According to a report out of Sweden, Mika Zibanejad has indicated that if doesn’t crack the Ottawa Senators lineup out of training camp, the AHL will not be an option for him.
In what loosely translates to, “I don’t want to play in the AHL. If I’m not in the NHL, Djurgården is the best – and only – option.” (Hat tip to @steffeG for the find and translation.)
One has to wonder whether or not Jakob Silfverberg’s expressed desires to play one more season in the SEL has weighed on Mika’s thoughts.
One Twitter follower (@Robert_Bochert) asked us whether we can attribute Zibanejad’s comments to “just being a kid“.
I wouldn’t necessarily chalk it up to immaturity or some veiled threat that it’s Ottawa or bust. Like the aforementioned Silfverberg, I’m confident that Zibanejad exhibits some degree of loyalty towards his SEL club. Of course when the alternative to playing in the SEL is a long season filled with long bus rides, short rests between games and possibly bunking with Francis Lessard, it’s difficult to argue with his decision. (Note: Thanks to our readers for passing along the Being Francis Lessard blog link to us. With that and the Cory Clouston Fashion Review, there are two new and quality additions to the Senators blogosphere that people should check out regularly.)
And unlike their fellow countryman Andre Peterssen, an undersized offensive prospect who will likely start the season in Binghamton, neither Zibanejad nor Silfverberg should have difficulty adjusting to the size and speed of the North American game. Better yet, from an organizational standpoint, Zibanejad’s comments will hopefully remove whatever temptations the Senators may have regarding bringing him to North America next season.
As I mentioned in a post last week, I believe it’s in the organization’s best interests to postpone Mika’s North American hockey career for just more season. I wrote:
From my personal viewpoint, there should be no rush. As an organization that on paper looks to be one of the five to ten worst teams in the league, it seems illogical to go against the expressed wishes of Silfverberg or burn a year off of Mika’s ELC to have them play on what will assuredly will be a bad team.
As Scott (@Wham_City), another one of The 6th Sens contributors, put it, there’s no sense in wasting the competitive advantage of ELC’s on players who are going to play small minutes or sit on the bench.
He makes a great point, and it’s one that Tyler Dellow harps on quite regularly when critiquing the Oilers rebuild. Especially since they have the veteran stopgap (cough, cough, Konopka, cough, cough) talent to accomodate the team for this season. It makes much more sense to let them spend one more season in the SEL, develop on another team’s dime and retain them as controllable assets when the two of these Swedish prospects and the Senators will be better. ~ The 6th Sens, July 13th, 2011
Moving on…
Hockey’s Future Draft Review
As the principle website that helped spawn the infamous Hfboards.com, Hockey’sFuture.com has developed into one of the more popular hockey resources around.
It’s for this reason that many Senators fans were anticipating their review of Ottawa’s 2011 draft. As any fans of a rebuilding team would, we desperately yearn for any ringing endorsement of this team’s draft selections and pipeline.
Well, wait no longer for your latest dose of prospect porn.
Hockey’s Future has finally published their review.
Was it worth the wait?
Not particularly.
The article itself is mislabeled as a review. There is no prognostication. There is no analysis. Only pick-by-pick summaries comprised of statistics and refurbished information that can be found elsewhere around the Interwebs – well, with the exceptions being an erroneous belief that Brian Kilrea coaches Shane Prince and that Jakob Silfverberg is a center.
Fortunately, the content is free.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
