The Ottawa Senators open their 30th NHL training camp on Wednesday, with a degree of hope and promise that reaches far beyond outside forecasts that might be based on their bottom-ten finish last season.
The optimism is partly predicated on their strong finish last spring -- a 10-3-1 run that some cynics would call fool’s gold, considering Ottawa had nothing to play for but pride and personal development. Nevertheless, that lingering flash of potential combined with the expectation that the Senators' good young players have serious upside, have fans excited about what might be this season.
And it isn’t just the fan base taking notice.
In a pre-season conversation with Michael Traikos of Postmedia, Montreal Canadiens winger Tyler Toffoli declared himself a firm believer in what the Senators have going on.
“They didn’t start the greatest (last season), but then we go in there and we’re like -- ‘we’re going to win’ -- and I don’t think I even touched the puck. They have these young guys who are super-skilled and play the right way. They’re a team to watch, for sure.”
We are going to assume Toffoli was referring to Ottawa’s home game against the Habs on May 5, when the Sens took down the Canadiens 5-1. In fact, the Senators gave Montreal fits all year, winning 6 of their ten matchups during the one-off, all-Canadian division play in 2021.
The Sens figure to give the Canadiens all they can handle again this season -- there is no team they would rather beat.
How will Ottawa stack up against the rest of the Atlantic Division, now that the NHL reverts back to the usual divisional play? That will be a storyline to watch all season long. Assuming their heart-and-soul forward Brady Tkachuk is signed and ready to roll by time the season opens, the Senators are a team on the rise and a team to watch as the going gets rough in the Atlantic.
Current salary cap space: $24.5M
GM: Pierre Dorion
Head coach: D.J. Smith
Assistant coaches: Jack Capuano, Davis Payne, Bob Jones, Mike King (video), Evan Mathias (video co-ordinator, data analyst).
Unsigned players: RFA Brady Tkachuk
What up, Chuk?
Any number of questions can be rolled into this one. When will winger Brady Tkachuk sign his new contract? When will he report to training camp? When will the Brady Tkachuk questions end?
If the deal gets done this week, there will be no interruption to Ottawa’s preparations for the regular season -- in fact, a deal done soon would pour rocket fuel on the camp proceedings. But if Tkachuk remains unsigned through the end of the month and into October, it could be a distraction to a young team that is trying to avoid the slow start that doomed them last season.
There won’t be much of an issue with Tkachuk’s conditioning -- he has been skating and training, but he will need time to get into game shape, ideally with a couple of exhibition games prior to the Oct. 14 home and season opener.
Can Matt Murray rebound?
Hockey analysts in Ottawa have spent a lot of time in the past several months breaking down the Senators depth at the goaltender position, including weighing the loss of prospect Joey Daccord to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.
Daccord is an endearing personality who rose from a 199th draft position in 2015 to become an NCAA star at Arizona State and an emergency starter for last year’s Senators when injuries dropped Matt Murray and Marcus Hogberg. Hogberg is gone as well, having returned to Europe when Ottawa decided not qualify him as an RFA.
With all this chatter, on the departures of Hogberg and Daccord plus the futures of promising goalie prospects like Filip Gustavsson and Mads Sogaard, it is easy to lose sight of the goaltending issue staring the Senators in the face as camp opens: Can starter Matt Murray have a bounceback from his horrendous start last season?
With a playoff spot no longer viable, Murray finished strong: 3-1-0 in five April starts with a 1.37 goals-against and .954 save percentage. But in losing 10 of his first 16 starts as Ottawa stumbled to a 2-12-1 start, Murray and his young team were quickly out of contention in an abbreviated season.
Murray arrived from Pittsburgh last December with expectations as large as his contract (four years, $25M). He had a big adjustment -- a new team, a new baby, and a one-off season rife with Covid-19 restrictions. There will be no excuses for him in year two. The Senators made a lot of concessions to Murray beyond the contract, firing longtime goalie coach Pierre Groulx and replacing him with Zak Bierk. Much is riding on the assumption that Murray regains the form he once showed with the Penguins in two Stanley Cup seasons. Otherwise, backup Anton Forsberg and prospects Gustavsson and Sogaard will be asked to step up.
How now, Logan Brown?
This feels like a question we have entertained prior to every training camp of the past several seasons. What does the future hold for the intriguing, enticing, 6-6, 220-pound bundle of skill that is Logan Brown, son of former NHLer Jeff Brown?
Logan Brown was Ottawa’s top draft pick in 2016, selected 11th overall after putting up 74 points for the OHL Windsor Spitfires in 2015-16. A rangy centre with exceptional hands and vision, especially on the power play, Brown has shown flashes at the AHL level -- 42 points in 56 games with Belleville in 2018-19 and 28 points in 25 games with the B-Sens in 2019-20.
Yet, Brown always seems to get hurt just when he gets rolling. Last season he appeared in just 13 games with Belleville, putting up nine points. No wonder when B-Sens head coach Troy Mann is asked about Brown, his first comment is: “One, let’s stay healthy. It’s been three years where there have been a lot of missed opportunities because of injuries.” Brown, 23, was the subject of trade rumours this summer but when no deal could be made, Ottawa signed him to a two-way contract over the weekend. No longer the can’t-miss-kid, Brown is in last chance territory as far as this organization. Brown is waiver eligible this season, meaning other NHL teams could get a crack at him for a league-minimum $750,000 salary.
