How Should The Ottawa Senators Set Up Their Top-4 On Defense Heading Into 2024-25 NHL Season?

How Should The Ottawa Senators Set Up Their Top-4 On Defense Heading Into 2024-25 NHL Season?

on today’s show we’ll continue our far too early lineup projections but how long have S fans been clamoring for a set top four on the back end the pieces are there how will the puzzle get put together and for the first time in a long time that puzzle won’t include Eric branstrom so how will that affect the bottom pair of this Decor we’ll get into all that and more on today’s locked on SS I’m Jake Sanderson Tim schler and you’re listening to the locked on Senator podcast you’re locked on Senators your daily podcast on the auttaa Senators part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day welcome you are locked on to the Ottawa Senators the only daily podcast covering the SS on the outskirts of enemy territory I’m Ross love alongside Brandon pillar up in the Blue Mountains today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms to apply you can follow us on social media we at send Central on Twitter you can find the show wherever you get podcasts including on YouTube where we say hello and let you know that a like comment and subscription go a long way to helping the show grow today is Friday July 12th in Psy for the first time in how long the Senators have two top four left shot defenseman and two top right shot defensemen yeah we haven’t seen that in a long time Ross uh it’s nice H it’s especially nice Ross when there’s not four top four Lefty also that you got to try to find out ways uh to work when CH and bransom were here as well but the CH trade bringing in Nick Jensen a lot of people around the league were very underwhelmed by it I I think other fan bases were kind of like wow that’s all you got for Jacob chcken I think even s fans I’ll count myself in there were like really this this was the Jacob CHR trade I maintained the whole time I was thinking they were going to trade Chon for picks then use those picks to acquire right shot D I think that’s probably what Steve Sals wanted to do Ross but he looked at the right-hand D Market in free agency said we’re not going to pay those right shot defensemen that much money for that long so he didn’t want to go that route and acquiring a right shot defenseman is very difficult to do so I think he just said much like the allmark trade let’s where he said let’s get rid of Corpus Alo and bring in a new goalie in one swift motion with the Chon trade he said let’s get rid of Chen clear that cap space while also bringing in a right shot defenseman at the same time and I think that’s the approach he had had to take at the end of the day so I think as far as building the team and the structure of the roster it made sense when you’re looking at trading a valuable assets for pennies on the dollar again for the Ottawa Senators that’s tough to look at but we got to move past that I guess yeah I really do and you have to look at at a bounceback situation for Nick Jensen is is something that I mean has to happen for him to continue to help uh in the role that he’s in where it’s not flashy I think that the cuming and Hawk guys when they had him on they asked him how many of oetkin goals did he assist on and it was like three like he’s not gonna be contributing offensively uh a whole lot but that’s not what you need him for you just need him to be steady and reliable and even though he had his worst year statistically in a long time the worst plus minus of his career not that that’s everything but it is interesting to note that two years ago he’s plus 32 and then as the capitals have kind of fallen so to of the numbers of a lot of players and all of a sudden he’s minus n NE I remind you though chicken was minus 30 but the other uh defensive metrics it just feels like he’s the perfect partner for a guy who’s G to roam a little bit more he was mostly paired with Rasmus sandine last year in Washington uh didn’t play a whole lot with John Carlson they’re both right shot defenseman I know some people when they think capitals on the back end you’re like oh if you’re not playing with John Carlson I mean come on so what is it in Ottawa for you where do you think that Nick Jensen would have his most success do you put him with Jake Sanderson or do you keep the Sanderson Zoo pair that everyone fell in love with last year we already said going into the off season that this was the lock and and don’t touch it pair but now I’m of the mind that maybe you tried Jake Sanderson with Nick Jenson because you’re now putting your best defens in with arguably your number four I have Zu as a a better Defender at this stage in his career than Jensen so my thought process is I want my number one playing with the number four that way we’re balancing the top four a little bit more you’re doing uh original playoff seating as far as the S Decor goes one with four two and three then I see