Do the sens currently have the pieces to make the playoffs next year?

[Sun God Nika]

Do the sens currently have the pieces to make the playoffs next year?

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[Ouroboros]

With Henrique, yes.

Without Henrique, no way.

 

[Crosside]

Maybe but we have to not have significant injury to ours player

 

[dumbdick]

Absolutely we do.

 

[H2O]

Probably not yet as more growing pains are expected from a super young team, but yes for season after next.

 

[PlayOn]

Maybe but we have to not have significant injury to ours player

Agreed. We’re thin on defense so if we lose Chabot or even Zub for an extended period, I don’t see it going well. Up front, can’t lose Brady or Norris.

We also can’t really afford many setbacks from our young guys and we NEED strong goaltending. Can we make the playoffs? Sure. There’s a large number of question marks though, which means things could go either way. 2022-2023 season would be my target, next year is just a bonus if we make it.

 

[Senscore]

Not totally convinced we do but that's fine. There's just too many good teams in this division.

I think making a desperate move when we have no reason to do so is a bad idea. Hopefully Dorion can take advantage of our good expansion draft situation to pick up a Dman. That's an opportunity we should not be wasting.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Possibly, there are a lot of question marks. Do the rookies slump or progress?

Also goaltending. It's an extremely small sample size and I don't know if there was an effect, but Murray played a lot better after the new goalie coach came in.

 

[Dan Patrick]

I think the Sens could sneak into a wild card spot (or maybe third in the division if a lot of things fall our way), especially if they can go on a run over the last 20 games or so once Sanderson joins the team. Like it was said above we also will need to have a good year with no major injuries and continue having the consistent goaltending we got to end this past season.

We will likely be fighting with Montreal, Floria, and Boston for the last divisional spot and then a ton of potential teams for wildcard positioning. I think that Montreal could likely take a big step back next year as a lot of their guys will still be banged up from the finals run and they'll likely lose one of their top centres in Danault. Boston as well is another year older and has had bad injury luck lately along with still needing to re-sign some important players. Florida is likely the front runner for the last Divisional spot with Tampa and Toronto, but even Toronto could take a step back if their goaltending is only average and they can't re-sign some good depth pieces.

Ottawa will likely be farther along than both Detroit and Buffallo so if we can win a majority of games against those teams and other bad teams around the league while still splitting games with good teams like we did this year (also we only have to play Edmonton twice) then we will likely be in a much better spot than we were this season. It recently has taken around 98 points to get a wild card spot so you have to go at least 45-29-8 to guarantee a spot. It will be tight and the guys have to keep progressing from this past year but the team certainly has the pieces.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Will Stutzle breakout as a PPG+ player? 2 of Norris/Pinto/White score 50+ points? Defense plays like they did towards tail end of the season? Goaltending produce .910 sv% or better?

As it stands now, the conservative answer is no, we are closer to bottom 10 than playoffs--especially our division. Add a solid middle or top 6 C, instead of Tierney, and another insurance on defense and I say yes sir we are in contention for the playoffs.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Can the Senators organization lure real talent to the team? …and will that ‘real’ talent be able to play at a level that is favourable for the team to succeed?

(I call this the Murray factor)

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Atlantic Division
Tampa
Toronto
Boston
Florida
---
Montreal
Ottawa
Buffalo
Detroit


Metro Division
Carolina
Islanders
Pittsburgh
Washington
------
NYR
Phile
BJs
NJ

I would bet we are not top 3 in the Atlantic.
I would bet we are not a wild card

If we get a Solid LD to play behind Chabot and solidify our top 4 more and we add a solid tweener F and can dump Tierney and Dadonov I will reassess. As it stands we are not going to beat out Boston or Florida or Pittsburgh or Washington. IMO

 

[Dan Patrick]

Atlantic Division
Tampa
Toronto
Boston
Florida
---
Montreal
Ottawa
Buffalo
Detroit


Metro Division
Carolina
Islanders
Pittsburgh
Washington
------
NYR
Phile
BJs
NYI

I would bet we are not top 3 in the Atlantic.
I would bet we are not a wild card

If we get a Solid LD to play behind Chabot and solidify our top 4 more and we add a solid tweener F and can dump Tierney and Dadonov I will reassess. As it stands we are not going to beat out Boston or Florida or Pittsburgh or Washington. IMO

I think this is fair. Ottawa will need to get pretty lucky in order to make it or the team will need to see big steps forward from most if not all of the young players.

I do think that we could have internal replacements for all the players/positions you listed. Between Sanderson, Greig, Sokolov, and Klevin and maybe longer shots like Jarventie and Crookshank we could likely fill that middle LD spot and depth/middle six scoring positions next year. Though it more than likely won't help us in time to make the playoffs next year.

I think that it's also worth mentioning we likely could have made the playoffs this year if we had gotten another 26 games but this coming year will obviously be different. On the one hand we will be replacing Edmonton and Winnipeg with Boston, Tampa and the Panthers and on the other there will be significantly more "winnable" games as we get to play an extra 14 games against teams that finished worse than us in the standings this year.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Just a heads up you have islanders twice instead of New Jersey

will fix..

 

[SpezDispenser]

Potentially the toughest division in hockey. I think we'll make noise, but as others have mentioned it depends on the progression of Stutzle, Norris, Pinto, Formenton, Zub, Batherson, Tkachuk etc. I also think this is a prime opportunity to get a right handed D-man to play up and down the lineup when need be.

It also depends on Murray/Gus obviously. We go nowhere with sub .900 goaltending.

Can't stress enough that we're trending in the right direction though.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Yes. I don't buy into the Panthers or Bruins anymore.

 

[aragorn]

The Sens have the pieces to make the playoffs next yr, but whether they will or not IMO will depend on the defence & the goaltending. If Sanderson were here for the entire yr it might be different, but they still need to make a few changes before they have a playoff team IMO. I also don't think they need to make any offseason acquisitions just yet, they have a number of prospects who might be able to fill those spots if they get the right opportunity. They also have a few players that they need to move out & that might help to acquire a player or two they could use. This draft could also help to find another player or two to help their team long term.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Bubble team at best with the current roster. Any better will depend on what happens this summer.

 

[DrEasy]

With the team as it is now? Maybe. But after whatever moves Dorion makes in the off-season? Probably not.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

With the team as it is now? Maybe. But after whatever moves Dorion makes in the off-season? Probably not.

 

[JungleBeat]

Tampa
Florida
Toronto
Boston
Montreal


The Sens aren’t going to be too three in the division. Only hope is a wildcard spot but then you have the Rangers.

 

[Artanis]

Depends on Toronto and Boston teally, Tampa and Florida locks for 1/2.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Depends on Toronto and Boston teally, Tampa and Florida locks for 1/2.

How is Florida a lock for top 2 let alone the playoffs? They haven’t even signed Barkov yet and their coach might not survive the offseason scandal.

 

[JungleBeat]

How is Florida a lock for top 2 let alone the playoffs? They haven’t even signed Barkov yet and their coach might not survive the offseason scandal.

What scandal?

Barkov is also has a year remaining. I’m sure Zito will get it done.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

How is Florida a lock for top 2 let alone the playoffs? They haven’t even signed Barkov yet and their coach might not survive the offseason scandal.

Barkov is signed for next year though, so that's more of a year after problem unless they move him this summer or midseason.