Marc Methot Says That The Sens Are Not Even Close To The Playoffs

[NyQuil]

Part of the issue is that we tend to look at talent level and not at experience level.

https://media.nhl.com/site/vasset/public/attachments/2023/10/17309/By%20The%20Numbers%202023-24%20Opening-Day%20Rosters.pdf

Obviously these are opening night rosters, but you'll notice the Islanders and the Caps way down at the bottom with the oldest teams, and Ottawa along with Buffalo, Columbus, Montreal, Anaheim and Arizona at the top with the youngest squads.

Detroit imported experience in the off-season and are actually older than the median, despite their much vaunted and frequently cited prospect pool by their fans.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Its pretty obvious that this team needs a major shake up to be competitive. They need to lose an expensive LD and acquire a very good RD.

They need another solid 2 way veteran presence with some jam in the top 6. They need more experience and jam in the bottom 6, probably 2 new players.. And they need a goalie. A very good goalie.

They could probably use a veteran bottom pair defenseman as well.

If they do all that, they might just be a playoff team. But that is a significant amount of change and requires some very talented players coming in. It won't be cheap in terms of dollars or assets.

They also need a very good coach, and they need existing star players to buy into a new system and stay healthy.

Im hopeful but not optimistic.

 

[GCK]

Its pretty obvious that this team needs a major shake up to be competitive. They need to lose an expensive LD and acquire a very good RD.

They need another solid 2 way veteran presence with some jam in the top 6. They need more experience and jam in the bottom 6, probably 2 new players.. And they need a goalie. A very good goalie.

They could probably use a veteran bottom pair defenseman as well.

If they do all that, they might just be a playoff team. But that is a significant amount of change and requires some very talented players coming in. It won't be cheap in terms of dollars or assets.

They also need a very good coach, and they need existing star players to buy into a new system and stay healthy.

Im hopeful but not optimistic.

They can easily be a playoff team without all that.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

The team in it's current state? He's right, they're not close at all. A few smart moves could change that quickly though.

 

[GCK]

A couple changes, better goaltending, a coaching staff that runs a tough TC. Playoffs baby !!!!!

 

[BondraTime]

When was FYOUS supposed to start, I legitimately forgot about that

 

[StoicSensFan]

When was FYOUS supposed to start, I legitimately forgot about that

2021

The guy was high as a solar kite

 

[SensFactor]

Big offseason will decide how close we are.

 

[Adrianopolous]

I think with better goaltending and coaching we'd have sneaked into the playoffs or been in the hunt the whole season, but I don't think this team is built to handle playoff hockey. We'd be lucky to push a team to 6 games.

It's just poorly constructed and the fixes we need aren't easy since what we need, a lot of other teams need:
-1A goalie capable of playing 40-50 games
-Top 4 RD
-A couple of solid middle 6 guys
-More vet presence that can contribute on the ice (not Hamonic)
-New coach

I'm hopeful because Staios can't possibly be worse than Dorion, but damn do we have a long way to go before we can have some success

Side point but when did goalies get so soft? 40-50? Legend like Brodeur played like 70.

 

[SpezDispenser]

Rebuild the defence and start from at least the defence out if you can't upgrade goalie.

 

[albator71]

I really believe that if we would had decent goaltending this season we would have been right there competing for a playoff spot. How many points did we let get away after having a lead this season.

 

[Tuna99]

Rebuild the defence and start from at least the defence out if you can't upgrade goalie.

Staois is rebuilding the rebuild. You know the movie scene where some dude is frantically trying to save a dead body he can’t admit is dead and the other dude comes over and says “it’s over, it’s okay” - that’s what Dorion rebuilding the D in Ottawa was.

trades for Brannstrom, draft JBD and Thomson an sign Zub and trading for Chychryn and drafting Sanderson and signing Chabot long term it’s just time to start over

Goalies same. Forward depth same. Coaching same. Scouting sane

 

[JD1]

The team is young and inexperienced. As for soft, the hit data says otherwise. I think there's 12 pounds between the lightest and heaviest teams on average so toughest probably has more to do with the fight in the dog. Florida btw is one of the lightest teams in the league and at the top of the hitting list.

