Ottawa Senators training camp is underway, and the first week already comes with the usual September squeeze: a short preseason, a crowded evaluation board and a coaching staff trying to sort out who can actually stick.
The biggest issue for Travis Green right now is less about finding surprise openings than figuring out how to make a mostly settled roster work cleanly. The Senators come into camp with a core of veterans on one-way deals, which leaves little breathing room for a late push from Belleville prospects. That shifts the focus from who makes the team to how the pieces fit together - especially on the blue line and in the forward groups.
Two absences are shaping the early days of camp. Right-shot defenceman Artem Zub is still working back from a lower-body issue he picked up in last spring’s postseason.
He went the non-surgical route over the summer and is skating on his own, but he has not been cleared for full-contact group sessions yet. Warren Foegele is also out with what the club described as a minor tweak, keeping him off the main sheet for the first set of drills.
Green said neither player is expected to miss much time, and both should be back in team practices before the regular season opener. Even so, Zub’s absence matters because of what he does for the group around him. He’s the kind of steadying presence that makes life easier for puck-moving partners, and without him the staff is already mixing in depth options such as Nikolas Matinpalo and Jordan Spence in more prominent pairing spots during early exhibition action.
That makes this a proving-ground week for the players sitting closest to the edge of the roster. The top nine forwards and top four defencemen are basically set, so the real battle is lower down the lineup. With only a handful of exhibition games to work with, every shift matters a little more than usual.
The staff will be watching a few things closely. First, whether the bottom six can develop a clear identity, with the fourth line bringing energy, defending well and staying out of the penalty box.
Second, how the secondary special teams units handle extra work when regulars are rested on split-squad nights. And third, which players in Belleville show enough structure and discipline to be first in line for a call-up later in the season.
The schedule should give the Senators a quick read. They have three games packed into five days, and all of them come against familiar divisional opposition. Ottawa opens Monday, Sept. 21 at Montreal Canadiens at Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières at 7:00 PM ET.
Then comes a split-squad doubleheader against Toronto on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with one group at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa and another at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, both starting at 7:00 PM ET.
The week wraps Saturday, Sept. 26 with another split-squad setup against Montreal. One game is at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, while the other is at Centre Bell in Montreal, and both are set for 7:00 PM ET.
In Other News...
Florian Xhekaj Just Forced A Bigger Canadiens Roster Debate
Florian Xhekaj has spent training camp making himself harder to ignore, and not just because of the name on the back of the sweater. He has been skating with established players, showing the kind of physical development that tends to catch a coachs eye in September, and the broader Canadiens picture only adds to the intrigue with his brother Arber having recently signed a one-year deal in the organization.
The latest reminder came in a preseason meeting with Toronto, where Xhekaj dropped the gloves and added another layer to an already interesting camp battle. For Montreal, it is the sort of development that can sharpen a roster conversation quickly: a young player pushing for attention, a team looking at its depth and identity, and a decision that gets tougher when the physical edge starts to show up in real games. [Read more 🡒]
Arber Xhekaj Created A Canadiens Issue Fans Didn't Expect
The Canadiens preseason doubleheader against the Maple Leafs produced plenty of the usual camp noise, but Arber Xhekaj found himself at the center of an unexpected off-ice discussion. While serving a penalty, he was seen in the box using a cell phone to watch his brother Florian Xhekajs fight in the other game, a quirky scene that quickly drew attention beyond the scoreboard and into the leagues rulebook.
Montreal fans already had reason to keep an eye on Florian, who has been pushing for a roster spot and turned in a solid outing with an assist, a blocked shot and plenty of physical play. Now the focus has shifted to what comes next for Arber, because the NHL bans cell phones on the bench and in the penalty box, making this less of a lighthearted family moment and more of a situation that could carry a penalty of its own. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Face New Lineup Concern After Practice Absences
The Canadiens had a different look at practice as Alexandre Carrier, Jake Evans and Lucas Condotta were not on the ice with the regular group. Josh Nadeau and Dillan Bentley were moved into Group A, while Laurent Dauphin joined Group B to help fill the gaps, a sign that the club was shuffling things around before its next preseason outing against the Ottawa Senators.
The absences have not been explained, so it is not clear whether this was simply maintenance or tied to what happened in the previous game. Evans is the name worth watching most closely after he left that contest early with an apparent injury, and with no official lineup announced yet, the Canadiens still have a little uncertainty hanging over how they will look when they return to game action. [Read more 🡒]