Speculation: 2021-2022 Ottawa Senators

SensFan1010

Registered User
Dec 18, 2019
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422
Based on the guys we have under contract now and players we are going to be calling up (giving full time spots to) ,what do you think our next years roster will look like?

How many players we actually have to move to make room for all the kids coming up next year
 

DrEasy

Out rumptackling
Oct 3, 2010
10,908
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Stützville
Note that the thread says 2021-2022, but you were asking for next year's roster, so I'm assuming you meant 2020-2021, which is more realistic to project anyway. I think/hope we let the following go: Pageau, Ennis, Namestnikov, Hainsey, Boro, Sabu, Goloubef, Englund, Boedker

I hope we re-sign DeMelo. If not, I think we need to replace him with a top pairing D in the off-season anyway.

Without counting on who we draft this year, and assuming we don't manage to sign any significant FA in the off-season:

Tkachuk - Tierney - Duclair
Balcers - L. Brown - Batherson <- the sink-or-swim line
Paul - White - C. Brown <- the grinders
Abramov - Chlapik/Anisimov - Davidsson <- I think Anisimov stays. We need at least one veteran forward who can play a little.
Ryan?

Norris, Formenton dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury

Chabot - DeMelo
Wolanin - Zaitsev
Reilly - Jaros
Alsing?

Lajoie - Brannstrom dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury.

Nilsson
Hogberg

Gustavson - Daccord dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury

With the roster above we should be in another tank year basically. Hopefully with the growth of our prospects we won't be as close to the bottom though. That would be very depressing.

Now if get lucky and manage to get Lafreniere, I would be in full support of accelerating the rebuild and spending some money on a couple of big FA (knowing full well we won't), one top line forward, and one top pairing D. Then we could suddenly become a playoff bubble team.
 
Last edited:

thinkwild

Veni Vidi Toga
Jul 29, 2003
10,813
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Ottawa
I remember when the Pens first drafted Mario Lemieux it still took about 6 yrs for them to be successful. And I remember threads about the Caps when they first drafted Ovechkin where the debate was whether to get some ufa's now or continue building. It seemed to me that even with Ovechkin, they should still be focusing on a solid 3 years of drafting and developing. Little did I realize ..

All this to say, and I don’t even like to jinx think about this, but say the Sens were to draft a player of the calibre of Lafrenière. I don’t think that would suggest that we should suddenly set our development plan sights higher or speed up the rebuild. Even with him i think we would still have more years drafting to do to finish the job.

I could see targeting specific ufa’s for some roles, but more as a way to protect and nurture the rebuild rather than thinking we were accelerating it. Sure a player like him will naturally accelerate it a little bit, but I think the slow and steady path forward (I was going to say stick to the plan but then wavered) would still be called for.

History suggests that one day the team of youngsters will go on a winning streak and then all of a sudden they will take a sudden leap in the development cycle. . Slow and steady I hope until that happens naturally. Other team experiences seem to suggest that will take a few years still.
 

Sweatred

Erase me
Jan 28, 2019
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I hope Thomson and possibly JBD will be in the AHL and part of a group that sees time in the NHL.
 
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JD1

Registered User
Sep 12, 2005
15,986
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Note that the thread says 2021-2022, but you were asking for next year's roster, so I'm assuming you meant 2020-2021, which is more realistic to project anyway. I think/hope we let the following go: Pageau, Ennis, Namestnikov, Hainsey, Boro, Sabu, Goloubef, Englund, Boedker

I hope we re-sign DeMelo. If not, I think we need to replace him with a top pairing D in the off-season anyway.

Without counting on who we draft this year, and assuming we don't manage to sign any significant FA in the off-season:

Tkachuk - Tierney - Duclair
Balcers - L. Brown - Batherson <- the sink-or-swim line
Paul - White - C. Brown <- the grinders
Abramov - Chlapik/Anisimov - Davidsson <- I think Anisimov stays. We need at least one veteran forward who can play a little.
Ryan?

Norris, Formenton dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury

Chabot - DeMelo
Wolanin - Zaitsev
Reilly - Jaros
Alsing?

Lajoie - Brannstrom dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury.

Nilsson
Hogberg

Gustavson - Daccord dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury

With the roster above we should be in another tank year basically. Hopefully with the growth of our prospects we won't be as close to the bottom though. That would be very depressing.

Now if get lucky and manage to get Lafreniere, I would be in full support of accelerating the rebuild and spending some money on a couple of big FA (knowing full well we won't), one top line forward, and one top pairing D. Then we could suddenly become a playoff bubble team.

I think we'll see one of Norris or Formenton with the team all year out of camp and quite possibly both.

Norris is a 1st rounder. He's not a guy that needs to get stronger. He is tearing the AHL up and at this point looks like he'll win rookie of the year hands down.

Formenton is another guy that likely doesn't need to get stronger and that is excelling at the AHL level in his rookie pro year.

Guys wuth the draft pedigree of these two that excel as rookies do not generally tend to spend additional baking time in the A.

I also think we'll see Brannstrom here full time next year. He is above PPG in the AHL and if he finishes out the season at that level he'll have about 100 games at the level on hus resume including playoffs

I agree with DeMelo. Hope we keep him
 
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aragorn

Do The Right Thing
Aug 8, 2004
28,464
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I think we could see a lineup similar to this & hopefully Ott is able to move Tierny, Anisimov, Ryan, Reilly, Zaitsev & maybe even Nilsson. if Hogberg continues to improve & play well. This should make room next yr for a number of prospects on the team to finish the season in Ott.

Tkachuk - White - Duclair
Byfield- L. Brown - Batherson
Paul - Norris - C. Brown
Anisimov- Tierny - Ryan/Veronneau

Chabot - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Brannstrom
Reilly - Jaros/Lajoie

Nilsson - Hogberg/Daccord
 

SensFan1010

Registered User
Dec 18, 2019
578
422
I really hope Batherson Balcers and Branstrom all graduate to full time nhl players by next year. As i hope we get a taste of Norris in the bigs next yr
 

ReginKarlssonLehner

Let's Win It All
May 3, 2010
40,755
11,055
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Tkachuk-White-Batherson
Laferniere-Brown-Duclair
Balcers-Chlapik-Brown
Paul-Anisimov-Holtz
Formenton

Chabot-Zaitsev
Wolanin-DeMelo
Reilly-Brannstrom

I only see Pageau gone if we acquire a 1st+ otherwise, slot him where Brown is and move everyone down a notch
 
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supsens

Registered User
Oct 6, 2013
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I think we'll see one of Norris or Formenton with the team all year out of camp and quite possibly both.

Norris is a 1st rounder. He's not a guy that needs to get stronger. He is tearing the AHL up and at this point looks like he'll win rookie of the year hands down.

Formenton is another guy that likely doesn't need to get stronger and that is excelling at the AHL level in his rookie pro year.

Guys wuth the draft pedigree of these two that excel as rookies do not generally tend to spend additional baking time in the A.

I also think we'll see Brannstrom here full time next year. He is above PPG in the AHL and if he finishes out the season at that level he'll have about 100 games at the level on hus resume including playoffs

I agree with DeMelo. Hope we keep him

Rafferty might win rookie of the year, I call cheatsies because he’s 24 but he has a lot of points for a dman.
Convincing Demelo to stick around might cost an absolute fortune with the you guys suck tax, I figure he would have worked out a deal by now if he was going to stay, there is still time but I guess we will see
 

Que

What?
Feb 12, 2017
2,236
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I don’t think it’s any coincidence that our most tradable pending UFA’s are having career seasons.

Pageau, DeMelo and Boro will all be traded at the deadline.

They know as hard as it is to move on, this season combined with a couple big moments in the playoffs could literally make these guys over ten million dollars more over their careers.
 

Cosmix

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Jul 24, 2011
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Note that the thread says 2021-2022, but you were asking for next year's roster, so I'm assuming you meant 2020-2021, which is more realistic to project anyway. I think/hope we let the following go: Pageau, Ennis, Namestnikov, Hainsey, Boro, Sabu, Goloubef, Englund, Boedker

I hope we re-sign DeMelo. If not, I think we need to replace him with a top pairing D in the off-season anyway.

Without counting on who we draft this year, and assuming we don't manage to sign any significant FA in the off-season:

Tkachuk - Tierney - Duclair
Balcers - L. Brown - Batherson <- the sink-or-swim line
Paul - White - C. Brown <- the grinders
Abramov - Chlapik/Anisimov - Davidsson <- I think Anisimov stays. We need at least one veteran forward who can play a little.
Ryan?

