Ottawa Senators: 3 New Years Resolutions for 2021
While we near the start of one of the more unique seasons in NHL history, the Ottawa Senators also debut a revamped roster
In this article, I will try my best to articulate things that the organization could improve upon heading into this new year, with 2020 in the rearview mirror the Senators rebuild moves on for another year.
2020 wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Senators as it was for the rest of the world, it brought a lot of gifts, including Tim Stuetzle, Jake Sanderson, Matt Murray, Evgenii Dadonov and a clear vision for the franchise. Multiple aspects of the franchise took steps forward in 2020 and now as we head into 2021 there are still some things that could be resolved in the new year.
Senators training camp kicked off yesterday at the Canadian Tire Centre and hockey is officially back!
We
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 31, 2020
Are
Back#Sens pic.twitter.com/BLNaonWC6C
With a totally redesigned format for this upcoming season has the Senators sitting in the North Division alongside the other 6 Canadian teams and with a 56 game regular season and limited fans, the season will be an unprecedented one. Aside from the uniqueness of the upcoming season hockey will still be played and on the ice, nothing changes. The team needs to see significant progress from multiple blue-chip prospects who are poised to make their way to the NHL (yes, I’m looking at you Drake Batherson).
Keep Drake Batherson in the NHL
It’s no secret, Drake Batherson has done everything he could possibly do at the AHL level. Already with 2 seasons with Belleville, Batherson has 116 points in 104 games during that stretch which is incredibly rare for any player fresh out of junior, especially for a 4th round pick.
Making the team out of camp last season, many people doubted Batherson would ever be sent back down, but after 2 very underwhelming games to start the season, the staff had no choice. The talented forward would make his way back to the NHL though at the end of the season and he showed signs of improvement, racking up 10 points in 23 games he proved he belonged in Ottawa.
Batherson 22, will likely get nothing development-wise by playing in the AHL for another season and while the NHL isn’t often referred to as a “developmental league” it may as well be for Batherson. Standing at 6’3″ and nearly 200 pounds, Batherson doesn’t have any physical maturation left, he has all the tools to remain in the NHL.
It’s also not like Ottawa is oozing with talent on the wings either, they have Evgenii Dadonov and Connor Brown on the right side with Batherson but after that, it’s all depth forwards. While on the left side the Senators have Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stuetzle and possibly a player like Alex Galchenyuk who shouldn’t take priority over Batherson.
The Senators struggled with the man advantage last season, finishing last in the entire league and Batherson was a catalyst for Belleville’s powerplay adding 19 points.
Play the Kids!
I’m not advocating that we just unleash the young talent before they’re ready but some prospects are further ahead on their development curve and warrant no more time in the minors.
There are several prospects who are ready to log meaningful minutes at the NHL level as early as this season, players such as the aforementioned Drake Batherson, Logan Brown, Rudolfs Balcers and others who could warrant an extended look such as Alex Formenton and Filip Chlapik. These players should all play over depth veterans like Austin Watson, Cedric Pacquette and Alex Galchenyuk if he doesn’t recapture his form.
One of the more polarizing players on the roster Logan Brown is in a bit of a bind with regards to his standing on the roster. After not exactly a dream start to his NHL career mainly because of injury, he seems to have fallen out of favour with people surrounding the organization but staff and front office have voiced their support for the talented pivot. Brown, like Batherson has nothing left to prove in the AHL, he finished last season with 28 points in 25 games and also scored his first NHL goal during his extended stint in Ottawa. He should be getting top-9 minutes for the team to start the season as he’s shown a capability to handle those minutes at the NHL level.
Another interesting case is Rudolfs Balcers, it seemed as though Balcers had broken into the NHL at the tail-end of the 2018-19 season when he played 36 games and produced a respectable 14 points. Early-season injury struggles left him in the AHL for longer than he desired last season appearing in 33 games, scoring 36 points for Belleville, while he only played in 15 games for Ottawa and just scoring 3 points.
Batherson, Brown and Balcers should all be given every opportunity to make the NHL roster as sticking them in the AHL for another season wouldn’t be wise in terms of their development.
![]Thomas Chabot #72 of the Ottawa Senators (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/shape/cover/sport/772d944b873782b0a5f926ef7cb4fb25891046df6adcb0160b22469ba166c4fe.jpg)
Find Thomas Chabot a Partner
Last year didn’t go as planned for the Senators’ franchise defenceman as he finished the season with just 39 points in 71 games, lower production than many would have predicted. This is hardly Chabot’s fault though, the teams leading scorer Brady Tkachuk finished with just 44 points on the season, goals weren’t exactly coming in bunches.
The majority of Chabot’s struggles can be associated with his primary defensive partner, Nikita Zaitsev. Whenever he is paired with Zaitsev his metrics significantly worsen, Zaitsev drags down Chabot more than any other defenceman on the Senators roster.
400 of Chabot's 1500 minutes are with Zaitsev, who is well below replacement level quality, unlike the third-pair-y Hainsey. These minutes go horrendously for Ottawa despite 14% of these shifts being OZ starts compared to 11% in their own zone. pic.twitter.com/MeJX9ukP6v
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) April 30, 2020
Ottawa ends up spending way more time in their own end and this is extremely counter-productive since Chabot’s strength is in the offensive zone and to get the most out of their best player he shouldn’t be spending most of his time defending.
Look at how different this heat map looks than the one with Zaitsev:
So that leaves 500 minutes of Chabot at 5v5 /not/ with Zaitsev or Hainsey. Those 500 break down as about half DeMelo and half miscellaneous other. They are ..... better for Ottawa. pic.twitter.com/55dVdbUMGs
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) April 30, 2020
Chabot’s expected goals (xG) goes up an insane 34% and he is now a huge threat in the offensive zone and in turn, is much better on defence because the team has to do much less defending when he has a competent partner.
It appears the Senators don’t have an answer as of now as they’ve hinted at Erik Gudbranson sliding in with Chabot which should produce better results than Zaitsev but Gudbranson is hardly an “ideal” option. The Senators should turn to Josh Brown, the new addition in the offseason via trade from Florida has some untapped potential that other in house options such as Gudbranson and Zaitsev don’t have.
A wild-card who could surprise is Artyom Zub, the Russian who was signed in the offseason and Chabot has already endorsed Zub as “impressive” from their pre-camp skates. If the Senators still can’t find a capable partner this season to pair with their star defenceman they will have some looking around to do in the offseason.