Sens sign C Peter Regin

As publicized on the Senators' official website over the weekend, the Sens have signed Danish centreman Peter Regin to a three-year, entry-level contract. Regin was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 87th overall.

Turns out I missed the fact that Regin was another Senators player or prospect (on top of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Martin Gerber, and Kaspars Daugavins) playing in the 2008 World Championships that just finished. He scored two goals and had an assist in Denmark's six games played, good for fourth in team scoring. He had six points in the 2007 World Championship.

Apparently he's got some big fans somewhere, because he's got a pretty thorough Wikipedia profile for a prospect who hasn't played an NHL game.

According to HockeysFuture--the self-proclaimed #1 Online Prospects Resource (it probably is)--his overall offensive skills are impressive, and he might be worth the time and resources that the Senators will probably have to put into his development. HF says not to count on him cracking the lineup this season, though, no matter how weak the team might be at centre if either (or both) of Antoine Vermette or Chris Kelly leave via trade or free agency; he apparently needs some time to adjust, and will probably benefit from some time in Bingo.

If he does go to Binghamton, the B-Sens will have three offensively gifted European centremen in Regin, Alexander Nikulin, and Ilya Zubov. This signing might mean that one of the latter two, both Russian playmakers, might get a long look for the big squad in 2008-09, or that the team is ready to give up on one of the Sputnik or Zubov Experiments. Time will tell.

We'll also have to see what kind of draft picks the Sens make at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, which happens to be in Ottawa. Speaking of which, Ben and I would like to invite all friends and fellow bloggers (preferably friendly) to SensBlogCon '08. Check out the Facebook Event page to sign up for the get-together, which is June 21 at McLaren's (on Elgin at McLaren) from 8:00 pm until whenever.

WC08: Canada loses final to Russia

In the gold-medal game, Canada gave up two two-goal leads to lose to Russia in overtime by a final score of 5-4. Canada wanted to become the first team to win gold at home in twenty years, and Russia wanted to end their thirteen-year gold drought at the World Championships.

Dany Heatley scored a goal and an assist in the game, extending his tournament-leading points total to 20. He also won the tournament's most valuable player award, but didn't look to enthused. It was obvious he was more upset about the loss.

Although Jason Spezza didn't get any points in the final, his play had improved over the course of the tournament--possibly as his injury became less of an issue.

The final statistics of the Sens' five players in the tournament:

Dany Heatley (CAN): 9GP, 12G, 8A, 20P, 4 PIM, +13, 40 SOG, 16:07 AVG TOI
Christoph Schubert (GER): 6GP, 1G, 2A, 3P, 12 PIM, -2, 11 SOG, 19:36 AVG TOI
Jason Spezza (CAN): 9GP, 1G, 2A, 3P, 0 PIM, +5, 8 SOG, 10:36 AVG TOI
Kaspars Daugavins (LAT): 6GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 0 PIM, -1, 6 SOG, 7:50 AVG TOI

Martin Gerber (SUI): 3W, 2L, .879 SP, 3.15 GAA, 1A

WC08: Heat continues to be on

Photo from IIHF.com. Used without permission.

Dany Heatley's torrent pace at the 2008 World Championships has continued through the past three games, and he's now got 13 points in the six games played. Jason Spezza, meanwhile, continues to struggle, and his demotion to the fourth-line was not without warrant. Team Canada clinched first place in their pool with a perfect 6-0 record, good for 18 points (three per regulation-time win), and the playoffs begin with a quarter-final rematch with the Norway. Canada barely beat Norway 2-1 in round-robin play.

Dany Heatley: 6GP, 9G, 4A, 13P, 4 PIM +10, 27 SOG, 15:17 TOI
Jason Spezza: 6GP, 1G, 1A, 2P, 0 PIM, +5, 6 SOG, 10:31 TOI

Christoph Schubert, meanwhile, continues to lead his German squad from the back-end, and he's second on the team in average ice time per game. He's also got more points than Spezza, although he is getting significantly more ice time. The Germans finished with a 2-4 record, not good enough for the playoffs, but good enough to steer clear of the relegation round.

Christoph Schubert: 6GP, 1G, 2A, 3P, 12 PIM, -2, 11 SOG, 19:36 TOI

On the Switzerland team, Martin Gerber hasn't been playing as many games as Jonas Hiller and third-stringer Ronnie Reuger are getting some extra playing time. He's still got the team's best numbers, though, in all categories. When Russia and Switzerland play tomorrow in quarter-final play, count on Gerbs getting the start.

