The Ottawa Senators started putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Fifty of the 52 players at the Senators training camp were on the ice for the first time on Thursday at the Bell Sensplex as coach Travis Green and his staff started preparations for the season opener on Oct. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
While there aren’t a whole lot of openings if you look at the club’s roster from 10,000 feet, the determination that Green and Steve Staios, the president of hockey operations and general manager, have to make is where everybody will fit.
Green noted he will be trying a lot of different combinations in these skates and when the pre-season begins against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday at 3 p.m.
“When you see the lines, I wouldn’t get too hung up on them,” said Green, entering his second year behind the bench. “I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on the lines being anything other than what they are.”
That was good advice. Tim Stutzle was in the middle of Ridly Greig and Arthur Kaliyev, while veteran David Perron skated with Stephen Halliday and Drake Batherson.
In the second session, captain Brady Tkachuk was with Shane Pinto and veteran Claude Giroux. Dylan Cozens was between Fabian Zetterlund and Michael Amadio.
Green is well aware that people are wondering where Giroux is going to play, how Zetterlund fits into the lineup and who will play with Stutzle. That’s why people love this time of year.
“I get the buzz. Like, who’s going to play here? I get that, and I have the same (questions). I’m really looking forward to camp this year,” Green said. “I’m not sitting here BS’ing you and saying I don’t know where this guy (is going to fit).
“I don’t know who’s going to play with Timmy, and yet, we’re going to find out.”
The players aren’t paying a lot of attention to the different scenarios used by Green because they know the situation will sort itself out.
“That doesn’t really impact me at all,” Stutzle said. “We have a lot of great players on this team. I feel like everyone can play with anyone and it’s just who we find chemistry with. We know that nothing is set.
“We have to have a good training camp, each guy and each group, and go from there.”
Green said he’s always studying different looks and, like many, he is the type who likes to doodle new looks constantly.
“We have a lot of restaurant napkins that end up in the coach’s room the next morning,” Green said. “Once you’re in a season, you know where a guy is at, you know how a player is playing and you adjust accordingly.
“When you come to a training camp like this, where you’ve got a lot of young players … I’m hoping Tim’s a better player this year and I hope Sandy’s a better player this year. He will be. So that’s the exciting part of training camp, when you ask, well, how are we going to get better? We’re going to play better because our guys are going to improve. And I’m looking forward to it as much as everyone else.”
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Nothing is ever set in stone. The expectation is that the club will use its depth to create competition. If Zetterlund can’t get the job done with Tkachuk and Stutzle, then maybe Giroux gets moved up there.
“I’m really intrigued by how this all works out,” Staios said. “It’s up to the players. We have a hungry group of players with our younger guys and our veterans. You could throw it in a blender and put it up on a board. We have a lot of good players.
“There could be times in the season, it could be the first 10 games if somebody is going well and in a good spot, but the coaches will have the option if their play drops off. That’s the strength of our group, where we have that variability, we have that depth, but it’ll be up to the players.”
There are decisions to be made on defence as well, especially with Nick Jensen still recovering from an off-season hip surgery.
Thomas Chabot started the day with Nikolas Matinpalo and newcomer Jordan Spence was with Tyler Kleven. Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub, who played together all of last season, were paired up as well.
Rookie Carter Yakemchuk skated beside Donovan Sebrango. That could be a pairing with the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville.