And judging by an unofficial poll held in the dressing room yesterday, Vermette would be the anchor of a Senators relay team. (Other members would be Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat and Daniel Alfredsson, with Magnus Arvedson as the alternate.)

"He's quick," said Havlat. "You're either quick or you're not quick. You can improve your quickness, but only a little bit, by working on your strength."

Havlat to stick as left winger

By CHRIS STEVENSON -- Ottawa Sun

The arrival of left winger Peter Schaefer doesn't mean the Martin Havlat experiment as a portsider is over.

Senators coach Jacques Martin said yesterday he will continue to use Havlat, who has played mostly on right wing in his first couple of years in the NHL, on the left side.

"Peter brings a dimension of good speed and skill. He definitely fills a hole on our left side," said Martin. "Havlat is going to continue on the left side."

The Senators' left wing -- the club's thinnest position going into camp -- now could look like this: Magnus Arvedson, Havlat, Schaefer and veteran Jody Hull, who could also be moved over from the right side.

ROSTER TRIMMED: The Senators assigned five players to their AHL Binghamton farm club yesterday, all forwards -- Chris Kelly, Jeff Ulmer, David Hymovitz, Alexandre Giroux and Joe Murphy. That leaves 38 players still in camp -- four goaltenders, 14 defencemen, four left wingers, nine right wingers and seven centres.

PRUSEK OUT A WEEK: Goaltender Martin Prusek will be out for about a week after straining his groin in the Senators' 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night. Prusek is battling with Jani Hurme for the backup job behind Patrick Lalime. Luckily for the Senators, they don't play again until Friday night when they host the Montreal Canadiens at the Corel Centre, so Prusek should still see his share of pre-season action. "We know that Patrick and Jani are both NHL goaltenders," said Martin. "We'll just have to wait for (Prusek) (to get better)." Prusek's injury could open the door for Simon Lajeunesse to get some action. Martin said a decision would be made at the end of the week. Martin said he isn't concerned at this point with the performance of Hurme, who has taken it on the chin in the Senators' weekend losses to Buffalo and Toronto, having given up nine goals. "We haven't played that well,'' said Martin. ''When you look at the game in Buffalo on the weekend, that was probably our weakest lineup -- especially on the blue line -- and they had two pretty good lines. I don't think it's any different from the standpoint you know what he can do. He's played in the league for two years. Just because he's a goaltender maybe it stands out more. But he's probably no different than some other veterans. He hasn't been on top of his game."

TICKET UPDATE: The Senators have sold the equivalent of another 76 season tickets in the last five days, bringing their total to 8,093. The goal for this season is 10,500. Ticket packages start at $37.24 a month. Mini-plans start at $207.90. There are also six- and 12-game plans and a Family Flex program with 16 vouchers. There are 4,500 tickets remaining for Friday's pre-season game against the Canadiens. Tickets for children 16 and under are $15. Single-game tickets for the club's first 18 regular-season home games are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased at the Corel Centre box office, through all Ticketmaster locations, at www.ticketmaster.ca or by phone at (613) 755-1166.

AROUND THE NHL: The Minnesota Wild is expected to announce tomorrow that it will hold the 2004 all-star game at Xcel Energy Center ... Nashville Predators returned Jordin Tootoo, the first player from Nunavut drafted by an NHL team, to WHL Brandon ... Edmonton assigned goaltender Kristian Antila and defenceman Alexander Liubimov to the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs ... Vancouver reduced its training camp roster by sending five players, including prospects Herbert Vasiljevs and Justin Kurtz, to the Manitoba Moose ... San Jose signed Tomas Plihal and then sent the 19-year-old centre to WHL Kootenay.

September 21, 2002
Senators start with a bang
Several stars in victory over Leafs; Senators 7, Maple Leafs 1

By ALLEN PANZERI
The Ottawa Citizen
Jean Levac, The Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Senators always win the games that don't matter.

Of course, any victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs is satisfying for Ottawa fans, so last night's preseason 7-1 win was as good a way as any to begin the 2002-2003 NHL season

Still, just once it would be nice to see the Senators beat the Maple Leafs when it matters, in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Senators turned in a solid effort, though, which was an encouraging start.

