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

[Adrianopolous]

He's 100% correct. Watching the playoffs after a year if watching the Sens is line watching a whole different league.

So glad we got this "core" locked up long term.

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[Burrowsaurus]

Well we definitely would have gotten steamrolled in the playoffs. But not close to the playoffs? lol if islanders and Washington get shit goaltending next year they’ll be faaaarr out even tho this year they’re “big bad tough playoff teams”.

 

[Knave]

I disagree. We're way off being a contender but making the playoffs? Find an actual goalie, find a better version of Methot to complement Chabot and we can make the playoffs every few years.

 

[salomonster]

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.

 

[SpezDispenser]

Don't agree. If Staois can do what needs to be done, we can be at least close next season.

 

[Emerica]

Wake up babe, the new @Adrianopolous thread just dropped

 

[PlayOn]

I think a lot depends on our core and how much they improve, something no one can really predict.

We don’t have the cap space/flexibility/assets to really fix the depth this off-season. It’ll take two summers imo. But better goaltending, proper coaching to start and around 3 players that actually bring elements we need will already help a significant amount. Having said that, I think that turns us into a bubble team - not necessarily a playoff team.

Significant steps forward from guys like Stützle, Sanderson, Pinto etc will probably be the difference imo.

 

[coladin]

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.

Which is why I felt a player like Bertuzzi could help this team. This team has no jam. Zero. Batherson is soft. Brady, Tim (finishes his checks and will throw big ones), Greig, and that's it.

 

[BondraTime]

That should be a pretty unanimous thought, this is a bad, very poorly constructed team

 

[Mingus Dew]

Bit tautological when you finish 26th lol.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

I disagree. The team played at a 90 point pace in the last half of the season (by far the harder part of their schedule). They did that with historically bad goaltending.

The team isn't designed well but a bit of tinkering, legit NHL coaching from the beginning of camp, a few saves and swapping Chychrun out for a passable RD could easily give this team a 5-10 point bump. That isn't including maturation and development of some pretty key players like Sanderson, Pinto and Greig.

This team is not ready to be a true contender but I'd bet they finish somewhere between 6th and 10th in the conference next year.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

He's right, they haven't proven a thing yet

They have to really nail this coaching hire

 

[Alf Silfversson]

He's right, they haven't proven a thing yet

They have to really nail this coaching hire

I don't think it can be overstated how badly this team was coached in previous years. A good coach can get this team to the playoffs (with a couple minor tweaks to the roster).

 

[GCK]

At minimum we are getting a new coach, a new RD, Klevin and 1 bottom 6 winger.

 

[JungleBeat]

We are close but a serious mindset adjustment needs to happen. Trade Brady’s BFF Norris to shake things up.

 

[BigRig4]

I agree the current iteration of the team isn't close - but it really doesn't take much to make a dramatic difference. Not saying we'll hit on all the changes, but look at Vancouver. A good coach who gets the players to buy in and some tweaks to the depth can make all the difference.

 

[Xspyrit]

Coaching and stable goaltending would have a major impact on this team. After the coaching change, the team progressively started to play more responsibly. The results were not immediate because goaltending was even worse but all metrics were much improved.

From January 13th, the team had a 23-18-4 record, good for 0.556 P%, which was 19th OA in the league for that stretch, which was basically the 2nd half of the season. Top-10 in all defensive metrics and 8th in xGF%

Adequate coaching, roster tweaks and fixed goaltending and I disagree with this statement

 

[HoweHullOrr]

A lot depends on what happens this summer. We need a good, top 4 RD, a goalie and a good coach. If we get all three, our chances will be greatly improved to make the playoffs.

Just three things makes it seem like a smaller challenge, but, getting all three might be more difficult than we (some) expect.

 

[BankStreetParade]

It's always been a league where experience matters. So, yeah, one of the least experienced teams in the league is struggling to make the playoffs and might continue to do so.

