Noah Pedrazzoli shines a light on the Ottawa Senators to see if they have what it takes to challenge for a playoff spot in the East
The Ottawa Senators are on a crusade to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The Senators addressed many needs on their roster such as the bottom-six, the defense, and their goaltending. Are the Senators finally positioned to break out of their playoff slump?
Upgrades
The Senators decided to make their leap towards a potential playoff berth, ironically, during the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals. Right before Florida’s game-7 win, the Senators announced that they acquired Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins.
Now that the Bruins have designated the still unsigned Jeremy Swayman as their franchise goaltender, the Ottawa Senators saw an opportunity to bolster their goalie crease with Vezina winner Linus Ullmark. And now Ottawa has a franchise goalie of their own for foreseeable future as he is open to an extension.
The bottom-six was replenished by a solid mix of young and veteran depth forwards that will make an immediate impact on Ottawa’s young forward core. Veterans like David Perron and Michael Amadio not only have a physical presence and high Hockey IQ, but contribute a scoring touch as well.
Linus Ullmark could be a gamechanger for the Ottawa Senators.
The signings of former Maple Leaf Noah Gregor and Stanley Cup Champion Nick Cousins provide the Senators with an incredible amount of potential to form a young but developed bottom-six to provide relief for their new netminder and score lunch-pail goals.
While losing Jacob Chychrun hurts the offensive side of the blueline, the Senators should find some compensation in veteran defenseman Nick Jensen. Jensen, an established defensive-minded defenseman, will provide more certainty and structure to a struggling blueline from last season.
The Senators aren’t left with just one offensive-defenseman in Jake Sanderson. The Senators 7th overall draft pick Carter Yakemchuk has already proven during training camp and preseason that he has the potential to become a puck-moving menace for years to come on the blueline.
“The Ottawa Senators are shaping up to be a significant threat to the status-quo of the Atlantic Division.”
Needs & Losses
While it seems like there were limited upgrades for the Senators this offseason, these upgrades were more significant than numerous. There are still a variety of factors that will need to go in the Senators favor for them to be worthy playoff contenders, but they are still heading in the right direction.
Drake Batherson and Josh Norris are both very promising forwards who have been consistently bogged down by injuries. Now that both are reportedly fully healthy and ready to contribute, the Senators will have a proper top-six compared to last year’s blender of a lineup. This will also help the powerplay as both players have a significant scoring touch.
Once considered among the league’s best players not long ago, Tim Stutzle needs to have an incredible comeback season. Stutzle sent shockwaves through the NHL in his 2022-2023 season, as he was one goal away from 40 and 10 points away from joining the 100-point club during the last year of his entry-level contract.
He took a dramatic step back in the scoring department this past year. But, he was missing a substantial amount of his linemates, as Brady Tkachuk can only do so much. With a healthy Senators’ squad this year, it can almost certainly be expected that Tim Stutzle will reascend to stardom.
Brady Tkachuk is an essential part of this team’s offense and its overall trajectory as a franchise. The Captain just witnessed his brother Matthew win his first Stanley Cup with the juggernaut Florida Panthers this past summer. For this team to break their seven-year playoff drought, Brady Tkachuk will simply have to keep being Brady Tkachuk, elevating his supporting cast alongside him.
Some final touches to this offseason includes the re-signing of Shane Pinto. New York Islanders fans were salivating at the opportunity of gaining a Long Island native as well as an additional injection of youth to the Island, however, that will have to wait. Pinto, after general manager Lou Lamoriello inquired with Senators general manager Steve Staios about the centerman’s availability, will reassume his duties as Ottawa’s third-line center and leader of the second power play unit.
The return of Shane Pinto for a full season after his suspension for a controversial gambling incident, will certainly provide a boost to the Senator’s bottom-six and their forward depth overall.
Senators Division Outlook: 4th-6th Place
Steve Staios has made strides towards making this team playoff-bound and newly hired head coach Travis Green will be an X-Factor in fusing this young core with its supporting cast of characters. From his previous coaching stints in Vancouver and New Jersey, the experienced hockey mind of Travis Green will have little wiggle room, as he will need to provide structure to a highly promising team in a tough division.
The Ottawa Senators are shaping up to be a significant threat to the status-quo of the Atlantic Division. The Atlantic is a bit more straight-forward compared to the Metropolitan battle royale. As it is usually Toronto, Tampa, Boston, and Florida competing for higher seeding while Detroit attempts to steal a wild card spot from a mix of Metro teams in the running.
But now, there’s a possible new contender on the horizon with a Vezina-winning goalie, a defensive-minded defense, and a formidable bottom-six to backup a prospective core of stars.
This could be their first year as a dangerous team in quite a while, and they have the chance to sneak in and cause some trouble for their Eastern rivals in the playoffs. However, the beauty of the NHL is that nothing is ever certain.
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