oldest professional association football club, in November 2020, and have given it significant publicity ever since. According to Garrioch, Reynolds hopes to offer a similar behind-the-scenes look at the Senators’ players, staff and fans.

Garrioch said he believes Reynolds has already discussed the idea with the NHL, given his interest in acquiring the team. He added that he thinks the NHL would be all for it, especially considering Reynolds is such a big name with a massive social media following.

It remains to be seen whether such a documentary will be made. For now, though, Welcome to Wrexham is currently streaming on Disney+ Canada. A second season is also in the works. His latest film, Spirited, is also now streaming on Apple TV+ Canada.

Image credit: FX

Source: TSN