Christoph Schubert Flying Under The Radar On Ottawa's Defence

As I tuned into the first game after the lockout ended in 2005 I was surprised to see a certain player wearing a Senators uniform.

It wasn't because I didn't expect to see him there, but I had no idea who he was. Playing defense on the third pairing you could tell that this guy had potential to be a top-four defenseman in the future.

Christoph Schubert, the big German rear-guard, has proven to be an integral part of the Ottawa Senators over the past three seasons. He can throw big hits, has a bullet for a slapshot, and he can also provide versatility. He was used regularly as a fourth-line winger for parts of those three years.

Schubert was drafted in 2001 by the Ottawa Senators (4/127). He stands at 6’2” and weighs in at 219 pounds. The Munich native also had the opportunity to be one of the few NHLers to represent Germany in the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.

With the Senators' blue-line holding many solid players since the lockout, Schubert was often on the outside looking in. Former coach Bryan Murray did not want to take him out of the lineup. Instead, he realized that he could use "Schubie" up front.

On a team that doesn't have many physical players Schubert gladly accepted the role. For him to be able to play both defence and left wing in the same night is a regular occurrence. The only other players in the league who have played both positions last season were Mark Streit, Dustin Byfuglien, Sergei Federov and Sami Kapanen.

Side note—Fedorov and Kapanen offered to drop back to fill defensive gaps when their teams dealt with injuries, while Byfuglien made the complete transition to forward from the blue-line.

Although it has been clearly expressed that Schubert wants to play his NHL career on the point, he has been a team-first player who is willing to put his body on the line on any given night. With the departures of Wade Redden and Mike Commodore due to free-agency, it appears he'll be a mainstay on defense in '08-'09.

He doesn't pose as an offensive threat whatsoever. In 218 career games played Schubert has tallied 20 goals and 59 points. But as mentioned earlier he possesses a very hard slapshot, something the team can benefit from on the second powerplay unit.

He's not the most star-studded player in the Sens' lineup but he deserves more credit than he is given. The Senators need to make sure they keep him in the fold for the next few seasons.

Given the opportunity he can develop into a quality player that can be of great use for the franchise. If they say a good attitude is a step in the right direction, this guy's got a head start.