With the Ottawa Senators on the verge of finishing four straight seasons as a bottom-five team, everyone’s attention is focused on the next generation. Between Tim Stützle, Josh Norris, and Drake Batherson, fans have been blessed with the progression of the team’s young talent. There are more players on the cusp — Alex Formenton, Erik Brännström, Vitaly Abramov — and some decent bets in the system.
A majority of the bonafide talent outside the organization are playing a four-hour flight away in Grand Forks, where the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks had their season end in heartbreaking fashion in a collegiate-record quintuple overtime loss to Minnesota-Duluth.