The only Senators prospect left in Europe (Прости, Никита) has turned a few heads this year. With a solid World Juniors and an exceptional first half of the year with SEL-2 team Mora, the Swede quickly started to look like something way better than a 7th rounder.

So much so that some hardware is coming his way. The 'Best National Team Player in HockeyAllsvenskan' award, that is handed out on very vague grounds to anyone in the league that has represented his nation in any way, shape or form. At least the jury provided an explanation.

"Mikael Wikstrand provided a splendid performance at the World Junior Championship in Russia and was named the best defenceman by the Swedish coaches. Mikael had the best +/- rating on the team and was a contributing factor to the Junior Crowns making it to the final. He is very valuable to his team with his maturity and decisiveness."

A somewhat more prestigious award was handed out tonight, local time, when the annual 'Golden Cage' award is presented to the best junior player in the league. Wikstrand was a finalist for that award as well, but fell short to Capitals prospect and recent first-rounder Filip Forsberg.

Wikstrand has put up 23 (11+12) points in 42 games this year, but only 3 of them in his last 22 games.

With the Senators winning five in a row and going 5-1-0 since Erik Karlsson's injury, it was only a matter of time before Senators GM Bryan Murray made an appearance on the FAN590. 

I've transcribed the eleven minute interview below, but for those who would prefer to listen to it, you can listen to it here, or by streaming the embedded audio below.

As always, my thoughts are in bold. 

This afternoon @mixmastermatt unearthed a video filmed in 2010 that features members of the Cornell men's basketball and hockey teams dancing to Beyonce's "Single Ladies".

The video was done to create awareness for Cornell's Duff Ball - a fundraising event that directs all proceeds to the United Way. 

Jeff Foote, Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale represented Cornell basketball while Brendon Nash, Joe Scali and the Ottawa Senators' own Colin Greening were the hockey players who participated in the video. 

And now we get a little insight into how Greening almost had a 4.0 GPA. If he put this much effort into learning the choreography, it's pretty easy envisioning him burning the midnight oil in in the library. 

I hope Greening starts doing this every time he walks into a room. 

1. Sternly worded letters always work

2. "Take Back The Bank" will be a total and complete success, zero chance it backfires

3. Two or three Leaf fans in the building tops

enjoy the game errbody

Yesterday Erik Karlsson was made availabe to the media for the first time since his Achilles injury. Portions of that press conference (the interesting portions) I've transcribed below.

As always, my thoughts in bold. 

How are you feeling?

“Pretty good, I think. The last few days, it has been really better and I can feel the foot.”

Can you bring us back to the day of and what was going through your mind at the time of the situation?

“I mean, I think it’s a normal situation. The puck came around the corner and I was going to get it and I had a guy behind me. And I knew exactly who it was, so I was taking a bit of caution. You know, he missed the hit and still got me somehow.”

The Erik Karlsson "I mean" count is officially at one.