What Your Team Is Thankful For: Ottawa Senators

With American Thanksgiving now behind us and the holiday season coming up, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Ottawa Senators.

Who are the Senators thankful for?

Pierre Dorion

There was once a time when Senators GM Pierre Dorion was anything but a fan favorite and far from the top of the list of people the Senators and their fans were most thankful. Now, beginning to put the finishing touches on a team rebuild and fresh off what was dubbed “the summer of Pierre,” Ottawa is most thankful for the executive responsible for bringing them their current and future core.

Dorion’s tenure in Ottawa certainly didn’t start off great, and the GM did have to eat much of the criticism for the team’s ultimate teardown and rebuild, which saw the team deal away their stars like Matt Duchene, Mark Stone, and Erik Karlsson. Since then, Dorion has used the assets he’s recouped to build an exciting young group headlined by players like Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Joshua Norris, and Drake Batherson. Not wanting to run the risk of any of them leaving during their immediate prime, Dorion proceeded to extend all four long-term, not to mention extending franchise-defenseman Thomas Chabot.

Those players needed compliments of course and Dorion acquired just that, signing hometown star Claude Giroux and acquiring sniper Alex DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks as well as starting netminder Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild.

There’s no doubt this team has underperformed expectations this year, something Dorion will have to take some responsibility for and address going forward, however this season is still a considerable step forward from the previous several. Beyond righting the ship on the ice, Dorion will have to work on long-term extensions for DeBrincat and defenseman Artem Zub, but given the executive’s track record, especially in the past year, the Senators should be thankful Dorion is in charge of solving these problems.

What are the Senators thankful for?

Progress off the ice

The team hasn’t been sold and there’s no immediate plans to break ground on a new arena, however the drama surrounding these subjects that has followed the Senators for years seems to be wearing off. Both stories still follow the team, but now appear to be painted in a much more positive light.

Recall back in June when the Senators organization was given preferred bidder status at the LeBreton Flats location, indicating a new arena was close once again. Sure, the team has been through this before with that location, but with new ownership expected to come on shortly, things may look different this time around.

Speaking of that ownership group, interest in buying the team appears to be as rich as ever and headlining the interested parties is actor Ryan Reynolds. It’s not expected that Reynolds would be able to purchase the team outright on his own, but it appears the NHL prefers that the winning bid for the Senators include Reynolds in the ownership group. Now, Reynolds coming into the mix isn’t just for the sake of vanity, the actor being a noted hockey fan with expressed interest in ownership and already a partial owner of a professional soccer team in that of Wrexham AFC, located in Wrexham, Wales.

What would the Senators be even more thankful for?

Sustained health

The star players discussed above that will make up the future of the Senators are all tremendous players performing at or close to the top of their abilities this season. Tkachuck, DeBrincat, Giroux, Batherson, and Stutzle are all at or near a point-per-game pace, Cam Talbot is having another strong season, and while the defense could be a little better, they’ve largely done their job. So, why is the team 14-14-2?

Well, one explanation is injuries. Outside of Norris, who was injured in the fifth game of the season and hasn’t played since, and Zub, who’s played in just 14 of 30 games, no player has missed all that much time this year. But, players missing a few games here and there does add up and prevents the team from sticking together for longer stretches of time and developing any sort of cohesiveness.

The team has turned it on lately, winning their last four games, but at the moment has Stutzle, Norris, Zub, Mathieu Joseph, and Jacob Bernard-Docker all on IR. Missing such a large contingent of players, it’s going to be difficult for a team that finished with 73 points a season ago to make the jump to the playoffs this season, especially if that group has won just 14 of its first 30 games to date.

What should be on the Senators holiday wishlist?

Another star defenseman

Thomas Chabot is clearly a top defenseman any team, including the Senators, would be happy to have, but amid a somewhat disappointing team-season so far, one thing has become clear: they could use another top-notch defenseman. The team has been connected to just about every top-pairing defenseman that’s been available this offseason and into this season.

The Senators had seemingly kicked tires on MacKenzie Weegar before he was included in the Jonathan Huberdeau–Matthew Tkachuk deal, and rumors of the team’s interest in Jakob Chychrun have persisted. Ottawa and Chychrun seem to fit like hand and glove together, however Arizona’s price remains high and appears to include Shane Pinto, a player the Senators are not only high on for the future, but view as a key piece right now, especially in light of the Norris injury.

The team had also apparently been connected to a swap of Nikita Zaitsev and Tyler Myers last month, however that trade didn’t materialize. Myers may be able to make a difference on the Senators as they are right now, but long-term, the organization will have to seriously consider the price-tag on a true top pair defenseman like a Chychrun.