After sending three prospects, including Nick Paul, Matt Murphy, and Ben Harpur, back to the CHL earlier in the week, Ottawa made its first major cuts of training camp today.

Cuts:

Based on lists of who took part in the main group's practice Thursday morning from twitter and on the training camp roster, the following players were returned to the ECHL/AHL:

Goalies

Chris Driedger, Scott Greenham, Andrew Hammond

Defense

Alex Grant, Aaron Johnson, Guillaume Lepine, Patrick Mullen, Daniel New, Troy Rutkowski, Michael Sdao, Chris Wideman

Forwards

Carter Camper, Jakub Culek, Ryan Dzingel, Derek Grant, Alex Guptill, Danny Hobbs, Darren Kramer, Max McCormick, Brad Mills, Nick Palmieri, Shane Prince, Cole Schneider, Garrett Thompson, Brandon Wong

There aren't too many surprises here as the reality is, this line-up was mostly set before camp started. With Anderson and Lehner locked up on the summer, Dreidger and Hammond were always going to be returned to Bingo, with seven one-way contracts on the blueline already and with Cody Ceci looking great in camp on the back of a 53-game rookie season in the NHL, the defense already has too many bodies. It's good that Claesson gets an extended look, he seems ready to take the next step. If he shot a different way or if Eric Gryba and Mark Borowiecki weren't on one-way deals, he might have had a legitimate shot at the big club this season. As it stands, he'll likely be the first call-up if Ottawa's blueline depth is depleted or falters.

That wunderprospect Curtis Lazar is still in camp should come as a surprise to no one. The biggest surprise has to be Shane Prince returning to Bingo. After starring with the 67's in junior, Prince has contributed (18 goals in 12-13, 21 goals in 13-14) at the AHL level, though he hasn't been a dominant force. It seems clear that Matt Puempel has forced Prince down the pecking order and Puempel has to have the inside track at a call-up if he doesn't make it through the rest of camp. While Buddy Robinson had a decent game against Toronto last night and has showcased his speed, I suspect both he and David Dziurzynski remain because they've played well with Lazar and because Ottawa's depth on wing isn't quiet as deep as at centre. Derek Grant, who played 20 games for Ottawa last season, has also been returned to Binghamton, a victim of being below Kyle Turris, Mika Zibanejad, David Legwand, Zack Smith, Lazar, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the depth chart.

Lines:

Big Buddy Robinson showed enough in the win over Leafs to survive this first big cut of players. — Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner) September 25, 2014

Injury news:

No Condra, Methot, Pageau at Sens skate. I think all 3 are missing due injury. More later. We'll carry Maclean's newser live. #cutdownday — Steve Lloyd (@TSNSteveLloyd) September 25, 2014

Pageau nursing a slight injury, so stayed off the ice today. — Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner) September 25, 2014

Condra, Michalek and Pageau all day to day with nagging injuries. Condra is most serious of the 3. Methot still out as precaution. — Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner) September 25, 2014

Condra, Pageau and Methot all missed practice today because of injuries. Condra's is the most serious. All are day to day. #cbcott — Dan Séguin (@SeguinSports) September 25, 2014

Eric Gryba (@grybes02) quitte la patinoire quelques minutes avant la fin de la séance d'entraînement. #Sens — Sylvain St-Laurent (@Syl_St_Laurent) September 25, 2014

Pretty typical stuff for training camp. Condra's injury explains his lack of ice time yesterday against Toronto.

Misc:

OTT was a combined +28 for even-strength shot attempts in both games last night. 57.15%. — Emmanuel Perry (@MannyElk) September 25, 2014