The Ottawa Senators aren’t pretending anymore. After two straight playoff appearances and two straight first-round exits, the standard has shifted from simply getting in to actually doing damage once they’re there.
That’s the conversation around camp now: what comes next, and whether this group can turn progress into something that holds up in the spring. A four-game sweep by the Carolina Hurricanes was not the kind of finish that counts as a step forward, and the Senators know it.
If they’re going to keep climbing, the target is bigger than a return to the postseason. They need to be in the mix near the top of the Atlantic Division and give themselves home-ice advantage.
For that to happen, Ottawa’s core has to keep pushing. Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Dylan Cozens, Ridly Greig, Shane Pinto and Thomas Chabot are all expected to keep moving in the direction they showed last season, with head coach Travis Green and his staff tasked with helping that next layer of growth take hold.
“We need to keep getting better every season, and keep going in the right direction,” Stutzle said on Tuesday. “We’ve always said that we want to trust the process, and I think we’ve done a good job.”
The roster shakeup in Ottawa wasn’t supposed to be dramatic, beyond maybe adding a top-six forward or a right-shot defenceman. Instead, June brought the surprise move: captain Brady Tkachuk, who asked for a change of scenery, was sent to the Florida Panthers for four draft picks. Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, moved fast after that and brought in skilled winger William Eklund from the San Jose Sharks.
“When we first got him, I was really excited about it,” Stutzle said. “He’s a great player, and he’s going to be really good for us.”
Ottawa also added winger Andre Burakovsky from the Chicago Blackhawks, and that move comes with its own pressure point. Burakovsky, 31, is expected to slot into the top six, and the Senators need him to rediscover his scoring touch.
There’s another piece Staios is counting on, too. Ersson has to improve after finishing last season with an .870 save percentage with the Flyers, even though he also went 14-11-5 and posted a .647 winning percentage.
“We think he’ll be good with Linus,” Staios said. “We’re always looking at connecting the dots and building this team the right way and a lot of it has to do with the personality.
In Other News...
Oilers Get An Early Sign Of How Babcock May Change The Room
The offseason chatter around the Senators has already been shaped by what Anaheim did with Chris Kreider, who suddenly became available after being placed on unconditional waivers. For Ottawa, the timing matters because the club has at least some room to maneuver if it wants to make a serious push for help up front, and Kreiders situation has put them in the mix as a team to watch if he decides he wants to play in Canada.
What makes this one interesting is the fit as much as the opening. Ottawa has been waiting for a chance to add a veteran scorer without clogging up its long-term plans, and Kreiders availability gives the front office a different kind of conversation than the usual trade deadline or draft-pick hunt. If he is serious about the idea, the Senators will have to decide how far they want to go, and whether this is the sort of move that can change the look of their room as much as their lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Batherson Extension Talks Just Put Ottawas Next Big Decision In Focus
Drake Bathersons extension conversation has become one of the bigger items hanging over Ottawas offseason, with general manager Steve Staios confirming the Senators and the winger are interested in working toward a long-term deal. The framework matters here, too, because the current NHL collective bargaining rules create a September 15 deadline for signing an eight-year contract, which puts some real urgency around how the sides approach the next few weeks.
Around the league, recent deals for players such as Alex Tuch and Adrian Kempe have already helped shape the conversation, and Bathersons camp has plenty of recent company when it comes to top-end winger contracts. If Ottawa and Batherson find common ground on the type of number being discussed, it would be a significant marker for where the Senators see him in their core, and for how aggressively they want to commit to that core right now. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Prospect Event Just Got A Bigger Ottawa Angle
The Ottawa Senators prospect event has taken on a little more local intrigue, with defenceman Kaleb Dietsch landing a free-agent invitation from the club for the NHL Prospect Challenge. He will be joined by a group that includes drafted prospects such as Spencer Bowes, David Bedkowski, Filip Ekberg and Ondrej Ruml, giving Ottawa a useful first look at a mix of picks and tryout players as the organization opens another round of evaluation.
There is also a familiar name on the other side of the rink, with forward Nic Whitehead earning a free-agent invite from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Senators are scheduled to face both Toronto and the Montreal Canadiens during the event, so Ottawa will get an early chance to measure its young talent against two of its biggest rivals, even if one of the more interesting storylines still sits just beyond the surface. [Read more 🡒]