After signing Joonas Korpisalo and trading away Alex DeBrincat, the Ottawa Senators have essentially completed their roster for the 2023-24 season. Eleven of the 12 forwards currently listed on the active roster have one-way contracts, as do six of the seven defensemen. That doesn’t leave much room for any training camp battles; newcomer Zach MacEwen has the least secure hold on a roster spot, but with Austin Watson’s departure leaving the team without an enforcer, it seems likely he starts the season in Ottawa.
That means that fans will likely have to wait a couple of months before they can see some of the young prospects get a chance to play in the NHL. Last season, Leevi Merilainen, Kevin Mandolese, Tyler Kleven, and Maxence Guenette all made their NHL debuts but had to wait until after the All-Star break, while Jacob Bernard-Docker, Lassi Thomson, Egor Sokolov, and Mads Sogaard were able to add a few more games to their resume throughout the season.
Some came in as injury replacements, but others were too good to ignore in the minors and got the chance to impress fans and management at the highest level. So when it comes time to make some adjustments, who should be first on the Senators’ list to call up as a replacement?
Ridly Greig
In Luke James’ 2023-24 Senators’ lineup projection, he puts Ridly Greig on the team’s third line alongside Shane Pinto (who still needs a contract) and Mathieu Joseph. It’s a good place for the youngster, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if he ends up starting the season in the minors, as the team could be on the lookout for a definitive top-six winger to replace DeBrincat. If that ends up being the case, there’s no question that he would be the first name on Ottawa’s call-up list, and rightfully so.
Drafted 28th overall in 2020, Greig has slowly become one of the Senators’ most promising forward prospects behind Pinto. At just 20 years old, he already has a Hlinka Gretzky Cup silver medal (2019-20), a World Junior gold medal (2021-22), and a Western Hockey League (WHL) All-Star Team nomination (2021-22). In his professional debut in 2022-23, he was just shy of a point-per-game pace in the American Hockey League (AHL) and managed to appear in 20 NHL games before the season closed out.
But the best aspect of Greig’s game, especially for the Senators, is his tenacity and fearlessness. He will not hesitate to put his body on the line to block a shot, throw a hit, or get in an opponent’s face. It made him a devastatingly effective role player on Canada’s World Junior squad that captured the 2022 gold medal. Unfortunately, he missed the 2022 gold-medal game with an injury, then was forced to end his 2022-23 season early with a sternum injury, leading to some early injury concerns, but a restful summer should get him back to his pesty old self.
“He’s defined by his tenaciousness, but he can make plays in traffic, his wrister is accurate (though I wouldn’t say it’s threatening from long range), he’s willing to attack and try things, and he almost never looks to cheat or play selfishly within that game.”
Scott Wheeler, from “Ottawa Senators are No. 24 in 2023 NHL prospect pool rankings,” The Athletic – 17/01/2023.
Greig is a heart-and-soul player in the same vein as Brady Tkachuk, and after seeing how effective the team’s captain was last season, it’s fascinating to imagine two of them on the same team. Of course, Greig doesn’t project to be as dangerous with the puck, but he has proven that he certainly deserves a shot at playing meaningful minutes with the Senators this season.
Roby Jarventie
Also drafted in the 2020 Draft just five picks after Greig, Roby Jarventie has had a bumpier development path than his peer, but he could end up being more important to the team. In 2019-20, he was a point-per-game player in Finland’s Mestis, their second-tier league, and in 2020-21, he was one of the highest-scoring teenagers in the Liiga, putting up 14 goals and 25 points in 48 games. Following the conclusion of that season, he decided to take his talents to North America as a 19-year-old, which is not common for a European player, as many wait until their 20s to make the trip.
But Jarventie had something to prove, and when he arrived in Belleville in May 2021, it only took him three games to find his rhythm. In his fourth game — the last of the season — he scored two goals and assisted on another, earning the game’s first star. At 6-foot-3, his combination of size and puck skills made him a formidable force on the ice, and with his ability to generate big bursts of speed, he seemed primed to take over the AHL.
After that taste, anticipation was high for Jarventie. Former AHL head coach Troy Mann said in an interview with The Athletic, “There’s going to be some growing pains with him, but the talent, the size and shot — he has it all. I’ve said this to a number of people too: I think his release might even be better than Egor Sokolov’s, just in the way that he gets rid of the puck…The last player I think I coached who was as young as him was Jakub Vrana in the Washington organization. And it’s not easy because there are not a lot of 19-year-olds who can play in the AHL.” (from “Senators’ AHL coach Troy Mann on Erik Brannstrom, Egor Sokolov, goaltending situation and more: Q&A,” The Athletic – 16/09/2021).
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Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out as intended. Jarventie finished his first full season in North America with a respectable 11 goals and 30 points in 70 games, plus a trip to the 2022 World Juniors, where he tied for first in goals and finished third with nine points. But in 2022-23, he suffered a significant knee injury that kept him off the ice for nearly half the season and certainly prevented him from a call-up to the Senators. Still, he managed to finish his sophomore North American campaign with 16 goals and 30 points in 40 games. Once again, anticipation will be high for the Finnish prospect to dominate the minors. But this year, he’s in a much better place to do it while earning a call-up or two.
Angus Crookshank
The Senators have always been good at finding hidden gems. Mark Stone was a sixth-round pick in 2010, Ryan Dzingel was a seventh-rounder in 2011, and Drake Batherson was an overage prospect that Ottawa grabbed in the fourth round of the 2017 Draft. Angus Crookshank now may be following in those same footsteps. A fifth-round pick in 2018, reports were split on what to make of him, but most agreed that he was an off-the-board pick. However, there was always the chance it could turn out big, as Dobber Prospects wrote that he played a similar style to Zach Parise.
Crookshank spent the next three seasons at the University of New Hampshire, where he finished no lower than fourth in points and second in goals each year. He joined Belleville near the end of the 2020-21 season and proceeded to put up 16 points in 19 games, a pace that would have made him the highest scorer on the team. Unfortunately, he missed the entirety of the 2021-22 season with a torn ACL, and there were concerns that he could regain his form after losing so much development time. Those concerns turned out to be completely unfounded. He played 71 games in the 2022-23 season, the second-highest on the team, and led Belleville with 26 goals.
It now seems like a matter of time before Crookshank gets the chance to perform at the NHL level. Last season, Jason Bukala of Sportsnet wrote, “He was, by far, the most competitive and energetic Senators prospect this weekend. He’s a rash that never goes away. Angus has the ability to get under the skin of his opponents. He played fast and was a threat off the rush. When there was a loose puck to be found around the crease he never shied away from battling in the trenches.” With the Senators needing more grit from more players this season, he could be an excellent addition to the bottom six.
Senators Are a Team to Watch
Even though the Senators have had their top prospects graduate to the pro ranks over the past few seasons, the team still has a few diamonds in the rough waiting by the sidelines to steal a spot if anyone should falter. Greig, Jarventie, and Crookshank are likely the most ready, but keep an eye out for Guenette, Merilainen, Lassi Thomson, and Jacob Bernard-Docker, who have all had cups of coffee in Ottawa and have shown they can steal the show if given the opportunity. With more pressure on the team this season, any misstep will be a chance for another young player to take their place.
