Ottawa Senators Breaking Up The Big-Three In Day One of Training Camp?

It was their first day back on the ice since last April.

In another perspective, it was their first day of redemption.

The Ottawa Senators hit the ice this afternoon at Scotiabank Place for the first day of training camp. Head coach Craig Hartsburg welcomed the returning Senators as well as recently-acquired players.

Hartsburg, who is coaching in the NHL for the first time in eight years, wasted no time delivering his game plan to his new squad. His first order of business was trying to build the offensive into a three-line attack.

This move consisted of rookie Jesse Winchester playing wing on a line with sniper Dany Heatley and play-maker Jason Spezza. He then moved Daniel Alfredsson onto a line with Chris Kelly and Nick Foligno. With the remaining forwards Hartsburg kept Mike Fisher and Antoine Vermette together, while the rest of the forwards kept rotating.

Winchester—who was signed last season and suited up for one game with the Sens—has already received praise from his "future" linemate Jason Spezza.

"Just seeing him play a little bit during the summer, he seems like a good puck possession guy and he’s a guy we figured would get a good look," said Spezza. "He’s a pretty smart player and, hopefully, we can make it work."

Coach Hartsburg told the media after practice not to get too excited about these combinations, as it was only an experiment to spread the offense throughout the team's top three lines.

"I just wanted to put some young players in situations where they’re playing with good players," Hartsburg said after what he called a "good day" all-around on the ice. "Once we start playing games, I think we’ll find some of the lines were pretty good today. But I wouldn’t read a lot into it yet."

On defense it is expected that the new bench boss won't tinker with the rock-solid duo of Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov. The team's top-two on the point aren't offensively gifted but they are among the elite defensive-defensemen in the NHL.

Newcomers Jason Smith and Filip Kuba might also find themselves playing together this season as well.

"They’re very solid, veteran players with good size," said Hartsburg, a former stalwart of the Minnesota North Stars blue-line for 10 seasons. "I can see that they can be a real good defensive pair and Kuba has the ability to help our offense as well."

The Senators have many players who will try to round out the defense corps this season.

Christoph Schubert is expected to return to defense after spending the majority of the past two seasons playing left-wing on the fourth line. Brian Lee—who finished the year with the big-club—is looking to enjoy a strong camp and finally become a mainstay player in Ottawa. The team also added Brendan Bell and Alexandre Picard this off-season.

And to add to that—Luke Richardson is in talks with the Sens' brass to return to the team for his 21st NHL season. Richardson, a native of Ottawa, wants one more crack at winning the Stanley Cup and would love to do it with his hometown team.

As it stands he is currently not under contract. If the Sens were to sign him it will be their ninth defenseman who will be competing for six spots. It would be reasonable to believe with that amount of blue-liners that the team would bring Richardson back on a try-out basis.

It's hard to see where the team will stand before their season opens in Stockholm in less than three weeks. Until then coach Hartsburg and his squad will have a lot of work to do to prepare for the new season, which begins with a back-to-back meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins—the team who swept Ottawa in the first round last season.

But nevertheless, it's a start.

Source of information can be found here.