that makes sense um Ross funny enough the idea of Sanderson and Jensen is the only de pair I haven’t played around with have not put those two together in my in my blending of the lines look there’s two there’s two approaches for me here Ross there’s one side where I’m like keep it simple stupid don’t mess around with Sanderson and Zub that pair has worked they played 824 minutes together Ross the next closest pair and this is tough to even say was Jacob Chan and jbd which did not work at 433 minutes so almost double the amount of minutes as the next pair and there’s a reason for that Ross Sanderson and Zub just works it works let’s not mess around with that all the other D pairs didn’t work like if you look at I’m on Natural stat trck and if you look at the time on ice and the core C4 percentages and the expected goals uh for percentages not many of the other D pairs really work out that well we’ll get to some of the ones that do later on in the show but it would just seem like Ross if you split up Sanderson and Zub you’re taking one step back to hope to take two steps forward where why not just take that step forward with Sanderson zuo you know you have a number one pair that has shown they can shut down other opponent’s top lines consistently night in and night out and then make the rest of the decor work now that it’s a new shaped Decor no Branny no Chen Nick Jensen in the mix possibly Tyler cevin make the rest of the D pairs work and just keep your top pair solid that’s one way of thinking do you want to chime in on that before I I go to my other train of thought well if we’re just going to keep our calculators out why don’t you just go through and sort by which D pair had the most success and all of a sudden Sanderson and Shabbat will be your top pair going to next season why do we just have both lefties together and both righties together yeah I did notice that uh as well Ross although they didn’t play that much together how much did they play together uh 54 minutes yeah so definitely not not a ton of time but uh no joke jokes aside I just think that you’re bringing in a veteran as well it’s like I don’t know a little treat start him day one a camp with Jake Sanderson and and I think that he can help him in terms of where to be in the defensive Zone people are people are quick to forget with how mature his game is that Jake Sanderson just turned what 22 years old uh last week so I just think that there is something to be said of having that connection the two Americans back there and let’s not act like Thomas shabat ardam Zu hasn’t worked as a pair in the past if we rewound 12 months this conversation we had last summer was like oh Shabbat Zu don’t touch it basically whoever plays with Zub you’re gonna get a bit more reliability and I think that Shabbat needs that more than Sanderson that’s the angle I’m approaching that from yeah that’s fair couple comments on that uh do you think we need to bring bring back Nick Holden uh remember Nick Holden was the Secretary of Defense uh when Jacob chicken was brought in you and I did an entire episode mapping out eight different D pairs that we could do when Jacob chcken was brought in the one pair we did not discuss or even have on the table was CH playing with Nick Holden that’s his first defense partner so that would be a whole different approach bringing in Jensen and letting him play with Sanderson right off the bat so I like that so so let’s get weird is there a chance to you that they start Nick Jensen with Tyler clevin on a PIR well that’s that’s the other train of thought I’m going with so now I’ll get on to option b for myself Ross which would see oh and I wanted to comment quickly um Thomas Shabbat and ardam Zub did have a decent sample size last season I lost my spot okay here it is they played 130 minutes together had a COR C4 percentage of 50 three so pretty solid but it’s the expected goals that are down a little bit for them Ross at 43 so while I think they were getting shots on net and obviously limiting shots being put on their net as as course he goes or at least a shot attempts I should say um they weren’t really successful in creating a lot of offense which I think is the issue there well last year when they played almost 500 minutes together they were at a 54% of actual goals when they were on the ice they scored 26 and had 2 uh two against them and when it came to uh to an expected value um they were at 55% when they got a more sample size so I’m just saying if if you’re looking back historically it has worked yeah I just think I just think that uh it would be a nice a nice treat I think for Shabbat too to to get to play with the most reliable defender on the team but people are screeching to a halt on the roads they’re like I don’t I can’t comprehend it you want to start Nick Jensen on the third pair Well here here’s here’s my train of thought so you you talk about getting Shabbat and Zub together again I think that’s a pair