The Ottawa Senators enter the 2026-27 season with three big questions hanging over them, and none of them are small ones.
The first is the one that will get the loudest reaction when the schedule turns to Oct. 21, when Brady Tkachuk comes back to Canadian Tire Centre for the first time as a member of the Florida Panthers. Ottawa dealt its former captain to Florida on June 21, and he’ll be reunited there with his brother, Matthew, after asking to be moved. Tkachuk had said on multiple occasions that he did not want to leave, which has only sharpened the frustration in the Canadian capital.
That return, though, arrives early enough that the Senators can eventually get past the noise. By the end of October, the circus around that night should be finished, and Ottawa can shift its focus to the rest of the season.
Someone has to absorb what Tkachuk leaves behind, especially in the leadership department. Veteran forward Claude Giroux and defenseman Thomas Chabot are the obvious names to take on more of that load.
The scoring piece is harder to replace. Tkachuk has scored at least 20 goals in seven of his eight NHL seasons, so the offense will need to come from a group effort rather than a single replacement.
Dylan Cozens, who scored 28 goals last season, Drake Batherson, who had 33, Shane Pinto, who finished with 23, and newcomer William Eklund, with 50 goals in 252 career NHL games, all need to keep climbing.
The other major issue sits in goal, where Ottawa is trying to bring some order to a position that has been too volatile for too long. The Senators hired Maciej Szwoch, a friend and mentor of Linus Ullmark, as coordinator of goaltending scouting and development. The move was aimed at raising the standard across the organization, not just helping the NHL club.
Szwoch first worked with Ullmark when the goalie took a sudden 35-day leave of absence for personal reasons last January. After struggling in the first half of the season, Ullmark’s play picked up late, and his 12-4-3 record with a .902 save percentage and 2.51 GAA after the regular season resumed Feb. 26 following the Olympic break showed that improvement.
Even so, the Senators still finished near the bottom of the League as a team with an .870 save percentage and 2.96 goals-against average. Ottawa is banking on a steadier Ullmark and the addition of former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson as backup to settle things down.
Then there’s the bigger-picture challenge: getting past the first round. Ottawa snapped a seven-year Stanley Cup Playoff drought by making the postseason in 2025, but the run ended in six games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They got back in last season, only to be swept in four games by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
Trying to make the playoffs three years in a row is hard enough. Winning a round in the Atlantic Division looks even tougher.
The Panthers added Tkachuk. The Tampa Bay Lightning brought in defenseman John Carlson.
The Toronto Maple Leafs welcomed goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, defenseman Darren Raddysh, forward Nick Paul and No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna. The Montreal Canadiens are coming off an Eastern Conference Final appearance.
The Buffalo Sabres are trying to build on their first playoff berth in 15 years.
That’s the landscape Ottawa is walking into.
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 🡒]