By Antoine Mathieu, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
QUEBEC CITY, QC. — I’m visiting today our national capital, Ottawa!
2014-15 EASTERN CONFERENCE predicted standings
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Boston Bruins
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- New York Rangers
- Montreal Canadiens
- New Jersey Devils
- Washington Capitals
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Detroit Red Wings
- New York Islanders
- Florida Panthers
- Ottawa Senators
2013-’14 summary: Ottawa Senators
Regular season record of 37 – 31 – 14, 88 points, 11th East, missed the playoffs.
The Senators had quite a bizarre year, after making the acquisition of star forward Bobby Ryan, many fans thought that the Senators would be one of the top teams in the East but the opposite actually happened. The Sens who finished in sixth place during the shortened season with an injury depleted roster finished in 11th place this year and were never really in the playoff race. With the Jason Spezza trade, I think the timing has never been better for Ottawa to tank for a couple seasons.
The Senators have many players that could interest some teams looking to be buyers at the trade deadline. Ottawa has Bobby Ryan, Craig Anderson, Clarke MacArthur and Marc Methot as potential unrestricted free agents that will most likely test the market. These players could help the Sens rebuild and help them build towards the future. I’m thinking of a similar situation to what the Calgary Flames did two seasons ago when they dealt Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester for futures and tried trading Miikka Kiprusoff. The Senators already have an interesting prospect pool but the players they will draft in the upcoming years will only be ready in four or five seasons and you know what they say, you can never have enough prospects!
With Spezza gone, it’s Kyle Turris’ chance to shine and establish himself as a number one centeron the team. Since the shortened season, Turris has started to emerge with the Sens and his line with Clarke MacArthur and Bobby Ryan was Ottawa’s best line last season. Turris who was drafted third overall in 2007 has been a late bloomer so far in his NHL career. After being dealt from Phoenix to Ottawa, the 25-year-old has steadily increased his production every year. Last season he had 58 points in 82 games.
With a bigger role and more minutes, I’m curious on how Turris will respond. He wouldn’t be the first player who excels in a secondary role and flounders when his responsibilities increase, just look at Cody Hodgson in Buffalo. A player’s trajectory is always unpredictable and Turris may have very well plateaued as a 55 points center. But the upcoming season is a perfect year to experiment Turris as the team’s top line center. The Sens will also have the luxury to test out Mika Zibanejad in a top six role next year.
The Swedish forward will finally look for his chance to prove his worth in the NHL. The 21-year-old was in a similar situation to the one Alex Galchenyuk currently is in with the Canadiens. Zibanejad wasn’t getting a whole lot of ice time due to Turris and Spezza being ahead of him on the depth chart, with Spezza being gone, he can’t ask for a better opportunity. The center who was drafted sixth overall in the 2011 draft has almost a 0.5 point per game and should break the 50 point barrier if everything goes as planned.
If Zibanejad isn’t ready for the role of second line center, Bryan Murray made sure to have a back-up plan by signing David Legwand to a two-year contract. The soon to be 33-year-old will bring depth and experience to a team who doesn’t have a whole lot of experience down the middle (Zack Smith, Turris and Zibanejad have 718 NHL games combined compared to Legwand’s 977 games.) Legwand is versatile in the elements he can bring to the Sens, his two-way game is good enough for the third line and his offensive game (51 points this year) is more than adequate in case Zibanejad struggles as the second line center.
The jury is still out on Robin Lehner but he’s shown that he’s more than just hype. Unlike a Jakob Markstrom, the Swedish net minder has displayed his talent at the NHL level. Anderson throughout his career has always had one amazing year followed by a mediocre one, with the Sens current situation, there’s no point on relying on such an enigma in the 33-year-old. Considering that Lehner played 36 games last year, maybe the Sens will look to trade Craig Anderson a lot earlier than the trade deadline to hand the keys to the 23-year-old. The 6-foot-5 goalie has pretty good stats thus far in his career and could impress many people if Ottawa puts their faith in him the same way the Leafs did when they acquired Jonathan Bernier.
Ottawa should have one of the youngest teams next year with the likes of Alex Chiasson, Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, Patrick Wiercioch and Mike Hoffman getting some regular ice time. Stone has shown his scoring ability everywhere he’s been and I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes a perennial 20-goal scorer for the Sens for years to come. Chiasson who was one the pieces coming back from the Spezza trade has shown great things at the NHL level but he needs to find his consistency. He could be one of the conference’s top power forwards if he finds his game. Hoffman is waiver exempt and is coming off an excellent season in the AHL, the Kitchener native might be your typical NHL tweener who’s not good enough for a team’s top six and not gritty or solid enough defensively to be in the bottom six.
Patrick Wiercioch isn’t pegged to be in the starting line-up but if I were the Sens I would rather let him develop than keep playing a washed-up Chris Phillips. The 23-year-old has untapped offensive potential and could really shine on the top unit with Erik Karlsson on the power-play. Ceci turned many heads last season by playing 49 games with the Senators. The Ottawa native has shown great things and will most likely play on the team’s top four this year.
One particular player who didn’t have a great year for Ottawa was Jared Cowen. The lanky defender is starting to enter Luke Schenn territory among Sens fans, the 23-year-old had a promising season in the lockout year but it seems like he’s lost all of his points of reference. He actually regressed last season instead of progressing. With his salary of $3,100,000 and Eugene Melnyk’s reputation as an owner who doesn’t like spending his money, Cowen will have to step up. Also with some defenders knocking at the door like Ceci and Wiercioch, Cowen has some pressure on him to bounce back or he’ll be traded.
Erik Karlsson will once again be the leading scorer for the Sens, I expect Karlsson to regain his dominant form (pre-Matt Cooke injury) next season. The 2012 Norris winner wasn’t able to properly train last summer and with some gained strength, the offensive defenseman should be able to add some secret weapons to his arsenal, like more hitting. The 24-year-old has started to introduce hitting to his game. Now I’m not saying he’s going to become Nicklas Kronwall out there but I expect to see a more physical side to him.
I think trading Bobby Ryan would be the best idea for the Sens, I know it makes the trade look bad but given their current situation, stock piling more assets doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Even if the Senators don’t want to go through a complete rebuild, they can trade some of those picks or prospects they get in return for established players. Considering that Ottawa doesn’t really have a whole lot of salary cap tied to their players, they could potentially make a splash at next year’s free agency period. There will be some interesting defenders out there such as Andrej Sekera, Zbynek Michalek, Marc Staal, Johnny Boychuk, Jeff Petry and Justin Braun who could compliment Erik Karlsson on defense.
It is alarming though that many players have the left Sens organization as of late. Dany Heatley wanted out, Jason Spezza asked for a trade this summer despite being their Captain and Daniel Alfredsson left. Is Ottawa a region that doesn’t interest players? That’s definitely a valid question with their track record as of late.
Quick facts about Ottawa:
Clarke MacArthur has a history of making a good first impression with his new team, will he regress next season?
The Sens blew many leads last year, will that trend continue?
Beside Jacques Martin, the Sens have never had a coach for longer than three seasons; will Paul MacLean survive the next year?