While one Swedish Senators’ forward prospect is being shut down for the season, another made his anticipated return to the Binghamton Senators last night.

In his first game back since November 24th, Mika Zibanejad suited up against the Norfolk Admirals and finished the night +1, with 0 points and 4 shots on net. It's an encouraging start for a player whose development has been stalled over the past season and a half because of injuries. 

According to a report from @SensProspects, Andre Petersson will undergo the same surgical procedure that Jared Cowen had to repair a torn labrum in his hip. Like Cowen, Petersson, Binghamton’s second leading scorer from the 2011-12 season, will miss the remainder of this season. If you'll remember Petersson has already missed a decent number of games in his young career due to back problems.

Entering camp this season on what was a young and inexperienced Binghamton team, he like many of Binghamton’s other "veteran" forwards who were expected to carry the team’s offensive production, struggled out of the gate this season; producing only two goals and five points in 17 games before getting hurt.

There was enough reason for optimism however that his offensive numbers would have reverted back to norm. In amassing 36 shots in those 17 games, he was averaging 2.12 shots per game – good enough for one of the four highest rates amongst forwards on the team. He was getting his chances, he just wasn’t burying them.

The risk that Petersson’s injury runs is that his prolonged absence will allow a number of the organization’s other prospects to surpass him in the organizational depth chart (mind you, had his production continued to stink, this would have happened anyways). With one year left on this entry-level contract, if things don't trend sharply upwards for him in 2013/14, he could be heading back to SEL.

Done and done.

Training camp starts tomorrow and is free to the public, SBP doors open at 12:30.

Player list:

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Think you could just throw your old 2005-2012 CBA in the trash? Think again. While doing an interview with Uffe Bodin of Sweden's no. 1 hockey outlet HockeySverige, the Senators top goalie prospect mentioned that he is of the understanding he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year.

”I’ve heard people say I’ve got one year left on my deal, but I’ve been a pro for three years now and this is my last year.”

 “I was in more than 10 games the first year, because you count the games where you’re backing up as well.”

On whether he thinks he’ll get a one-way deal.

“I really hope so. It would take a lot for me to sign a two-way deal again.”

So let's dust off the old Egyptian parchment, shall we...

The lockout is over. The top six forwards look set. Marc Methot is slated to play with Karlsson. We're all fretting over how the rest of the defensive tandems are going to shake out. Brian Burke gets canned as GM of a despised Northeast Division rival. Whatever will @creecher1200 and I talk about during our latest episode of The 6th Sens Podcast.

Joining us on this particular episode of the podcast is Hall of Fame defenceman, four-time Stanley Cup champion and three time Norris Trophy winning Denis Potvin who joins us to talk about the state of the Senators blue line. Also joining us is Sean McIndoe  - a contributor to Grantland, the National Post and the author of The Best of Down Goes Brown: Greatest Hits and Brand New Classics-to-Be from Hockey's Most Hilarious Blog (which you can order right here). Besides buying his highly recommended book, you can give him a follow @downgoesbrown. 

As always, you can subscribe/download/stream the episode or entire catalogue of episodes from Itunes. Or you can download the file by right-clicking and saving this file. Or you can simply stream the episode below.

If you have any questions or comments about the podcast, please leave us some feedback in the comment thread below. Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy the show.

Here is the tracklist for the show: Podcast tracklist: Pearl Jam Love Boat Captain; The Rural Alberta Advantage The Break Up; Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Come In Please; Departures Being There; King Tuff Keep On Movin'; and The Kinks Nothin In This World Can Stop Me Worrying 'Bout That Girl.

Yes we are getting tired of transcribing stuff, but Tim Murray is a great interview dammit!

The Assistant GM's full In The Box appearance can be heard here,or via streaming the embedded audio below.

My thoughts in bold.

On Cody Ceci being invited to camp...

Yeah, I think what we want to do here with Cody is reset him, reset his season. This certainly is no disreprect to the 67's, they've had a tough year...he's part of it. He's gonna move on now to a better team, obviously when you get traded from a low team to a higher team. He's gonna be counted on there heavily, and he's gotta be ready for that. And I think by coming in here, and getting a little bit of coaching from our guys on what we expect in the second half from him - it's a different situation so expectations are different. Put a lot of the onus on him to step up his game, and I think by starting him here with good players here it gives him a chance to just walk in there and you know have no issues on changing teams.

