By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun
  EDMONTON -- This has easily been the best training camp Alexei Yashin has ever had.
 But that wouldn't be difficult considering it's the first one he's attended since his rookie season four years ago. He missed last year's because of the World Cup and then there were those two contract holdouts.
 Really, Yashin has been a tower of power in this camp. Others have stolen the headlines but he has created the excitement.
 He's emerged as the No. 1 centre and the go-to-guy on a team which relies on him a lot.
 "I'm really just trying to do the best I can," said Yashin, standing outside the club's dressing room at the Edmonton Coliseum yesterday. "It's important to have a good camp to build for the season.
 "But I'm not trying to do well just for me. It's important for the whole team to get ready. That's the approach that you have to take. We really want to take this team to the next level."
 On the surface, it looks like Yashin is ready to take his game to another level this season. Dig a little deeper and you'll find he's not doing anything differently than in the past. He's just coming into his own.
 He has been accused in the past of being selfish and aloof. Yashin hasn't showed signs of either of those character traits in this camp. He has been been the consummate professional getting ready for the season.
 "He really seems content," said Ottawa captain Randy Cunneyworth. "I would think that's because he sees the amount of talent that we have here and he feels good with this group of guys.
 "He's having a great camp. He's been involved in everything we've done. He's really taken a team first approach and everybody in this group has noticed that."
 Many don't put much stock in the pre-season. Yashin takes the same approach to every game and he understands there is going to be added pressure on the franchise to win this year and he wants to be ready.
 "Making the playoffs for the first time made the whole city happy, but it gives us extra pressure, too. Ottawa fans are going to expect something else now. They want us to make that next step," said Yashin.
 "That's why it's important this year that we get off to a better start than we did last year. It's pressure and we can't afford to fall backwards. We have to work even harder than we did last year."
 Yashin wants the Senators to prove themselves to everybody starting next Wednesday against the Canadiens in Montreal. His goal is simple this season: success for the organization.
 After scoring 35 goals and 40 assists for 75 points in 82 games last season, Yashin hasn't set his sights on a 100-point year. Instead, he's not going to worry about personal goals.
 Most hockey players sit down and map out their goals on a sheet of paper. Yashin doesn't do that. He doesn't need to do it. He knows what he wants. He wants the team to improve and he wants his play to improve.
 "I don't know how many goals I'll score. Of course, I'd like to score 40 goals, but I'm not saying I'll do that," said Yashin. "When I played with Moscow Dynamo we didn't have any players in the top 10 in scoring. We had four good lines.
 "It's not about how many points I score. I want the team to have success. I just have to play my game for the team. If you work hard, you'll get the numbers and the respect in the league.
 "If I see a guy open, I'm going to make the pass. I can't control whether he's going to score or not. If he scores, I get a point and that's great. I just want to make sure that my line is helping the team."
 Rated the 10th-best centre in the league in the most recent edition of The Hockey News, Yashin wants, more than anything, for this to be a good season. Not only for himself but for the Senators.