Notables not invited on D: Cody Ceci, Stuart Percy, Slater Koekkoek, Ryan Pulock, Duncan Siemens. In net, Zach Fucale.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 3, 2012

There will be disappointment in LDN (Seth Griffith), KIT (Matt Puempel), Kamloops (Colin Smith), U of Mich (Phil DiGiueseppe), to name a few

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 3, 2012

The last Ottawa 67 to make Canada's World Junior roster was Brendan Bell...back in 2002. And while draft eligible (and currently suspended) Sean Monahan stands a good chance of ending that run, the possibility of two 67's in Ufa was put to bed today. (edit: Graovac was invited, my mistake. h/t @ChrisMooreYYZ)

Surprisingly, Cody Ceci wasn't able to earn an invite to next week's selection camp (full list here), this after being one of the last cuts for the 2012 team. Now it was far from a guarantee he'd make the final roster, Canada has great depth on defence (with this being a lockout year). Being scratched in two of the four Canada/Russia games in August was maybe a hint as to where he stood among the brass. With two right-shot d-men essentially locks in Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Murphy (who plays for head coach Steve Spott in Kitchener), the opportunity for another offensive d-man on that side was always going to be limited.

That being said you'd think being the 3rd leading point getter among CHL d-men would count for something? It's a tough break for Ceci to be sure, especially when the 67's are going exactly nowhere this season, best he can hope for at this point is a trade to a contender.

Less surprise in Puempel's case, although many thought his moving to the Kitchener Rangers would give him a leg up. The 24th pick from the 2011 draft currently is tied for 4th in OHL goal-scoring, but a shoulder separation last week may have deep-sixed his chances.

Zibanejad Comments On His Continuing Binghamton Residence

I think it's now quite clear that while the organization has been portraying Mika continuing to play in the AHL as a joint decision of sorts, after reading the player's comments last week it certainly looks like the decision was made for him:

"You're putting me in a really tough spot right now, I guess I'm happy I don't have to make that decision. I don't know wht I would do. I'm fully trusting (in the Senators) right now and i"m just respecting their decision. ... I had a really good experience at the world juniors last year. You want to make both (sides) happy, but that's not possible. Right now, I'm just going after what Ottawa wants me to do. I knew this was one option, that Ottwa wouldn't let me go, I always had that in the back of my mind. It doesn't come as a shock. Now I get a good opportunity to focus on the team over here, making sure we're winning games. I'm trying to help as much as I can."

Guessing management couched this as 'what path is going to get you to the NHL faster' -- taken that way it would be pretty hard for a young player who hasn't established himself in North America to say no to their advice. He seems to be taking it in stride though, the sizable Swedish contigent in Bingo probably doesn't hurt.

Zibanejad did miss two games over the weekend, the cause of which seems to be the aftermath of having his wisdom teeth removed.

Wikstrand On Swedish Roster

Swe WJC roster: G: Lundström, Lassinantti, (Dansk) D: Lindholm, Djoos, Bengtsson, Arnesson, Wikstrand, Nilsson, Djuse, Pettersson.

— Stefan G:son (@steffeG) December 3, 2012

No surprise here (especially with injuries sidelining Klefbom and Brodin), but it's still great to see a 7th round round draft pick make a WJC roster. Never hurts to be playing with Kopitar.

Noesen Expected To Make US Roster

Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) who runs the excellent blog United States Of Hockey; last night posted his best guess at the American WJC roster. The reason one puts more faith in this than others is Chris was employed for two years by the US National Development Program, basically the guy is plugged in. In spite of playing in the dreaded Ontario Hockey League, he has Stefan Noesen as a very safe bet to make the team.

Assistant GM Tim Murray made an appearance on The Drive yesterday afternoon, the bulk of which is transcribed below. The big news of Zibanejad staying in Bingo (rather than playing in the WJC) was explained from the organization's perspective. Among other topics hit on were Lehner's hot start, the job Luke Richardson has done, and if Tim would like to see Cody Ceci moved to a contender.

As always, my thoughts are in bold.

Daniel Alfredsson is looking more seriously at his playing options overseas as the specter of another wiped out NHL season looms.

Soak that up Ottawa. Let that sentence marinate, embrace it in Konopka bear-hug fashion.

Alfie is approximately a week and a half shy of his 40^th birthday and has 1,082 points in 1,131 NHL regular season games. The statistcally minded folks over at Hockey Propsectus have him as the 36th best forward all-time. He is a lightning rod of conversation, Ian Mendes can attest.

The captain owes the fans and this organization nothing, not a stretch to say he's been the antithesis of his predecessor.

Yet, here he is expressing interest in playing overseas in Europe with designs to prolong his Senators career. Maybe the tired "will he or won't he" stories can be given a rest for a few months? Sure, the fact that he’s unwilling to sign with a KHL or SEL team could be construed as a red flag, although, it may be just as likely he’s saving his body (something, something about "hard miles") should that thing they call the "NHL" return to Ottawa.

