Captain Mike Blunden has been given a two-game suspension that starts Wednesday as the B-Sens play the Laval Rocket. Photo courtesy of BellevilleSens.com
By Daniel Taylor [1]
BELLEVILLE– The Belleville Senators [2] are struggling to find consistency as they continue to ice a depleted lineup game in and game out this season.
On Monday, Belleville forward Max McCormick was recalled by Ottawa, one of 11 B-Sens players to make an appearance in an Ottawa Senators jersey this season. While roster fluctuation with players moving up to the NHL is a characteristic of the American Hockey League [3], the B-Sens have arguably been hit by it the hardest this season.
To put in perspective how unusual this is for an AHL team, the Toronto Marlies [4] have had eight players spend time with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL this season. Those players have played a combined 50 games for the Leafs, while Ottawa’s eleven call-ups have combined for 126 games played.
Head coach Kurt Kleinendorst says absorbing Ottawa’s injuries on top of their own has not only made it difficult to find consistent success but has been disappointing for the fans as well.
“Ottawa’s had quite a few injuries this year and they haven’t been short-term injuries,” he said. “Chris Wideman (Ottawa defenceman) for example has been out for most of the year, so right off the hop that was Thomas Chabot for us. That injury right there cost us a really good young player. He’s a guy that can not only make a difference for us but I think it would have been fun for our fans to watch him and connect with him. I thought it would have been healthy.”
Kleinendorst says his team played with as many as nine players short this year because of Belleville and Ottawa’s injuries. He says he has never experienced anything like this since he began coaching in the AHL in 2006.
“This is an extreme; it really is,” said Kleienedorst. “Now, we’ve got the flu season upon us as well. We lose one guy pretty much every night because of that, but that will go away. It is what it is. I’ve never used it as an excuse, we’re not crying about it.”
While losing players to injury has been a burden to the B-Sens this year, Captain Mike Blunden also sees a positive side to having his teammates get a chance to play up with Ottawa.
“It’s part of the minors, but every single one of these players in the room will tell you they want to play in the NHL. That’s their goal,” he said. “We’re happy to see when guys go up and get their opportunity and it is tough when we lose some of our good players, but that’s part of the game here (AHL) and you just got to battle through it.”
Blunden has played 127 games in the NHL throughout the course of his pro career, most recently having been called up to play in a game with the Senators against the Nashville Predators last Thursday. Blunden says gaining NHL experience can be positive for the development of the younger players.
“It’s great for the young kids to get the experience and see what it’s all about,” Blunden said. “Especially when they get up there and they get to play minutes and they get that confidence. You can definitely see it when they get back here how much more confident they are in their game.”
Kleinendorst doesn’t like to use hypotheticals but says his team’s fortune may have been different this season if they were able to keep their players.
“We’ve played a good stretch without nine players,” he said. “That’s a lot of players in our world. Just to lose two or three will affect you. I mean you can get away with those things for some time, but generally, at some point they’ll catch up with you. I think the obvious answer is we would have a few more wins. How many more wins would we have I have no idea.”
It seems as though the B-Sens will be without top forward Colin White for the remainder of the season. White is currently playing on Ottawa’s top line in the result of forward Bobby Ryan’s hand injury that occurred on Feb. 2. These are big shoes to fill Belleville as White ranks third on the team in goals and the team is lacking in scoring depth.
Ottawa currently possesses three of Belleville’s players (White, McCormick & DiDomenico) who were projected to spend their season in the AHL.
The B-Sens’ next game is Wednesday when they play guest to the Laval Rocket at 7 p.m. They will be without their captain Mike Blunden as he serves game one of his two-game suspension for his hit to the head on defenceman Andreas Borgman in a game against the Toronto Marlies on Feb. 9.