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If the agreement with the city of Belleville is completed Monday, then this could be the club’s final year in Binghamton.

But as Postmedia also reported, it’s believed the Senators are trying to ensure that another AHL affiliate moves into Binghamton because it’s a solid market for the league. It’s believed the AHL’s board of governors support the idea of the Senators moving their affiliate to Belleville.

Belleville city councillors were being tight-lipped with the local media after a closed-door session Thursday. That’s partially because they’ve been here before and saw the whole deal get sidetracked because of difficultly with the negotiations.

Mayor Taso Christopher told the Belleville Intelligencer late Thursday that Monday “should be a busy day.”

The Senators like the idea of having their AHL affiliate closer to home without having to cross the border. Belleville is about three hours from Ottawa and this is a move that makes sense. The Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs’ affiliate, play a stone’s throw away from the Air Canada Centre and the Montreal Canadiens have just moved their affiliate to nearby Laval.

THIS ’N’ THAT:

The Senators have shown more than a passing interest in veteran UFA defencemen Dennis Seidenberg (Boston) and Kris Russell (Dallas). It’s believed both players want signed contracts and aren’t going to go to an NHL camp on a professional tryout agreement. Either would make sense for the Senators but GM Pierre Dorion said earlier this week that nobody should bank on the club getting another blueliner before the start of the season. Seidenberg is playing for Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey while Russell isn’t in anybody’s camp at the moment but has some interest from the Calgary Flames. Matt Bartkowski, signed to a PTO after spending last year with Vancouver, was skating with Marc Methot on Friday as captain Erik Karlsson is playing for Team Sweden at the World Cup … Winger Clarke MacArthur, who missed most of last season with post-concussion syndrome, was feeling fine after his first day on the ice. “I felt good,” he said. “I felt like I saw the ice well, when I had some opportunities I got some shots off and did some things. Everything’s there. I didn’t really get bumped around a lot. My game itself feels good. It’s more the other stuff: The hitting and everything else I’m going to have to slowly work my way into.”