Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

A few teams have made management changes already, but don't expect that to happen in Ottawa.

Win or else. That seems to be the new adage in the NHL these days.

Already we have seen significant changes with a number of NHL teams that failed to meet expectations.

Brian Lawton was fired as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning while Rick Tocchet was dismissed as the team's coach. After 10 seasons and just one playoff appearance, Don Waddell was replaced as GM of the Atlanta Thrashers. The Edmonton Oilers fired their assistant GM and entire training staff and it isn't quite clear if GM Steve Tambellini is done with his house keeping.

Stay tuned; depending on what happens in the playoffs we could see more changes.

I fully expect, however, things to remain status quo in Ottawa. There were whispers if the Senators tanked in the first round GM Bryan Murray could be on thin ice. The Senators, after all, have a rather emotional hands-on owner in Eugene Melnyk who won't stand by long and watch his team spiral downward. Since making it to the Stanley Cup final four seasons ago, the Senators lost in the first round, missed the playoffs and, obviously, lost again in the first round.

This year, however, they went down with a significant fight, taking the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to six games. Make that six hard-fought games. One can only wonder how the Senators might have fared if they had defenceman Filip Kuba and forwards Alex Kovalev and Milan Michalek available to them?

At the end of the day I like the direction the Senators are headed. You really had to wonder what was going to happen when Dany Heatley, coming off scoring 180 goals the past four seasons, demanded to be traded because he didn't get first power play duty under new coach Cory Clouston. Teams don't often do well in trades when a star player asks for a ticket out of town, but Murray scored huge getting Michalek along with a second round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks. The Sens had to take Jonathan Cheechoo and his out-of-whack contract in the deal, but that's the price you pay when you make a forced trade. Cheechoo has one year remaining on his contract at $3.5 million, but he'll either be bought out or will spend next season in the minors.

More than anything, the Senators became a harder team to play against this season. That was certainly evident in the first round against Pittsburgh. Once considered skilled, but as soft as margarine, the Senators developed team toughness, largely due to Clouston's no-nonsense approach. He might look like Richie Cunningham standing behind the bench, but rules with Fonzie's toughness and authority.

Beyond that, the Senators also developed a couple of young players who will be significant contributors moving forward. Defenceman Erik Karlsson, 19, took a while to find his way, but by the end of the year was producing points (12 in his final 10 games of the regular season) and showing a penchant for controlling the pace of the game. The team's No. 1 pick in the 2008 entry draft has genuine star potential.

Centre Peter Regin, the 87th overall pick in 2004, became a more significant contributor down the stretch and managed three goals in six playoff games. Expect the 24-year-old Dane to become more of a key figure on the team next season.

Goaltender Brian Elliott emerged as a serious challenger for the No. 1 goaltender's job and will certain battle Pascal Leclaire for the crease next season.

Naturally, there are some concerns moving forward. The Senators have three noteworthy unrestricted free agents in centre Matt Cullen and defenceman Andy Sutton, who both arrived at the trade deadline and played superbly in Ottawa, along with shot-blocker extraordinaire defenceman Anton Volchenkov. It will probably be hard to keep all three unless they take a hometown discount which is highly unlikely.

Jason Spezza, the team's highest paid player with five years and $33 million left on the books, had an off-season leaving some wondering if he is the player who will lead this team to glory? He played through injury in the first half in his attempt to make Team Canada for the Olympics, and you could make the case he became a stronger two-way player in the second half when his scoring finally picked up. But aside from Ottawa's appearance in the final in 2006-07, Spezza teams generally don't go deep in the playoffs.

At 26 years old, I think I'd hang on to him. His overall game got better and playing under Clouston, he could emerge as a gamer.

Alexei Kovalev, on the other hand, was a bust. Signed to a two-year, $10 million contract, the 37-year-old veteran sleep-walked through most of the year until he was injured. Aside from a four-goal, five-point game against Philadelphia January 3, Kovalev failed to bring much to the table for the Sens. Still, he was missed in the playoffs. A strong post-season might have made people forget about his mediocre regular season.

Nobody is suggesting the Senators will be Cup contenders next season, but with the strides they made this year, they are moving in the right direction. It will be interesting to see what steps they make in the off-season to improve.