On the what we need front and whether we can afford it, we've basically got two bad contracts.

Chabot
Korpisalo

And Staois thinks Korpisalo can rebound.

Sure would be sweet if we could escape Chabot's contract unscathed and use that AAV to grab a tough RD (5 AAV) and an upper end 3rd veteran liner (3 AAV)

I also think we need to think more in terms of transition than cut over. All those needs we say we have might take a few years to assemble

 

[ottawah]

Big offseason will decide how close we are.

Two years ago we supposedly had a big off season grabbing Debrincat and Giroulx for nothing off the roster. Moved from 7th to 6th in division.

Last summer we had another "big" offseason getting Tarasenko and Korpisalo for nothing, and moved from 6th to 7th.

Honestly, not exactly wishing for yet another "big" offseason given the last two duds.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Two years ago we supposedly had a big off season grabbing Debrincat and Giroulx for nothing off the roster. Moved from 7th to 6th in division.

Last summer we had another "big" offseason getting Tarasenko and Korpisalo for nothing, and moved from 6th to 7th.

Honestly, not exactly wishing for yet another "big" offseason given the last two duds.

It's not as simple as you make it out to be. Norris played 50 games this year, Pinto played 41, Chabot played 51, Stutzle played with an injury that limited him from game 4 onwards, Tarasenko played 57...it's not as simple as "hey, we added these 2 guys and look how badly things went!" if you don't consider the context of these things.

This team needs experience on the roster. They need to remake the 4th line with veteran guys who can PK and provide positive contributions defensively. They need to get another RHD, doesn't even have to be a great one. And they should try to get a veteran 2-way guy to take Tarasenko's "open" spot. We'd be ok with less scoring output from that player but a better defensive presence. Might even make sense to get a veteran C to play the middle 6. Move Norris to the wing as he gets back into things and get some experience to help bolster the middle of the ice. I know I know, easier said than done.

Dump Forsberg and get a capable backup for $1.5M or less.

Hire a solid, experienced coach.

The rest of the roster is fine. Maybe look at moving Chychrun since he doesn't seem to want to stay long-term (which is fine). I like Greig long-term. I like Kleven to play 50ish games next year. I've got Stutzle rebounding next year. I've got Batherson, Pinto and Sanderson taking another step. It sounds like a lot of change but it's really not all that much. A lot of the roster is staying in tact. You're remaking the 4th line who are easily replaceable anyways. A backup goalie, not a big deal. The big adds are a middle 6C, an average rhd and an experienced coach. Basically 3 "big ticket" items. You might even be able to do either the middle 6C or RHD at the same time as moving Chychrun.

 

[Agent Zub]

watching the playoffs makes it even more obvious how far this group is.

and not because of our depth players but because of how our top players play individually and together.

if the next coach can turn this around he should have a statue built for him.

 

[NyQuil]

Staois is rebuilding the rebuild. You know the movie scene where some dude is frantically trying to save a dead body he can’t admit is dead and the other dude comes over and says “it’s over, it’s okay” - that’s what Dorion rebuilding the D in Ottawa was.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

2021

The guy was high as a solar kite

I think you mean completely hammered

 

[Cosmix]

Agreed 100% with Meth.

The bottom 6 has too much of the same thing and not nearly enough jam to compete. The Sens need some Chris Neil type of utility players to move up and down the 3rd and 4th lines.

The top 6 is also soft with the exception of #7 and #19 on certain days.

And the D have too many of the same things too. They need some Chris Philips type of guys to balance out the riverboat gamblers we currently have on the left sides. Hope Kleven can fit the bill soon.

We don't have any "riverboat gamblers". We have lazy soft defensemen. Add soft forwards who do not play a physical game (except for Brady) and who have not been taught how to play without the puck in our D zone by poor coaching staffs.

I am still waiting to see if Staios has what it takes. He is unproven as a NHL GM. I wonder if he will hire a "yes sir" coaching staff.

 

[Cosmix]

Did they finish 26th because they're not close, or are they not close because they finished 26th?