that works is it as good as Sanderson and Zu no in my opinion but it’s still a good pair they’ve shown that so that would probably be my top top pair I would have them going up against uh the highest competition uh on offense for the opponents second pair Sanderson jbd now that might have people a little concerned but they actually played a decent amount together as well 143 minutes where they had a Cory four percentage of 53 so he love that over 50 and then an expected goal is almost the same 52 so that’s a pair that could work you get uh jbd in a role where he’s comfortable with Jake Sanderson there as well two younger guys so it’s a little concerning but I would have them as a second pair so they’re not going up against as tough a comp competition and then Ross if Tyler cevin does make the team out of Camp which I think is kind of everyone’s leading thought right like I haven’t really seen many people put someone else at that top at the bottom pair on the left side and I think management has really kind of angled themselves towards saying they really liked his development last year and think he’s ready to make that step so let’s just assume Tyler clevin is that bottom pair left-hand shot defenseman well I think we’re going to discuss a little more in the next segment yeah for sure for sure but for this argument let’s just assume that he’s the guy I don’t want him playing with Jacob Bernard dacker um I don’t think those two are ready to be playing together I think they played H I was looking at it was like five minutes together or something I’d like a I’d like video of all those five minutes so here they played four minutes and 42 seconds together and it didn’t go well Ross uh the core4 percentage at 33 although the expected goal is all the way up at 59 so I’m not really sure how uh when you have four minutes of uh you’re get yeah it’s going to be a little crazy so I I just don’t think that would work so that’s where Nick Jensen newer guy like you mentioned a bit of a Down year for him last year so let’s see how things go and then Tyler cevin gets a veteran that can carry the puck up the ice better than jbd is able to at least in my opinion so I think that’s where that could work and you shelter clevin with a veteran and then see also it’s almost like a triy out for Nick Jensen like all right where where are you actually at here and if he excels then you can look at switching things up but those are the two kind of paths that I’ve looked at here for how you’re going to set this Decor up let us know in the comments you riding with one of py strategies or with Sanderson and Nick Jensen I want that thing rolling into training camp with Jensen alongside Jake Sanderson Thomas Shabbat with ardam Zub and if clevin comes in takes his spot as I believe he should then get him on the third pair with who that conversation is next you’re listening to locked on Senators your team every day today’s episode is brought to you by our friends over at game time look it’s summertime if you’re looking to have a good night out on the town you need to check out game time 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season starts back up we’re only like 84 83 days away from senator’s hockey I need it I’m ready I’m back the the transaction period was fun the draft was fun but py there’s nothing like the the hype and hope that you get coming into training camp each and every year early October is a wild place to be an NHL fan Twitter starts going nuts People Like Us start doing ridiculous hot takes Ross and we got to start cross referencing our hot takes and seeing just how bad they are uh I think the only one that was like almost okay was me thinking Jacob chicken could hit 20 goals I feel like that one there was hope for that along the whole season and it got close what he finished with 14 something like that so it was close I mean he got two goals in the home opener you and I looked at each other like damn this is gonna happen for sure that didn’t happen I’m not even gonna mention I’m not even gonna mention the other hot takes we had they were just atrocious um by the way I was watching yesterday on YouTube on on the pelaton um not to brag first ride in like three weeks um Nick Jensen somebody posted eight hours ago from when I when I searched it uh every goal he scored with the capitals and for a defensive defenseman that I think only had 11 goals in three years um he’s got some highlight real real goals so uh maybe not the shot the way we saw with Jacob chran it was really kind of on his stick off his stick and uh with Jensen it’s more of these like weaving rushes through the neutral zone where all of a sudden he looks like he’s got hands and uh he tucks it home so um we’re g to be think hopefully impressed with the offense that that doesn’t always go on the score sheet but the way he’s able to find his partner in good spots another reason why I’d like him with Jake Sanderson yeah and honestly Ross if