The Ottawa Senators rookie camp kicked off on Day 2 of the 2016 NHL Rookie Tournament in London, Ontario, by edging out the Pittsburgh Penguins rookies 1-0. They went ahead in the first period on a goal from Stephen Harper, attending the tournament on an amateur tryout, and never looked back, with goaltender Chris Driedger completing a 43-save shutout for the victory.
Ottawa Senators Rookie Camp Day 2 Recap
It was a fairly slow game, with a very physical tone set early on when Pittsburgh’s Brandon Crawley hit Anthony DiFruscia hard from behind, then dropping the gloves with Vincent Dunn.
Kurt Kleinendorst, coaching the Sens rookies this weekend, said that he saw “a lot of battle” from his team. “The one thing that stands out is the compete level,” he said.
Not one for the typical hockey cliché, though, Kleinendorst clarified his definition of compete level.
“Competing for us isn’t fighting,” he was quick to insist. “Competing for us is winning the battles. It’s first touch on pucks.”
The coach had no shortage of good things to say about the performance he saw from Driedger.
“I thought our goaltending was phenomenal,” he said. “If I was giving a game puck I’d have given it to my goaltender because he was that good.”
Despite facing 43 shots and stopping every one of them, Driedger himself didn’t feel hung out to dry by his team. In fact, he complimented his defencemen on their ability to keep Pittsburgh’s shots to the low-percentage areas of the offensive zone.
“I thought we kept the shots mostly to the outside. There was a few that got to the middle but that’s to be expected. I thought for the most part we did a good job of giving me the shots that I should be saving.”
In terms of other standouts in the Senators’ lineup, 2014 fourth round pick Andreas Englund was another that Kleinendorst singled out, gushing about his ability to play with the puck.
The coach’s praise of his young defenceman went into great detail, and reads almost like a scouting report:
“[Englund]’s a big guy, and he plays a steady game, but he’s very capable. He’s got good offence, he’s got good touch on the puck. He thinks the game very well, and he is one of the guys that you can see pretty much grasp everything we’ve thrown at him.
“Hockey players all have a different level of intelligence, like all human beings, and some players get it a little quicker than others. I just think he’s a guy that absorbs everything, but it’s not just the absorption – it’s his willingness to do it.”
Gabriel Gagne was one that stood out among Ottawa’s forward group. The 36th overall pick in 2015 has a lot of offensive skill, which is complemented incredibly by his 6’5” frame that often brings him to the front of the net.
Ottawa’s most prolific prospect, 6’6” 11th-overall pick Logan Brown, had a very quiet game. He contributed in the offensive zone by clearing the front of the net and doing battle with the Penguins defencemen, and was serviceable on the penalty kill, but otherwise had an uneventful night.
Overall, the Senators played quite a strong systematic game. Kleinendorst was happy with his team’s performance, given all the coaching pointers he’s thrown at them the past couple of days.
With a new coaching staff in Ottawa, highlighted by new head coach Guy Boucher and assistants Marc Crawford and Rob Cookson, Kleinendorst wants to give his rookies an edge heading into Senators training camp.
He noted that he and his Binghamton Senators coaching staff have bombarded the rookies with systematic instructions.
“It’s probably done a little bit of a disservice to the kids,” he admitted, “because they’re thinking a little more than we would really like them to. We feel like in the big picture they should have a nice advantage when they get to camp. We’ve thrown a lot of systems at them.”
Kleinendorst gave his players credit for the effort they’ve put in, having to make a significant adjustment from junior to play against some stronger competition here.
“They have no time with the puck [at this level],” he pointed out. “This is a game now of speed and quickness, and we talked about getting in their pockets – getting right in on them – so there’s no time, there’s no space. No disrespect to the junior leagues or anything like that but there’s just no time at this level. I think that’s the biggest adjustment that these kids are making.”
The Senators will try and finish their rookie tournament with a win on Sunday as they play the Montreal Canadiens at 1 pm EST.
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