All of the Senators best defencemen will play Friday night as they host an undermanned Winnipeg Jets squad.
The Ottawa Senators hit the midway point of their 2023 NHL preseason Friday night, taking on the Winnipeg Jets. After two wins over the Toronto Maple Leafs to start the exhibition schedule, the Senators fell 4-3 in Montreal on Wednesday.
Senators' head coach DJ Smith will roll with his five best defenseman tonight:
Jake Sanderson, Artem Zub, Jakob Chychrun, Thomas Chabot and Erik Brannstrom will all play. Rounding out the blue line will be former first-rounder Lassi Thomson, who has yet to establish himself as a regular NHL defenseman. But when discussing who the club's sixth best defenceman might be, he's definitely in that mix.
Rookie Leevi Merilainen gets the start in goal, backed up by another freshman, Kevin Mandolese. With all the injuries in Ottawa, both goalies both saw NHL regular season action last season.
The club will also be dressing some of their big guns up front, including a top line of Tim Stutzle, Vladimir Tarasenko and Claude Giroux. Czech free agent signing Jiri Smejkal and Roby Jarventie have both looked good at camp so far and will get another chance to impress further, scheduled to play on a second line Friday with Drake Batherson.
Brady Tkachuk will miss the contest after taking a stick near the eye earlier in the week in practice. Tkachuk was cut for several stitches and was fortunate his eye wasn't badly injured.
Most of the top Jets have been grounded for this one. As road teams often do, they've left a significant number of their big names at home.
As the Sens hit the midway point of the preseason schedule, they'll officially be skating in front of an important new evaluator for the first time. Steve Staios was named Ottawa's new president of hockey operations today.
While Pierre Dorion remains the club's general manager, Staios now has full control of hockey operations. That's something that Dorion has had since taking over as general manager back in 2016.
Face off is 7 pm (TSN3, TSN5).
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