The team finished 26th because it is a bottom quartile team: poor roster, poor coaching, poor GM for the last few years ever since Murray retired, and cheap-skate owner who dictated a low budget.

Having both Melnyk and Dorion during Dorion's tenure was a complete disaster in management of the team.

 

[Masked]

A healthy Timmy, average goaltending and decent coaching the entire season would have had the Sens competing for a playoff spot this season.

Maybe I'm just being a homer but I'm not as pessimistic as most. There's a grown up running the team now. He's got a solid core of young players to build around - Brady, Stutzle, Sanderson, Batherson, Pinto, Greig.

 

[Micklebot]

A healthy Timmy, average goaltending and decent coaching the entire season would have had the Sens competing for a playoff spot this season.

Maybe I'm just being a homer but I'm not as pessimistic as most. There's a grown up running the team now. He's got a solid core of young players to build around - Brady, Stutzle, Sanderson, Batherson, Pinto, Greig.

Health (and Suspensions) really took a bite out of us the last few years;

Stu injuring his wrist in game 4 hurt but despite what everyone considers a down year, he was still close to a pt per game.

Norris on the other hand missed 30+ games, and was clearly not right for the ones he played, Chabot had a freak injury breaking his leg after catching a rut and then re-aggravated it, and Pinto missed half the season to a suspension for mystery gambling infractions. You can't expect the team to be 100% healthy, but man, we seem cursed.

I'm of the opinion that some tweaks combined with coaching can make us more resilient to setbacks. I think our biggest issue this year was a mix of consistency and getting into ruts. Good coaching combined with experience can help you ride the ups and downs, and some tweaks to the lineup can help insulate us from the downs.

We have a bunch of guys that rely on their skill, some meat and potato lunch pail guys in the middle six and at RD can help us work our way out of ruts when the skilled guys aren't feeling it. Tank was great and all, but we needed a guy like Barbachev more than a guy like Tank, similarly Chychrun is highly skilled, but we need a guy like Tanev, Roy or Pesce

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

The one thing I don't like what I've heard from Staios is this expectation of Korpisalo rebounding.

I need to be educated about what he's rebounding to, because I don't see it on his resume. His career tells us what we saw this year is much more likely to be the norm than the alternative.

I really, really hope they have a rabbit up their sleeve in net, because I don't think any of the other changes are gonna matter a lick if they plan on rolling the Korpse out there as #1 again.

 

[Micklebot]

The one thing I don't like what I've heard from Staios is this expectation of Korpisalo rebounding.

I need to be educated about what he's rebounding to, because I don't see it on his resume. His career tells us what we saw this year is much more likely to be the norm than the alternative.

I really, really hope they have a rabbit up their sleeve in net, because I don't think any of the other changes are gonna matter a lick if they plan on rolling the Korpse out there as #1 again.

I think at this stage, you have to publicly state you believe in your goalies being better, because 1) doing otherwise takes all the skaters off the hook for their role, and 2) by doing so, you are challenging him to be better, and 3) stating otherwise would undermine any limited leverage you currently have while really accomplishing nothing.

Staios did seem pretty clear over his multiple interviews that the goaltending was not good enough, but if we state we absolutely need to make changes, the GM we try to trade with or UFA we try to sign will know we are desperate, it also would set an expectation that might not be realistic among fans. As much as we all want to make a trade for Saros or Ulmark, it takes two to finalize a trade, and we can only make an offer, we can't force a trade.

 

[NyQuil]

A healthy Timmy, average goaltending and decent coaching the entire season would have had the Sens competing for a playoff spot this season.

Maybe I'm just being a homer but I'm not as pessimistic as most. There's a grown up running the team now. He's got a solid core of young players to build around - Brady, Stutzle, Sanderson, Batherson, Pinto, Greig.

I think this team is capable of playoff bubble position with a little more luck and better coaching.

That’s a long way from a consistent playoff team and Stanley Cup contender.

We saw Detroit take a step up with us and NJ regressing. Improvement isn’t necessarily linear which is what I think Red Wings fans will find out next season.

It really depends on what your goals are.

One step at a time I guess.