Does Anyone Else Think Ottawa Might Have a Good Season?

[Caeldan]

Pageau 40 goal season incoming

That'd be amazing given that he is going to miss half a season.

 

[Korpse]

They will be better than last year. How much better, not sure but they will get more points than the 67 they got last season.

 

[Channelcat]

Every team has enough talent to compete, there's just gotta be some motivation. The franchise is a tire fire, but there are a number of guys there with something to prove, and something to play for ($). I can see them to doing much better than people expect.

 

[ricky0034]

I think they'll be last in the league by a lot

can't imagine why anyone would think morale could be a positive factor with Melnyk still around,if anything it will be a huge negative factor

 

[NyQuil]

No.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Going to be competing for the #1 pick. Even Anderson showing up won't save this team, and once he takes his annual injury leave mid-season Senators will start playing more and more young players, with more errors-in-play resulting.
This team ain't making the playoffs.

50ish points, maybe less than that.

 

[glucker]

really anything can happen in this leagur

It is possible that the 30 other teams fold, and Ottawa hands themselves the cup, like the previous Ottawa team did way back when.

Less demoralizing than assembling a team that is so weak at C that AHL level plug Smith is your 2nd line C?

The team will trade Stone, Duchene and Dzingel before the TDL and will finish dead last in the NHL.

IF new ownership comes in prior to the TDL and re-signs the UFA's, then they are a bottom 10 team.

The whole thing is demoralizing.

 

[Danythegod]

I’m a sens fan who is boycotting them currently until melnyk is out and the fans that are still watching seem to think that beat a bad Chicago and Montreal team makes them think we’re going to be alright.

Sens went 2-5 in preseason.. no they are going to be bad.

At least Duchene and tkachuk are looking good together... until they trade Duchene away.

#melnykout

 

[613Leafer]

Forwards - two guys you can reasonably project 45+ points from (Duchene/Stone), and no legitimate 80+ point threats.

Defence - no defenceman on the team has ever hit 30+ points in the NHL, and they don't have any defencemen considered legitimate top pairing guys from a defensive standpoint.

Goaltending - they had the second worst team save % in the league last season, and are bringing back the same two guys. Anderson at 37 years old very likely has his best days behind him. I could see their goaltending rebounding slightly compared to last season, but it's not like they're going to have a top 10 tandem or anything.

Internal growth - Chabot has the potential and is at the right age where he could break out. But really he's the only young guy on the roster that I think has a chance to become a legit top line / top pairing talent this season. Tkachuk/White are generally seen as safer two-way players rather than guys with dynamic franchise player potential (+ Tkachuk was just drafted and is unlikely to hit the ground running).

There's really no strong point to their roster. The top-end talent is relatively weak (if you look at their top C/W/G/D, Stone is really the only guy that is in the conversation for being top 10-15 at his position), and the depth after that isn't astounding either, nor is the team loaded with youth that you can reasonably project to being able to carry an NHL team at this stage.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Doing a Gm mode in NHL 19, Ottawa managed to win only 14 games.

Yikes.

I don’t think they are 14 win bad, but can’t see them pulling a Vegas. They have no center depth, no more Erik Karlsson, an aging Anderson.

This sucks for Sens fans.

 

[Deuce Awesome]

I think it depends on just how much of a problem the off ice issues were. If all of the culprits have been dealt off, it could be addition by subtraction. Maybe Duchene will shine now that he is the "best player". Maybe Ryan will bounce back and bang 30. Who knows, hockey is a game you can't predict on paper.

A locker room is a make it or break it thing. Ive seen it over here in Leafs land multiple times.

It wouldn't surprise me either way if they finished in the wild card or the draft lottery.

 

[HandshakeLineRespect]

Wut

 

[Voight]

Ummm how? They were complete garbage last year and that was before trading their star player....

 

[Riggins]

They will be better than the Canucks, that's for sure.

 

[Inkling]

They could well start better than expected but if they decide to trade Duchene and Stone rather than lose them to UFA, things are going to get uglier fast.

 

[Fire Benning]

That’s gonna be a no from me dawg.

 

[The Note]

They’re going to be awful.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Lose number 1 defender
Lose good top 6 forward
Lose locker room moral with multiple dumb comments

They should be fine.

Lets get some proper perspective. Karlsson is a player that at his best is as dominant if not more then someone like Mcdavid. How bad are the Oilers without Mcdavid? This might be 1993 Ottawa senators bad if there was no loser points.

 

[swiftwin]

Talent-wise, they are on of the worst teams in recent years right now. If they trade Stone, they definitely are. It also depends on whether they will fill the lineup with placeholders for a year or two, or start to insert some actual talent. It looks like the latter, which might mean they aren't quite that bad off.

With that said, any projections on the team level are so imprecise that there's an off-chance that even a team like Ottawa puts up a surprisingly good season.

Really? Who on Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit, Arizona or the Rangers is better than Stone or Duchene? I'd say the Sens have two players that are better than anyone on those 5 teams.

 

[Peptic Balcers]

73 points, 26th overall

 

[Leafs87]

I can see it. They are very up and down last time I remember that they were supposed to be the worst in the league was like 2010 or 2011 and they iced half of their AHL time with guys like Greening and Smith and they made the playoffs

 

[JianYang]

Ottawa will probably be in the same group as Montreal and detroit. Where they end up exactly, I'm not sure but it's hard to see many scenarios where they finish higher than 5-6 in the atlantic.

The Atlantic is a weird division. There's some pretty good teams in it, but I don't think any other division's basement looks as bad as this one either.

If I had to choose which position is most likely, I still choose Ottawa as #8.

 

[Korpse]

Forwards - two guys you can reasonably project 45+ points from (Duchene/Stone), and no legitimate 80+ point threats.

Defence - no defenceman on the team has ever hit 30+ points in the NHL, and they don't have any defencemen considered legitimate top pairing guys from a defensive standpoint.

Goaltending - they had the second worst team save % in the league last season, and are bringing back the same two guys. Anderson at 37 years old very likely has his best days behind him. I could see their goaltending rebounding slightly compared to last season, but it's not like they're going to have a top 10 tandem or anything.

Internal growth - Chabot has the potential and is at the right age where he could break out. But really he's the only young guy on the roster that I think has a chance to become a legit top line / top pairing talent this season. Tkachuk/White are generally seen as safer two-way players rather than guys with dynamic franchise player potential (+ Tkachuk was just drafted and is unlikely to hit the ground running).

There's really no strong point to their roster. The top-end talent is relatively weak (if you look at their top C/W/G/D, Stone is really the only guy that is in the conversation for being top 10-15 at his position), and the depth after that isn't astounding either, nor is the team loaded with youth that you can reasonably project to being able to carry an NHL team at this stage.

Not that I have crazy expectations for the Senators this year but every point you made is easy to refute. I’d bet on Tkachuk being an impact player still year too. Does not look out of place, actually has looked rather impressive.

 

[swiftwin]

I can see it. They are very up and down last time I remember that they were supposed to be the worst in the league was like 2010 or 2011 and they iced half of their AHL time with guys like Greening and Smith and they made the playoffs

You don't even have to go that far back. In 2014-15, they traded Spezza away after missing the playoffs the previous season, leaving Turris and MacArthur as their two best forwards. They still made the playoffs. I'd say Stone and Duchene are much better than Turris and MacArthur.

 

[Korpse]

Ummm how? They were complete garbage last year and that was before trading their star player....

If that’s how you look at professional sports, I imagine you are often caught off guard by actual results. It’s so much more complex than that.