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Senators Announce Several Front Office Moves

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After going with an interim GM since Pierre Dorion was let go, the Senators have their new GM in place.  Instead of hiring someone else, they announced that they have lifted the interim tag from Steve Staios, officially naming him to the role of General Manager and President of Hockey Operations.  Meanwhile, assistant GM Ryan Bowness has been promoted to Associate GM.  The Sens have also added to its front office, appointing Dave Poulin as their Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations.

Staios joined Ottawa earlier this season following Michael Andlauer’s purchase of the team being made official.  He originally came over as their President of Hockey Operations but after the Sens lost a first-round pick for failing to disclose Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade clause to Vegas when they traded him there (later nixing a trade the Golden Knights made with Anaheim), Dorion was relieved of his duties with Staios adding interim GM duties to his responsibilities at the beginning of November.

During his time in that role, Staios brought in Jacques Martin as a consultant but later elevated him to interim head coach when D.J. Smith was fired.  At the time, the logic made sense in that saddling a new GM with a more permanent coaching hire might not be the best course of action but now that Staios will be the chief decision maker, he can now start to assess options for who will get that opportunity down the road.  The expectation is that the 71-year-old Martin will be behind the bench for the remainder of the regular season.

Bowness joined the Sens a little less than a year and a half ago after working in Pittsburgh as their Director of Professional Scouting.  He is also GM of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate in Belleville, something that is likely to remain the case even as he takes on other responsibilities with his elevated title.

As for Poulin, he last worked in a front office nearly a decade ago.  He had a five-year stint as Vice President of Hockey Operations from 2009 through 2014 while also being their AHL GM for two of those seasons.  Since then, the long-time NHL forward has worked in the media.

TSN’s Darren Dreger notes (Twitter link) that Andlauer had sought to replicate the managerial structure that Montreal has; Andlauer had been a minority owner of the Canadiens before purchasing the Sens.  While this front office isn’t now shaped exactly the same way as Montreal’s, it now has been augmented with the addition of Poulin and Bowness taking on expanded duties.

Senators Notes: Chabot, Joseph, Kubalik

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The Senators will welcome back defenseman Thomas Chabot a bit earlier than expected as TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner will play today against Buffalo.  Originally, Ottawa had been hoping that he’d be back at some point during their upcoming five-game road trip.  The 26-year-old has missed the last four weeks with a leg injury and had been on LTIR.  On top of that, he also missed time with a hand injury earlier in the year; as a result, he has only played in nine games so far.  Chabot’s return will certainly be a welcome one for an Ottawa team that has scuffled in its own end defensively throughout the season.

Other notes revolving around the Senators:

  • CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that winger Mathieu Joseph has been placed on LTIR. The 26-year-old suffered a lower-body injury a little over two weeks ago and was believed to be a candidate to return at some point on the trip.  However, this placement was needed in order to stay cap-compliant with Chabot’s activation.  Joseph has had a nice bounce-back campaign, picking up 19 points in 25 games so far after recording just 18 in 56 contests last season.  The earliest he’ll be eligible to return now is January 9th as he must miss 10 games and 24 days from the date of the injury.
  • Dominik Kubalik’s first season in Ottawa has been somewhat of a challenge as he has been limited to just seven goals and two assists in his first 31 appearances. Accordingly, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch believes that the 28-year-old is a lock to be moved before the March 8th trade deadline and that the Sens have already fielded some calls on him.  Kubalik is in the final year of his contract which carries a $2.5MM cap charge and does not have any trade protection.

Joseph And Chartier Could Return On Upcoming Road Trip

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  • On top of the Senators potentially getting Thomas Chabot back on their upcoming road trip which begins January 2nd, TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that forwards Mathieu Joseph and Rourke Chartier should also be back during that stretch. Chabot is closer to returning than Joseph while Chartier’s timeline is a little less certain as he’s dealing with a concussion.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Ottawa Senators

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. 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?

Brady Tkachuk.

Much like his brother, Tkachuk has quickly become the emotional, physical, and on-ice leader for the Senators. Leading the team in goals, shots, hits, and even penalty minutes, his willingness to put his body on the line shows that everything goes through Tkachuk in Ottawa.

