The Ottawa Senators have the kind of talent that makes people sit up and pay attention. Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson are the sort of cornerstone pieces most NHL teams would love to build around, and the rest of the roster gives Ottawa real support behind them.
But there’s a catch, and it’s a big one: the Senators have to steer clear of the mushy middle.
That’s the danger zone for good teams that can never quite become great teams. They’re strong enough to make the playoffs, but when the real pressure arrives, they can’t get through the first round. They look like contenders in the regular season, then run into the same wall when the games matter most.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are the clearest warning sign. They once had a core that looked loaded, with a 60-goal scorer, one of the NHL’s best playmakers and a young blueline that rolled through the artificially-created Canadian Division during the COVID pandemic. And for all that promise, the result was simple: Nada.
That’s the danger Ottawa has to avoid. Being a strong regular-season team is not enough if it ends with a quick playoff exit. The price of getting stuck there is too high.
The good news is that building a real contender starts with the right draft hits, and Ottawa already landed two of them in 2020 when it selected Stutzle and Sanderson in the first round. Teams in rebuilds can find that kind of foundation by picking high enough, even if there are busts along the way.
From there, the formula gets tougher but clearer: those cornerstone players need the right support around them. The best teams are built on role players who understand exactly what they’re there to do and embrace it.
That was one of the big lessons from last season’s Carolina Hurricanes. Coach Rod Brind’Amour gave his group a vision where every player had a job, and every job mattered. No role was treated as smaller than another, because the whole system breaks if one part fails.
That’s the mindset Ottawa needs to adopt. If Travis Green can get that same level of buy-in, the Senators could look very different by next spring. Instead of a team that gets swept in the first round, they could be the kind of group built on a real championship ethic.
In Other News...
Senators Face A Painful Drake Batherson Decision As Deadline Nears
The Senators are trying to get ahead of a delicate contract situation with Drake Batherson, whose future has become one of the more important questions on their summer to-do list. Ottawa wants to keep the winger as part of its core and has been working on a long-term extension, a reflection of how much value the club places on his play and stability in the lineup.
The backdrop makes the urgency even sharper for Canadian teams, with a growing trend of American players asking out and other clubs, like Montreal, weighing their own roster and trade decisions carefully. For Ottawa, the Batherson talks are not just about keeping a useful forward in place. They are also about avoiding a situation where the club is forced to consider a trade path if the sides cannot find common ground in time. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Forward Depth Could Get Tested Fast Next Season
The Senators forward depth could be one of the more interesting early-season storylines if Ottawa comes out of the gate slowly next year. Andre Burakovsky and Warren Foegele both arrived with clear expectations attached, and their fits in the lineup may be judged quickly if the offense sputters and the club needs a jolt.
Burakovskys future in particular appears tied to whether he can deliver enough scoring to justify his spot, while Foegeles value will be measured in much the same way. If those contributions do not come, Ottawa could explore moving either veteran, though both players have limited no-trade clauses that would shape the process and add another layer to a decision the Senators may not want to make in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Core Is Running Out Of Time To Prove Itself
The Senators are heading into another season with a core group that has now been together for seven years, a stretch long enough to demand something more than promise. Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Shane Pinto and Thomas Chabot have grown up together in Ottawa, and the front office has already shown it wants some continuity by bringing Claude Giroux back on a one-year contract.
What makes this moment feel more urgent is that the organization is still sorting out what comes next around that core. Batherson is entering the final year of his deal, so his future has become an obvious focal point as the Senators try to keep their main pieces aligned for a push. Off the ice, there is also the longer-running question of the proposed downtown arena, with the club saying fans should get an update in the new year. [Read more 🡒]