Jensen can just be an effective guy in transition on the right side I think that would go a long way right like the transition guys are always on the left Thomas shabot Jake Sanderson uh Eric branstrom even Jacob Chan like they were more relied upon to be carrying the puck up that left side so if you can get a little bit more of Puck movement especially out of Their Own Zone on the right side I think that will be a big boost for Jensen a diverse portfolio of Zone exits would be a real treat to see in Ottawa and it also helps like Lena alark is something that we haven’t really touched much on him is like he’s really good at playing the puck not only scoring that goal which we have mentioned but he’s really good at getting his his defenseman the puck for Outlets that that move the puck quicker out of the Zone yeah love that uh Ross if you’ll allow me I have a I have a segue here who who will score more goals next season Lena alark or Eric branstrom with the Colorado Avalanche oh my goodness we’ll go with Branny I’m not trying to disrespect him on the way out he uh I don’t believe in all Mark’s goal scoring ability no I think I think maybe he gets one Brandy had a career high in goals last year with three PTY like I don’t know what you’re talking about I actually think he’s going to be decent on Colorado it just to me it doesn’t make much sense with him and Sam Gerard it’s like isn’t that kind of the exact same player but one you’re playing five million too right when they signed Brandy I was like oh they’re gonna move on from Gerard and yeah and they didn’t yeah I was shocked that Colorado is where brany uh ended up uh I would love to know what other teams gave him offers or what was on the table for him um Ross I mentioned this to you before we started the show I feel like we didn’t really give the Branny exit its proper air time now I know click click click that s Everyone exiting Today’s Show I was going to say there’s either people being like Oh my God not this again or people being like yeah it’s wild that Brandy was just dropped off and let go and that and that just moved on um it’s it’s such a Enigma that Eric branstrom effect in Ottawa he was brought in in the markstone trade expectations were high he was never able to meet them but also the team kind of just started building around him and putting him in spots that didn’t really make sense it’s like trying to get a square peg through a a round hole like they really tried to make Eric branstrom a defensive defenseman killing penalties which didn’t work out for the team um I think it was in a weird spot I don’t think anyone expected the team to qualify him Ross but for them not to get any assets in return and thenit signing a $900,000 deal in Colorado that was that was a strange turn of events for me I I was under the impression they’d be able to trade him for a middle round pick at least but it seems like maybe they weren’t interested in that they wanted I high and they just couldn’t get it so they let him walk I don’t know well everyone knew that they they couldn’t qualify him at $2 million so he was basically a UFA at that point and then what what value do you have people can just wait unless they wanted their priority bidding he could have just waited them out and that’s that’s what he did I felt a lot worse when they lost Anthony duclair is an RFA where that whole situation fell apart but like I don’t know I I feel like with Eric Branch I just wish him well and uh I don’t really have any any more takes on him I just hope that you’re getting an NHL Ready Player in Tyler cevin because I’m I’m looking at the depth chart now and we went from from too much left shot defense with Eric branom and Jacob Chron to now I mean behind the two eight million doll men in Jake Sanderson Thomas Shabbat you’re looking at a slew of entry level under1 million contracts on the left side you’re either gonna have clevin or if he can’t and this kind of takes me back as I pause where it’s like they’re still cap space they need a depth defenseman but I’m not so sold it has to be a right shot defenseman anymore I think it’s yeah it’s almost a lefty that’s a priority because you’re looking down at Jeremy Davey and Philip ruse Donovan sa brango jorian Donovan and Thomas Shamara like that’s your left shot depth right now on the back end so unless one of those guys are going to come and grab it yeah the Branny effect could be felt as as a depth piece so I think what what I’ll kind of wrap up my point is it’s like I don’t think they have their branstrom replacement yet I think that might still be on the menu but they’re not going to be paying $2 million for it and I do think there’s probably the angle of if Branny came back at 1 million like isn’t that kind of awkward in the room where it’s like you were so bad last year your values cut in half in the same room I don’t know it’s it’s a slippery slope yeah definitely and that’s where like you like there’s more to hockey