All for one: Senators go on retreat before opener
The Ottawa Senators are promoting togetherness as they wind up training camp.
The Senators are determined to be more cohesive than they were last season, which is why they organized this retreat to skate for a couple of days in nearby St-Jovite.
Players had dinner in the hotel Sunday evening, brought in a couple of big screens to watch football and played cards. On Monday, after a long skate at the St-Jovite Arena, they played golf at Le Maître and got together for a team dinner at a steak house in the village.
Let’s face it, they’ll have to lean on each other this season.
“It’s great. I think we’ve got a lot of new faces, whether that’s through trade or just breaking into the league, so it’s nice to kind of meet your teammates,” veteran winger Mark Stone said. "I don’t think I know a lot about a lot of the new guys.
“You kind of get together and form this bond that hopefully won’t be broken.”
Head coach Guy Boucher said these kinds of activities were pivotal and would help the Senators get off to a good start.
“It’s everything. If you don’t have (togetherness), you’ve got nothing,” Boucher said. “You can practise as hard as you can, you can have the best players, but, if you don’t have the intangibles that create the bonds, then you’re not going to perform. It’s impossible. That’s why it’s a team game.”
KEEPING AN EYE ON BRADY
Winger Brady Tkachuk, who missed Sunday’s practice, was on the ice briefly Monday, but left not long after the drills began.
The Senators are still counting on him to suit up against the Chicago Blackhawks in the regular-season opener on Thursday night, but Boucher didn’t provide any details on the injury situation.
The No. 4 selection in the 2018 National Hockey League draft, Tkachuk skated briefly on a line with Zack Smith and Stone.
“It’s a nagging thing. We’re just trying to make sure we’re doing the best that we can,” Boucher said. “We’ll reassess (Tuesday). He’s had a terrific camp. Everything went well, so we’re just giving him the best chance (to recover) that we can.”
If Tkachuk can’t play Thursday, expect either forward Max McCormick or a seventh defenceman to dress for the game.
THE LAST WORDS
It may depend on Tkachuk’s health, but the Senators aren’t sure if they’ll carry 23 players on the roster to start the season. General manager Pierre Dorion must declare the opening-night roster by 5 p.m. Tuesday, and the Senators still have eight defencemen on the roster right now. That’s partially because Max Lajoie and Christian Jaros had excellent training camps, but it doesn’t mean both will stay. “We’ll wait until (Tuesday) to decide that because it’s very difficult to decide right now,” Boucher said. The Senators don’t want to waive defenceman Ben Harpur, who had a difficult camp, because they feel there’s a good chance he’d get claimed by another club. It’s possible Jaros goes to Belleville of the American Hockey League because he wouldn’t have to clear waivers … In practice, Boucher has been skating a fourth line with Tom Pyatt at centre between Magnus Paajarvi and Colin White. Pyatt has normally been a winger in Ottawa, but has played centre in the past and is strong defensively ... Stone, a huge golf fan and a four-handicap, said he was disappointed to see Europe win the Ryder Cup. “I wasn’t as invested this year because it was tough to watch, but I always cheer for the Americans because they’re my favourite golfers, so I was a little upset,” Stone said. “The Europeans set up the course the way they wanted to set up the course and they got home-field advantage. They took advantage of it, just like the U.S. did two years ago. No hard feelings.”