Brown to get prep time with Belleville Senators
The 11th overall pick in the 2016 entry draft hasn’t played a game since Feb. 15
After losing 11 of their past 12 games, the Ottawa Senators are moving toward icing an even younger lineup.
Soon enough, 22-year-old centre Logan Brown will receive his chance to put his stamp on the rebuilding club.
Even on a day away from the ice — the Senators flew to Winnipeg Wednesday to start a fivegame road trip Thursday against the Jets — the wheels of change were in motion.
Brown was assigned to the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League from the club's taxi squad, while Matthew Peca came the other way.
The idea here is for Brown to finally see some game action — Belleville opens its season Friday against the Laval Rocket — to prepare him for an eventual return to the big league Senators.
“To give him the best chance for success at the NHL level, we all felt he needed some games under his belt,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said in an interview on TSN 1200 AM.
Brown, who has been hampered by injuries throughout his career, hasn't played a game anywhere since last Feb. 15.
After being drafted 11th overall by the Senators in the 2016 NHL entry draft, Brown has played only 29 NHL games, registering one goal and eight assists.
Yet with the Senators struggling to find wins and with several more experienced forwards stumbling at the outset of the season, the door has once again opened for Brown.
“I spoke with the agent (Jeff Jackson) and D.J. (Smith, Senators coach) and Peter (MacTavish, assistant general manager) spoke with the player,” said Dorion.
“The message was you've come here, you've practised hard since you've been here. You had good and bad through camp. When you get called up again, whether it's first on the taxi squad or on the roster, make sure you're ready to play. Play as hard as you can. It won't be handed to you. You've got to perform at the AHL level like you've done and we hope to see you back here shortly.”
In a related move, 32-yearold centre Artem Anisimov was waived. Anisimov has played only four games, with one assist.
If, as expected, Anisimov clears waivers — he has a salary cap hit of US$4.55 million — he will be placed on the taxi squad.
That, in turn, will free up an open roster spot Brown could slide into.
The Senators 2-11-1 start has naturally been frustrating for Dorion.
While goaltending has been a major issue — the latest example being backup Marcus Hogberg allowing three weak goals on 13 shots in Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers — the Senators also haven't received enough from the group of veterans who were expected to guide the young players.
Defenceman Braydon Coburn is now on the taxi squad. Forward Cedric Paquette has been a healthy scratch for the past four games.
Centre Derek Stepan, who is a voice of experience for the many young forwards on the team, has struggled to find his place since being acquired in a Dec. 27 trade. He has one goal and three assists in 13 games.
Stepan and his wife, Stephanie, have three children, including a baby born only days after the trade. There have been rumblings that he has asked for a trade back to a team in the United States.
“No, he hasn't indicated anything along that line, to us,” Dorion said. “We can tell in the conversations (we've) had with him that, I think it's only human that, when you've only seen your newborn for a day or two, that it can be difficult on any type of human being.”
Whether there was a misjudgment on how big an impact the incoming veterans could have, the Senators have cleaned things up considerably in the past week.
They've been a faster team. With a better bounce or two on the weekend and with a save on Monday, they could have another win or two.
Dorion insists, however, that the plan at the start of the season to have veterans lead the way was the correct one. He says the current young players needed to be pushed to earn their spots.
“Too many young guys would be a total disaster,” he said. “The NHL is a man's league. It can eat you up. You have to be smart how you want to make these players develop properly. We don't want to put a bunch of young players in the NHL, not having earned it and then we lose for the next 10 years.”
Brown, for one, has experienced his fair share of growing pains along the way. He's now venturing into now or never territory on whether he'll finally be able to establish himself in the Senators lineup.