The Ottawa Senators are off to a fairly terrible start. They currently hold a record that has them sitting near the bottom of the NHL standings. If the Senators are going to be competitive, these three players need to play better and be difference makers on this team.
Coming into the weekend the Senators hold a record of 5-9-1 and currently sit two points up on Detroit who is dead last in the standings. The Senators were not going to win more games than they lost this season, pretty much everyone who knew anything about the team understood that before the first puck was dropped on the season.
For the most part, DJ Smith has done a good job of instilling a work-ethic with this team that has them working hard and competing on a nightly basis. The Senators might not win a lot of games, but it definitely won’t be because they didn’t work hard enough. I feel like DJ Smith would have that printed on a t-shirt or a coffee mug or something.
While the team has been on the wrong side of the scoreboard on more nights than not, there have been several bright spots for this team early on in the season. Like I said, on most nights, regardless of the final score, the majority of the team played hard and was competitive. And really, there isn’t much more that we could ask for as fans.
Give us competitive hockey on a nightly basis that is fun and entertaining to watch but that the Senators end up losing and I’ll be more than happy! I’m kidding. Well, kind of kidding. It’s always more fun to watch our team win, but I can also sit there with the understanding that this team desperately needs another high-level young player that would come from another high draft choice this coming June.
Now, notice how I’ve stopped short of saying that every player has played well and competed on a nightly basis. There’s a reason for that. I have outlined three players that I believe need to increase their level of play if the Senators are going to remain competitive throughout the season.
The problem with the Senators this season is they don’t have a very deep level of competitive depth just yet. Yes, there are a lot of players playing in Belleville right now that could, in theory, play on this team. That does not mean that the Senators have good depth. They have good depth potential. These young players have yet to show us what they can do on a regular basis.
Who are the three players you ask? Considering that the depth the Senators have is relatively quite young, the players that are already in Ottawa have to be better. The players that are in Ottawa have to play to a level where they are not forcing management to bring up young players before they are completely ready. So, with that, let’s take a look at the three Senators players that I believe need to be better.