Ottawa Senators Announce Starting Lineup
www.ottawasenators.com has posted the starting lineup for the club in their first game.
Of note, Vaclav Varada is injured for the first month of the season, so Antoine Vermette will likely be on the left side playing with Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson on the third line.
The first line will be a line that lit up the preseason. The combination of Jason Spezza at centre and Dany Heatley on the right has been dynamic to say the least. On the left side, no slouch, Brandon Bochenski, who scored 6 goals this preseason.
The second line features Martin Havlat, who demanded of Bryan Murray that he be moved off the left wing as he felt uncomfortable in that position. Centering Havlat and Peter Schaefer, is Toledo’s very own, Bryan Smolinski.
The fourth line features two rookies, and an enforcer. Brian McGrattan, who set the AHL record for penalty minutes last season. Chris Kelly, a defensive presence at centre, and hometown favourite, Chris Neil.
On defense, there are still some questions as they have seven listed defensemen.
The obvious ones:
Wade Redden
Zdeno Chara
Chris Phillips
Brian Pothier
Anton Volchenkov
and then the final spot belongs to either Andrej Meszaros or Cristoph Schubert. According to the National Post, Andrej Meszaros deserves the spot, but to send Schubert down to the minors requires the Senators to place him on the waiver wire, where they believe he would be taken.
In net is the questionable Dominik Hasek, and even more questionable, Ray Emery.