How the Ottawa Charge plans to 'reset and reload' around its young core

Michela Cava from the Ottawa Charge celebrates her double-overtime winning goal with her teammates on Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre. Ottawa defeated Boston 4-3 in Game 4 to take the semifinal series 3-1. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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The average age on the Ottawa Charge roster has certainly taken a bit of a nosedive through expansion and free agency over the last month.

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And while the team’s recent moves to invest in its young core may look like one of the key ingredients of a signature team rebuild, it’s not the term general manager Mike Hirshfeld would use to describe his process.

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“I don’t think it’s a rebuild at all. I call it a reset and reload,” he told reporters Friday.

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“The plan was to get younger,” he said. “We wanted to invest in and develop players who are entering the primes of their careers, and with expansion on hold for a couple of years, we want to build around this younger core, and I think we’ve accomplished our goal.”

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And, as a firm believer in bounce-back seasons, Hirshfeld has chosen to invest in some players who may not have lived up to their potential last season. That includes trading for 24-year-old Jenna Buglioni, who Hirshfeld believes will regain some of her college dominance with the right usage and coaching in Ottawa.

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Looking ahead to the roster that will hit the ice in Ottawa in the fall, there’s no doubt that the Charge has managed to develop a promising young group that has all the ingredients to compete in this league.

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But with the median age of Ottawa’s signed players sitting just below 26 years old, only time will tell if the absence of an established veteran group will cost the team in the short term.

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Jenna Buglioni is now a member of the Ottawa Charge. Photo by Seattle Torrent /PWHL

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So, what about that trade?

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On the surface, it seems like a massive gamble to trade for a player who has yet to record a point in the PWHL after suiting up for 18 games with the Seattle Torrent.

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But it wasn’t that long ago when Buglioni was one of the top two-way forwards in NCAA hockey, averaging more than 30 points in her last four seasons with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

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But after being selected by the Torrent in the first round, Buglioni never really found her footing and was underutilized on a struggling Seattle lineup, often buried in the roster and even listed as a healthy scratch on some nights.

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And in the eyes of Hirshfeld, there’s no player more due for a bounce-back season.

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“We’ve been watching her progress last season, and we obviously saw that she wasn’t in Seattle’s lineup as much as we expected, so when you see that, you think maybe there’s an opportunity and a change of scenery and a fresh start for her,” Hirshfeld said.

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Ottawa already had its eye on Buglioni in last year’s draft, as Hirshfeld said she was one of the Charge’s top 15 picks. Now, they hope she can help replace some of the centre depth and offence the team lost in expansion.

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And no one wants to make this move work than Buglioni herself, who undoubtedly knows she has a lot to prove.

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“She’s already so determined to have a big year this year,” Hirshfeld said. “Last year didn’t work out the way it hoped, but she’s already working out, she told me she’s been in the gym for three weeks already, she wants to be in the best shape she can be in for next season.”