The Senators have every reason to feel good about a 6-3-0 start. That’s their best opening stretch in a decade, and it has come with a visible shift in how they’re playing under head coach Travis Green. Ottawa has bought into defence in a big way.
But the first nine games have also made something else impossible to ignore: the offence isn’t keeping pace.
Through nine games, the Senators sit 26th in the league at 2.44 goals per game. At 5-on-5, HockeyReference.com says they’ve produced 48 high-danger scoring chances, and they’re only generating 39 percent of the high-danger looks in those minutes compared to their opponents. That leaves them 27th in both of those categories.
The slump has gotten sharper over the last week. Ottawa has managed just four regulation goals in its past three games, and only three of those have come at five-on-five.
There are a few ways a team can play itself into an offensive drought when it leans hard into defence. Skilled players often need instinct, pace and a little bit of risk to create chances.
When the first priority becomes staying safe and staying responsible, that creativity can get squeezed out. Defencemen may pinch less.
Forwards may hesitate. Players can end up thinking instead of reacting.
And if the workload in the defensive zone keeps piling up, there’s less energy left for pushing the pace the other way.
Dylan Cozens fits that conversation neatly. He has only two points in his first nine games.
Cozens drew Selke Trophy votes last season and clearly takes pride in playing the game the right way, but Ottawa also needs more from him than that. The Senators need the player who posted 28 goals and 59 points a year ago.
Some of this could still be a simple adjustment period. Some of it may be about the roster.
There’s no way around the loss of offence that came with the Brady Tkachuk trade. Ottawa tried to make up for that by bringing in William Eklund, but he has already missed five games and is expected to be out another 10 weeks with an ankle injury.
Andre Burakovsky was part of that same effort to patch the scoring, but he hasn’t produced yet. In five games, he has no points and only two shots on goal.
On Saturday night, he logged a season-low 9:14.
The injury situation has only made the offensive problem worse. Ottawa has been without two of its top three defencemen to open the season, and that matters in every part of the game: getting out of the zone, moving the puck north and holding possession at the opposing blue line.
With Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub sidelined, the Senators have been missing two major pieces of their transition game. The pair combined for 84 points last season.
That has placed a heavy burden on Thomas Chabot, who was on pace for the biggest workload of his career. As the new captain, Chabot had started strongly, but Saturday brought a rough turn when he made a pair of costly errors on the Flyers’ tying goal before leaving with an injury of his own.
The power play has also reflected the lack of offensive punch. Ottawa is 28th at 12.8 percent, and the missing presence of Sanderson or Tkachuk has been huge.
Green appears to recognize the issue. He has already made two major line changes over the last two games, trying to spark something.
Much of the forward reshuffling has centered on finding the right winger for Tim Stützle and Drake Batherson. Stephen Halliday got the latest look against the Islanders.
Then in Saturday’s loss, Claude Giroux moved up to the top line, while Halliday dropped to centre Cozens and Burakovsky.
None of this changes the big-picture record. Ottawa is 6-3-0, and nobody around the team is going to complain about that. The Senators haven’t opened a season this well since 2016-17, when they fell one goal short of the Stanley Cup Final.
Still, the warning signs are there. Ottawa has shown it can win by committing to defence, but the offence remains a work in progress, and the injuries and roster changes have left little margin for error. To keep this pace, the Senators may need near-perfect defence and strong goaltending while the scoring catches up.
In Other News...
Senators Loss Suddenly Feels Secondary To A Growing Blue Line Concern
The Senators came away from Philadelphia with a 3-1 loss to the Flyers, but the result quickly took a back seat to a troubling moment on the blue line. Ottawa captain Thomas Chabot did not return for the third period after leaving with an upper-body injury, a development that added another layer of concern to a night already marked by a sputtering team effort and the end of Linus Ullmarks six-game winning streak despite a solid performance.
Travis Green acknowledged the injury after the game, and the timing only sharpened the focus on Ottawas defensive depth. The Senators have already had to lean on 10 defencemen this season, and losing Chabot for any stretch would only make that churn harder to manage as the schedule rolls on. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Lose Another Key Forward As Early Scoring Pressure Builds
Ottawas blue line may be getting a timely boost soon, with Jake Sanderson expected back in the lineup after missing every game since the Senators opener. The club is eyeing Wednesday for his return, a welcome development for a team that has had to manage its minutes and matchups without one of its top young defensemen while trying to stay organized early in the season.
The timing matters even more with the Flyers already missing winger Owen Tippett because of an upper-body injury, which only adds to the pressure on a Philadelphia group looking for offense out of the gate. Sandersons comeback is being monitored closely, and the setting only heightens the interest around it, with Brady Tkachuk also set to be in the building when Ottawa next takes the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Loss Comes With A Bigger Concern On The Blue Line
The Senators went to Philadelphia looking to steady themselves early in the 2026-27 season, but the night ended with more concern than comfort. Ottawa fell 3-1 to the Flyers, who picked up their first win of the year behind a goal and an assist from both Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone, while the Senators blue line took another hit in a game that already had enough problems for the visitors.
What made the loss sting beyond the standings was what happened to captain Thomas Chabot, who left injured and appeared to be dealing with his right arm or wrist area. With another defenseman now sidelined, Ottawas depth on the back end is getting tested quickly, and the larger worry is no longer just one defeat but how long the Senators can keep patching together their defense before it starts to show in a bigger way. [Read more 🡒]