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3 spooky scenarios to send chills down Sens fans spines this Halloween

By Jack Baines

OTTAWA - OCTOBER 8: Ottawa Senators team owner Eugene Melnyk attends an event before the home opener against the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Place on October 8, 2009 in Ottawa, Canada. The Ottawa Senators defeated the New York Islanders 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)
OTTAWA - OCTOBER 8: Ottawa Senators team owner Eugene Melnyk attends an event before the home opener against the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Place on October 8, 2009 in Ottawa, Canada. The Ottawa Senators defeated the New York Islanders 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images) /
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Drake Batherson #19, Ottawa Senators  (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
Drake Batherson #19, Ottawa Senators  (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images) /

Where are the other stars?

Brady Tkachuk looks destined to be a star player, and perhaps even a superstar. Thomas Chabot looks like he belongs in that category too. Beyond those two though, there are a lot of question marks surrounding the team’s prospects.

In his rankings of the organization’s young talent (under 23), The Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranked Ottawa 3rd, behind only the Rangers and Devils and up from 7th place before the draft. Before the draft, Tkachuk was the only player Pronman categorized as “elite” (Chabot is one year too old for the list) and in his 2020 Draft Rankings he categorized Tim Stuetzle as borderline elite.

SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY – OCTOBER 06: With the third pick of the 2020 NHL Draft, Tim Stuetzle of Mannheim of Germany is selected by the Ottawa Senators at the NHL Network Studio on October 06, 2020 in Secaucus, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY – OCTOBER 06: With the third pick of the 2020 NHL Draft, Tim Stuetzle of Mannheim of Germany is selected by the Ottawa Senators at the NHL Network Studio on October 06, 2020 in Secaucus, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

Pronman is obviously still very high on Ottawa’s farm talent, as evident by their ranking across the league, but Josh Norris, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, Erik Brannstrom and others all seem to fall short of potential star players.

The Sens are still loaded with talent, but looking at the system and there aren’t many players who project to be making regular all-star appearances. It’s always possible, maybe even likely, that one of more of them exceed expectations and become high-impact players, but for the time being, the Sens probably need a bit more upper-echelon talent before they can truly be considered among the league’s best.

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