Ottawa, Ontario (CP) –
The Senators shut out the Penguins, and most notably was the first shutout for new goalie Niklas Backstrom who was acquired from the Kings earlier this week. Now Backstrom has been a big upgrade from young goalie Tuukka Rask who has a 2-1-0 record, but the defense from the Senators needs to be commended by only letting the Pens seven shots on net.
“The team played very well tonight, our offense took care of business early and really cashed in our power play chances which is huge, but we almost tripled them on shots, so the scoring chances are there and the puck is bouncing our way”, said Coach Wilson
Offensively this season has been the Marian Gaborik show scoring another three points tonight (2G-1A), and is now on top of the league for goals scored, and tied in first for the most points scored. Gaborik has showed he has been a star, and that huge deal has seem to pay off major dividends for the Senators thus far this season, and is on pace for a 128 point season (72G-56A). This is unlikely to keep pace obviously but that just shows what type of player Gaborik has been this season.
What the press was buzzing about before the game is they traded long time Senator Vladamir Sobotka to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for offensive defense man Alec Martinez 25, who currently is was playing for the Phantoms (OTMHL), last year he played 81 games with the Flyers and scored 14 points (2G-12A), with a -4 rating. Along with Martinez came a third and fourth round pick in the 2014 OTHL Draft which the team is stocking the cupboards up with picks, and prospects again.
If that wasn’t a good haul the team also picked up two prospects. One is a former second round prospect center Tyler Pitlick. Pitlick was selected in the 2010 Draft selected at the 41st slot. Pitlick was highly regarded as a pure goal scorer during his draft year, but playing for Oklahoma City in AHL these past two seasons has been a rough adjustment for Pitlick. He will make the OTHL down the road, but most likely a bottom six forward, not a top six like many originally thought.
Lastly the last piece acquired was winger Branden Troock, Troock plays in the WHL with Seattle and was drafted 12th overall in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft. Troock has OTHL size being 6’2, but only weighs 175lbs. He projects has a power forward with some offensive ability and has some very nice skills. His major concern is his injuries which has plagued him coming into WHL career, missed one whole year with a neck injury, and missed about half of the season thus far, but has played 12 games, and scored 7 points (2G-5A). You have to wonder what this kid can be if he can be healthy, he was selected in the 4th round (111th overall) in the 2012 Draft.
“We love Vladamir (Sobotka), he is a true Senator through and through but with our current roster we needed to do a little bit of a shake up, and we didn’t want to trade him, but we got an excellent package where we felt we couldn’t say no to this deal. We needed a young bottom six defense man to go along with Elliot, and Goligoski, and Martinez fits that bill, two good draft picks, and two good prospects who we feel will fill a roll with us down the road.”, said Senators General Manager Neil Burkholder.
After the media filled out a team insider said they have acquired Jesse Winchester from the Los Angeles Kings. Winchester, 28 is on a one year deal worth 1.0M dollars, brings in a checking role, and defensive style, also good on the dot, which is a slight downgrade from Vladamir, but in hole not far off from Sobotka for a fifth round pick in the 2014 Draft.
So in laymen terms the Senators made this trade this past two days, which all in all hasn’t been a bad few days for the team.
To Senators: C/LW Jesse Winchester (62), D Alec Martinez (57), C Tyler Pitlick (7.0C), LW Brendan Troock (6.5D), PHI 3 2014, PHI 4 2014
Going Out: Vladamir Sobotka (64), OTT 5 2014.
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