Norris, Formenton dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury

Chabot - DeMelo
Wolanin - Zaitsev
Reilly - Jaros
Alsing?

Lajoie - Brannstrom dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury.

Nilsson
Hogberg

Gustavson - Daccord dominating in AHL and call ups in case of injury

With the roster above we should be in another tank year basically. Hopefully with the growth of our prospects we won't be as close to the bottom though. That would be very depressing.

Now if get lucky and manage to get Lafreniere, I would be in full support of accelerating the rebuild and spending some money on a couple of big FA (knowing full well we won't), one top line forward, and one top pairing D. Then we could suddenly become a playoff bubble team.

While drafting Lafrenniere would be great, the team needs more than 1 first line forward from the draft as the current prospects likely will not fill those roles to make the team a playoff team or SC contender. Adding old declining vets might improve the next few seasons finish but undermine the longer term rebuild. I prefer another two years of tanking to get top draft picks.
 
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Cosmix

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I think we could see a lineup similar to this & hopefully Ott is able to move Tierny, Anisimov, Ryan, Reilly, Zaitsev & maybe even Nilsson. if Hogberg continues to improve & play well. This should make room next yr for a number of prospects on the team to finish the season in Ott.

Tkachuk - White - Duclair
Byfield- L. Brown - Batherson
Paul - Norris - C. Brown
Anisimov- Tierny - Ryan/Veronneau

Chabot - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Brannstrom
Reilly - Jaros/Lajoie

Nilsson - Hogberg/Daccord
I think we could see a lineup similar to this & hopefully Ott is able to move Tierny, Anisimov, Ryan, Reilly, Zaitsev & maybe even Nilsson. if Hogberg continues to improve & play well. This should make room next yr for a number of prospects on the team to finish the season in Ott.

Tkachuk - White - Duclair
Byfield- L. Brown - Batherson
Paul - Norris - C. Brown
Anisimov- Tierny - Ryan/Veronneau

Chabot - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Brannstrom
Reilly - Jaros/Lajoie

Nilsson - Hogberg/Daccord

Trading Ryan, Boedker and Anisimov would likely require salary retention or taking back a bad contract.
 

BonHoonLayneCornell

Registered User
Oct 16, 2006
15,227
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Yukon
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that our most tradable pending UFA’s are having career seasons.

Pageau, DeMelo and Boro will all be traded at the deadline.

They know as hard as it is to move on, this season combined with a couple big moments in the playoffs could literally make these guys over ten million dollars more over their careers.
This is how I see it too, it just doesn't work in Ottawa at this stage of the rebuild and a tight budget. No interest in paying any of these guys based on their performance this year and if I were them I'd be out there hoping someone will and be willing to leave on a dime.
 

JD1

Registered User
Sep 12, 2005
15,986
9,549
While drafting Lafrenniere would be great, the team needs more than 1 first line forward from the draft as the current prospects likely will not fill those roles to make the team a playoff team or SC contender. Adding old declining vets might improve the next few seasons finish but undermine the longer term rebuild. I prefer another two years of tanking to get top draft picks.

I'd consider Tkachuk a 1st line forward, or certainly that he will be going forward. If we get one of the top 2 picks this year, we've got a second top line guy. From there, we've got a whack of guys that in two years time we might be as strong as anyone 3 thru 12.

Turnarounds are happening way quicker today than they used to. Some guy on the main boards had a post up last week on where the SC finalists were 3 years prior to being in the SCF. Interesting read.

We've got a solid prospect pool and in my opinion if we get one of the top 2 picks, i can see us 3 years from now in a contending position.

I don't buy the need to suck for several more years nor do i think we will
 
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danielpalfredsson

youtube dot com /watch?v=CdqMZ_s7Y6k
Aug 14, 2013
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Trading Ryan, Boedker and Anisimov would likely require salary retention or taking back a bad contract.

It wouldn't surprise me if both Boedker and Ryan are gone before opening night.

Boedker is a UFA, we aren't re-signing him.

Unless there is some loophole to get Ryan's salary back if he requires further time off, I could see us buying him out. I'm a bit surprised it didn't happen this past off season. Prior to knowing he had issues, I just figured that both sides would probably appreciate moving on. It's clear Ryan isn't going to be a fit with DJ Smith on the ice here, and the team has tried to do a wholesale culture change. That's not me insinuating that Ryan was part of the supposed problems we had in our "broken room", only that after this season it is very possible Ryan will be the last veteran left from that iteration of the team. Anderson, Pageau, and Boro could be gone.

