Who’s The 2021 Ottawa Senators No.1 Centre?

Ottawa has plenty of options at the top of their centre position

The leaves started to fall, the snow is now following suit and here we are in the midst of the offseason, asking ourselves who the heck Ottawa‘s #1 centre will be for the upcoming campaign.

Generally speaking, at this time we’d be recapping the first month that was in the NHL and discussing the progress of the young Senators. Instead, we’re donning our winter jackets and still discussing hypothetical offseason transactions that the Senators could be involved in, hooray for 2020!

It seems the well is running dry in terms of topics to discuss post NHL draft and thus, my friend Shane and I were making our predictions for line combinations for the Sens season ahead during his podcast, Sens Hour. Check it out, if you haven’t already.

https://twitter.com/Sens_Hour/status/1319280468500512771?s=20

Artem Anisimov

He said something “that got the wheels turning” as they say, suggesting that perhaps head coach, DJ Smith will try Artem Anisimov as the no.1 centre between the two obvious wingers, Brady Tkachuk and Evgenii Dadonov. Interesting.

That got me thinking, it’s definitely a real possibility. If you haven’t heard already, Anisimov actually had a huge hand in acquiring star right-winger and fellow Russian, Dadonov. The two have also trained together in past offseasons and could have some chemistry with one another on the ice. The 32-year-old veteran has played in top roles before and is one of the few experienced players on the roster. With just over 13 minutes of ice time last year, Anisimov was able to produce 15 goals and 5 assists, some would say making the most of his opportunities. Some inconsistencies and an upper-body injury that sidelined Anisimov for 22 games last year, made him more of a depth player but it’s not a stretch to believe that upon return Anisimov could play a more prominent role on this roster in 2021. Makes sense!

Colin White

As does Colin White. A prime candidate to take over as the no.1 centre, Colin White, who is already locked up long-term, as a core member of the team and is seeking a rebound season from last year. White has played with Tkachuk before and has an advantage over some of the other potential candidates for this role.

He’s already shown an ability to score and White is considered a 200 ft player. Coming off of some hip issues that may have contributed to an underwhelming 2019-20 season (23 points). White will be eager to silence some of the critics and return to his rookie year form, where he posted an impressive 41 points while playing largely with Ottawa’s best player at the time, Mark Stone (credit where credit is due). While it’s still hard to say Mark Stone’s name, hopefully, this year, Colin White can make a name for himself and establish some staying power at the top of Ottawa’s rising young stars list.

Tim Stuetzle

Literally the player Ottawa just drafted to fill their most glaring hole upfront, why not add the flashy young winger/centre to the list of potential candidates. Stuetzle has been proving people wrong for as long as he could breathe, okay that’s an overstatement but Timmy could be very capable of filling this void immediately. His skills are beyond what any of these other centre’s can even dream of providing offensively and who’s to say he doesn’t step into camp and immediately start spinning heads, much like he did as a centre at the World Junior’s for Germany this past December.

Perhaps he outgrows the left-wing position immediately, or a player like Brady Tkachuk watches him in camp and demands a spot on his line. Truly the one player on this list that has game-breaking capability and instantly makes those around him that much better from an offensive perspective. Ultimately, the 2021 season is about growth and development for Ottawa, why not grow your superstars together?

Josh Norris

Speaking of the American Hockey League, how about “Brady’s bestie,” rookie of the year, Josh Norris. Acquired in the now one-sided, Erik Karlsson trade, at just 20 years of age, Norris posted an incredible 61 points in 56 games played last year for Belleville. The now 21-year old could make the NHL the very next season and could become the no.2 centre to round out Ottawa’s young, skilled top 6 of the future. Could Norris get the first opportunity to be Ottawa’s no.1 centre this year? Sens GM Pierre Dorion is certainly expecting Norris to amount to something special.

“For us Josh Norris just became a man amongst boys at the American League level, for a 20 year old to win rookie of the year says something about where we feel he will end up for us. He’s someone that plays the game at an extremely high pace, his skating, his puck execution, his shooting ability. He’s someone who’s got offensive flare but does everything the right way, he comes from a real hockey family and we know that we have a future star in Josh Norris.”

With an overall ability, Norris could absolutely be a prime candidate for this role once training camp is upon us.

Chris Tierney

As I’m typing this piece, the Ottawa Senators agree to terms with Tierney, avoiding arbitration and settling on a two-year deal. Is this fate? Maybe.

Tierney is certainly not as flashy, or gifted offensively as some of the other available options but make no mistake, he’s equally or perhaps more effective and certainly more experienced than most options. With 48 points in 2018-19, followed by 37 points in 19-20, Tierney is by far the most NHL established point producer on this list. The problem is that Tierney lacks the flash and overall ability to break a game open in its most critical moments. His production is somewhat surprising because when you look at the sheer number of points at a glance, it seems like a very good season but remembering notable moments seems quite foggy at least from my perspective. That being said, he’s one of the most subtle, effective, 2-way players that Ottawa has in their system and there’s no reason that he’s not at least a viable option to play this role.

So there you have it, 6 different players and yet you can make a case for each one of them as easily as you can make a case for none of them playing as Ottawa’s no.1 centre this year. In the case of the younger players, they’re simply too young to play the most difficult position outside of goalie in the National Hockey League and with the veteran options, there’s really nothing to write home about outside of being good placeholders. Ottawa’s offseason is not over and while free agency remains an option to make an addition to the centre position, none of those available names really stand out as a dramatic improvement over the 6 names in contention internally. To me, either Ottawa gives some dispersed opportunity to each of these players or they look to make an instant improvement via trade. Time will tell.