than just the on Ice performances there’s the politics of it the cap the money everything like that um I I think they would have been better off dealing with hamic whether a bio or a trade or or what happened and then giving that cap space to brany like you said it wasn’t going to be at 2 million if it’s like 1.2 something like that but then if you’re Eric Branson you’re like these guys weren’t even going to qualify me I’m not about to take a deal for Less I’d rather take basically a league minimum deal somewhere else and get another chance that makes sense but the issue is Ross unfortunately Eric Branson wasn’t able to make it work on a bottom pair um which that would have allowed him to stay and would have allowed him to be a useful piece I always talk about it the versatility for Eric branstrom is the key to him but he wasn’t able to play with uh with jbd with Chan or hamonic so it just didn’t make sense but this is a guy I think come late season when unfortunately Thomas Shabbat he typically gets hurt every year I think s fans are going to wish they had a guy like Eric Branson that can step up and and play in the top four at a small sample size because his numbers I mean with tombot that doesn’t make sense for my argument here if Shabbat injured but his numbers with Shabbat and Zub were pretty solid um this is this is a guy that can play the left or the right side he can play on the power play he can kill penalties so I think the issue with Branny was on a game to game basis he wasn’t good enough but when you look at his sample size as a whole he was the type of player the AWA Senators needed uh so I think there’s there’s a fatigue that comes with when you have a guy that just hasn’t been able to take the next step or you just have to move on like I I understand the points you’re trying to make I’ve just we we we’ve we’ve beaten Branny to death I just feel like we gota we got to let him go we like a dove we just have to open our hands no and that’s fine that’s what I’m trying to do here Ross I’m trying to get my last Branny breath takes your Branny breath yeah I’m trying to take cters at one use it wisely I’m try I’m trying to let it all out here I know people might be sick sick of hearing it but it’s it’s an interesting topic in my opinion because yeah what ha like what happens if shabbach gets injured at at the end of next season Tyler cevin is now your your second pair left shot defenseman we’ll find out I don’t know if if that’s a guy that’s ready for that and that’s why I think both you and I have kind of Switched our narrative I think before we were like they got to get another right-hand shot defenseman they got to do that now I think it’s these are weird times in Ottawa as an Ottawa centers fan but they need left shot defenseman um so I think one more Lefty like a guy like uh Shillington right like that could be a guy that would make sense um because I I am nervous about if that Shabbat injury happens where this where this team ends up if you’re watching on YouTube you can see the entire s’s depth chart this summer where do they need to add and is there a player in particular you’d like to Target last Friday we discussed a few options and up next the FanDuel odds are already out for awards next season and you might be surprised to know where Travis Green ranks among Jack Adams favorites you’re listening to locked on Senators your team every day [Music] all right py as I pull up the FanDuel Sportsbook Futures as odds I should say for next year I I I can’t find Eric brandom’s name on the Norris favorites py what’s going on here I was gonna make a joke about talking about Branny again but you beat me to it um so we got our listeners back and then you just you just clicked them off again Ross so well done there um yeah I don’t I don’t think that’s gonna be a part of it I have something interesting for you it’s a question which Senators defenseman do you think has the best odds who is the favorite among Senators defenseman to win the Norris well based on the way you’re wording this question I’m gonna assume that it’s not the answer we think is obvious in Jake Sanderson so Thomas Shabbat has the best odds yeah chabot’s at plus 6,000 Jake sanderson’s at plus 12,000 oh wow and Chan’s at 6,000 as well interesting okay that’s silly the point is the jack Adams though that was really kind of what caught my attention that’s that’s the lead here because outside of Sheldon Keefe who’s at plus 700 Travis Green is the favorite to win the Jack Adams is this simply show me a good goalie I’ll show you a good coach happened two years ago olark wins the vzna Jim Montgomery wins the Jack Adams yeah I I think that is a major major factor in uh this Jack Adams odds Ross but I mean also you got to look for me and I think a lot of people the Jack Adams typically you’re looking at those middling not quite contending teams that need to take that step and those are the teams coaches where you’re like can they