According to Andy Strickland the Senators have signed 21-year old Buddy Robinson to an amateur tryout with an entry-level contract starting for him next season.

Ottawa #Sens have signed Lake Superior State6'5, 230 pound forward Buddy Robinson to an ATO...entry level deal kicks in next season

— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) March 25, 2013

The Senators shortly thereafter confirmed in a news release that it’s actually a 3-year ELC.

Although he was born in Bellmawr, New Jersey, the 6’5”, 230 pound forward has a local connection. He played 19 games for the CCHL’s Nepean Raiders during their 2010/11 season – tallying 5 goals and 24 points.

In 77 games for Lake Superior State University, he totalled 13 goals, 26 points and 85 PIMS. I’ve looked for some scouting reports on him but the only thing bouncing back is some news story about a different Buddy Robinson being found guilty for the murder of Christiana Fesmire.

Until someone from management goes public with their comments about what Buddy Robinson brings to the table, I’ll just infer that he’s big, physical and has some modest offensive upside. At the very least, the Senators have brought in more prospect depth that affords them the opportunity to parlay quantity and make a splash this offseason. 

To borrow a refrain from Eugene Melnyk, buckle up because we’re going all the way… to delve into hockey’s annual buzzworthy event that isn’t the impending NHL trade deadline. Yes, I’m talking about overage collegiate free agency!

With the NCAA seasons wrapping up, expect an influx of unrestricted collegiate free agent prospects to be scooped up by NHL teams over the course of the next few days or weeks.

For organizations, this represents an ample opportunity to restock their prospect cupboards with more physically mature prospects that typically have smaller learning curves.

Now not every prospect will turn into a productive entity. For every Andy McDonald, Cory Conacher, Dustin Penner or Justin Schultz, there’s a Bobby Butler, a Matt Gilroy and even a Jesse Winchester.

Given the success the Senators have continued to have accumulating points in the standings, it’d be unfair to describe the team’s blue line being held together by glue, a wish and a prayer, but without Jared Cowen, Erik Karlsson and more recently, Marc Methot, the current collection of talent on the backend probably has casual fans around the league scratching their heads and wondering who exactly many of these guys are.

Andre Benoit, Patrick Wiercioch and Eric Gryba aren't exactly household names.

Keeping that in mind, coupled with the possibility that Sergei Gonchar could depart as an unrestricted free agent this summer, it’s certainly not surprising to see the Senators linked in trade talks to defencemen playing for non-playoff teams.

Yesterday afternoon the GM spoke to an assembled audience at the Kanata Sports Club, the transcript of which we don't have, but there is this one solitary tweet to build a post around!

Now assuming this paraphrase is accurate...

Some will question the hubris of a statement like this, especially coming from an organization that hasn't won a playoff round in five plus years.

On the other hand, opposite Gene's infamous treatise, it looks downright sensible:

"To a fan, hockey is a great but sometimes brutal game - and only one of 30 cities is going to be feeling great by this time next month. But while you're barbecuing this summer and speculating on next season, I want you to thnk about this:

I firmly believe the Ottawa Senators will not only win the Stanley Cup, but we will build a team with the talent and drive to hoard that Cup year after year in the playoffs. I guarantee that you have never seen the level of determination that is about to go into putting together our 2006-07 season. And I guarantee that I will not rest until Ottawa becomes the hockey Mecca of the NHL."

Still holds up.

So proud of my bro and ex-teammate @bgsuhammond joing my cousin @jgpageau with the Sens org

— nathan pageau (@pageau13) March 18, 2013

On March 18^th, Jean Gabriel Pageau tipped off the masses that the Senators had (likely) made a collegiate free agent signing by retweeting the above and today, the organization formally announced the signing of Andrew Hammond to a two-year entry level contract.

Via the press release:

The Ottawa Senators announced today the club has signed free agent goaltender Andrew Hammond to a two-year entry-level contract. Hammond recently completed his senior collegiate season when his Bowling Green Falcons fell to Notre Dame in the second round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. Hammond has signed an amateur tryout agreement and will report to the club’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators.

Hammond, 25, posted a 10-15-3 record with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 29 games with the Falcons this past season. He was the recipient of the team’s Jim Sears Award (most valuable player) and Jim Ruehl Award (best defensive player) after both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

A native of Surrey, B.C., Hammond earned a record of 30-68-13 in 111 games over four seasons at Bowling Green and attended the Chicago Blackhawks’ prospect camp in 2012.

Hammond is listed at 6’3” and 190 lbs on his Bowling Green player profile page and at 25 years of age, one has to wonder how much of a prospect he actually is. Given some of Ottawa’s previous forays into the collegiate market, coupled with the fact that every NHL team is seemingly scouring the collegiate market for inexpensive players that can add some organizational depth, my expectations for Hammond actually developing into a productive player are low.

BREAKING: Ducks agree to terms with Corey Perry on eight-year contract extension. bit.ly/11ccV4R

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) March 19, 2013

So that happened.

8 years, 69 million.

The dream of many a Sens fan that Perry could land in Ottawa July 1st dashed. There was a sliver of reason to think it was possible too, what with Bryan and Tim drafting Corey in 2003, the whispers about Perry wanting to move "closer to home", a true number one playmaking center to line up alongside, and enough capspace to accommodate a contract sure to explode Ottawa's salary structure.

Of course that optimism easily brushed aside the franchises history of free agent signings, an inauspicious list headlined by a then 36-year-old Sergei Gonchar. The Hasek signing is up there too, even if it ended terribly. And the rest Kovalev, Gerber, Corvo, you get the idea.

Ottawa's really only had the means to target players in free agency for 10 years (ie. the Melnyk era), and in that span I'd argue they've never really been close on signing a premier player in or around their prime. If you believe Gene, the Sens had a "presentation" all made up for Parise, but the organization never made an offer once they saw the kind of term and dollars it was going to take (not that I blame them on that front).

So even though it'd be nice at this stage to add some elite talent to the team for nothing but money, chances are it's not going to happen. Talent in Ottawa arrives in two ways - through the draft and via trade. Maybe that fact changes sometime in future, but to this point that's been the history.

Hell with Perry struck from the list, there isn't much available this summer I'd want to commit to anyway.

During the depths of the lockout Elliotte Friedman appeared on the podcast and had this to say:

"Ultimately I think the biggest question the Senators are going to have going forward is, how are they going to replace Daniel Alfredsson when the time comes?"

It remains a question today, and I'm not sure it's even a fair question to ask. The organization might have that player in the system, or maybe it's years before they see another two-way winger with his skills. The blueprint Chicago laid down of augmenting their young core with Hossa is desirable, but those signings are so few and far between - you can't bank on them, especially in Ottawa.

Weeks after tweaking his knee in the February 13^th pregame skate in Pittsburgh, Milan Michalek has finally elected to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

According to the organization, Michalek is having the procedure to remove bone chips from the same knee that forced him to miss 46 games during the 2003/04 season (torn ligament).

Michalek, who led the Senators with 35 goals last season, opted originally to wait and see if the injured knee would respond to time and rest; preferring to play through the injury and postpone surgery until the offseason. Although he eventually wound up playing in two consecutive games on March 6^th and 8^th, registering an assist in each, it came to a point where he and the organization decided that getting corrective surgery now was the best option.