Late last week, the Senators announced the team that would be going to the rookie tournament in London ON in mid-September.   There are a number of familiar names in the lineup and some new faces, including 13 players drafted by the Sens, two acquired in the Spezza trade (Guptill, Paul), four free agent signings and five players under tryout agreements.

Goaltenders: Chris Driedger (WHL/ECHL/Bingo), Andrew Hammond (Bingo/Ottawa).

Defencemen: Travis Brown (WHL), Fredrik Claesson (Bingo), Mitch Jones (OHL), Ben Harpur (OHL), Stefan Leblanc (OHL), Alex Lepkowski (OHL/ECHL/AHL), Matt Murphy (QMJHL), Troy Rutkowski (ECHL/Bingo).

Forwards: Jakub Culek (ECHL/Bingo), Vincent Dunn (QMJHL/Bingo), Ryan Dzingel (Ohio State/Bingo), Alex Guptill (U of Michigan/ AHL), Darren Kramer (Bingo), Curtis Lazar (WHL), Tobias Lindberg (Swe-Jr/Allsvenskan), Max McCormick (Ohio State), Nick Paul (OHL), Francis Perron (QMJHL), Shane Prince (Bingo), Matt Puempel (Bingo), Buddy Robinson (ECHL/Bingo), Garrett Thompson (Ferris State, Bingo).

Hockey really is on the horizon now.  I'm interested to see how Puempel, Claesson, Dzingel, Prince and Rutknowski play, as well as how McCormick, Harpur and Lazar are developing and what we have in Guptill and Paul.