bring this team to that next level and I think obviously Sheldon Keefe makes a lot of sense uh he whether you like like him or not the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to make the playoffs every year that he was there and they were able to get to the second round with him there so he goes to the Devils a team that also had some of the worst goal tending in the league and now they’ve got Jacob markstrom um you look at Andrew brunette a guy right behind Travis Green in the odds obviously we know what the national predators did this off season with stammer and multiple other players so they’re going to get a big boost there but I think Ross if Lena alark can replicate some of his numbers that he had in Boston in in Ottawa or even if it’s close the drastic improvement of this team will be insane and if Travis Green can keep these players accountable and have them go through a rigorous training camp so that they’re ready to go to start the season and more importantly still be ready to go once that pesky month of November comes around you’re looking at the recipe for a really impressive uh bounceback year for this team where Travis Green would be at the Forefront of kind of getting the glory of that if it if it happens we put it out on Twitter and Sean replied saying ottawa’s playoff odds equal Travis greens Jack Adams odds I think that Sheldon Keefe and the Devils who missed playoffs last year might have something to say about that but I understand the track that he’s on and I tend to agree that it goes to the most improved team or in 2012 the peskiest team when Paul mlan got the award of course shc Martin’s got a jack Adams under his belt as well it’s the one award where Ottawa I think has multiple winners I I other than Eric Carlson’s two Norris trophies well in Ottawa I can’t think of another Senator that’s won a major award twice let us know in the comments yeah me neither yeah sound off in the comments um any anything else jump out at you from that the s’s playoff odds by the way over at FanDuel is plus 106 um so about 5050 odds according to Vegas that’s surprising to me Ross I thought they would be closer to where the Red Wings were at 160 like I thought we’d be looking at one plus 120 plus 12 five in that range um obviously it’s my yearly tradition to give money to FanDuel betting on the Ottawa Senator future so I will be doing that yet again this time hopefully I get the green numbers in my account rather than just being a charity donation to our good friends over at FanDuel but I I’ll be betting on that no matter what so the odds don’t really affect uh how I’m going to approach this but I would have liked a little more juice there plus 106 for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in seven years is that’s that’s tight money there uh other Ottawa Senators on here if you think Brady kachuck is going to lead the National Hockey League in goals this year uh that’s plus 3,000 um it’s actually only the 13th highest odds in the National Hockey League and how about for MVP Brady kachuck at plus 20,000 if you uh really want to have some fun and sprinkle that that is the same odds as Macklin celebrini as Cole C field and as Eric Carlson interesting it’s always funny to see the odds makers this time of year it’s like you haven’t even gotten a training camp you don’t even know who’s playing with who or what injuries can happen before the actual puck drops in October so funny but it does give Ross you could bet on the first games of the year you could bet on the Devils versus Sabers game October 4th like that’s something I might do just to take the gamble like maybe a team totally revamps their roster or there’s a huge injury and you just get lucky you got locked in that early but that’s crazy that they’re already H like our our friends over at FanDuel the number one sports book they’ve already got odds for games in October ready to go so if you’re itching for hockey get your bets in now so 16 teams make the playoffs and Ottawa has the 17th best odds to win the president’s trophy so I mean you can tell from the 5050 is uh stance of them making playoffs like they’re they’re right on if you don’t think that there’s been playoff hockey in Ottawa the last seven years one you’re right but two the first 20 games of this upcoming season may as well be playoffs the way this fan base is foaming at the mouth for a competitive team come Christmas yeah I I agree basically we’ve got four seven game series that we need to get best of seven in all four of those to even have a chance oh it’s be fun that’s actually I like that approach Ross let’s let’s uh when the season starts uh citizens remind us about this let’s have that seven game series approach and we’ll we’ll take it on like that so our first seven game series at home to Florida at Montreal home to Los Angeles New Jersey and Tampa and then at Utah and then in the House of Horrors at Vegas game seven that’s a good mix like there’s