Anisimov isn't going anywhere. Nobody will want him with his cap hit, and he seems to be a guy they trust to play bottom 6 or somewhat sheltered minutes. We are possibly going to lose quite a few veterans at the deadline and this team clearly values having some veterans in the lineup. The only way out of Anisimov would be a buyout or a swap for a different bad contract. With the way he is used, I doubt there is a better fit as far as a bad contract goes.
 
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GCK

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Oct 15, 2018
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There’s not a whole lot of financial benefits to buying out Ryan.
 

Cosmix

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There’s not a whole lot of financial benefits to buying out Ryan.

the team will be losing one or two LTIRs at the end of this season, possibly creating room for another which will help the team reach the mini Cap amount for the next few seasons.
 

Cosmix

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I'd consider Tkachuk a 1st line forward, or certainly that he will be going forward. If we get one of the top 2 picks this year, we've got a second top line guy. From there, we've got a whack of guys that in two years time we might be as strong as anyone 3 thru 12.

Turnarounds are happening way quicker today than they used to. Some guy on the main boards had a post up last week on where the SC finalists were 3 years prior to being in the SCF. Interesting read.

We've got a solid prospect pool and in my opinion if we get one of the top 2 picks, i can see us 3 years from now in a contending position.

I don't buy the need to suck for several more years nor do i think we will

time will tell.
 

GCK

Registered User
Oct 15, 2018
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the team will be losing one or two LTIRs at the end of this season, possibly creating room for another which will help the team reach the mini Cap amount for the next few seasons.
The point is buying out Ryan saves 3.66M but Melnyk would need to stroke a cheque for 5.8M in late June.
 

Dingle

summer is gone
Nov 22, 2019
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That's the scary part. Formenton pretty much seems like he's destined for the 3rd line in the NHL. Norris and Pinto are middle 6 guys. Bath and L Brown are really the only two penciled in as top 6 guys among the prospects.

It can get worse.

So Tkachuk is top line winger. L. Brown is being advertised as the top line center, but is in the minors and not exactly an 18 year old.. Batherson is ~ 22 and has yet to really impact at the NHL level.

Line II is????? Norris (center) and Pinto (center) and unknown ..a grand total of zero NHL games and 2 centers. Plus if the draft is fruitful, and the team gets a center..3 centers on line II

Line III is? Formenton, White and unknown.

Ouch..There must be something we are missing? right..
 

Agent Zub

Registered User
Jan 2, 2015
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you have Tkachuk and White as the two signed top 9. You can offer Tierney and Brown contracts. That will complete your 3rd line. That leaves you 5 players to complete your top 2 lines.

This Kid had better have an impact. Even if you assume Batherson and Formington and Norris. You will still be 2 short. Even, if the lottery is kind, that will mean 2 players and two 18 year olds....Pinto had better come through.

Teams gonna be bad for a long time. Lots of high picks over the next 5 years.
 

FormentonTheFuture

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
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2 years away from competing for playoffs. You keep up the sky is falling routine with the 5 years of high picks.
If they get Laf they can compete as soon as next year. But yeah there is too much talent to think they will be bad for years to come. Makes no sense
 
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Alfie11

Registered User
Feb 23, 2018
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It can get worse.

So Tkachuk is top line winger. L. Brown is being advertised as the top line center, but is in the minors and not exactly an 18 year old.. Batherson is ~ 22 and has yet to really impact at the NHL level.

Line II is????? Norris (center) and Pinto (center) and unknown ..a grand total of zero NHL games and 2 centers. Plus if the draft is fruitful, and the team gets a center..3 centers on line II

Line III is? Formenton, White and unknown.

Ouch..There must be something we are missing? right..

Relax. You're trying to build out an NHL team from a prospect list. That's not how it works.

Next years Ottawa Senators won't be made up of the prospect list. The team down the road won't be all Senators picks. The prospects are assets. Some will make the team, some will be traded and some will bust.

It's also not an NHL video game. There's no neat slotting lines 1-2-3-4 with certain types of players. They do lack top line talent but that's life. If you have a decent amount of 2nd and 3rd liners that work hard, you can compete decently.

The team is also shedding players and salary as they go, they can trade for some guys and sign some lesser vets. Think of the Brown/Zaitsev trade.
 

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