Five Things We’ve Learned about the Ottawa Senators in 2022-23

For the first time in five years, the Ottawa Senators are a handful of points away from a playoff spot. A long rebuild is finally coming to fruition. It’s not over yet, but Sens Fans can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout it all, there have been numerous ups and downs, such as employing Erik Gudbranson as a top-pairing defenseman, to now being able to acquire Jakob Chychrun as a second-pairing defenseman. This is a deep team that should see a long of success in the coming years.

Although the Sens have seen ups and downs, this is realistically the first season of their “window” of unparalleled success, and this team is extremely young, so it’s important to remember that there will certainly be growing pains. The important thing to remember is that the five years of being a bottom dweller have most certainly been worth it. This team has the best core it has had in over a decade, and in twenty years we could be looking at this core as the best the team has ever had. The Sens will be just fine.

This piece will go over a few things we have learned (or re-affirmed in some cases).

Tim Stützle is Elite.

Drafted third overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, Tim Stützle has most certainly established himself as an elite number-one center in the National Hockey League, and if it weren’t for Erik Karlsson, there’s a very good chance he would not even BE an Ottawa Senator, he’d most likely be a San Jose Shark. That’s a scary thought. Stützle leads the 2020 Draft Class in goals, assists, and points by a landslide. He most recently eclipsed the 100-assist mark against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 30th. Altogether, in 203 NHL games (so far) he has scored  71 goals and 100 assists for 171 points. This season particularly he has had a surge in his development. In 73 games so far this season, he has scored 37 goals and 47 assists for 84 points.

Tim Stutzle is the first Ottawa Senator to eclipse the 82-point mark since Erik Karlsson did it in 2015-16. He is also the first player on pace to hit the 90-point mark since Jason Spezza did it in 2007-08. If you want to take a look around the NHL, he is having basically an identical development curve to Jack Hughes.

Tim Stutzle is on pace to be the first-line center for a very long time, and his contract is already a massive steal. Given his current pace, I could see him hitting the 100-point plateau next season and the sky is genuinely the limit for this young stud.

Pierre Dorion is a Solid GM

Entering his first season as General Manager in the 2016-17 season, Pierre Dorion had high expectations of the team. His first move was trading for veteran center Derick Brassard. Later on, he would also acquire goaltender Mike Condon, and the team would go off to a very deep playoff run, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but ultimately losing out to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Since then, the Ottawa Senators have been going through a long rebuild that finally is starting to take the next step as the team is in the battle for a wildcard playoff spot.

In recent years, Dorion has executed many moves that were head-scratchers for many fans, such as trading away prospect Jonathan Dahlen in exchange for grizzled vet Alex Burrows (when there were many better players available for his role played in the lineup). Burrows would go ahead to score 2 goals in his Ottawa Senators debut, but the celebrations would quickly fizzle as his stats diminished quite quickly, and he would end up being suspended 9 games for kneeing Taylor Hall twice in the head in an awkward scuffle.

Another questionable acquisition made by Dorion was choosing Johnny Oduya as the replacement for Marc Methot as he was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. I won’t go too much into detail on that one other than say it ended horribly. The point is, Dorion has made a few key mistakes in his time as General Manager, but he has also made a lot of great moves.

The acquisitions I will mention are the acquisitions of Claude Giroux via Free Agency, trading for Alex DeBrincat, and trading for Jake Chychrun. Let’s start chronologically with the DeBrincat trade. On draft day, the Ottawa Senators held the 7th overall selection, and Dorion made the call to trade that pick alongside a few others to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for star forward Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat is on pace to score 30 goals and 70 points with the Sens this season.

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On the first day of free agency, Claude Giroux signed a three-year contract with the Senators earning him an AAV of 6.5 million dollars. He is currently third on the team in scoring with 72 points and has played all 76 games. He is 5 points away from the 1000-point mark, and his leadership qualities have proven to be priceless in terms of value.

Jake Chychrun is yet another name acquired by Pierre Dorion this season. The Team’s biggest weakness has been defensive depth for a long time, and considering the Sens were in the hunt for a playoff spot, Dorion decided to invest in his core by acquiring yet another superstar to inject into this lineup. Chychrun has roots in the Ottawa Valley and I’m sure it will be easy to get him under contract for a long, long time. All in all, Dorion has done a solid job, and may very well be nominated for GM Of the Year for the second time in his career.

Thomas Chabot is NOT the Senator’s Best Defenseman

Entering this season (and every season for a long time), Thomas Chabot has been the one consistency on Ottawa’s Back-End. For YEARS, he has been the go-to-guy, and for very good reason. Finally though, he does not have to be relied on as a 27 minute guy every night, and that’s probably the best thing to happen in his career.

I’m not saying Chabot is bad. I’m actually saying the opposite. He is the leader of Ottawa’s back end and will be as long as he’s with the team. I’m just saying that the Senators are not doomed if he takes a step back in terms of ice time. With the likes of Chychrun, Artem Zub, and even rookie Jake Sanderson. Chabot is currently injured, which absolutely sucks, and he’s been playing injured all season until he just could not continue anymore. He has been leading the charge ever since he entered the league. BUT, for the first time in his career, I’m not horrified of imagining the Sens Blue-Line without him while he recovers. Chychrun may be hurt right now too, but Sanderson is performing admirably as the team’s current top defenseman, Zub is playing great too. Erik Brannstrom is also having a lights-out season, and even rookie Tyler Kleven is contributing greatly.

My point is that the Ottawa Senators finally have a competent blue line and it’s okay to tone Chabot’s minutes down a bit.

DJ Smith has GOT to Go

I’ll start this by saying I hate wishing for a guy to lose his job. That’s not the way I want to be talking about this, so I’ll say it this way. I hope that Smith gets an opportunity to coach elsewhere in the league where his style will benefit a different type of team.

Smith has coached this team for 4 seasons now and is currently second all-time in franchise wins. He’s also one of ONLY three coaches to be behind the Sens bench for 4 or more seasons, behind Paul MacLean and Jacques Martin. Another stat; DJ is currently the seventh longest-tenured head coach in the National Hockey League. The truth is, Head Coaches are hired-to-be-fired in the NHL and DJ has unfortunately reached the end of his shelf life in Ottawa in my opinion. There are several options I’d consider to replace him, such as Rickard Gronborg or Patrick Roy.

I will add, I don’t want him gone just to want him gone. I think he’s helped develop the young core greatly, but this team is not in the need of a player’s coach who will hold their hands anymore. This young group of men needs someone who can get the best out of them, and I don’t think DJ Smith is that guy. I’m sure he will get another opportunity in the NHL because he is a good coach. I just think he’s done his time with this team and it’s time to move on.