Game 1: Ottawa Senators visit the land of the blue

The NHL regular season officially gets underway this evening and the Ottawa Senators are visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs. After a long wait, and too many months without hockey, Ottawa Senators hockey is back!

Expectations this season for the Ottawa Senators are definitely not high, but as of right now, as of today, the Ottawa Senators have a clean slate. Everything from the last few seasons is behind them. As of right now, the Ottawa Senators are undefeated and there doesn’t appear to be any problems with the roster.

That all changes tonight. So, what can Senators fans expect from the team this evening as they face the Toronto Maple Leafs? DJ Smith and the Ottawa Senators have spent the last few weeks working towards this exact moment. The organization has worked its way to this final roster that we are going to see tonight. There were some interesting decisions, some decisions that I definitely did not see coming.

So, before I jump into the full breakdown of what we can expect this evening, here is the expected lineup for tonight’s game

It is fairly obvious simply by looking at the roster that the Ottawa Senators will be icing for tonight’s game that the Maple Leafs have a lot, and I mean a lot, more skill than the Senators. That is going to be a common recurrence this season, so get used to it. What terrifies me the most about this season is that if this team is going to win they are going to have to play smart and solid defensively. This is going to be interesting to watch considering that the Ottawa Senators were one of the worst teams defensively in each of the past two seasons.

So, can DJ Smith and his coaching staff instill a defensive system that is going to allow the Ottawa Senators to remain competitive night in and night out all while continuing to play a fast-paced exciting game? We will get our first insight into that tonight.

This is going to be a weird game for many people involved and people watching, considering that Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Brown, Ron Hainsey, Tyler Ennis, Cody Ceci, and DJ Smith will all be playing against their former team. As weird as it is for some Sens fans to see Cody Ceci in a blue jersey, it’s going to be a little weird for the group of former Leafs to play as the away team at the Scotiabank Arena.

Fans of the Ottawa Senators are still trying to figure out what these former Leafs are going to bring to the team this season. Zaitsev has been paired with Thomas Chabot since the start of training camp. Zaitsev was the whipping boy in Toronto and needed a change. I’m not expecting him to play like one of the best defencemen in the NHL, but I am expecting him to have a solid season.

From everything that I’ve seen from him, he’s a better defender than Ceci was and he seems to actually be able to make a pass! This strikes me as a pairing that has the potential to become much like the Karlsson/Methot pairing that the Ottawa Senators deployed for multiple seasons. I’m expecting Zaitsev to be Mr. Responsible back there allowing Chabot to do his thing. If he’s smart, he would just give Chabot the puck and allow him to do much of the work exiting the zone.

Hainsey and Brannstrom have also been paired together since the start of camp. I was actually quite surprised that the young Swedish defenceman made the final roster out of training camp, but I can’t deny his obvious puck-handling skill. I thought they would have rather him season in Belleville for much of the season, but they obviously felt that he was ready for NHL duties. We shall see. Hainsey on the other hand, all I’m expecting from him is to be solid defensively and make simple, easy breakout passes. If he can do that, I will be satisfied with the ageing veteran.

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Another group that I will be interested to see tonight, and throughout the season, is the de facto top line. Colin White is entering his second full-time season in the NHL. The young centreman has at times been described as a poor man’s Patrice Bergeron in the making. I believe in that comparison. I love his two-way ability, and he is not afraid to work hard in the offensive zone. I’m expecting him to take another step offensively this season. Then there’s the heart and soul of this team. Brady Tkachuk is entering his second season in the pros and he already appears to be taking off right where he left off last season.

The third and final member of that line is another former Leaf. Connor Brown is coming into what should be his best opportunity to produce offensively in the NHL. He is going to be playing big minutes for DJ Smith and this team, in all aspects of the game. I am expecting Connor Brown to put up 20-25 goals this season. This line just always works. They are always working in the dirty areas of the offensive zone and they really are fun to watch. The gritty, hard-working persona of this line strikes me as the definition of what DJ Smith wants his team to play like. They are going to be asked to lead by example, and that starts tonight.

The final player I will be looking at in tonight’s game is Drake Batherson. The young forward did not have the greatest of camps, but there was a need for a winger so he made the team. If you look at Batherson’s trajectory over the course of his hockey career, he has always been a slow starter. The Ottawa Senators and their fans have high hopes for this player. Batherson is expected to become a top-6 forward for this team over the next few seasons. It won’t make it or break it in game one tonight, but I will be watching his attitude and his play. Can he stick it out for the entire season or will he have to be sent back to Belleville at some point this season? I’m not entirely sure yet.

Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7 pm tonight. You can catch the action on Sportsnet and TSN1200 radio. Oh, another thing to keep in mind for tonight’s game: the Toronto Maple Leafs have lost a lot more games than they have won against the Ottawa Senators since hiring Mike Babcock as their head coach. SO I’M SAYING THERE’S A CHANCE FOR A OTTAWA SENATORS WIN TONIGHT!