It seems hard to believe now, but there was a time when Filip Chlapik was regarded as one of the team’s best forward prospects. Long-time readers of the blog may recall that he was rated as high as #5 (!) on our Top 25 Under 25 back in 2018. The fall of 2018 was a dark era for Sens fans: the team was coming off a catastrophic season and seemed to be careening towards trading their franchise player, Erik Karlsson.
Meanwhile, Matt Duchene and Mark Stone’s statuses were murky at best. To top it off, the farm system wasn’t exactly resplendent at the time — besides the newly drafted Brady Tkachuk, there just didn’t seem to be that much high-end talent in the pipeline.