Why Haven’t the Ottawa Senators Made any Progress?

Pierre Dorion Makes the Worst Trade of Deadline, Continues to Stunt Team’s Progress

The front office (and obviously ownership) of the Ottawa Senators continue to be the downfall of the organization, continued poor pro-talent evaluations, cheap ownership, and an unwillingness to learn with the times have firmly put them as the laughingstock of the league, and for proper reason. The current mindset for the team is to become “hard to play against” which the team takes way too seriously, targeting players who are usually praised for their toughness when in reality the grand majority of them instill zero fear into their opponents.

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There has been an inconceivable infatuation with veteran depth defenceman who the team coins as “top-four” defenceman and veteran forwards who continue to show they can’t keep up in today’s NHL. There has been a significant uptick in this process by Senators management over the last couple of years, started in the fall of 2020, the team wasted assets acquiring these players:

• Josh Brown (2020 4th Rd Pick)
• Erik Gudbranson (2021 5th Rd Pick)
• Austin Watson (2021 4th Rd Pick)
• Derek Stepan (2021 2nd Rd Pick)
• Braydon Coburn
• Cedric Paquette
• Zach Sanford (Logan Brown trade)
• Travis Hamonic (2022 3rd Rd Pick)

The team has also acquired Mike Reilly during the 2020 season in return for Andrew Sturtz and a 5th Round Pick, this trade ended up being a rare win for Dorion & Co, as they later ended up flipping Reilly for a 3rd Round Pick. Others like Dylan Gambrell, Mike Amadio, and Ryan Dzingel were acquired for minimal assets, and not much was expected of them. There’s a sense (lol) the Senators have a type, over their last 11 acquisitions, the most skilled player they’ve acquired has been Zach Sanford. If this trend continues, the Senators are going to go nowhere, and there will be no unparalleled success.

Potential Trades Since 2020

October 10th, 2020

Andreas Johnsson – New Jersey

Acquired from TOR in exchange for Joey Anderson 

The Senators had the perfect chance to pounce on the Leafs need for cap relief and jump on a young exciting player to boot, if the team didn’t entertain the possibility of acquiring Johnsson, it should be one they regret. At the time Johnsson was a 25-year-old with a 20-goal season already under his belt, he scored 20 goals and 43 points with Toronto during the 2018-19 season. The advanced stats also supported the acquisition at the time:

Now Johnsson is producing at over a 0.5 point-per-game pace with 29 points in 57 games and has been one of the reasons why New Jersey has jumped ahead of Ottawa in their stage of the rebuild.

October 12th, 2020

Devon Toews – Colorado

Acquired from the NYI in exchange for two 2nd round picks (2021, 2022)

I know this one is a little crazy, but there was a point in time when Toews was available on the market at a reasonable price, and smart general managers such as Colorado’s Joe Sakic jumped at the opportunity. Toews produced 28 points in 68 games with the Islanders during the 2019-20 season, but due to cap constraints he would be forced out of Long Island, and now with only conceding two second-round picks, the Avalanche have two of the leagues best defencemen. His results since making the move to Colorado have been outstanding:

Instead, the Senators decided to use their 2021 second-round pick on a declining Derek Stepan, which everyone in the hockey community could have told you was a bad move.

April 11th, 2021

Jonas Siegenthaler – NJ

Acquired from WSH for a 2021 3rd Round Pick

Siegenthaler is still a young defenceman at just 24-years-old but has produced super numbers with New Jersey this season, and had also shown an affinity for doing so in previous seasons. While Siegenthaler won’t wow you with his offensive ability, his 27 points in 167 games won’t catch the eye of the casual fan, but the work that the steady defenceman does at the defensive end has been eye-opening, something the Senators probably would have been wise to look into.

At the time Siegenthaler was viewed as a high-upside pickup that had produced great results in a bottom-pairing role for the Capitals, his defensive acumen was starting to become well-known, but we know the Ottawa Senators didn’t know that, because of analytics.

All it took was a third-round pick from the Devils to acquire the promising young defenceman, and now the team is reaping the rewards, as he’s now blossomed into one of the better young defenders in the NHL.

Other Possible Trades

• Travis Dermott to Van/3rd in 2022 to TOR
• Viktor Arvidsson to LA/2nd in 2021, 3rd in 2022 to NSH
• Brandon Montour to FLA/3rd in 2021 to BUF
• Mason Appleton to WPG/4th in 2023 to SEA
• Johan Larsson to WSH/3rd in 2023 to ARZ

Why Aren’t the Senators Targeting Skill or Good Hockey Players?

Okay, maybe the statement above is maybe a bit of an overreaction, but if you refer to Pierre Dorion and D.J. Smith’s track record in acquiring players that fit into their team ideology of “playing hard” and “being tough to play against”. If the Senators went after any of the three effective moves presented above, this team is miles better right now, for a team that has an internal budget, these moves are crucial to team success.

The mindset of the team seems to be stuck in the 1990s, they’re targeting physicality over skill, mobility, and just overall effectiveness while other teams are actively improving with every move, the Senators will continue to lag behind if they don’t change.