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What lessons the Sens can learn from the semifinalists

By Jack Baines

Feb 18, 2019; Chicago, IL, USA; Ottawa Senators right wing Mark Stone (61) celebrates with left wing Brady Tkachuk (7) after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 18, 2019; Chicago, IL, USA; Ottawa Senators right wing Mark Stone (61) celebrates with left wing Brady Tkachuk (7) after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield (22) celebrates his goal against Vegas Golden Knights with teammates right wing Tyler Toffoli (73) and center Nick Suzuki (14) Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield (22) celebrates his goal against Vegas Golden Knights with teammates right wing Tyler Toffoli (73) and center Nick Suzuki (14) Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports /

Montreal Canadiens

The lesson: Make a move

(Statler and Waldorf voice): Yeah! A move to the Canadian Division! DOH-HO-HO-HO!

Ok yes, there’s a strong case to be made that Montreal’s success has more to do with the fact that they came through a laughably weak division coupled with hockey’s inherent randomness than anything else, but I do think there’s something the league could take away from their season.

Last season, Montreal snuck into the expanded post-season despite having, and I cannot stress enough how true this is, more losses than the Buffalo Sabres. At the time, I made the case that Montreal was in a slightly better position than Ottawa both now and in the future and everyone took that really well.

So what did the Canadiens do between then and now? They added Tyler Toffoli, Joel Edmundson, Corey Perry, and Jake Allen in the off-season then added Eric Staal at the trade deadline. While with the notable exception of Toffoli, none of these players have had major impacts this season, they’ve been a strong complement to the existing core and the emerging stars in Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.

Pierre Dorion was also busy this off-season, but with less success. Evgenii Dadonov hasn’t yet had the impact the team had hoped, and the only player acquired via trade this off-season who had anything close to a positive impact was Austin Watson. Artem Zub has been a fantastic story, but even he can’t singlehandedly transform the Sens into a contender.

At the risk of being homerish, there’s no reason the Ottawa Senators can’t make a deep playoff run next season if they make the right moves. As we saw this season, the wrong moves could be disastrous and run the younger players off the team and eventually out of town. But looking at Montreal, and also Florida, who turned into a team that could hang with the best of them off the additions of Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony Duclair, and Patric Hornqvist, and you can clearly see the impact a few small additions could have.

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