Waiting game for Sens prospect White

The Ottawa Senators want Colin White to be patient and realize he’ll get his chance next season.

We should find out soon if that approach works.

With the Boston College Eagles having been eliminated from the NCAA playoffs last Saturday, the Senators are trying to get the 20-year-old centre signed to an amateur-tryout offer so he can join their AHL affiliate in Binghamton.

Though White, the No. 21 overall selection in the 2015 National Hockey League draft, would rather sign a three-year entry-level contract and play in the NHL this season, the Senators hope he’ll accept the ATO and then confirm a deal with Ottawa in the summer. That way the club doesn’t burn a year on White’s contract, bringing him a step closer to free agency.

Senators assistant general manager Randy Lee is handling the talks and, with Ottawa in Boston this week, the timing would be perfect for White, a native of Hanover, Mass., to join the team. However, the Senators believe White will have a tough time getting into the lineup of a team caught up in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

“I agree with Ottawa. Let’s not forget he’s still only 20 years old,” Craig Button, TSN’s director of scouting, said Monday from Toronto. “He’s a really good young player that needs time. The Senators are ramped up and, to throw a kid in there, I think it’s too large of an expectation.”

White was a star for the U.S. team in the recent world junior championship but, with the Senators adding Alex Burrows and Viktor Stalberg at the trade deadline, there’s no room. Winger Mark Stone will likely return before the playoffs, too, and that means an NHL player will have to come out of the lineup.