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Ottawa Senators Must Improve Special Teams Next Season

By Ian Smith |
Apr 2, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) skates with the puck during the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 2, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) skates with the puck during the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Ottawa Senators are a team that is seemingly overflowing with talented players. Their underachievement last season was alarming, and due in large part to their terrible play on special teams.

Both the power play and penalty kill were severely lacking for the team. The league average power play conversion percentage was 18.66, and the Senators scored only 15.90% of the time on the man advantage.

Their penalty killing unit was equally ineffective. The league average for killing off penalties was 81.34%, and the Senators were only able to withstand an opponent’s power play 75.89% of the time.

The Senators ranked just 26th in the league in power play percentage. They only ranked 23rd in the league in power play opportunities, limiting the amount of times that the unit was able to develop any type of consistency.

Mike Hoffman accounted for 9 of their 38 power play goals during the season, and was tied for 25th in the league in that category.

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The next highest total on the Senators was Bobby Ryan’s 6 power play goals, and Ryan was also able to register 10 power play assists.

Erik Karlsson served as the playmaker on the man advantage, dishing out 25 power play assists, which ranked 2nd in the NHL.

Karlsson assisted on about 66% of the Senators’ power play goals last season. Nicklas Backstrom topped him in total power play assists with 27, but Backstrom only assisted on 49% of the Capitals’ power play goals.

Relative to the rest of the league, the Senators fared even worse on the penalty kill. They ranked 29th in the league in penalty killing percentage. They also ranked 19th in the league in amount of times shorthanded, and tied for 2nd in most power play goals given up.

They were prone to being penalized far too often to overcome their poor penalty killing unit. They need to also improve their restraint to not commit penalties.

Interestingly enough, they far outpaced the league in shorthanded goals. They netted 17 as a team, while the 2nd place finisher only had 11.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau lead the league with 7, and Zack Smith finished right behind him with 5. Those two Senators players combined had more shorthanded goals than any other team.

Pageau himself had more than 22 teams, and Smith himself had as much or more than 14 teams.

Impressive performance by those two aside, the Senators need to fortify the penalty killing unit. The Chris Kelly acquisition should help in that regard.

Next: Ottawa Senators Got Unexpected Season from Zack Smith Last Year

If the Senators want to improve their win total next season, they best look to improve their dreadful special teams.

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