Martin Gerber: 3W, 1L, 0G, 1A, 1P, .912 SP, 2.25 GAA

Kaspars Daugavins and his Latvian squad fared about as well as Schubert's German squad, which was likely surprising to many. They finished with two wins (over Slovenia and Norway) and four losses, and stay in the first division of the IIHF.

Kaspars Daugavins: 6GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 0 PIM, -1, 6 SOG, 7:50 TOI

EDIT: For some reason I wrote that Daugavins was on Slovenia. He's on Latvia. I changed the article so it was right... that's why mainstream media has fact-checkers and proofreading, I guess.

WC08: Another two games, another six points for Heatley

Photos from IIHF.com. Used without permission.

If Dany Heatley is always going to play this well for Team Canada, maybe the Senators should drop the colours black and gold from their uniforms and just run with red and white.

After four points in his first game against Slovenia, Heater kept his pace with another four against Latvia on Sunday, May 4, and then added another two--both goals--against the United States on Tuesday, May 6. He continues to lead the tournament with 10 points in three games, featuring six goals including two game winners and four assists.

It can't hurt to be playing alongside Rick Nash and Ryan Getzlaf, though. I wonder if we could lure either of those guys from their respective teams... I doubt it. Jason Spezza got his first point in the tournament with an assist on Martin St. Louis' goal against Latvia.

With the three wins, Canada has clinched first place in Pool B and will play whoever finishes second in Pool C, which features Finland, Slovakia, Germany, and Norway. If my math is correct, Canada will be playing Slovakia is the Slovaks beat the undefeated Fins tomorrow, but if Finland wins then Canada would be playing Germany.

Heatley (CAN): 3GP, 6G, 4A, 10P, 13 SOG, 4 PIM, +7, 14:54 AVG TOI
Spezza (CAN): 3GP, 0G, 1A, 1P, 2 SOG, 0 PIM, +3, 12:15 AVG TOI

Speaking of the Germans, they would win the head-to-head tie-breaker thanks to a 4-2 victory over Slovakia on Monday, May 5. Christoph Schubert--who, for the record, is playing defence in the tournament--finished the game with an assist and four shots on goal in 20:18 in ice time. He finished even on the night because his assist came on a powerplay.

Schubert (DEU): 2GP, 0G, 1A, 1P, 6 SOG, 0 PIM, -1, 21:23 AVG TOI

Then comes Martin Gerber, who improved his tournament record to 2-0 with a 2-1 victory for Switzerland over Belarus. He stopped 22 of 23 shots on net, surrendering a goal to only Konstantin Koltsov of the Belarussians. His goals-against average and save percentage are right up there with the tournament leaders, and given his knack for stepping it up in the Suisse jersey (we all remember when he shut Canada out in the 2006 Olympics), he gives another reason for the Sens to switch the uniforms to red and white. And he's even got an assist, which puts him among the 10 Swiss players who've recorded at least one point.

Gerber (SUI): 2-0, 1A, 2GA, .959 SV%, 1.00 GAA

Finally is Sens prospect Kaspars Daugavins, whose Latvian squad stayed away from a relegation playoff by beating Slovenia on Tuesday, May 6. Snoop Dauggy-Daugg hasn't done much in the way of offense for his team, with no points through three games, but he's probably just waiting until the time is right. Wait and see. Also in Daugavins' favour are the wicked-awesome Latvian uniforms, whose simplicity really goes to show that you don't need crazy designs to make nice jerseys (I'm talking to you, RBK designers. And you, Buffalo Sabres designers).

Daugavins (LAT): 3GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 5 SOG, 0 PIM, -1, 12:45 AVG TOI

WC08: Switzerland beats France, Germany loses to Finland

After another day at the 2008 World Championships, a couple more Ottawa Senators got some playing time under their belt. Here's the run-down of how they did:

Martin Gerber stopped 24 of 25 shots in a 4-1 victory for Switzerland over France. He out-dueled French goaltender Cristobal Huet, who was the darling of the fans in Quebec City even after being traded from the Montreal Canadiens. The only goal The Gerber allowed was off a shot by Julien Desrosiers the 20:00 mark of the second period. Video review confirmed it crossed the goal line before the buzzer sounded. Switzerland's next game is against Belarus at 1 p.m. on Monday.

