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The Ottawa Senators are slowly closing in on their opening night roster, and they made another step in that direction Monday afternoon.
While the players were given Monday off after a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday during the Kraft Hockeyville celebration in Sudbury, four more were sent packing with the season opener set for Oct. 10 against the Florida Panthers at home.
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Winger Nikolay Kulemin was released from his professional tryout while goalie Leevi Merilainen, along with defencemen Filip Roos and Donovan Sebrango, were sent to the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville.
That leaves the club with 16 forwards in camp, nine defencemen and four goaltenders with only three pre-season games left. The Senators will face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
But the most difficult decisions remain ahead for Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, because there are players here that are still pushing for spots.
The 38-year-old Kulemin was trying to make the National Hockey League roster after spending the last six seasons playing in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia.
He knew his chances of making the Senators weren’t great when he came to camp, but he was trying to see if he could make it back to the NHL after returning to Toronto this summer.
Kulemin was drafted No. 44 overall by the Leafs in 2006. His son, Aleks, 15, is playing midget-AAA hockey with the Don Mills Flyers.
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The Senators didn’t mind giving Kulemin an opportunity to make the roster because there’s no cost involved and they needed to have players who could suit up for exhibition games.
But camp is about to shift to a different mode this week with head coach Travis Green and his staff preparing players to get ready for the start of the season. Included in the club’s three remaining exhibition games will be a visit by the Habs to Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night.
THE REMAINING PLAYERS
FORWARDS: Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris, Shane Pinto, Jan Jenik, Matthew Highmore, Zack MacEwen, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Nick Cousins, Michael Amadio, Claude Giroux, Zack Ostapchuk, David Perron, Ridly Greig, Noah Gregor, Adam Gaudette.
DEFENCE: Artem Zub, Nick Jensen, Calen Addison (PTO), Travis Hamonic, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Tyler Kleven, Carter Yakemchuk, Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson.
GOALTENDERS: Linus Ullmark, Anton Forsberg, Dustin Tokarski (PTO), Mads Sogaard (injured).
Players in BOLD are on the bubble and trying to make the roster.
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