Here's where the 16 teams that made the playoffs rank in overall roster experience (total games played in the NHL, not including playoffs): Florida 9, Tampa Bay 13, Boston 5, Toronto 2, NYR 12, Washington 16, Carolina 4, NYI 10, Dallas 6, Vegas 8, Winnipeg 11, Colorado 7, Vancouver 22, Nashville 17, Edmonton 1, LAK 21.

The only teams outside of the top 16 on the list to make the playoffs are Nashville 17, LAK 21 and Vancouver 22. Not a single team in the bottom 10 of the list made the playoffs. The only team in the top 10 to miss the playoffs was Pittsburgh.

Let's compare us to the lowest ranked team to get in, Vancouver. They collectively have 9283 games of experience on their roster and Ottawa has 7013. Their average age is 28.08 compared to 26.05 for Ottawa. So the average player on the playoff team with the least total experience is 2 years older and approx. 98 games more experienced than Ottawa's. That's how far we are from the team with the least experience to make the playoffs this year.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

It's always been a league where experience matters. So, yeah, one of the least experienced teams in the league is struggling to make the playoffs and might continue to do so.

Here's where the 16 teams that made the playoffs rank in overall roster experience (total games played in the NHL, not including playoffs): Florida 9, Tampa Bay 13, Boston 5, Toronto 2, NYR 12, Washington 16, Carolina 4, NYI 10, Dallas 6, Vegas 8, Winnipeg 11, Colorado 7, Vancouver 22, Nashville 17, Edmonton 1, LAK 21.

The only teams outside of the top 16 on the list to make the playoffs are Nashville 17, LAK 21 and Vancouver 22. Not a single team in the bottom 10 of the list made the playoffs. The only team in the top 10 to miss the playoffs was Pittsburgh.

Let's compare us to the lowest ranked team to get in, Vancouver. They collectively have 9283 games of experience on their roster and Ottawa has 7013. Their average age is 28.08 compared to 26.05 for Ottawa. So the average player on the playoff team with the least total experience is 2 years older and approx. 98 games more experienced than Ottawa's. That's how far we are from the team with the least experience to make the playoffs this year.

I bet if you add in playoff games (on par with regular season experience) it’s even more of a gap. Very little playoff games experience on our roster.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

He isn't wrong but hockey is random enough that anything can happen. That team be was on wasn't close to playoffs either, but they squeaked in and came within a goal of the cup final.

Making the playoffs next year might be the worst thing that could happen because it might just delay the inevitable of having to tear down a flawed build.

Ultimately, I think we are heading for a major retool/rebuild whether we like it or not. Brady is gone by July 1st 2025 (if we don't magically win next year), and that will be the major domino that causes a rebuild or retool.

The team is too soft physically and mentally.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

Bit tautological when you finish 26th lol.

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

 

[Micklebot]

Man, Meth really can't take a hint, felt like they were playing him out for 10 mins while he just ranted over top of the music to transition to commercials...

Ok, so on the one hand, I agree that we're a long ways away, at least in terms of how we played the majority of the season. 78 pts is a long way off. Under Jacques, it was an 82 pts pace, that's still 10 pts back. Even using the most generous time frame and pacing out, from that 12 Jan date, we're still just a bubble team with a 91 pts pace but pace is a dangerous game to play.

That said, be it 82 pts or 91 pace, with the goaltending we got, hard to imagine it could get any worse (never say never...). I think with no significant changes to the roster, we could be a bubble team.

So how much do we really need to change. It starts with coaching, Jacques imo was pretty good, we saw some real improvement, if we get someone like Berube, Sullivan, Gallant, ect, that's going to help, add a RHD and maybe a gritty bottom or middle 6 guy, suddenly we look more like the NYI than Mtl

The team will continue to grow internally, I still feel small roster changes can be impactful if they are smart about it,

 

[Answer]

Obviously they are not. You don't even need to ask him when I could just tell you this, and actually did last year lol

 

[h2]

Methot is right, but we can turn things around with restocking the pool with this next draft, and then making shrewd trades/ufa signings (like MacArthur types).

Without any shred moves happening, we're probably garbage for another 2-3 years. We'll see what happens this summer. I'm going to trust Staios for now as I believe he knows the deficiencies with this group and where to rectify them.