After being placed on waivers, Gaudette wasn't at Senators practice on Monday, but Zack Ostapchuk was. But it's Gaudette who made the team, while Ostapchuk heads to Belleville.
As far as battles for jobs go, the Ottawa Senators' 2024 training camp was mainly about deciding on a 12th and 13th forward. While that sounds straightforward enough, the decision over the last two days turned into a fairly complicated process.
After the Senators played their final pre-season game on Saturday, they announced on Sunday that Jan Jenik and Adam Gaudette had been placed on waivers. By process of elimination, that left only Zack Ostapchuk and Zack MacEwen as the 12th and 13th forwards.
Ostapchuk participated in Monday's practice five hours before final rosters had to be in. Gaudette and Jenik weren't there, which seemed to further confirm that Ostapchuk was probably staying. He even had to field media questions about appearing to make the team, although he admitted that no one from the team had spoken with him yet.
Then, after practice, when Gaudette and Jenik cleared waivers, head coach Travis Green announced that Ostapchuk and Jenik were headed for Belleville while Gaudette would start the year in Ottawa.
A little confusing, to say the least.
There's merit to the strategy of trying to slide Gaudette through waivers when most everyone in the league is deleting, not adding. Gaudette can now go up and down from Ottawa to Belleville without having to clear waivers for the next month.
But if you believe Gaudette is your best option right now on that fourth line, why risk losing him on waivers, even if it's a small risk, and then have to give the job to a player you believe to be inferior?
It sounds like the Senators believe Gaudette is their best option at the moment, but not by much. So, they probably want to keep their options open and audition other guys, if necessary, including Ostapchuk.
But after the club's unusual movements over the past two days, perhaps it's best to put all speculation on hold for a while.
Actually, scratch that. We can't help ourselves. Here's the new potential opening night lineup...
