Belleville Senators Press Release
Senators Announce Opening Night Roster
The Belleville Senators are pleased to announce its inaugural roster for the 2017-18 American Hockey League season.
The 26-man squad features four goalies, eight defencemen and 14 forwards. The team will be captained by Mike Blunden.
“We want to have a good team and I think we do,” head coach Kurt Kleinendorst said. “We have some internal competition which is always helpful so I think it forces guys to be the best they can be and if they’re not, there’s someone around who can take their spot.”
The squad features 14 players who have previous NHL experience. Furthermore, the 26-man roster has played a combined 3,125 games at the AHL level.
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The roster is built primarily around draft picks of the team’s NHL affiliate Ottawa Senators. Fourteen (14) players were Ottawa selections in NHL drafts, eight players were signed by Ottawa as free agents, three players are signed to American Hockey League contracts and one player was obtained in a trade by Ottawa. While Jim O’Brien is playing under a professional try out agreement, he is among the team’s 14 players to be drafted by Ottawa.
A veteran of 528 AHL games, as well as 126 NHL contests, Blunden will be the first captain in Belleville Senators franchise history. It will mark his second straight season of being named captain under Kleinendorst.
The Sens will start the season with nine straight games on the road before returning home Nov. 1 to face the Syracuse Crunch at the Yardmen Arena.
Belleville will open its season Friday night against the Laval Rocket at 7:30pm. The game can be seen on AHL Live (subscription required) while Jack Miller will have the call on CBJQ 800.
