One player who continues to make a bid to make the team is winger Martin Havlat. Playing with Yashin and McEachern, Havlat, 19, showed poise and had two points against the Flames.

Poised youngster

At the very least, he'll likely get 10 games during the regular season to show what he can do.

The Senators have agreed to send him back to Slovakia if he can't play here, which means they'll take their time evaluating him.

"Havlat has really shown a lot of improvement as camp has gone on," said Martin. "I think he's handled the games pretty well when he's got the chance."

Vaclav Pletka - Raised in Mlada Boleslav, town of the cars from Skoda Auto. He made his first appearances in Czech Extraleague in the jersey of Trinec Steelers with his friend Martin Havlat.

Martin Havlat - Perspective teenager from Trinec, a teammate of Vaclav Pletka from one line. The only Czech (or Slovak) player in history who won both junior and senior championships. And even in the same season. He played with the "Kladno twins" Patera and Prochazka in St. Petrsburg. His play is very offensive, in his last two seasons he achieved more than 40 points in each. His father is a president of Ytong Brno and Havlat helped this team in advancement game for second level in Czech hockey structure. The second level league is paradoxically called the First League. Ytong did not succeed but eventually they bought the league from Melnik which went bankrupt. He preffered this event before the participation in national team event, and he was hugely criticized by newspapers. In spite of that he made the team. Probably the only player who promised, that if he wouldn't get into first Senators team, he will return to Trinec.

Havlat makes impression
Czech rookie debuts skills at Senators rookie camp
Ken Warren - The Ottawa Citizen

Martin Havlat doesn't care where the Ottawa Senators decide to play him for the next month.
He just wants to play.

The soft-spoken 19-year-old Czech made his first appearance on Corel Centre ice yesterday as the Senators opened rookie camp for 21 hopefuls.

It may have just been the opening step, but it didn't take long for Havlat to make a good impression.

"He seems to have good speed, a lot of skills," said Senators coach Jacques Martin, who watched from the seats as assistant coach Perry Pearn put the players through their drills.

"Oh, yeah, he's got some moves," said goaltender Mathieu Chouinard, now in his third rookie camp with the team.

Havlat, still uncomfortable with the English language, says his aim is to stay in Ottawa until next May or June, but he realized yesterday was simply the opening step in his month-long battle to make the Senators.

The players will have two practices both today and tomorrow. They have a Monday morning practice before beginning a three-day tournament night against rookies from the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.

"I want to start here, but we'll see," Havlat said. "I have to work hard in camp."

He might not speak much English yet, but he's not slow. Asked which forward position he preferred, he shrugged his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter to me. Whatever the coach says."

Havlat is certainly aware of the opportunity before him, as is every player in this camp and all the newcomers bidding for jobs when the team's main camp begins next Saturday.

Martin suggested yesterday that there were four or five positions up for grabs.

"I told the kids that last year, eight or nine from this camp went on to the main camp and one made the team: Mike Fisher," Martin said.

"Some guys here might be ready to play in the NHL or the IHL, or some might be going back to junior. I told them that their play here would dictate where they go."

Besides the highest-profile players such as Havlat, Chouinard, 19-year-old goaltender Simon Lajeunesse and 18-year-old centre Antoine Vermette, the camp also presents a chance for 10 hopefuls here on tryouts. If they perform well in the camp and the tournament games next week, they could land minor-league contracts.

Bruce Cassidy, new coach of the Senators' International Hockey League affiliate at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and his assistant, Danton Cole, are also helping run practices.

Martin said this type of rookie camp would provide a good gauge on the young players because they would be measured against their peers, not against established NHL players.

"You eliminate the factor of guys being in awe of a Daniel Alfredsson or a Wade Redden," he said.

"Quite often, in a main camp, that happens, and you don't get a true read. With this concept, most of the kids are of similar age, at a similar skill level."