Yesterday, around the time of the great Superbowl blackout, the Senators announced that they are calling up Stephane Da Costa from Binghamton.  This on the heals of back-to-back losses against the Habs and Hurricanes. 

You’ll recall he started last season with Ottawa and in 2011-12 played 22 games, ending up with 2 goals and 3 assists.  You may recall that Da Costa signed with the Sens on March 30, 2011 as a UFA coming out of a successful NCAA career with the Merrimack College Warriors.  Da Costa was born and raised in France, moving to the United States at age 17 to play for the Texas Tornado before joining Merrimack two years later.

Da Costa appears to be ready to slide into the lineup although it’s unclear who will come out.  Likely candidates are Daugavins and Regin.

So far this season in Binghamton Da Costa has 9 goals and 15 assists in 31 games.  By comparison, Jakob Silfverberg had 13 goals and 16 assists in 34 games before joining the Sens.

Last season I found Da Costa to have some truly impressive hands, but that his endurance seemed questionable.  He would show dashes of brilliance in the first period, but by the third he looked slow and unable to keep up with the pace.  I’m excited to see if his endurance has noticeably improved… if so he could be a valuable addition to the Spezza-less Sens.