Lassi Thomson's turn to get a long look on the Senators top defence pairing
Now the question is whether he'll stay there when Erik Brannstrom comes out of COVID-19 protocol, perhaps as early as Monday.
Article content
Beyond the goaltending storylines Saturday — John Gibson stole one for Anaheim and why wasn’t Matt Murray playing for Ottawa? — the intriguing auditions for a prime position on the Senators defence continues.
In the past several weeks, former first-round picks Lassi Thomson, Erik Brannstrom and Jacob Bernard-Docker have been given legitimate shots to showcase themselves as Thomas Chabot’s right-hand man.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Lassi Thomson's turn to get a long look on the Senators top defence pairing Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
It was again Thomson’s turn in the 2-1 loss to the Ducks.
On the heels of his career-high outing of 23 minutes 27 seconds in Thursday’s shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, which included some overtime ice, Thomson played 23:03 against against Anaheim. At even strength, on the power play, during the penalty kill, Thomson was on the ice in all situations. He threaded the needle with a brilliant pass to set up Tyler Ennis for the lone Senators goal.
“Even between whistles, I try to tell him he’s able to do that,” Chabot said of Thomson beginning to assert himself offensively. “He’s such a good skater and sees the play so well on the ice. Obviously, when you’re getting called up (from the minors), you don’t want to be the guy making the mistake or anything. I’ve been there. We all know how that feels. At times, I try to help him. I think we can be a very good pairing together. We can move the puck really well, like you saw a few times (Saturday). We can hold the puck in the offensive zone and move around and make some good plays.
“Just the more we play together, we’ll get even more used to each other and become real solid.”
Now the question is whether Thomson will stay there when Brannstrom comes out of COVID-19 protocol, perhaps as early as Monday versus the Edmonton Oilers.
Brannstrom, who has looked sharp after moving to Chabot’s right side from his previous left defence spot, has topped more than 20 minutes in his past four games.
And, just to add another wrinkle to what the future of the defence could look like, Bernard-Docker had a few spins alongside Chabot before he was re-assigned to Belleville of the American Hockey League.
Senators head coach D.J. Smith offered a mixed assessment of Thomson’s play.
Amid the frustration of being outscored 1-0 while outshooting the Ducks 34-8 in the final two periods, Smith says there’s still some work to be done before Thomson becomes a solid two-way blueliner.
Like the Senators, the Ducks are loaded with young talent. Defending the likes of Trevor Zig-Zag Zegras — there was no lacrosse goal against the Senators — is a challenge.
“(Thomson) passes the puck, he makes a lot of good plays,” Smith said. “He’s got to continue to work on his play away from the puck, off the rush … his awareness of the rush and what’s happening out there. But you can see with the puck and the way he passes and the way he shoots, he’s at an NHL level.”
Losing sucks at the best of times and there’s an open question about why Anton Forsberg drew the goaltending start ahead of Murray, who has looked sharp while going 3-0-2 in his past five starts.
But, considering the circumstances of their 13-24-1 record and laundry list of ailments, giving Thomson, Brannstrom and Bernard-Docker the chance to sort it out between themselves has been fun to watch.
And who knows? The more each one shows, the more attractive each of them becomes in a potential trade.
Chabot is trying to be a mentor in the process of making all of them more complete, confident players.
“I think I’m mostly trying to lead them,” he said. “I’m trying to play my game and trying to help the team have some success. Those are all very talented players.”
Chabot went through the process himself, watching and learning from Erik Karlsson, gradually earning the trust of former coach Guy Boucher before becoming a full-time National Hockey League player.
Now, of course, he leads the NHL in average ice time per game. He checked in at 29:16 on Saturday against the Ducks.
He says it isn’t easy to find your way, knowing that the microscope is always on newcomers.
Consider it a friendly and spirited competition, a game within the game for the 22-year-old Brannstrom and 21-year-olds Thomson and Bernard-Docker.
“Whenever you get called up or you didn’t play that much (the previous game), you don’t want to be the guy making any mistakes,” Chabot said. “We all understand that. But with just how talented they are, they just have to trust themselves and make some plays. They’ve been doing a great job with that.”
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.