Can't say the Senators haven't been pro-active with Ceci's development. Back in December, Tim Murray confirmed they'd had Jason Smith working with him one-on-one.

Break out the money phones and call your friends, the Senators are opening their season against Evander Kane and the Winnipeg Jets. At least that is what's being reported by the Winnipeg Free Press anyways.  

National Hockey League sources have told the Free Press the Jets will open their season Saturday, Jan. 19 at the MTS Centre against the Ottawa Senators, with a 1:30 p.m. puck drop.

This had been the rumour last week.

If true, this game will inevitably be this season's first broadcasted NHL game on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. It's just too bad that both will be playing in their current incarnation of jerseys.

For all of the redundant talk about the season being a sprint, opening against a Jets team that has had its fill of offseason controversy -- money phone Kane, Dustin Byfuglien's well-documented weight issues, Ondrej Pavelec's DUI in the Czech Republic -- bodes well for Ottawa.

Whatever media distractions these create for their players can only help to serve Ottawa and other Eastern Conference teams hoping to figure into the playoff picture. 

Of course it also helps Ottawa's case that they'll likely be facing Pavelec on opening day. 

Looking at his numbers from the Liberec Bili Tygri HC during the lockout -- a 4-10-0 record and a spotty 3.50 GAA and 896 SV% -- it's obvious that the only recored number that was lower than those ugly peripherals was his reported blood alcohol level of .20.

Not too much to ask Spezza to one-up this, no?

A day after Bryan Murray's first radio interview in months, Paul MacLean joined TGOR this morning as part of a whirlwind tour that saw him appear on Team 1200 as part of the Senators media blitz that is taking fold, trying to drum up and generate interest in a NHL product that has left such a sour taste in the mouths of fans. Fortunately for the Senators, MacLean comes across as such a candid and down to earth individual, he's a perfect ambassador to represent the franchise. 

Please note MacLean did hit on a few things that I did not bother to include in this post, so if you wish to listen to the full interview, you can do so here, or via streaming the embedded audio below.

As always, my thoughts will be in bold.

After a dreadfully slow last few months, I'm not sure I could have prepared for today's onslaught of Senators news. Not that I'm complaining mind you, it was a refreshing change of pace that culminated with Senators GM Bryan Murray making an appearance on this afternoon's edition of The Drive. 

Murray did hit on a few things that I did not bother to include in this post, so if you wish to listen to the full interview, you can do so here, or via streaming the embedded audio below.

As always, my thoughts will be in bold.

The Ottawa 67's have been out of it for weeks, and didn't shy away from telegraphing a move like this was possible. Days ago Tyler Graovac was moved to Belleville, and this afternoon Cody Ceci was traded to the Owen Sound Attack:

Cody Ceci, Steven Janes, and 3rd round pick have been traded to Owen Sound for Jacob Middleton and Joseph Blandisi >>> ow.ly/gBY7A

— Ottawa 67's (@Ottawa67sHockey) January 7, 2013

Ceci played 238 games for the 67's through four seasons, scoring 41 goals, 105 assists and added 20 points in 34 postseason contests.

The Ottawa native taken 15th overall by the Senators in the 2012 draft and was named co-captain of the 67's with Sean Monahan in September. And while Ceci's production has been solid - 40 points in 42 games, the team around him has struggled (this graph gives you some idea just how bad a possession team they are), the 67's currently sit last in the OHL. There was also some surprise when Ceci was not invited to the Canadian WJC camp, a decision that puzzled many inside and outside Ottawa.

A trade to a contender was the best thing that could of happened for his development. In comments to the Citizen today, Ceci relayed the Senators were expressing the same sentiment:

"I talked with the Senators about the potential for a trade and they seemed to think it was better for me to play on a contender than finish here so I'm happy that a lot of people agree on that."

The London Knights are the class of the OHL, but Owen Sound is right there in the next tier. Ceci will give them a boost and vice versa. Unfortunately the Senators 2012 third-round pick Jarrod Maidens remains out of the Attack lineup, so it's unlikely we'll see them playing together during this stint.

There was some question whether the Senators would invite Ceci to a shortened training camp (likely to start Saturday), though Bryan Murray in comments to the Team1200 today said he would be attending.