Unfortunately for him, and what has become a boiling problem with the fan base, Tkachuk is now in his sixth season with the organization and has yet to make a playoff appearance. Yet, even through the emotional turmoil that several unsuccessful seasons can put on the organization, Tkachuk has a lot of hope the Senators can turn things around soon.

In early November, in an article from Bruce Garrioch in the Ottawa Sun, Tkachuk was quoted as saying, “I understand that they’re passionate fan base and I understand that they love it, but when you face adversity you don’t turn your back on the guys out there. We’re playing hard, I know it’s frustrating right now. It’s not like we’re giving up out there, we’re fighting right to the very end“.

Even if the situation in Ottawa continues to become more dire, and the team is unable to produce a consistently successful team in the short term, Tkachuk’s loyalty is long-lasting. His desire to protect his teammates both on and off the ice is a tremendous boon for a struggling franchise.

What are the Senators thankful for?

Their top-six.

Even though the Senators are in last place in the Atlantic Division, there have certainly been some bright spots that the team can be thankful for. The top of their forward core, primarily led by Tkachuk, Joshua Norris, Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Claude Giroux are still producing at a solid rate.

As the team exits the holiday season, they currently sit at 10th in scoring across the entirety of the NHL, averaging 3.41 goals a game. Producing at a higher clip (albeit with fewer games played) than the likes of the New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights shows that Ottawa does have the talent up front to be competitive in the league.

Unfortunately for them, the players behind them have not been holding up their end of the bargain, as the defense and goaltending have both plagued the Senators for much of the season. Even with the team scoring at such a high rate, and GA/G average of 3.55 places them in the bottom five of the NHL, showing where most of the struggles are coming from.

What would the Senators be even more thankful for?

Stability.

In time, stability will come for the Senators and the organization will begin to normalize and stabilize with their current conditions. However, in under the year, the franchise has seen the team being sold, their longtime General Manager showed the door, and what appeared to be a player-friendly coach ousted as well.

The expectation heading into the season is that Ottawa was one of the few teams poised to come out of a lengthy rebuild, with a lot of the finishing touches put in place with the addition of Jakob Chychrun last year, with Tarasenko and Joonas Korpisalo brought in this past summer. Now with a new ownership and management group taking over, the team looks to have halted their rebuilding process entirely.

There is every possibility that the new management group, primarily led by former player, Steve Staios, did not agree with the direction that former General Manager Pierre Dorion was taking the franchise. Now, with what is shaping up to be another dissapointing season in Canada’s capital, it is now time for Staois to redirect the team in the right direction.

What should be on the Senators’ holiday wish list?

A revamped bottom-six and defensive help.

As previously mentioned, the top half of the Senators offense has been quite productive this season, sporting some of the better forwards across the league. Nevertheless, the bottom half of their entire forward unit has been entirely unproductive this season, as well as the bottom of their defensive core.

The team has ultimately been without all-star defenseman Thomas Chabot for much of the year due to injury, but could still benefit from adding a defenseman such as Mario Ferraro from the San Jose Sharks. In the case of the forward core, the Senators still do have prospects they could look to for a jolt of youth into the lineup, but could take a page from the book of their former Ontario rival.

In his first season as President of Hockey Operataions for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kyle Dubas took an incredibly aggressive approach to fillint out the team’s bottom-six this past summer, signing several veterans to minimum salary two-way contracts. Although it hasn’t entirely worked out for Pittsburgh at this point, with an enhanced scouting department, this could be the kind of aggressive approach the Senators could deploy to fill out the bottom of their roster more appropriately.

Evening Notes: Senators, Wild, Penguins

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The Ottawa Senators announced today that they have recalled forwards Angus Crookshank and Jiri Smejkal from their AHL affiliate in Belleville. Both players had been previously assigned to the AHL after the Senators 5-4 overtime win on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Both Crookshank and Smejkal had been with the Senators on an emergency recall prior to the break and were unable to stay with the club because the emergency conditions wouldn’t be satisfied. But with the team in Toronto tomorrow night to take on the Maple Leafs both players were able to be recalled joining the club as they get set to begin a busy stretch of games over the next few weeks. The Senators play three times before the new year and 15 times in January as they try to play catchup to the rest of the Eastern Conference.

