4 reasons why the Ottawa Senators will make the playoffs in 2025
2017 was the last time that the Ottawa Senators made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It doesn't feel long ago for Senator fans that the Senators were one win away from playing in their second Stanley Cup Final in 2017.
As the 2024-25 season is two nights away, the Senators will be looking to snap their playoff drought. The Senators have made great progress in the 2024 preseason with finishing 5-1-1, and are looking to carry momentum over into the regular season.
Most people will expect the Senators to miss the playoffs in 2025 for the eighth consecutive season. However, a new season always offers a new sense of confidence and hope for any team to make the playoffs, and the Senators can have reason to believe they can make the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
4 reasons why the Ottawa Senators will make the playoffs in 2025
Making the playoffs in 2025 will be tough for the Senators with playing in a tough Atlantic Division. Even with playing in a tough division, the Senators won't be afraid of a challenge, and have the ability to be a sneaky team to make the playoffs.
4. Superstar duo takes off
The Senators are led by their superstar duo of Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle. Even when Ottawa has missed the playoffs with them, both of them have had stellar seasons. If Ottawa is going to return to the playoffs in 2025, both of them will need to take off and post career years.
For the past two seasons, Tkachuk has posted the two best seasons of his career. Tkachuk posted a career-high 83-point season in 2022-23, and last season recorded the most goals in a season in his career with 37. Tkachuk's 37 goals last season also led the Senators. Tkachuk is due for a season where he can top 85 points or even higher.
Stutzle last season recorded 70 points, down from his 90-point explosion in 2022-23. However, Stutzle recorded the most assists of his career last season with 52. Stutzle's 52 assists last season led the Senators. Stutzle has turned into a great play maker and can have the ability to top 60 assists or higher this season.
Both players will be heavily relied on the offense to produce offense. With Tkachuk being known for scoring goals, and Stutzle being known for his play-making, both can have career-highs in categories this season.
3. Ottawa gets more from outside of its duo
While most of the talk around Ottawa is about its duo of Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle, Ottawa still has good role players around. This season, Ottawa has the ability to get more offensive production to produce scoring.
Drake Batherson has been an underrated player over the past two seasons with recording back-to-back 60-point seasons. Batherson has the ability to take a bigger step and play more minutes to grow. Even though he's entering the final year of his contract, Claude Giroux has been a good veteran leader to have in the locker room. Giroux was second last season on the team with 43 assiists, and Giroux will have the ability again to produce offense again this season. Signing Nick Cousins and David Perron also provides veteran leadership.
Two young Senators destined to take big steps this season are Jake Sanderson and Shane Pinto. Pressure now grows more on Sanderson with no getting paid over $8 million per season until 2032, and Pinto played well after his 41-game suspension last season.
Both Josh Norris and Thomas Chabot have the ability to have bounce back seasons. Michael Amadio has championship pedigree after playing with the Vegas Golden Knights for the past three seasons. Artem Zub and Nick Jensen have the ability to be a good defensive defense pair this season as well.
The Senators have the ability to get more production from their players outside of Tkachuk and Stutzle to have success this season.
2. A breakthrough and concerns from other teams in Atlantic Division
At some point when a team is in a playoff drought, the team is optimistic about having a breakthrough. This season, the Senators are one of the teams that are close to a breakthrough.
Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report gave Ottawa's reason to be optimistic about this season is being close to a breakthrough on Sept. 12. Clearly, Yerdon sees the team is close to reaching full potential. There also could be concern in the Atlantic Division that can help Ottawa's case for a breakthrough.
The Boston Bruins having to rely on Jeremy Swayman can be a concern with not having their 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark now on the Senators. The Tampa Bay Lightning lost their captain Steven Stamkos to the Nashville Predators to free agency which can cause the Lightning to take a step back this season.
The Buffalo Sabres still have been sturggling since 2011 when they last made the playoffs. The Detroit Red Wings have concern with losing David Perron in free agency to the Senators and missing the 2024 playoffs by one point. The Montreal Canadiens have struggled since 2020, and won't have newly acquired Patrik Laine in the lineup for two to three months.
With being close to a breakthrough and concerns about other teams in the Atlantic, the Senators find themselves with a team that's hungry to take big strides this season.
1. A legit number one goaltender will be in between the pipes
For years, the Senators have had issues with goaltending. To finally solidify having a true number one goaltender, the Senators traded for Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. Ullmark won the 2023 Vezina Trophy and recorded a 2.28 goal against average in his three years in Boston. Ullmark being in Ottawa will be the biggest reason why the Senators can make the playoffs in 2025.
The Senators have had the ability to score goals for years, but have had issues finding the next number one goaltender on the depth chart after Craig Anderson last played in 2020. Matt Murray and Marcus Horberg were inconsistent in the 2020-21 season. Anton Forsberg appeared to be the next number one goaltender following his 2021-22 season, but has struggled the past two seasons.
Ullmark's 2.57 goals against average last season in Boston was the highest in a season in his three seasons in Boston, but trading for a top goaltender was something the Senators needed to do in order to have success. Ottawa's core pieces can't wait around for the team to develop a goaltender when one became available like Ullmark.
Even with a 2.57 goals against average, Ullmark posted a 22-10-7 record and a .915 save percentage. Ullmark caught the NHL by storm when he was in Boston. A fresh start with a new team could be a good thing for Ullmark, and having the challenge of leading the Senators back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 can be a high accomplishment for the 31-year-old Swede.
Ullmark will be the key factor to determining Ottawa's success this season for a team that's in a playoff drought. However, goaltending has been needed for the Senators for year and the Senators found their guy with Ullmark to lead them back to the playoffs.