In the offseason, Bryan Murray said the team was trying to give their rookies a chance to compete. Against our cynicism, it's been happening.
When the Ottawa Senators traded David Legwand and Eric Gryba, and then let Erik Condra walk in the offseason, one of the reasons cited by management was to give some rookies a chance to play. Most of us were skeptical, since Ottawa would already have 12 forwards and six defencemen on one-way contracts plus Curtis Lazar and Cody Ceci. However, management went out in free agency and got 0 players who were expected to play in the NHL.