With top players standing down Wednesday, players battling for jobs in Ottawa get a chance to impress in Montreal.
For the first time in the 2023 NHL preseason, the Ottawa Senators will play a game without any of their top six forwards or their top four defencemen.
It's exhibition game number three for the Senators and, after a pair of wins over Toronto, they now head into Montreal for a 7pm date with the Canadiens (TSN5, RDS).
Wednesday's game will be a chance for the Senators (and the fan base) to evaluate players on the bubble when they're given the important minutes normally reserved for the star players.
The game marks the debut of goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who signed as a free agent in the off-season. The Senators committed hard to the 29-year-old, giving him to a five-year deal worth $20 million. Among goalies who played a minimum of 30 games or more last season, Korpisalo (39 games) was 13th in the NHL with a .915 save percentage.
Ridly Greig, Egor Sokolov and Cole Reinhardt – who all came from that oh, so magical 2020 NHL Draft – will look to build on strong preseason debuts. Greig set up the winning overtime goal Monday night in Toronto, ramping a slick pad pass off Leaf goalie Martin Jones, right onto the stick of Jakob Chychrun. Chychrun slipped the puck into the open net to win it, helping to erase Greig's pain after his bad penalty allowed Toronto to tie the game in the dying seconds.
Kubalik was extremely strong in that contest, putting up a goal and an assist. He began the preseason behind Vladimir Tarasenko on the depth chart, but a few more outings like that and he could end up competing with the Russian newcomer for top-six minutes at half the price.
Defenceman Djibril Toure is another player to watch and, given his 6-foot-7 frame, he's a hard guy to miss. Toure is intriguing because he seems to have landed on the pro hockey radar from out of nowhere. This time last year, Toure was 20 years old and had never played a game in major junior hockey. After spending the 2021-22 season in the CCHL with Carleton Place and Hawkesbury, Toure was given a tryout last fall by the Sudbury Wolves and made the team.
That led to an invitation to Senator rookie camp where the Sens didn't take long to sign him to a three-year entry level contract. What you'll notice tonight is Toure's impressive skating stride, which seems impossibly fluid for a man so tall.
Josh Norris still hasn't played a game but, for the first time since camp began, he's now cleared for contact, skating without the yellow jersey.
With most of the Senators' top players on the sideline for this one, they'll have their hands full with Montreal's home-friendly preseason roster.
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