Where Should Thomas Chabot Play NextYear?
A lot of our top prospects are playing in the QMJHL right now. Our best defensive prospect
https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Chris_Neil_T_shirt-7, Thomas Chabot, is currently having a career year with the St. John Sea Dogs, who are up 2-0 in their first round playoff series against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Drafted by Ottawa 18th overall in 2015, he ended the 2015-2016 regular season with 45 points in 47 games.The issue is that Chabot cannot play in Binghamton before the 2017-18 season, which means next year, he either plays in Ottawa or St. John. Will he benefit from another year in the Juniors? Is he ready to play in the NHL? Let's look at both scenarios.1. Chabot stays in the QMJHL: If Chabot is unable to prove himself, he will be sent down to the Juniors. In a 78 game season, we will expect him to improve his defensive game even more and put up around 80 points. If he plays more than 9 games in the NHL next year, the first year of his ELC will be used up.2. Chabot plays for Ottawa: Even if Chabot makes the team out of training camp, is there room for him on the defence corps? The answer is yes
https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Thomas_Chabot_Pillow_Cover-214, if Murray and Cameron are both gone. Right now, the defensemen we have under contract for next year are Karlsson, Methot, Phaneuf, Wideman, and Borowiecki. Ideally we let Wiercioch walk or trade his rights, and keep Ceci. We re-sign Claesson for one more year, and re-sign Kostka to play in Bingo
Micheal Haley Hoodie. And Phillips should retire because he has had a great career and I would hate to see that end because he can't play on the team.What I think will happen: Chabot will play in each preseason game alongside each NHL defensemen, to figure out who he plays well with
Mikkel Boedker Pillow Cover. Methot, Claesson and Boro are out of the question because they are left-handed. Phaneuf is also left handed, but people have said that he is more comfortable on the right side. Chabot will make the team out of training camp and please play him over Boro for the first nine games, at least until we know where we are going with him. If we send him down, the d-corps will look like this: Methot-Karlsson, Phaneuf-Ceci, Claesson-Wideman, Boro. It gets confusing if he makes the team, though, because now we have eight defensemen. I have a solution, and this is where Murray being gone is key here, trade Ceci for Drouin. Of course we add something but this trade will do a number of good things for Ottawa.1. We get Jonathan Drouin, with barely any NHL experience, on the last year of his contract. This is likely a cap-friendly move.2. Phaneuf moves to the right side
Austin Watson Hoodie, his most comfortable side.3. We can protect Karlsson, Phaneuf, and Methot as well as 7 forwards for the expansion draft.If the trade goes down
https://www.ottawafansstore.com/Mike_Fisher_Pillow_Cover-187, then our d-corps would look like this: Methot-Karlsson, Chabot-Phaneuf, Claesson-Wideman, Boro.What do you guys think about Chabot's future? Can we still pull off a Ceci-Drouin deal? What should our D-corps next year be? I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments! Thanks for reading!PollWhich league will Chabot play in next year?23%NHL (20 votes)77%QMJHL (67 votes)87 votes total
