When news broke that Roman Wick was likely coming into training camp next season to try and earn a spot on the roster, it was apparently just the tip of the iceberg. (Ed. note: Here's our link with a Jay Grossman's explanation of why Wick would still be classified as Senators property.)

Now that the Senators have officially confirmed the signing of Bobby Butler, there's been an influx of prospect news with the organization:

• As per TSN's Brent Wallace, Butler has signed a two year deal with the Senators and is expected to get into a game or two to get his feet wet. TSN has some quotes from Bryan Murray about his evaluation of Butler.
  
• With his Soo Greyhounds having been eliminated from the OHL playoffs, Robin Lehner has joined the Binghamton Senators. In other words, any confidence that Cheechoo has developed by practicing against the likes of Mike Brodeur, Andy Chiodo and Chris Holt is now gone.
  
• Boston University defenceman Eric Gryba has officially signed on with the Senators thereby ending his NCAA career. Like Lehner, Gryba will join the Baby Senators in Binghamton.
  
• And some guy named Brian Lee was called up from Binghamton because Anton Volchenkov doesn't look like he can go against the Washington Capitals tomorrow night.
• The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that Patrick Wiercioch has signed with the team and will report to the Senators. There's apparently no urgency to get Wiercioch or any of the other rookies into the lineup since their contracts will be triggered and the Senators will lose a year of eligibility. Instead, Wiercioch may get into some games in Binghamton. It's too bad really. I was already beginning to look forward to Brian Lee's first egregious turnover against the Capitals that will causally increase the amount of clamouring for Wiercioch to assume Lee's spot.
• The Spokane Chiefs, who are down 3-2 in their playoff series against the Seattle Thunderbirds Portland Winter Hawks, are playing their Game 6 tonight. Barring a loss, Jared Cowen will likely be the next Senators prospect to make the jump to the professional ranks.
  

First Star

As expected, Brian Elliott was named the NHL's first star of the week for posting a 4-0-0 record, two shutouts, a .967 save percentage and a GAA of 1.00. It was the third time this season that Elliott was awarded with this distinction.

Kaleta Out, Karma's a Bitch

The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that Patrick Kaleta had thumb surgery and will likely miss the next two weeks recuperating from the procedure. Kaleta suffered the injury while diving into the end boards and embarrassing himself in the process. Since it was only a thumb injury and he now has all of this free time on his hands, Kaleta can now take up Mike Fisher's suggestion that he play soccer.

F*&@ Ryan Miller

If the Senators meet the Sabres in the playoffs this spring, you may want to keep this video in mind if you plan on attending the HSBC Arena. Don't heckle female Sabres fans. They're drunken pigs. (Ed. note: hat tip to RangerCrisis.com for the video.)

Welcome to day four of the Jared Cowen Autographed Jersey T-Shirt contest. In the past few days, we've challenged readers to:

1. Add us to Twitter or plug the Cowen contest on a messageboard. Or both.
   
2. Print off our website's logo and take some pictures of it in front of some landmarks or places of significance.
   
3. Answer a small open book 5-question quiz correctly. (Wherein all of the answers can be found directly off of the website.)
   

(Ed. note: If you missed any of the aforementioned contest days, don't worry about it. To get involved in the contest, all of the tasks just need to be completed before Contest Day 14 is over.)

And here's your challenge for day four:

A few months ago, we ran a poll on the website asking our readers who they wanted to see most on a future edition of The 6th Sens Podcast. The overwhelming winner was the Ottawa Sun's Don Brennan whom we've never asked to appear on the program. So here's what we're going to do:

1. Open up your email and create a new message.
   
2. Address it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and CC us on the recipient's list.
   
3. Do your best to convince Don to come on a future episode of the podcast.
   

FriedmanHNIC Ottawa Senators closing in on Bobby Butler, who led NCAA with 27 goals. Think they will beat out NJ, VAN and PIT for him.

As you can tell by the above Twitter message by HNIC's Elliotte Friedman, the Ottawa Senators are apparently pursuing and are close to signing the University of New Hampshire's Bobby Butler. According to hockeydb.com, Butler's a 6'0", 180lb forward who totalled 29 goals, 24 assists and 53 points in 39 games. Born in 1987, Butler's only 22 and led the NCAA in scoring during the regular season with 27 goals.

On this third day of the Jared Cowen Autographed Jersey T-Shirt Contest (JCAJTC), we're running a small 5-question trivia quiz.

All of the answers to the quiz can be easily found directly on the website. Only 5 correct answers will garner a reward. Once you think you know all of the answers, email us your responses To answer the questions, email us your responses at -- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Here are the questions:

1. In our most widely viewed article, what beer did we compare the Ottawa Senators to?
   
2. On Hockey Central, Nick Kypreos' head should be replaced by what?
   
3. Who was featured in our third episode of The 6th Sens Podcast?
   
4. What was the name of the website before it became known as The 6th Sens?
   
5. In one of our old featured interviews for the website, we interviewed Peter Regin's Swedish Elite League coach, Charles Berglund, who compared his ceiling to this current Los Angeles Kings forward?

While you're busy creating a Twitter account or spamming some forum (or both) as part of the first challenge of our Jared Cowen autographed jersey t-shirt contest, I'd encourage you to listen to the latest episode of our podcast.

