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A No. 15 overall pick of the Knights in the 2017 NHL draft, Brannstrom finished the year with Ottawa’s AHL affiliate in Belleville and camp will decide whether he starts in the NHL.

“In the next couple of weeks does he impress enough to start the year in Ottawa? We’ll see, but certainly if he starts the year in Belleville I don’t think it’s going be a bad thing for him,” Mann added. “If he does start the year here, as a coaching staff we’ll work our tails off to make sure (they work on those) small details.”

The Senators don’t want to rush Brannstrom into the NHL.

“My philosophy on it is, and I don’t make those decisions, but let’s get these players ready individually so when they do get the call to Ottawa you never see them again,” Mann said. “There’s one thing to reward a player for great player, there’s another get him fully developed so that they go up and never come back.”

THIS N’ THAT

Coach Smith noted during an interview on the weekend that he expects to try top blueliner Thomas Chabot with veterans Nikita Zaitsev and Ron Hainsey during camp. Last year, Chabot played mostly with Dylan DeMelo, but there’s a strong chance that may change. “I think you’ll see Zaitsev and Hainsey both play with Chabot throughout the year,” Smith said. “They’re both guys that can defend, they know where to stand on the ice, they can hold the blue line and they’ve both played with offensive players before in (Jake) Gardiner and (Morgan) Rielly. They’re both guys that are used to being with guys who are up the ice a little bit. That’s certainly going to help.” … Centre Logan Brown, who also sat out this one, is ready for the next step after wearing the captain’s ‘C’ at the rookie tourney and having a strong effort. “This was a good start. I’ve just got to work on keeping those going into main camp,” Brown said Monday. “It’s going to be harder and there’s going to be better players and I’ve just got to build off this.”