Stats: 1GP, 1W, 0L, 1.00 GAA, 0.960 SP

Christoph Schubert made his debut for this year's German national team in a losing effort, dropping the tournament opener 5-1 against Finland. Schubert played more ice time than any skater on either team with 22:29 at the end of the night. He had two shots on goal, and finished -1. Germany's next game is Monday at 7:15 p.m.

Stats: 1GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 2SOG, -1

Dany Heatley is still leading the tournament with 3 goals and 1 assist, and he'll look to add to that total later today in Canada's game against Latvia. Jason Spezza will be looking to get his first point of the tournament for Canada as well.

EDIT: Thanks to Simon for pointing out that Sens prospect Kaspars Daugavins is playing for the Latvian team. In their opening match against the United States, Daugavins played 12:49 in ice time, had one shot on goal, and was even. He'll be playing against Canada Sunday afternoon.

STATS: 1GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 1SOG, even

WC08: Heatley kicks Slovenia's ass

(AFP/Timothy A. Clary)

In Canada's opening match against Slovenia, Dany Heatley scored three goals and added an assist en route to a 5-1 ker-smooshing of the small south-central European republic. He assisted on the first goal, scored the second--which turned out to be the winner--as well as the fourth and fifth goals. Heatley is now Canada's all-time leading scorer in the annual World Championship tournaments after surpassing Marcel Dionne. As a Sens fan, I hope he doesn't score any more after this year due to consistently long playoff runs for the Senators.

The story of the game might have been Slovenian goaltender Robert Kristan, who faced 65 shots on the night, including 31 in the second period alone.

Anze Kopitar, the only Slovenian to ever play in the NHL, scored the only goal on Canada goaltender Cam Ward.

I didn't actually see the game, so I don't know how well Jason Spezza did. He didn't get any points, but that doesn't necessarily mean he played poorly. Watch SportsCentre for highlights.

Canada's next game is Sunday afternoon at 3:30 versus Latvia. It should be another win for Canada, but will be exciting nonetheless--apparently a lot of Latvian fans made the trip across the ocean to see the tournament.

WC08: More Sens to world championships

Two more Sens players have been added to their respective national team's rosters, Christoph Schubert (Germany) and Martin Gerber (Switzerland). Both of them have played for their teams in the 2002 and 2006 winter olympics, Schubert's been to four world championships, and Gerber's been to five.

Apparently Gerber didn't play enough during the regular season and playoffs, he had to go and play some extra games in the world championships. Team Canada fans probably remember when he shut out Canada 2-0 in the 2006 Olympics. As for Schubert, it will be interesting to see whether Uwe Krupp, head coach of the German team, plays on the top line as well as the the top defensive pairing, and gets 40 minutes of ice time per game.

Also going to the tournament are Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, both for Team Canada. No other players have been announced to date, to my knowledge.

WC08: Heatley, Spezza head to World Championships

Turns out Steve Yzerman brought a few Sens players in to play on the Canadian World Championships in Halifax/Quebec City, and they're not slouches: Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza were named to the roster. (I guess Spezza's knee injury wasn't or isn't too serious.)

Seriously, though, this team is stacked. Here's the roster:

Goal: Mathieu Garon, Pascal Leclaire, Cam Ward

Defence: Jay Bouwmeester, Brent Burns, Dan Hamhuis, Ed Jovanovski, Duncan Keith, Steve Staios

Forwards: Jason Chimera, Shane Doan, Ryan Getzlaf, Dany Heatley, Chris Kunitz, Jamal Mayers, Rick Nash, Derek Roy, Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza, Martin St. Louis, Eric Staal, Jonathan Toews, Ray Whitney

Why the hell isn't Chris Phillips on his way? Maybe he said no. But if Ryan Getzlaf is headed, you've got to expect Chris Pronger was invited, he must have said no, too.

I was looking for the other team rosters, but was unable to see more Sens players who've been named. I imagine that if they're feeling up to it: Martin Gerber (Switzerland), Daniel Alfredsson (Sweden), Christoph Schubert (Germany), Andrej Meszaros (Slovakia), and Anton Volchenkov (Russia). Playing in the tournament can be good or bad (hopefully no one pulls a Dominik Hasek and gets injured), but it'll be fun to be able to watch some Sens players playing into May again this year.