By Ken Hawkins (a.k.a. khawk)
As NHL training camps get underway, few teams will be under more of a microscope than the Ottawa Senators. It took the better part of 2 seasons for the team to emerge from the complex ordeal of the Melnyk/Dorion era, and begin to chart a new course for the team. But despite these challenges, this training camp will be a great opportunity for the new management group to show the value of the work they’ve put in during the off-season. They’ve certainly added significant stability to the coaching staff, removed several players from the roster that they felt weren’t part of the team’s future, and made significant roster additions with the stated goal of promoting a more professional team culture. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but we’ll take a look at the coming training camp from a range of perspectives to see how some of these changes might manifest in terms of the on-ice product.
Full Training Camp Roster
https://www.nhl.com/senators/news/ottawa-senators-announce-56-player-2024-25-training-camp-roster
Major Roster Changes
OUT: G Korpisalo, D Chychrun, D Brannstrom, F Kubalik, F Joseph, F Kelly, F Kastelic
IN: G Ullmark, D Jensen, D Kleven, F Perron, F Amadio, F Gregor, F Cousins
Top-6 Forwards
There were relatively few changes made to the top-6 forwards over the off-season. Barring injury, the top line is expected to feature Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle, the second line will be structured around Josh Norris and Drake Batherson, and Claude Giroux will continue to provide veteran support. The only prospect with top-6 upside is recent NCAA-graduate Stephen Halliday, who led their AHL affiliate in playoff scoring. However, it would be unexpected for them to rush him to the NHL without at least a full AHL season of development under his belt. The story in training camp will be whether they will move Shane Pinto into the #2C position, or let newly-acquired David Perron bolster the 2nd line. The decision hinges on the extent to which they feel Norris has recovered from multiple shoulder injuries vs. the potential they see in Pinto, who last year had a better PPG scoring pace than Norris, and the best 82GP-adjusted plus/minus rating on the team.
Bottom-6/Depth Forwards
It’s quite evident that GM Steve Staios really didn’t like the Senators’ bottom-6 forward structure, as he’s replaced almost every single player from last season. The sole exception is Ridly Greig, who seems almost genetically engineered for a #3C role. The UFA additions of Michael Amadio, Noah Gregor, and Nick Cousins bring a lot of NHL-proven quality to the group, and one of Perron/Pinto will also be in the mix to add some offensive potential. The story in training camp will be who gets the last forward spot. Drafted options would include Angus Crookshank and Zack Ostapchuk, they recently traded for Jan Jenik and Xavier Bourgault, Zack MacEwan is still under contract, and they have AHL veterans like Michael Highmore and Adam Gaudette. Factor in the highly unexpected Nikolai Kulemin on a PTO, and this is the most open-ended roster spot opportunity we’ve seen in a while.
Top-4 Defence
Unless there’s an injury in the pre-season, the Senators’ top-4D is relatively set with Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub, and Nick Jensen. The story in training camp will be what the pairings might be to start the season, which is dependent on how the team deploys their two $8M AAV star D-men. Sanderson had the most PP/SH ice time among D last year, but Chabot led the team in ES ice time. Zub and Jensen will both play supporting defensive roles, so it may come down to who is better suited to keep pace with the high volume of ES minutes that Chabot is expected to have. If that’s the case we could see a Chabot-Zub reunion, as Jensen is now 33 and would likely be assigned the lesser role in terms of expected TOI. Conversely, the Sanderson-Zub pairing was the team’s best last year, and they may not want to disrupt the chemistry they have developed. Either way, these should be the most balanced top-4D pairings the team has had since their deep playoff run in 2016/17.
3rd-Pair/Depth Defence
The off-season brought about the end of the Erik Brannstrom era, which closes yet another chapter of the Big Book of Roster Failures, by Pierre Dorion. In his place, all signs point to the #3LD position to be claimed by Tyler Kleven, who is the most defensively-capable and physical D-man in their prospect system. The story in training camp will be about which of the many imperfect #3RD options will be ready to play with Kleven on opening night. Travis Hamonic has a full NMC clause, so if nothing he will provide veteran depth support. Jacob Bernard-Docker played 72GP in the NHL last year and played with Kleven in the NCAA, but has yet to really find his comfort zone in the NHL. Maxence Guenette has shown offensive upside at the AHL level, but has very little NHL experience. Nikolas Matinpalo has over 200GP of SM-Liiga experience, but has yet to show more than being a serviceable AHL call-up. They also have Calen Addison in camp on a PTO, who has NHL experience but plays a very one-dimensional offensive game. And with $1.1M in cap space still available, we could even see a larger trade/waiver move to address this need.
Goaltending
The most significant roster change of the Senators’ off-season was in goal, where Linus Ullmark was acquired to bring veteran stability to a position that has been an ongoing source of frustration and drama in recent years. Anton Forsberg will be expected to provide back-up support as the #2G, but hasn’t played more than 30GP in the past 2 seasons. As such the expectation is that Ullmark will be given every opportunity to play the #1G role. There’s also quality depth in the AHL in the form of Mads Sogaard, who at this time next season will most likely assume the back-up role. The story in camp will be how quickly Ullmark can settle into the #1G role, and whether Sogaard can make an early push for the #2G role. Given Forsberg’s recent injury history, we could see this transition effectively take place during the course of the season.
Coaching
Another key off-season move was the addition of Travis Green as head coach, and a transition of several assistant coaches. There were mixed reactions to the decision to hire Green, but if the past couple of years have indicated anything it’s that the results simply weren’t being delivered, and the core talent was in need of veteran mentorship and a far more structured coaching approach. GM Steve Staios has delivered on the mentorship front, as several of his off-season moves have brought in quiet, hard-working veterans, most of whom have recent Cup experience. The story in camp will be how Travis Green connects with the players and implements a new structure of accountability. His reputation for running a physically demanding training camp will no doubt be on full display, and it will be interesting to see which players come to training camp prepared.
Schedule
Last year saw the Senators work through one of the more bizarre first-quarter schedules in recent memory, with 75% of the games on home ice but 2 that were actually mid-season games played in Sweden - which threw all kinds of chaos into the rhythm of the season, and left some very difficult stretches later in the season. This year’s schedule has a much more regular structure, where 11 of the first 20GP are on home ice, and just 2 of the first 20GP are separated by anything other than 2-3 days. However, they also have BOS/TBL in the first 5GP, all of COL/VGK/NYR in the next 5GP, BOS/TOR in the next 5GP, and then VGK/EDM/VAN in the next 5GP. It’s arguably the toughest quarter of their schedule in terms of quality of opposition, but also gives them a chance to potentially get some early wins against playoff-quality teams who will be far harder to beat later in the season. Regardless, it only adds more pressure on the group to be ready to hit the ground running and playing at their best right out of training camp.
Do you agree with these as the major question marks heading into training camp? Please feel free to comment below, and as always thanks for reading!
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