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Ottawa Senators: The Purpose Of The Pre-Season

By Alexander O'Reilly

OTTAWA, ON - MAY 23: Head coach Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators looks on against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on May 23, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Ottawa Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - MAY 23: Head coach Guy Boucher of the Ottawa Senators looks on against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on May 23, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Ottawa Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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Pre-season is an interesting and exciting time in the NHL. Hockey is finally back, but not in it’s entirety. The purpose of the pre-season is different for each team. However, for the Ottawa Senators it’s a time to see what the prospects can do.

Pre-season is not a particularly important part of the season. The games don’t count for anything and rosters are often unbalanced due to more prospects playing. However, this isn’t to say it doesn’t have value, it just means the results for the Ottawa Senators have to be taken with a grain of salt.

Prospect Evaluaton

For the Ottawa Senators the pre-season has been used to evaluate all of the invited prospects. However, it’s mostly been used to look at the big three, Chabot, White, and Brown. It’s the perfect time for each of these players to prove themselves and make the NHL roster.

Season Warmup

It’s also a time for the definitive NHL players to shake off the rust in their systems. The pre-season can serve as a warmup leading up to the season. Coming out of the offseason many players would struggle to find form early on if it weren’t for the pre-season.

Importance Of Results

Despite this being a time for evaluation, the best way to do it isn’t by looking at results. Often time’s results can be misleading in the pre-season. There are times when the worst teams in the league go undefeated in the pre-season. This is because they have deep prospect pools and therefore outperform the teams with more established NHL talent that sits out most games.

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A win in any given game is nice for the Ottawa Senators, but it isn’t the most important thing. In the same sense a loss should not be looked at as this terrible thing. The most important thing is the individual evaluations of each player. As long as the coaching staff can make educated decisions on how their roster should look then it’s a successful pre-season.

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