Another regular season, another last-place division finish. This is the all-too-familiar ending that the seemingly snakebitten Ottawa Senators are facing yet again this year.
As of now, the Senators sit in seventh place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division—a far cry from what the team was expected to accomplish before the 2023-24 regular season.
On paper, the Senators are loaded with young talent. Captain Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Thomas Chabot, Drake Batherson, Jakob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson are all under 28 years old. However, when they step on the ice, the young guns often find themselves falling short of expectations. As of now, no Senators player is trending at a point-per-game pace.
Consistent scoring is necessary for any playoff hopeful, but getting on the score sheet is something the Sens find themselves searching for time and time again. Currently, the team ranks 15th in league-wide scoring and 27th on the power play. In a league of 32 teams, these are not desirable statistics.
Another necessity for any team is steady defence—something Ottawa looks like it should have in spades with its core of Chabot, Sanderson and Chychrun. On average, the team allows a brutal 3.48 goals per game, which places them 28th in that category.
To be fair, the blame cannot be placed solely on the Senators’ lacklustre defence, as the team’s goaltending has been an unremedied issue in recent memory.
To address the problem last off-season, the team signed goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo was expected to successfully tend the twine and give Ottawa the bonafide starter they’ve wanted for years. But he hasn’t lived up to expectations, sporting a .889 save percentage, a 3.32 goals-against average, and a 14-20-4 record.
This has been a familiar outcome in recent years, as it doesn’t seem to matter what goalie the Senators sign or trade for—Ottawa has become synonymous with poor goaltending. When the Senators shelled out $20 million for Korpisalo, they certainly didn’t envision him having the third-worst save percentage among goalies who’ve started at least 20 games.
Other problems with the hockey club aren’t so easily solved. The team lacks a consistent scoring core that its young star players seem unable to remedy.
What the Senators need is a full-on retool. The current team has shown they don’t own a winning culture, and they’ve become accustomed to and comfortable with losing consistently. Earlier this year, Senators fans booed the team on home ice, showing their fatigue with the team’s performance.
The Senators’ management needs to be more comfortable risking their future to start winning now. The team rarely trades high draft picks, which would be beneficial in their pursuit of high-end talent to help their scoring woes. It’s rare to acquire great players in exchange for middle-round draft picks.
Since the team has thrown in the towel this season, one would’ve thought that new general manager Steve Staios would have adopted this tactic at the trade deadline earlier in March to acquire pieces for next year. However, all Staios did was deal sharpshooter Vladimir Tarasenko, who they just signed in the most recent offseason, to the Florida Panthers for a pair of mid-round draft picks.
Sens fans hoping for significant free-agent signings this offseason shouldn’t get their hopes up, given the team’s severely constrained cap situation—making an already challenging situation even worse.
The most optimistic outcome for this season would involve Ottawa securing a high draft pick through the draft lottery at the end of April. As of now, their odds of securing the first overall selection are 7.5 per cent. However, unless the team undergoes substantial restructuring in the near future, the best-case scenario for the coming years is likely just stagnation.
Featured image from file.