winnable games there and there’s measuring Sticks games there and then there’s games where they’re just going to get beat down like in Vegas and then they start their second seven game series oh God at Colorado nice yeah at Colorado home to St Louis at New York Rangers home to Seattle at Buffalo home to the Islanders then at Boston Toronto then home to Philly at Carolina and then a home stand that’s a lot of Home Road Home Road like no trips in there but they alternate home and away games for like three three and three they alternate them and then they do two at home one on the road one at home and then they’re back at home that’s the schedu makers hate the Ottawa cers hate them yeah they’re not big fans the one thing I’ll say though at least and we talked about that franchise long nine game Road Trip at least they do have their their uh four day Christmas break in there yeah in this season yeah well thank good the four nations is g to be so awesome yeah um but a part of that break to I’m sure the Western guys aren aren’t too upset they end in Edmonton and then they pick back up in Winnipeg December 28th so like Sandy going to Calgary all that they’re they’re like oh just down the road I think there’s a well I guess some of them are gone right Parker Kelly would have been in that marck would have been in that crew as well um it’s going to be awesome to see how this team DRS a camp and you need the internal growth to accelerate patience as we discussed yesterday on the show talking about Tim STA and Brady kachuck whether or not they should be on the same line py I’m gonna slightly direct you on your final thoughts um what have you learned this week on losp whether it was from our guess or something else oh interesting okay well that I’m gonna have to Pivot because my final thoughts were going to be mock trades to acquire Eric branstrom from the Colorado Avalanche but I’ll save that for later um what can you say can you say the question again yeah what’s something you learned from whether it was our conversation with Gabriel Eliason Oscar Pon or the voice Dean Brown I certainly learned the most from our Gabriel Elias in chat uh obviously we’ve had Dean and Oscar on the show a bunch uh and we love having them on but speaking to Elias you know that that kind of gave me the I had to take a look in the mirror and be like all right when you’re scouting prospects a lot of teams especially the Ottawa Senators look at the type of person they are and when you get to know Gabriel liason a little bit more we chatted with him great chat go check out that interview you get to see the type of competitor and the type of kid this guy is and that’s that’s a person that I’m I’m willing to bet on especially is he’s the youngest player in the draft wasn’t he uh he’s a week away from being a year younger than Carter yakam Chuck yeah yeah so like this guy’s got a lot of Runway he’s a raw player so that interview I would say is certainly the one I learned the most from is you got to look past just the on Ice products because you’re not drafting these guys for how good they’re going to be in a year or two you’re drafting them for what you think they will be in their Prime most likely is usually what the draft strategy should be at least so that was a really eye-opening interview for me go check it out next week should we drop drop a name I think we can it’s the off season I trust him friend of the show go for it head coach of the Belleville Senators David Bell will be joining us on Monday we will see you then have a great weekend everyone thanks so much for liking watching subscribing engaging with the show it really means a lot to py and I the numbers have been the best in show history awesome and and the team hasn’t played in 90 days so that’s when s fans are happiest for R Us it is our time to shine out there when the days are long up here in Canada and um I I honestly I I’d trade the next month for October right now because I need to get these seven birthday month you’re trading just to get to the season wow Ross and first anniversary month yeah like okay hey I’m ready for sense hockey dude did I stutter love it love it that’s Brandon pillar I’m Ross Levitan this has been another edition of the locked on Senator podcast your team every day

The Ottawa Senators have shaken up their D-Core in a big way this off-season, so what is the best way to set it up moving forward?
Brandon Piller and Ross Levitan debate what the Top 4 should look like, where should newcomer Nick Jensen fit in? With Erik Brännström no longer in the organization, how does that affect the depth roles on the back end?

Complete 2024 NHL Draft Coverage: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc7EATKp-J1b1esOq4e-_i1NTHE7WnuH6&si=PqvES-E5XuqvgmJZ

2024 NHL Draft Prospect Profiles: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc7EATKp-J1bGV3cCdS8rbQf8wF6NCih5&si=zcH3jIY1M4IvEzfp

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