Ottawa Senators: Predicting the Opening Day Roster

Right Wing

Drake Batherson, Connor Brown, Egor Sokolov, Austin Watson

The Senators were expected by many to potentially add another player on the right side, now that seems unlikely and the team appears to be content with the group they have now.

Drake Batherson, fresh off signing a six-year, $29.85M contract, will start as the team’s top line right winger and will likely hold that title for the foreseeable future. The Nova Scotia native had 17 goals and 34 points last season and was one of the teams better players on the man advantage.

One of the better stories from last season has to be Connor Brown’s offensive outburst, the fiesty winger finished the season with a career-high 21 goals and 35 points in 56 games including an 8-game goal streak which set a new franchise record. With the tremendous value that Brown offers on the penalty-kill and the fact that he appears to have significantly elevated his offensive game allows him to fit in perfectly as the team’s second-line right wing.

When the Senators decided to deal Evgenii Dadonov this offseason, it opened up a hole on the third-line, and since the team hasn’t added a replacement it appears that they’re sold on an in-house solution, likely 21-year-old, up and coming sniper Egor Sokolov. The Senators 61st overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft quickly burst onto the scene in Belleville, producing 15 goals and 25 points in just 35 games in the AHL, leading the team in goals and points. The Senators brass seems impressed with what they’ve saw from the Russian sniper:

"COVID restrictions, still, but at least the staff and reporters, camera operators, could watch from ice level. Dorion, no doubt energized by his recent contract extension, turned playful: “Who was the best player on the ice?” he asked. Unanimously, if not simultaneously, we answered: “No 75. Sokolov.” (In retrospect we should have answered in unison: “Sharkalov!”) “Absolutely,” Dorion replied, beaming. “And it wasn’t even close.”"

During a recent development camp practice, Pierre Dorion seemed enthused with the play of Sokolov, saying it “wasn’t even close” when comparing his play to the others on the ice, a practice that also included NHL hopefuls Shane Pinto and Jacob Bernard-Docker.

Rounding out the right wingers is tenacious forward Austin Watson who, barring injury, should be playing on the bottom-line for the entire season.