After their lopsided win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Ottawa Senators have their best winning percentage since their crazy thrill ride to the Eastern Conference finals in 2017. Erik Karlsson led that charge. Well, that playoff run might feel like it was in another lifetime, but this Sens team is going to have their best season since then. Let’s take a look at why.
Pierre Dorion acquired two top players in the offseason: Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat The team has also seen huge growth in their young stars: rookie sensation Jake Sanderson and Tim Stützle. Stützle has become well over a point-per game-player and is on pace to end the season with the most points by a Senators’ player since Jason Spezza in 2007-08. Arguably the Senators’ final step toward playoff contention came with the blockbuster acquisition of Jake Chychrun at the trade deadline. The Sens have only been 5-6-1 with Chychrun in the lineup, but they have been playing some of the best teams in the league and he should help the blueline immensely going forward.
First, their special teams have been very good. If the season ended today, they would have the best power play in the team’s history at 24.2 %. As well, their penalty kill is currently 7th in the league at 82.3%.
Second, they have a plethora of scorers. There are already five 20-goal scorers on the team and Shane Pinto just needs two more to join that club. If he does, it would be the first time since the 2005-06 season that the Senators have had six 20-goal scorers. This team ranks a respectable 18th in goals per game. That’s on track to be the highest the Senators have been ranked since the 2015-16 team when they were 9th.
Third, the Senators’ much-maligned defense has looked quite different since the acquisition of Jakob Chychrun. They are currently tied for 18th in goals allowed which would be by far their best defensive season in terms since 2017. Despite the dispiriting parade of different goaltenders, their save percentage is .899%, which is the league average at the 17th spot.
Look at all these indicators together and the best you can say is that the Senators are a middling team. But they show so much promise. Other than Claude Giroux, all of their core will be 26 or younger going into next season. The team heads into next year with roughly 17 million dollars in cap space, which should be enough to retain pending RFAs Alex DeBrincat, Shane Pinto, and Erik Brannstrom. That would suggest every promise of the team getting better. And there’s a raft of young players in the system, including Ridly Greig, Lassi Thomson, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Egor Sokolov, ready to help this team’s depth.
The Senators have taken a leap from basement dweller to the middle of the pack. The next step is becoming a competitive playoff team. There are no sure bets in hockey, but there are a lot of reasons for Sens fans to head into next season with hope in their heads as well as their hearts.