Ottawa signs Colgate captain
March 25, 2008
Yesterday Ottawa signs Colgate senior Jesse Winchester after his team was eliminated from the NCAA playoffs. Ottawa plans to get Winchester on the ice ASAP. Good timing with many regulars down with injuries.
Jesse Winchester was signed to a one-year contract by the Ottawa Senators yesterday, but he won’t be eligible to play in the playoffs.
However, league rules also dictate that the former U.S. college player can’t be sent to Binghamton of the American Hockey League, either, so it’s expected the Senators will try to get him into the lineup as quickly as possible, perhaps as early as Thursday night at Scotiabank Place against the Buffalo Sabres.
They’d like to see if their newest acquisition, a native of Long Sault, Ont., can make the jump from college hockey to the NHL.
This signing tells me 2 things. First, Ottawa is actively pursuing ways to revitalize their depleted farm system. Second, there is no one in the farm system who could help them more than a rookie right now. No one can argue that the Binghamton team isn’t weak, but I’m curious to see how the B-Sens players respond. While several of them will get called up at the end of their AHL season to serve as emergency backups during Ottawa’s playoff run, there are several veterans and rookies who have been passed over all season long. Ottawa has relied on only Foligno and Bass to fill in and looked to trades to improve the team rather than any hot handed veterans. This could be the start of the end for B-Sens fans who have grown far to accustomed to watching AHL vets pack it in early rather than jeopardize their career with a late season injury.
