Last night someone by the name of Russ Bitely posted the following on Twitter:
As trade deadline nears, hearing rumblings Ottawa prospect Shane Prince is considering serious offer from KHL if not traded. #Sens
— Russ Bitely (@russbites) February 24, 2014
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It seems like an odd thing to just throw out there out of the blue, especially if you look at Bitely’s tweet history that never really makes mention of Prince or other rumours at all.
Bitely, whose Twitter bio describes him as a father, husband, youth travel hockey coach, former prep & collegient player, scout for HockeyProspect and writer, is also from Rochester, New York – which conveniently just so happens to be the same shared hometown of Shane Prince.
It could be something or it could be nothing. It's probably nothing, but then Prince's sister retweeted Bitely's tweets, so who the hell knows?
Prince is actually one of the few forwards on the Binghamton Senators who, to this point, hasn’t had a cup of coffee with the parent team over the past few seasons. Names like Mike Hoffman, Stephane Da Costa, Andre Petersson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Jim O’Brien, Derek Grant and David Dziurzynski have all spent time in the NHL.
I suppose it’s plausible that getting persistently passed over could wear on the psyche of a prospect, but he’s only 47 games into his second season at the AHL level. It’s not like he’s been languishing on the farm for a disproportionate amount of time.
Even if it’s true that Prince has asked for a trade, the threat of leaving for the KHL is toothless. I don’t think anyone would really expect a pedigreed prospect like Prince to just up and leave the continent. If anything, it’s simply a mechanism designed to create leverage where the player essentially has none.
Prince is western NY kid. He has 14pts in last 12gp, +16. Outpacing last yr's #s. Roch native would be good fit for @BuffaloSabres.
— Russ Bitely (@russbites) February 24, 2014
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Even without these unfounded rumours circulating his name, one or more of Ottawa’s prospects could fall victim to the numbers game. The reality of sports is that not every prospect within an organization’s system will go on to play for that organization.
As last year’s Bobby Ryan trade showed, prospects are a valued currency in NHL trades. So if a team doesn’t intend to keep a prospect for its own roster, it’s going to package them in a quantity for quality trade.
And if the Senators hold true to their word and scour the market for rentals, their lack of a 2014 first round pick could necessitate moving a prospect like Prince instead.
Line Combos From Practice
Sylvain St-Laurent of Le Droit was the winner in the race to tweet out today’s line combinations:
MacArthur-Turris-Condra
Greening-Spezza-Conacher
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Kassian-Smith-Neil
Cowen-Ceci
Methot-Gryba
Phillips-Wiercioch
Joe Corvo skated as an extra defenceman while Milan Michalek and Erik Karlsson did not practice with the team. It’s safe to presume that Patrick Wiercioch will also be scratch, but it remains to be seen whether Karlsson will stick Cowen or be moved to a pairing with Chris Phillips. I’m assuming that once Michalek practices, Condra will replace Kassian on the fourth line and Michalek will slide into his vacated spot.
2012/13 SSE Impact Study Released
This afternoon the University of Ottawa released an impact study detailing an estimation of the value that Senators Sports & Entertainment (SSE) brings to the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
I have not had time to read the report yet, but you can download and read the report by clicking here.
Other News and Notes…
Sportsnet’s Shannon Proudfoot discusses the Senators’ trade deadline situation and team needs.
The Hockey News’ Rory Boylen gave Erik Karlsson the second most tremendous individual performance in the Olympics behind only Carey Price.
Speaking of Karlsson, the Swedish defenceman was only one of seven players in the Olympics to play in six games and not be on the ice for an even strength goal against. Having been on the ice for nine goals total (regardless of situation), only Finnish defenceman Sami Vatanen was on the ice for more goals (10).
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