After an own-goal by Wade Redden (which was given to the Maple Leafs' Richard Jackman after it had originally been credited to Mikael Renberg), the Senators received a gift when Toronto goalie Ed Belfour left his net to clear the puck and couldn't get back in time before Anton Volchenkov put it in.

It was all downhill from there for the Leafs, as the Senators added six more goals: from Redden, Daniel Alfredsson (power play), Petr Schastlivy, Antoine Vermette (power play), Josh Langfeld (power play) and Chris Bala.

Belfour gave up the first three Senators goals, with the others charged to Mikael Tellqvist.

Except for the own-goal, which came just 26 seconds into the first period, Senators goalie Patrick Lalime was flawless. He faced 26 shots.

The most dangerous stretch for Lalime came during the second period, when the Senators were two men short for 80 seconds, but they managed to kill the penalties.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night in Toronto, with Martin Prusek starting in net for the Senators.

Tonight in Buffalo, Jani Hurme will be between the pipes against the Sabres.

Senators coach Jacques Martin will be giving out a lot of high grades based on last night's game.

Vermette, solid defensively, finally found the back of the net, something that would be wonderful if it was to continue.

Certainly he's hoping so.

"Finally some offence," the 20-year-old centre said.

"It's a good positive start. It was exactly my type of game. If you skate and drive the net, you'll have success. It's my game. I don't have to change anything.

"I skated hard all night and got a goal to show for it."

Volchenkov also had two assists and let the Maple Leafs know he would hit anyone who got in his way.

"I thought he played very well," Martin said.

"He's a very physical defenceman, but he showed he can handle the puck. He has good anticipation."

Langfeld and Brad Smyth, candidates for the hopelessly overstocked right side, both played solidly.

It'll be a shame to see either sent to the minors just because the Senators are too deep at right wing, but that will probably happen.

Meanwhile, Jason Spezza continued his progress. Playing again with Martin Havlat, the 19-year-old rookie centre was both dangerous and confident, a far different figure from the one who looked so out of place last year.

It'll be hard for the Senators to keep him off the team this year. You'd better start hunting for the Jason Spezza rookie cards.

Every time he and Havlat were on the ice, they created wonderful chances that had the fans cheering.

If there was one criticism, it was that Spezza should have shot more than instead of passing. He seemed to defer to Havlat and as a result lost chances that should have been his.

Nonetheless, the pairing of these two players continues to look like something that Senators coaches won't be able to ignore when the regular season starts in a couple of weeks.

No News on Chara

There was no update on the status of Zdeno Chara's injured left knee yesterday.

The Senators defenceman, who injured his knee during Wednesday's intra-squad game in Binghamton, New York, was walking around without a limp yesterday and said his knee was feeling better. However, he had yet to see a doctor for an exact diagnosis.

It has helped Spezza that he has developed a chemistry with winger Martin Havlat. Playing on the same line through the early part of camp, they've looked good and seem to feed off each other on the ice.

During the scrimmage in Binghamton, Havlat made a perfect cross-crease pass to Spezza on a power play that goalie Martin Prusek miraculously made the save on. There were other chances that the two just missed burying.

"I like playing with him," said Havlat. "The thing I've noticed about him this year is that he's increased his speed and he likes to create chances. He's very good at moving the puck and he's smart. We can get the puck to each other.

"It just seems like right now we know what each other is doing when we're on the ice. We talk a lot. The important thing for us is to keep playing well in the exhibition games. It'll be interesting to see what happens."

There's little question Spezza likes playing with Havlat.

"You develop chemistry and it makes it a lot more fun," said Spezza. "He's such a good hockey player and he's so quick at making things happen. He really moves the puck well.
It's been really nice to play with him.

"The big thing is it's nice to have somebody to talk with, who understands and can help you with things. Hopefully, we can stick together and make some things happen. I know eventually that the puck is going to go in for us."

Hockey's Future: With which player on the Senators do you feel you would have the most chemistry?
Jason Spezza: It is hard to say. There are so many players on the Senators, but one guy is Marty Havlat. We're about the same age and we could be playing together for a very long time, so hopefully there will be chemistry there. It's hard to tell though, there are so many great players on the Sens.