After making a top-10 appearance last year, the Essex, Ont. sniper falls two spots to #11.
5 years after being drafted, 3 years with significant AHL time - this is it for Matt Puempel. He signed a one-year, two-way deal, but if you look at the salary breakdown, it only represents a modest AHL paycheck ($75K) vs. a solid NHL one ($900K). This is partly because Puempel is now waiver-eligible - i.e. he's in a really similar situation as Shane Prince was in last year. If Prince is any indication, this doesn't mean that Puempel will end the year with the Senators -- especially with left-wingers Nick Paul, Ryan Dzingel, and Francis Perron gnawing at the rope -- but it does mean that he has to produce at the NHL level now to solidify his spot as a regular.