2012 Projections: Ottawa

The Senators ran into a bad stretch of luck in the 2011 season, which left their numbers in absolute shambles, making them into a pretty bad team to have players from in your hockey pool.

The Senators quickly turned from one of the league's most dangerous teams offensively to a team with no teeth left, turning into a rebuilding squad.  Thankfully for the Sens, they have a number of pieces already in place, so tearing the whole thing apart wasn't exactly necessary  Call it more like a re-tooling.  On the flip side of the coin, the depth of the market for players was so shallow this season, re-tooling will take just as long as a rebuild.

The team has been able to lock up their new starting goalie, pick up one of the league's top faceoff men and then nurse their injured many back to health, awaiting the start of the regular season.  I don't know if this will be enough for the Senators to be competitive again, but it will be fun watching them try.

Forwards		Defense		Goalies
Jason Spezza	70	Erik Karlsson	45	Craig Anderson	45
Daniel Alfredsson	55	Sergei Gonchar	35	Alex Auld	20
Milan Michalek	40	Filip Kuba	25
Bobby Butler	40	Chris Phillips	15
Colin Greening	35	Matt Carkner	15
Nick Foligno	30	Brian Lee	5
Peter Regin	25
Zack Smith	20
Stephane Da Costa	20
Chris Neil	15
Jesse Winchester	10
Zenon Konopka	10
Nikita Filatov	45	Jared Cowen	20	Robin Lehner	5
Erik Condra	30	Patrick Weircoch	10	Mike McKenna	5

Pool Worthy Forwards (Inside the top 160, 35 points)
It didn't seem like very long ago that the Senators had an abundance of hockey pool depth among their forwards, but unrest and displeasure quickly saw to the demise of that situation and now they are left with some of the old favourites and that's about it.

Jason Spezza battled injury through the 2011 season and saw his numbers fail to excite the masses, although when he was playing, he did score at just under a point per game, so there was still some magic left in those hands.  I'm not going to assume a healthy season for Spezza, but that's not to say it will be a bad year.

Depending on how the lines shape up this year, I think Milan Michalek will jump back into the fray as a reasonable scoring option, assuming his injury problems are behind him as well.  He was another player on a fragile Sens team that found his way to the infirmary for a good number of games.

NCAA kid Bobby Butler showed some flashes in the 2011 season and I think he's got some real jam, enough to be in the conversation as a good pool pick out of Ottawa.  With some regular minutes, he has some real potential to pick up some points.

Pool Worthy Defensemen (Inside the top 80, 20 points)
The Senators will be placing a much bigger load on third year Swedish sensation Erik Karlsson in the 2012 season and he has earned it.  Karlsson has jumped up into the top 20 among NHL defensemen in only his second full season and should be in conversation to possibly jump into the top 10 by the end of this coming season.  That says a lot when the rest of the team isn't quite as offensively gifted.

Veteran offensive defenseman Sergei Gonchar had another injury-filled year and was not able to put up anywhere near the usual amount of points on a very poor Ottawa team in 2011.  There is nothing out there that suggests we'll see another banner year from Gonchar, but he should still have a reasonable year.

Pool Worthy Goalies (Inside the top 40, 25 points)
Since coming over from Colorado at the trade deadline, Craig Anderson did a fantastic job of restoring some hope in the Senators community, looking long-term.  Going into this season, I think Anderson will win some games for Ottawa, but I can't see him really setting the bar high for the rest of the team, just yet.  Of course, if everyone is looking happy and healthy, some of the depth is playing a little more consistently, Anderson's projection will jump up a few points.

Pool Worthy Rookies
Although he doesn't technically fall under the rookie qualifications, I think I'll include Nikita Filatov in this section any way, since he hasn't yet played in a full season in the NHL, but does have plenty of potential with the free skating Senators.  If Filatov can get proper top six minutes with this club, I think he'll be okay in Ottawa.

One that actually fits the bill as a rookie, Jared Cowen, has a good shot at cracking the Senators' line-up this Fall and he has the potential to produce enough to be a late round draft pick for your pool, if you're in need of defensemen.

Unsigned Players
None.

Key Injuries
There is a chance that Daniel Alfredsson may not be ready for training camp in a few weeks, as the veteran captain of the team is still dealing with a back ailment, one that hindered his 2011 season.  The team and player are not rushing the injury back to health, but he has started to skate.