Travis Green isn’t in a hurry to put a new “C” on a Senators sweater, and he made that plain on Wednesday.
At his pre-camp press conference, the Ottawa head coach said the team is still working through its captaincy situation and doesn’t feel pressured to settle it right away.
"We want to see our team together again... it's not something that we need to rush into, but it's definitely something that we're talking about and and we'll let you know when when we know."
That leaves Ottawa with time to sort through a group of possible leaders, and there are obvious names in the mix. Defensemen Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot stand out as the clearest candidates, but there’s no real reason for the Senators to force a decision before they’re ready.
If the club settles on a captain by the end of camp, that works. If it doesn’t, the team can still move through a full season without naming one. The important part is avoiding a choice made just for the sake of making one.
If Ottawa did decide to move now, Chabot would be a perfectly reasonable pick.
Another wrinkle in the conversation has been citizenship, with some wondering whether it should matter if the next captain is American, Canadian or something else entirely.
That topic has picked up more attention because of the number of American-born players asking out of Canadian teams. Brady Tkachuk was one of them, and Connor Hellebuyck is another. In Winnipeg, the situation has become severe enough that Hellebuyck has not even reported to camp.
If nationality were to become part of Ottawa’s decision, it would rule out someone like Sanderson. But Green didn’t sound interested in going down that road. Asked directly about it, he answered, “No.”
That’s the right stance. A player shouldn’t be judged through the lens of what a previous teammate or former captain did. Tkachuk’s exit was his own decision, not some broader statement about Ottawa as a place to play.
So while the Senators may still end up naming a captain during the season, they’re right to be deliberate about it. The worst outcome would be a rushed call that feels like it was made off the cuff.
In Other News...
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Coach Travis Green and Ottawas goalie staff have shown real confidence in Erssons ability, pointing to the way he finished the previous season as a reminder that the talent is still there. The bigger question now is how he handles the wear and tear that has followed him in recent years, and whether his game can settle into the Senators defensive system well enough to turn that optimism into something lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Prospect Faces An Unexpected AHL Path Twist
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A recent NHL-CHL agreement change has created a different lane for some players, though, and Novotnys situation is not the standard one. Because he was under contract in Czechia and only on loan to Peterborough, he may fit an exemption that keeps him out of the old junior-return rules and puts the AHL into the conversation this season, adding another layer to what was already a closely watched first-year development track. [Read more 🡒]