State of the Belleville Senators 2021-22

Belleville Senators

Joel Vanderlaan

Oct 10, 2021 — 3 min read

BELLEVILLE, ONT - After playing a condensed 35-game schedule for the 2020-21 season at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. The Belleville Senators reported to CAA Arena on Sunday, October 3rd, to begin Training Camp in preparation for the franchise's fifth season in team history.

Unable to play with fans present last season due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, the B-Sens, who are playing their exhibition schedule in front of season ticket holders, have been cleared by provincial health authorities to host a full capacity crowd once the regular season officially gets underway next weekend.

The promise of playing in front of a live crowd represents a welcome return to normalcy for the team, says head coach Troy Mann.

"Being back in our situation here at the CAA Arena with our setup and the fact now that we are going to be playing in front of fans again. Last year was certainly a lot of fun in terms of the way we had to travel; obviously, it was NHL charters, playing at the Saddledome in NHL arenas, for the most part, except for Winnipeg, and that was a great experience, but at the end of the day, it's about playing in your home base about playing in front of your own fans."

The Roster

Goaltenders: Kevin Mandolese, Mads Sogaard.

Defencemen: Jonathan Aspirot, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Xavier Bernard (AHL), Randy Gazzola (T), Maxence Guenette, Dillon Heatherington, Zac Leslie (AHL), Matt Murphy (T), Derek Topatigh (T), Vincent Sevigny (T), Lassi Thomson, Colby Williams (AHL).

Forwards: Pontus Aberg, Rourke Chartier (T), Alexis D'Aoust (T), Philippe Daoust (T), Tyrell Goulbourne (AHL), Mitchell Hoelscher (AHL), Roby Jarventie, Mark Kastelic , Parker Kelly, Kameron Kielly (T), Cedric Pare (T), Cole Reinhardt, Kole Sherwood, Egor Sokolov , Andrew Sturtz (T), Matthew Wedman (T).

Organizational Injuries Providing Opportunity

Ever the optimist, Troy Mann and his staff are looking at the bright side, while the Senators' organization is getting hit with an early rash of injuries. The club has focused on using the available ice-time to evaluate the 11 players currently still on the roster competing on professional tryout agreements.

"What our thought process was going into September was to bring in a number of players on PTO's to get some looks at them. In my personal opinion, I prefer a visual of guys in training camp, so if they are assigned to Atlanta (Belleville's affiliate) or potential another ECHL team based on their rights at when the opportunity to need players comes up through the season, you've already had a look at them through your own training camp and maybe an exhibition game or two," Mann said. "We have a number of injuries already. If you look at both teams that includes Ottawa. I thought we would be able to run two practices and do two scrimmages, quite frankly on Tuesday and Wednesday, but our numbers aren't high enough to accomplish that just based on the injury situation."

Mann returns for his fourth season; Belleville head coach producing wins and NHL-ready players.

In the ever-evolving American Hockey League landscape, the Belleville Senators can undoubtedly rely on the stability and consistency of their head coach. Troy Mann has built a culture that balances winning now with long-term player development in a short time. His ability to make competitive teams without sacrificing a player's future growth is seen as his best asset by many familiar with his career.

With a new season in sight, the organization emphasized continuity in their hockey operations department, opting to re-sign Mann choosing to give him a two-year contract extension in June. At the outset of his tenure in Belleville, Mann inherited a team coming off an inaugural season, earning a 0.414 win percentage, allowing 252 goals while only scoring 188 for a differential of -64. In their first season in the friendly city, icing a lineup essentially extracted from the parent organizations' (the Ottawa Senators) former affiliate (the Binghamton Senators) supplemented by a small bevy of minor pro veterans signed with the hope they could make the franchise more competitive.

At the same time, Ottawa battled through a difficult season (going W28-L43-OTL4-SOL7, for 63 Pts). Over the next two seasons, Ottawa parted ways with crucial veterans like Mark Stone, Erik Karlsson and Matt Duchene for future assets, mainly picks and prospects.

As a result, the parent club continued to struggle. Since taking over as head coach in 2018-2019, the B-Sens have never failed to surpass the .500 mark. Over his three seasons, Mann has earned a 93-67-8-6 record over that time frame, managing to pair his consistently winning form with an improved development regime. Today, a revamped executive group has done much to retool their NHL and AHL rosters.

The Senators have some of the best young talent in the league, many trained in Belleville, including potential stars Drake Batherson and Josh Norris. After working with Mann, Nick Paul, Filip Gustavsson, Alex Formenton, Erik Brannstrom are among others that have also earned extended looks in the nation's capital.