Although a season long lockout would wipe out a very team friendly frontloaded contract (the last year of his deal would cost the Senators $1-million), news that he could return, even at a more cost-prohibitive cap hit, would still allow the Senators to be patient with their top prospects.

Besides, the organization needs a veteran Swede to mentor the Karlssons, Lehners, Zibanejads and Silfverbergs of the world. And if Edler ain't coming here next summer, who else is available to be that guy...Victor Stalberg?

Barf. 

Hade Zibanejad varit kanadensare som fixat JVM-guld i fjol, hade han inte blivit stoppad. Den shitstormen av kritik hade Ottawa aldrig tagit

— Magnus Nyström (@Nystromhockey) November 29, 2012

"If Zibanejad was Canadian, he would never have been stopped. That's a shitstorm of criticism Ottawa never would've taken."

In an attempt to hurt Sweden's chances to repeat at the World Junior Championship, Senators management decided to deny struggling 1st rounder Mika Zibanejad the opportunity to go play hockey half a globe away against lesser competition. At least that's the angle the Swedish media is going for.

And don't you Canadians dare to take the biggest locker room this time!

Oh, and Markström never dove.

Per sources, this is exactly how it was handled...

Cold-blooded Bryan, smh.

In the midst of a 6-0-0-1 streak, Binghamton Senators head coach Luke Richardson made his weekly Tuesday afternoon on The Drive. Although Richardson hit on some other topics (ie. how seemingly every Swedish hockey product is a complete player who understands the defensive nuances of the game) that I did not bother to include in this post, you can listen to the full interview by clicking here, or via the embed below.

As always, my thoughts will be in bold.

Having purchased the latest Hockey Prospectus 2012/13 Annual -- which comes highly recommended to anyone who regularly frequents this blog; especially at the ridiculously low price of $9.90 to download the PDF version – I can tell you that one of the key features that I look forward to reading the most is its Core Age analysis.

We see references to a team’s average age thrown around lazily all the time without pause or regard for its limitations.

Of course this RT was promptly deleted...which is a shame. If we've learned anything in the past year, the people love their team accounts with a little personality. Be your radical self @NHL_Sens!

Anyway, here's the Duhatschek column in question.

@dirtydangle haha that's awesome! where did you find that? @coltongillies was on the ice too, see him in the celly?

— Kyle Turris (@kyleturris) November 20, 2012

@dirtydangle of course I did, everyone did, it was the cool thing to do!

— Kyle Turris (@kyleturris) November 20, 2012

Jason Spezza has informed Hockey Canada he is willing to participate in the Spengler Cup and to put it succinctly, it sickens me.

On one hand, here is a player who has historically gone to considerable lengths to ingratiate himself to the fans, the organization, the media and his teammates. And we can add Hockey Canada to this growing list.

Look, I understand this need to politick and make a favorable impression on HC brass as they do value loyalty and rewarding players who continue to answer the call.

Through 13GP Binghamton is 7-4-2, good for 5th place in their conference - that in spite of only scoring 34 goals. Their leading goal-scorer is Derek Grant, who's a swell prospect to be sure, but fans are clamoring for more from those prefixed as "highly-touted". 

Hopefully this post can ease concerns.

While Silf and Zibanejad are sitting on three goals between them, they have at least continued to generate shots consistently (which is good). In that vein I got to wondering how they stacked up against their prospect brethern. Below is a list sorted by shots per game of the top-30 AHL forwards who were under-23 at season's opening. (minimum 9GP, B-Sens in red):

Three players in the top-30 seems pretty positive to me, especially as two are more or less rookies in North America.

- Hoffman sits second on the list, he's boosted his rate from 2.49 last season to 3.62 today. No small feat.

- Silfverberg is producing at a higher rate than he was with Brynas (3.14) last year.

- Zibanejad shot 2.16 last year with Djurgarden, and through 13 games is shooting 2.69.

- Among B-Sens who didn't make the list, but are creating at a decent clip: Petersson 2.00, Grant 1.92, Pageau 1.92.

And the top-20 defenseman:

Plenty of quality players on his list so it's nice to see Wiercioch ensconced in the middle. I wondered prior to the season if this was the year he'd be able to take another step offensively. And while the points aren't showing it yet, his shot rate is the highest it's been since his freshman year at Denver when he put up an impressive 2.94 per game. This is an aspect he's clearly tried to focus on, telling Ken Warren "...i'm making a conscious effort to shoot more this year".

Now seven weeks of games isn't a great sample, but it is a snapshot if nothing. I'll be doing this again at the 30 game mark, so we can all see who's falling off and vice versa. Maybe by that time, a couple more shots (by the guys in red) will have found the back of the net too.

*Eyes On The Prize has a great post on AHL shot-rates and how they translate to the NHL.