Ottawa Senators Season Preview: Goalies
Starter: Matt Murray
The Senators’ biggest acquisition of the offseason and their prized starter will undoubtedly appear in the teams opening night game versus Toronto on January 15th.
Despite being just 26-years-old, Murray has a wealth of experience and has appeared in 170 more regular-season games than all of the other Senators goalies combined. On top of his regular-season experience, the two cups that Murray has one with Pittsburgh and he knows what it takes to play at the highest level, something he can pass on to an inexperienced squad.
A goalie Murray’s calibre doesn’t just get traded for no reason, while there may be more to what meets the eye, Murray posted the worst numbers of his 5-year NHL career. His 0.899 SV% ranked 6th last among qualified goaltenders and his 2.87 GAA wasn’t inspiring either. Murray’s poor play would catch up with him and he would lose his starting gig to a hot Tristan Jarry who never relinquished the net. This would be a start of things to come for Murray in Pittsburgh, eventually leading to his trade.
Here’s a clip of Murray making a spectacular save in training camp:
Good morning from Matt Murray #Sens pic.twitter.com/sQbphTINHo
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 6, 2021
In three out of five years in Pittsburgh, Murray owned a Save Percentage of 0.919 or better, the last time the Senators have had a goalie meet that mark was Craig Anderson in the 2016-17 season, they have been in need of a bonafide starter.
If Murray can return to form, he could easily raise his save percentage to 0.910 or greater, I won’t get too confident and pose an above 0.919 mark since the rebuilding Senators will likely yield a significant of chances.
2020-21 Prediction: 39GP 12-22-5 0.910 SV% 2.80 GAA
Backup: Marcus Hogberg
Marcus Hogberg finally became an NHL goalie during last season and despite his record, his play warranted otherwise. His 0.904 SV% behind the Senators’ porous defence should be appreciated, especially for a rookie.
Wild Marcus Hogberg stat from last season...
— Locked On Senators (@SensCentral) January 7, 2021
In January, he allowed 17 goals on 225 shots (.924 SV%) in 7GP...pretty good, right?!
That earned him a 1-1-4 record!!! #Sens pic.twitter.com/JtSIdljqYX
Luck was also not on Hogberg’s side as he boasted a record of 5-8-8, including some heartbreakers in overtime despite his best efforts, seen here.
He’s one for the highlight reels and didn’t look out of place in his maximized role after Anders Nilsson was lost for the season.
There still remains some question to how much work Hogberg will get now that Ottawa gained Murray, but with the condensed schedule, the range of 20+ games wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. Already announced as the backup, it’s guaranteed that Hogberg will see his fair share of playing time and we will know much more about his future in Ottawa.
At 6’5″, Hogberg holds a lot of potential and could become the Senators future starter somewhere down the road for a variety of reasons.
2020-21 Prediction:14 GP 5-7-2 0.912 SV% 2.74 GAA
AHL Starter: Joey Daccord
The full-time starter in Belleville last season following his ECHL demotion to start the season enjoyed a stellar season, outpacing all other goalies in Belleville with a 0.915 SV% and a 2.61 GAA, no other goalie on the team had over a 0.897 SV%, posting a 15-6-3 record to boot.
Daccord clearly takes position as the third on the depth chart as he’s surely ahead of Filip Gustavsson and Kevin Mandolese.
It’s pretty certain that Daccord will at least appear in a few games in the NHL due to injury, rest or Covid concerns. Daccord will be the top goalie on the taxi squad and will likely remain on it before the AHL’s February 5th start date at the minimum.
2020-21 3 NHL Games
AHL Backup: Filip Gustavsson
A rough start to his first two full seasons in the organization never posting a 0.890 SV%, concern was necessary as his play didn’t warrant any confidence.
Admittingly struggling through his first two full seasons in the organization, if Gustavsson is to break out this would be the year and he appeared on that path on Loan to Sodertalje SK. Posting an 11-7-0 record along with strong numbers (0.919 SV%, 2.30 GAA). With all of the problems created by Covid-19, Gustavsson will see his fair share of ice.
2020-21 Prediction AHL/Taxi Squad
AHL Fringe/ECHL: Kevin Mandolese
The 2020 QMJHL Goalie of The Year comes in likely as the 3rd string for Belleville and the starter for Brampton of the ECHL.
Mandolese could also occupy a spot on the taxi squad for a fair amount of the season as Ottawa would rather put him there over the AHL tandem of Daccord/Gustavsson
2020-21 Prediction: Fringe AHL/ECHL Starter