Chabot shouldering heavy workload
19-year-old Senators prospect figures to be a prominent force on the Canadian blue-line
OTTAWA — When Thomas Chabot returned to Canadian Tire Centre as an assistant captain of Canada’s under-20 team Tuesday, he was given the stall beside the one that was all his for the first month of the NHL season.
His familiarity with the Ottawa Senators dressing room sparked the obvious question.
“Guys are asking me where (Erik) Karlsson sits,” said Chabot, whose national teammates will take on the Czechs in a world junior championship tune-up Wednesday.
“It’s fun to be back around here. I know this place pretty well. I’ve spent a lot of time here in the past three years here.”
The most recent stint was mostly just practice as Chabot played just one game and saw only 7:09 of ice time for the Senators before being returned to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Saint John Sea Dogs Nov. 2. Being the go-to guy in an important tournament on the global stage, with the added pressure and scrutiny of it being held in Toronto and Montreal, is a large part of the development wanted from him.
Now he is the Karlsson of Team Canada. He is its best defenceman, its power-play quarterback, a key member of its penalty-killing units. After failing to qualify for the medal round last year in Finland, Canada is looking to “make amends,” said captain Dylan Strome. To do that, the leader of the ‘D’ has to have a strong tournament.
“I feel it as a good pressure,” said Chabot, who has five goals, 20 points and a plus-8 rating in 14 games with the Sea Dogs since his return.
“I think we all know we have a good team this year. We have so many good players, everyone is really excited to get in that tournament. Everyone is in it all together. I don’t see any pressure on one or two guys on the team. It’s all the guys in the room. We all know what happened last year. Nobody wants to do that same thing again this year.”
So far, so good. Through two scrimmages and one exhibition game, Canada has surrendered a grand total of zero goals.
The competition is going to get much stiffer, if not quite yet. The Czechs were the opponents in one of the scrimmages — Canada gave them an 8-0 pounding.
Lining up as Chabot’s partner on the top pairing is Philippe Myers, a 6-foot-4, 206-pounder who plays for the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. They have complemented each other well.
“The way they move, the transition is very good,” said Canadian coach Dominique Ducharme. “Defensively they’re so mobile, they’re right on top of guys. They don’t give time and space. I like the way they work together. They’re hard to play against.”
Myers is the only player on the Canadian roster who was not drafted. Undaunted, he went to Calgary’s development camp, built his confidence, accepted an invite to Philadelphia’s training camp and wound up signing a contract with the Flyers.
“I think we have good communication on the ice … that’s a big part of the game,” Myers said of his partnership with Chabot, whom he calls one of the best defencemen in the QMJHL. “It’s a great honour to play with him.”
“Honoured” is also how Chabot feels about being named one of the alternate captains of the team.
“There’s a lot of great leaders in the room … to wear a letter, for sure, it’s special for me,” he said. “It’s always fun to help the new guys that never went through that tournament. When they have questions, it’s fun to answer them, to give them a good answer to get ready for the tournament.”
One of the questions they might ask is what happened last year in Finland. That answer does not come quickly or easily.
“We learned a lot for sure,” said Chabot, who was the team’s only 18-year-old blue-liner then and its only returning D-man now. “It’s a hard tournament to play in. Every night you’ve got to show up, whether you think the country might not be as good as you are. You’ve got to play as hard as you can.”
Chabot will help set that example Wednesday in the arena that was his home for a month this season — and hopefully will be again for years to come. What kind of reception does he expect from the Ottawa crowd?
“I probably won’t get booed,” said Chabot. “It should be a lot of fun to be back.”