In other evening notes:

  • The Minnesota Wild announced a pair of recalls as they brought up Daemon Hunt and Jake Lucchini from the Iowa Wild of the AHL. Both players were reassigned to Iowa on Sunday making this move a paper transaction similar to that of the Senators. Lucchini has spent most of the year in Iowa and played his first game with Minnesota on December 23rd. His recall could mean that forward Ryan Hartman will remain out of action when the Wild resume play against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night. Hunt will likely serve as the Wild’s extra defenseman for tomorrow night’s game.
  • Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes that he believes it is possible the Pittsburgh Penguins could hang on to pending unrestricted free agent Jake Guentzel until the end of the season and treat that as their big trade deadline acquisition. The Penguins currently sit five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but hold three games in hand on the Tampa Bay Lightning who currently occupy that position. Kingerski believes that the Penguins will forgo a potential trade package for Guentzel if they remain within six points of the playoffs by the end of January.

Chabot Could Return On Road Trip

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Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot is currently on LTIR with a leg injury but is eligible to return for their game tomorrow against Toronto.  While that won’t happen, it appears he won’t be out much longer as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays that the 26-year-old has resumed skating and could be on target to return at some point on their upcoming Western Canadian road trip which gets underway a week from today.  Injuries have limited Chabot to just nine games this season which has been a huge blow to a back end that has certainly struggled so far which played a role in last week’s decision to make a coaching change and bring back Jacques Martin on an interim basis.

Senators Reassign Angus Crookshank, Jiri Smejkal

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The Senators returned forwards Angus Crookshank and Jiri Smejkal to AHL Belleville after last night’s 5-4 overtime win over the Penguins, a team release states.

Both players were on the roster on an emergency basis. Since the Senators do not play until the league resumes play on Wednesday, their emergency conditions are no longer satisfied, and they can be returned to the minors during the league’s holiday roster freeze. One or both of Crookshank and Smejkal will likely be brought back up to the NHL roster before Wednesday if neither Mathieu Joseph nor Zack MacEwen can return from their respective lower-body and hamstring injuries. Both are listed as day-to-day and haven’t been ruled out for any future games.

Crookshank played in four games for the Senators during his recall, the first of his NHL career. It’s been a trying development path for the 24-year-old, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with a knee injury after concluding his collegiate career at the University of New Hampshire. The 2018 fifth-round pick has put up solid scoring numbers in the minors, including 21 points in just 24 games with Belleville this year. He averaged just 8:56 per game while on recall but notched his first NHL goal last Tuesday against the Coyotes. His possession numbers were good, posting a relative Corsi share of 4.2% at even strength, suggesting he may be ready for some increased minutes the next time he’s brought up to the NHL.

This ends Smejkal’s second recall since signing with the Senators as a free agent out of the Swedish Hockey League over the summer. The 6-foot-4, 223-pound Czech winger has seen minimal usage like Crookshank, averaging 8:57 in six games played with Ottawa since his initial recall on December 8. His first NHL point, an assist on a Jacob Bernard-Docker goal, came in Thursday’s 6-4 loss to the Avalanche. He returns to Belleville for now, where he has three goals and six assists in 19 games.

Jorian Donovan Added To Canada's World Junior Roster

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Senators prospect Jorian Donovan was cut by Team Canada at their World Juniors selection camp earlier this month but Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that the defenseman has been added to their roster along with Kraken defense prospect Ty Nelson, another player originally cut from their selection camp.

Dillon Heatherington To Play At Spengler Cup

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  • The Senators have loaned out blueliner Dillon Heatherington from AHL Belleville. The 28-year-old has played in 24 games so far in the minors, picking up two goals and two assists.  Heatherington, a pending unrestricted free agent, got into three games with Ottawa last season.

Ottawa Senators Send Down Jacob Larsson

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  • After spending a little over a week on the active roster, the Ottawa Senators have sent down defenseman Jacob Larsson to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, per a team announcement. Unfortunately for Larsson, he was a healthy scratch for every game over that stretch, returning to a Belleville team where he has registered two goals and four points in 18 games.

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