Ottawa Senators: The Potential Opening Night Roster

The off-season is a gruelling time for hockey fans. It can be long and boring especially once the excitement of free agency dies down. However, now there are just 65 days until the season starts. What better time than to take a look at what the Ottawa Senators opening night lineup could look like.

There is a lot of room for change leading into the season. After all Dorion has said that he’s still looking to add at forward. The team could have a variety of different players and could have traded some expected starters. Despite this, let’s take a look at the potential lineup anyway. Assuming everyone is healthy, this is what I think the Ottawa Senators lineup could look like on opening night.

Forward

Let’s look at the forwards first. The first line should have Turris at center with Hoffman and Stone on the wings. These three are by far the Sens’ best forwards and seem to play very well together. The second line is less obvious but still fairly easy to place should everyone be healthy. Brassard would center the line with MacArthur and Ryan on the wings. This is a great second line, especially if Ryan can maintain is playoff form. However, Brassard and MacArthur are both questionable due to injuries. The third line will be unquestionably centered by Pageau. He will have Smith on the wing and probably Pyatt. Pyatt may fit better on the fourth line but Boucher loves him so he’ll probably get more ice time. The fourth line will have Thompson centering it with Burrows on the wing. Dzingel and White will split time on the other wing.

Defence

Defence is much more complicated than forward. The right side is fairly certain as Karlsson, Ceci, and Wideman are the only right-handed defencemen. However, the left is more up in the air. Oduya could slot in with Karlsson on the first pairing. He’s a natural replacement for Methot and plays a similar style of game. Phaneuf is the only certainty as he’ll play on Ceci’s left side on the second pairing. The third pairing I believe will have Chabot on the left side. Claesson would then be carried as the seventh defenceman.

Goal

In terms of goalies it’s fairly straight forward. Anderson will be the starter unless he takes a major step back or is injured. Condon will be the backup and will probably play around 30 games.

Next: Ottawa Senators: More Value In The Brassard Zibanejad Trade

The Lineup

The Ottawa Senators lineup should look like this:

Hoffman Turris Stone

MacArthur Brassard Ryan

Smith Pageau Pyatt

Burrows Thompson White/Dzingel

Oduya Karlsson

Phaneuf Ceci

Chabot/Claesson Wideman

Anderson

Condon