Joining us on this week's podcast was The Ottawa Citizen's Ken Warren.

We've had a number of emails and Tweets asking if we would reward fans who wanted to do Options 1 and 2 of today's challenge in the Jared Cowen autographed Spokane Chiefs jersey t-shirt.

To clarify. Yes, you can do both options and we will reward you with a point for each successive option. All I ask is that you email the website with the URL of the message board thread or link if you choose to do option 2.

Again, here are the options available to you readers:

2) Once this has been done, send us the link to the post/thread in an email. You can email us at the6thsens at live dot com.

A few weeks ago on one of the podcasts, Tim and I mentioned that we would be running a contest here at the website. Well, the day has come. We were due for a contest so here are the glorious details:

1. Each day for the next two weeks, will feature a challenge.
   
2. Each day's challenge will have a varying degree of difficulty of 1, 3, or 5 points.
   
3. The more intensive the challenge, the more points that you would receive upon the challenge's completion.
   
4. At the end of the two weeks, whomever has the most accrued points, wins.
   
5. In the event that more than one person has the most number of points at the conclusion of the two weeks, there will be a tie-breaker. (Tim and I will discuss this and come up with some reasonable conclusion.)
   

By now you're probably wondering what it is that you would be competing for. Here it is -- an autographed Jared Cowen Spokane Chiefs Jersey T-shirt. (The size of the shirt is a large.)

With a podcast to prep for on this Thursday afternoon, here's a consortium of links to satiate your appetite for Senators news:

Hockey Capital: After watching today's episode of Hockey Central featuring Ottawa's Assistant GM, Tim Murray, James Gordon chimed in with his thoughts on the unmitigated disaster that has been Pascal Leclaire's 2009-10 season and included this exchange between Tim Murray and Hockey Central's host Doug MacLean...(Ed. note: Thanks to Bruce Garrioch via Off the Posts, here's an audio link to the interview.

MacLean: "So, what the hell have you guys done to Pascal Leclaire?"

Murray: "It's been bad, Doug, right off the bat. I agree. I think we're all to blame...him, us, everybody. It's been terrible. It's been a terrible situation...

A terrible situation and a terrible cap hit. (Un?)Fortunately, a positive has come out of Leclaire's situation -- With more ice time, Brian Elliott's development at the NHL level has mirrored his play in the minors. He just keeps getting better with each progressive season.

Speaking of MacLean, he dropped a really weird comment in what otherwise was a very touching story on Espen Knutsen and Brittanie Cecil, the girl who passed away after being struck in the head by an errant puck.

"It was as bad as you could ever feel for someone and their family," MacLean said. "I didn't know Brittanie, but she sort of became a part of us. Nothing, including getting fired, could compare to what we went through with that."

I seriously hope that getting fired and immediately getting scooped up by a television network doesn't compare to the death of a Blue Jackets fan.

Ken Warren: In one of the Citizen's featured sports stories, Warren looks into Bryan Murray's philosophy that he needed a tougher team to compete in the playoffs and raises a lot of questions regarding how well suited this team is for playoff success. It's a good read and it should translate itself into a good interview because Warren will be our guest on the next episode of The 6th Sens Podcast.

Two wins have taken some of the pressure off, but many questions remain. Who will replace the offence lost by the knee injury to Milan Michalek? Will the weak power play ever produce? Will Alex Kovalev wake up from his post-Olympic slumber? Will Brian Elliott be able to maintain steady goaltending into the playoffs? Will a more physical Senators squad be able to compete against loaded offensive teams such as the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins?

Don Brennan: Good ol' Don takes a gander at Ottawa's recent success against the Buffalo Sabres and champions Ottawa's penalty killing units. With a 7-point lead and two games in hand against the Senators, Ottawa needs to beat Buffalo to have any chance at staking any claim in the Northeast Division crown. Imagine that Ottawa could somehow cut the difference down to 1-point by their final April 10th game against the Sabres in Ottawa. You couldn't write a better script for the end of the regular season, not only would the fans be celebrating Alfie's 1000th game, home ice advantage would be at stake. It would make for a surreal atmosphere at SBP.

Sens Chirp & Ottawa's Consensus: Both respective blogs detail the cases for Andy Sutton vs Anton Volchenkov contract negotiations this summer. Speaking of Volchenkov, Eklund threw fiscal sanity out the window and forecasted a 5 year, 28 million dollar free agent signing with the Red Wings for the Senators' blueliner.

Five For Smiting: Bloguin brethren and a personal favorite of mine, FFS has nailed it in his most recent article. Never has Get the hell off my team, you fucking floater been so eloquently used.

Black Aces: Jeremy Milks examines the new intercounty baseball team has adopted the traditional civic colours of black and red, and seemingly upstaged the Senators by using a stylized "O "logo very reminiscent of the shoulder patches the Sens currently wear. The highlight of Milks' piece came in the comment thread where one reader compares the Fat Cats cats-eye logo to a vagina and Milks responded with the very brief, .....uh... I didn't want to say it... but...

I concur with the Black Aces take on the Senators uniforms. The current uniforms are ugly, bland and failed as a modern revision to what was otherwise a respectable logo. Why the organization didn't go with the image below, I'll never know.