Through four games into the 2024 preseason, the Ottawa Senators have a 2-1-1 record. In the four games, the Senators have showed fight and effort.
The Senators have offensive talent this season with Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux and underrated forward Drake Batherson. The Senators will also need to get improvement from their other young players this season too.
Unfortunately, even with excitement and optimism in the preseason, there will always be an area of concern for any NHL team. For the Senators, they need to solve one problem heading into the 2024-25 season, and it's been an issue for years.
Senators need to solve their depth on defense this season
Bleacher Report's Joe Yerdon made an article titled "1 Problem to Solve For Every NHL Team Heading Into the 2024-25 Season." For the Senators' one problem, Yerdon labeled the Senators' problem as "depth on defense."
There's no denying the Senators have struggled with their defensive depth over the past few years. This season, the Senators have the ability to solve their defensive depth issues.
Jake Sanderson will now be getting paid $8.05 million per year until 2032. At 22 years old, Sanderson is now destined to take off and reach his full potential. Sanderson showed good flashes in his 2024 preseason debut on Tuesday night against the Maple Leafs. If the Senators didn't believe in Sanderson, the team wouldn't have given him a contract extension with earning over $8 million per year.
Thomas Chabot will still eat minutes on special teams and even strength. Artem Zub finished with a career-high 25 points last season. Zub has been growing his game in Ottawa every season since 2020, but the Senators need a big year out of him this year.
Travis Hamonic and newly acquired Nic Jensen can provide leadership to a young Senators team. If the team needs him at 19 years old, Carter Yakemchuk can provide excitement for everyone by being the seventh overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Yakemchuk already made a great first impression in the first Senators' preseason game by scoring the overtime winner. Yakemchuk followed it up in his second preseason game against the Sabres by recording two assists.
Trading for Linus Ullmark can help bail out the Senators of giving up goals if the defensive depth hurts them in games this season. Ullmark has the ability to make big saves when needed.
The Senators have the ability to fix their defensive depth with their defensemen they have currently. If the defense plays better than it has been over the past few years, it will provide the Senators with a better chance to win and end their seven-year playoff drought.