Senators have one goal in mind heading into new season

Just win, baby. Playoffs or bust. 

“I’d be disappointed if we didn’t make the playoffs,” Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer told reporters on Monday. 

That’s a refreshing ethos that has been missing at the start of the season for more than a decade. In years past, Sens fans and media alike have been serenaded with narratives such as “The kids are all right” and playing “meaningful games.”

No more. As the Senators roster for opening night for 2025-26 was finalized on Monday, it’s finally about winning. 

A byproduct of a good team having NHL regulars and depth up and down the lineup is that the roster battles are more within the existing lineup than over who will make the team. 

A player who won’t be in Ottawa to begin the season is promising young defenceman Carter Yakemchuk, who was sent down to the Belleville Senators. Ottawa has a glut of defencemen on the right side, so it was always a long shot for the 20-year-old.

Senators coach Travis Green said the Senators wanted to put Yakemchuk “in the best place to succeed.”

“It’s never an easy decision when you’re talking about a young guy that we feel has a bright future,” Green said.

With very few exceptions (such as the underpaid — again — Connor McDavid), most players need to shine in the AHL before they are able to beam in the NHL. 

It’s the right move. 

Meanwhile, the Sens’ Olle Lycksell, Jan Jenik, Hayden Hodgson, Arthur Kaliyev, Mads Sogaard and Lassi Thomson all cleared waivers. All were sent down to Belleville, except for Lycksell, who remains on the Sens roster. Subsequently, Drake Batherson and Tyler Kleven were placed on injured reserve, but both can play whenever they are healthy. 

Lots of moving parts.

Batherson and Kleven have been skating, but it’s looking less likely by the minute that either will play on opening night. 

Ottawa’s projected lineup to start the season, despite injuries:

• Tkachuk—Stützle—Zetterlund 
• Perron—Cozens—Amadio 
• Greig—Pinto—Giroux 
• Cousins—Eller—Lycksell
• MacDermid 
• Sanderson—Zub
• Chabot—Jensen 
• Sebrango—Matinpalo 
• Spence
• Ullmark, Merilainen

Arguably the most pressing question will be, who will be Ottawa’s first-line right winger, Fabian Zetterlund or Claude Giroux? Both spent time in pre-season on the right side with Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle. Zetterlund scored against St. Louis on that line, but questions remain about his scoring, and Giroux has been supremely effective.

“I want to be a guy that we can trust,” Zetterlund told Sportsnet.ca. “I wanted to be out there when it’s six-on-five or five-on-six, everything. I just want to be trusted all over the ice, not just offensively.”

Green has shown a willingness to mix and match his lines more than a pack of trail mix. Last season, specifically in the playoffs, Shane Pinto played as much or more than Dylan Cozens. Recently in practice, Green adjusted some of the lines, throwing Giroux onto a line with Ridly Greig and Pinto. 

Ottawa could end up playing Cozens and Pinto as 2A and 2B centres. Better to have two options for second-line centre. Champagne hockey problems. 

In pre-season, Pinto was outstanding, scoring three goals while looking every bit like a man trying to prove to the hockey world and to general manager Steve Staios that he’s worth a hefty penny on his next contract as a pending restricted free agent. A poor man’s Patrice Bergeron (or maybe a rich man’s after this summer). 

“I do feel much stronger this year,” Pinto said. “And every year you come in, you have more confidence, and you realize you might have a little bit more time than you think. And I think I’ve learned that this year.”

Pinto has two 20-goal seasons. If he can take a leap to push toward 30 goals, it will benefit the team and his next contract. 

Ottawa’s toughness

Kurtis MacDermid was brought in to be a fighter and provide “room,” as hockey players call it, for star players to play without fear of violent repercussions.

“He’s one of the tougher guys in the league,” said Green. “He’s a tremendous teammate. He sticks up for his whole team.”

Some fans love fighting and others hate it. Regardless, it’s part of the game. 

Tkachuk called MacDermid a “top-five” fighter in the league. Don’t expect him to play much unless needed, perhaps against, let us guess? Montreal and Toronto?

MacDermid is the 13^th forward. 

That leaves a few players sitting on most nights. Surprisingly, that could include Jordan Spence. Spence has had an up-and-down pre-season, after the Senators went out to trade a third- and sixth-round pick to acquire the right-handed skilled defenceman. The diminutive five-foot-10 Spence has been paired with Donovan Sebrango and also Kleven before Kleven’s injury. Recently, he’s taken line rushes on the fourth defensive pairing, indicating he’s not in Green’s top six. 

Earlier in camp, Green called Spence’s play in pre-season “OK,” not a glowing endorsement. 

“He’s going to tell us what his role is,” Green said. “He’s got good puck skills, though; he understands the league. He’s still trying to find his way with our systems and our D-zone coverage, how we played the rush, all that stuff.”

Spence understood the assignment.

“Coming into trading camp, you’re just trying to showcase yourself,” Spence told Sportsnet.ca. “And you’re trying to impress the coaches with how you play the game.”

In a bit of a conundrum, neither Spence nor Nikolas Matinpalo have been impressive in pre-season, yet one needs to make the team. What may be the decider is one attribute. Size.

Can’t teach it, they say. 

Matinpalo is six-foot-five and rugged, Spence is not but a much more talented player offensively. 

“Sometimes it doesn’t have to be hitting,” said Spence, on ways to be effective defensively.

“It’s just how you hit them, how you take their stick away. I really want to master that in order to be a better defenceman.”

Remember when Travis Hamonic was playing ahead of Jacob Bernard-Docker last season because of size and experience? We may have a similar battle on our hands: skill versus will. 

Andlauer speaks

Andlauer didn’t say much on Monday at a Senators event that he hadn’t already said in an exclusive Q&A last month with Sportsnet. Nevertheless, he reiterated he’s confident the Senators will get a new arena at LeBreton Flats and is not budging on who will pay for the arena. 

However, when asked how he felt about Montreal Canadiens fans invading Quebec City in Ottawa’s “home” pre-season game, Andlauer had a curious comment. He said he was “flattered” that Montreal stayed in Quebec City for three days. 

“They had only played one pre-season game there in nine years,” he said. “If there’s two more fans, that’s two more fans.”

Too early to judge the Quebec City odyssey, but it’s likely easier to change Gatineau fans into Sens fans here than in Quebec City.