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VANCOUVER — The NHL draft weekend is over and now D.J. Smith will be able to get an up close and personal look at the Ottawa Senators top prospects.

Before heading back to his off-season home in Windsor for six weeks and making the move to Ottawa in mid-August, the Senators newly-hired head coach will return to the city Monday to prepare for development camp that will get under way Tuesday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

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While Smith has been on the job since he was introduced by general manager Pierre Dorion on May 23, the arrival of the club’s top prospects will be the first opportunity for the 42-year-old former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant to get a peek at some of the youngsters that will play a big role for the Senators down the road.

Smith has a good handle on the club’s new faces but now he gets a chance to see them on the ice in an Ottawa uniform. The Senators picked up six new prospects in the draft.

“You never know who’s going to play on your team,” Smith said in a draft weekend interview at Rogers Arena. “There’s darkhorses and there’s all kinds of things that happen. Certainly the plan is to develop these kids slowly, but in saying that it’s going to be exciting to watch some of these kids play that were knocking on the door or were maybe in the American league.