The Ottawa Senators were looking to add a strong defenseman on the blue line who can play good defense. After seeing one full year of Jakob Chycrun, the Senators traded him to the Washington Capitals for Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick.
Jensen needed to prove the Capitals wrong for trading him away for a much younger Chycrun. At 34 years old, Jensen was able to provide veteran leadership to a young Senators team.
When the 2024-25 season began, all eyes were on Jensen to see how he would fit in Travis Green's system with his defensive abilities. Four games into the season, Jensen has fit in well, but needs to keep being consistent.
Jensen's consistency is big and needs to keep at it
In the 2024-25 season opener, Jensen started the season with a +2 rating, but has slowly gotten better over the past three games. While Jensen did finish with a -2 rating in the Senators' 4-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens in the second game of the season, he did record his first point of the season.
Jensen then recorded another point in the Senators' 8-7 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. Last season with the Capitals, Jensen only had one stretch where he recorded points in consecutive games and that came in late March, but has recorded points in consecutive game just three games into this season with the Senators.
In the Senators' rough 3-1 loss against the New Jersey Devils last night, Jensen saved a powerplay goal a few minutes into the second period. Nico Hischier had a wide open net to score on Anton Forsberg, but Jensen made a great defensive play to help prevent Hischier scoring.
Jensen saves a goal on the penalty kill. #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/32wy7rVwja
— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) October 18, 2024
With Artem Zub going to be out of the lineup for at least a week due to a concussion, the Senators are going to need Jensen to play significant minutes. Jensen played just under 19:30 last night, but will be needed to play more minutes.
If Jensen is able to keep up his consistency with blocking shots and able to record points on the stat sheet, Ottawa is going to be the perfect system for him. Jensen entered this season as a trade bait piece, but he has played well on the defense four games into his Senators tenure.