My Prediction : Ottawa Senators with the top 3 division finish next season

[Artorius Horus T]

Yeah, my last year prediction of this team, didn't go so well, maybe i was ahead of things with one season

F :

Connor Brown
Tim Stutzle
Brady Tkachuk
Josh Norris
Drake Batherson

all 5 had strong seasons
avg age : 22.2 years

Add, Shane Pinto, Yevgeni Dadonov, Nick Paul, Colin White, Chris Tierney
even Ryan Dzingel (if they bring him back, re-sign him), to the mix.

Then there's Alex Formenton, Yegor Sokolov, Logan Brown, Vitali Abramov,..
and...Roby Järventie, Ridly Greig fighting from the last forward spots

Looks soooo good and very interesing, for years to come.

D :

Thomas Chabot
Nikita Zaitsev
Victor Mete
Artyom Zub
Erik Brännström
Josh Brown

+

Jake Sandersson
Lassi Thomson
Bernard-Docker

That d, to be honest, looks sick in the future, if everyone pans out
as they project to be.

And what comes to goaltending, if Matt Murray really can't get to his A game
(again, which personally, i don't that's the case, he can be what he was at his best
for Pittsburgh, all he needs is a good play-offs caliber team front of him) its not that
big of a deal, their goalie prospect pool is strong.

Sörgaard, Gustavsson, Meriläinen, all 3 are awesome goalie prospects,
but the first 2, should, could be already challenging Murray for the SG position next season,
Gustavsson for one, was already great for the Sens this season,
sure small sample size, i know.

Ps. I don't think Högberg will ever be that what Sens fans
have for long hoped he be, better, younger goalies are coming,
i predict he won't be coming back next season.

Click to read more...

 

[JTToilinginToronto]

Lol no

 

[ThatsSoSlavin]

That’s way too much pressure for so many young guys, I say no

 

[TSA0402]

This is almost as bad as Marc Methot saying that Sens will be significantly better than Leafs within a few years.

They have alot of good young players, but beating out Tampa, Florida, Boston, Toronto is a difficult task.

I think they have a very good future, but its not next year.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

If the divisions remained the same as this year and Ottawa was once again playing in the North, maybe. But no way they finished top 3 when they're back in a division with multiple elite teams.

 

[lawrence]

what division are we talking about here? Regular style division or like the one we have today? if it's like Canada division I think they can.

 

[leafsfan5]

We're probably going back to Atlantic aren't we? If so these teams are their competition:

Tampa, Toronto, Florida, Boston

That's 4 elite teams. They're not finishing higher than any of them

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Ottawa has no chance against the Atlantic teams.

They might finish 5th though.

 

[bobholly39]

Tampa isn't going anywhere
Toronto - I'd be shocked to see them go anywhere. In the regular season, they'd be a top team.

I've been predicting for Boston to 'crash and burn' for a few years now - but it hasn't happened yet, and they again looked super strong this year. Very unlikely
Florida came a bit out of nowhere this year. We'll see how repeatable it is - but even if they crash a bit, that's a might low fall to allow Ottawa to pass them

Habs - have been ahead of Ottawa for years in a row. They may not be as scary as Tampa - but they're competitive in the regular season. Sens will have a very hard time passing them


Which leaves Detroit/Buffalo. I don't think Detroit is quite ready to break out yet, but....Buffalo might. They can't suck forever.

That's a ton of competition. I can't see Ottawa finishing top 3. They're simply not very good. They have good young players, but they need a few more years

 

[Gold Standard]

back to normal divisions? not a chance they finish Top 3.

 

[Iapyi]

Tampa isn't going anywhere
Toronto - I'd be shocked to see them go anywhere. In the regular season, they'd be a top team.

I've been predicting for Boston to 'crash and burn' for a few years now - but it hasn't happened yet, and they again looked super strong this year. Very unlikely
Florida came a bit out of nowhere this year. We'll see how repeatable it is - but even if they crash a bit, that's a might low fall to allow Ottawa to pass them

Habs - have been ahead of Ottawa for years in a row. They may not be as scary as Tampa - but they're competitive in the regular season. Sens will have a very hard time passing them


Which leaves Detroit/Buffalo. I don't think Detroit is quite ready to break out yet, but....Buffalo might. They can't suck forever.

That's a ton of competition. I can't see Ottawa finishing top 3. They're simply not very good. They have good young players, but they need a few more years

They didn't have to face the strength of schedule from the powerful North Division this year though. They had a lot of weak teams to beat up on the division they played in.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Yeah, my last year prediction of this team, didn't go so well, maybe i was ahead of things with one season

F :

Connor Brown
Tim Stutzle
Brady Tkachuk
Josh Norris
Drake Batherson

all 5 had strong seasons
avg age : 22.2 years

Add, Shane Pinto, Yevgeni Dadonov, Nick Paul, Colin White, Chris Tierney
even Ryan Dzingel (if they bring him back, re-sign him), to the mix.

Then there's Alex Formenton, Yegor Sokolov, Logan Brown, Vitali Abramov,..
and...Roby Järventie, Ridly Greig fighting from the last forward spots

Looks soooo good and very interesing, for years to come.

D :

Thomas Chabot
Nikita Zaitsev
Victor Mete
Artyom Zub
Erik Brännström
Josh Brown

+

Jake Sandersson
Lassi Thomson
Bernard-Docker

That d, to be honest, looks sick in the future, if everyone pans out
as they project to be.

And what comes to goaltending, if Matt Murray really can't get to his A game
(again, which personally, i don't that's the case, he can be what he was at his best
for Pittsburgh, all he needs is a good play-offs caliber team front of him) its not that
big of a deal, their goalie prospect pool is strong.

Sörgaard, Gustavsson, Meriläinen, all 3 are awesome goalie prospects,
but the first 2, should, could be already challenging Murray for the SG position next season,
Gustavsson for one, was already great for the Sens this season,
sure small sample size, i know.

Ps. I don't think Högberg will ever be that what Sens fans
have for long hoped he be, better, younger goalies are coming,
i predict he won't be coming back next season.

This looks fine on its own but when you compare it to the other teams in the Atlantic division, not so much. Tampa, Toronto, Boston and Florida all look better. I’m not saying it will be impossible but it will be a surprise if it happens.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Not a chance in hell.

 

[Byron Bitz]

I will say this about Ottawa, their rebuild so far looks like it’s going better than Buffalos and Detroits

 

[ricky0034]

Tampa isn't going anywhere
Toronto - I'd be shocked to see them go anywhere. In the regular season, they'd be a top team.

I've been predicting for Boston to 'crash and burn' for a few years now - but it hasn't happened yet, and they again looked super strong this year. Very unlikely
Florida came a bit out of nowhere this year. We'll see how repeatable it is - but even if they crash a bit, that's a might low fall to allow Ottawa to pass them

Habs - have been ahead of Ottawa for years in a row. They may not be as scary as Tampa - but they're competitive in the regular season. Sens will have a very hard time passing them


Which leaves Detroit/Buffalo. I don't think Detroit is quite ready to break out yet, but....Buffalo might. They can't suck forever.

That's a ton of competition. I can't see Ottawa finishing top 3. They're simply not very good. They have good young players, but they need a few more years

Buffalo really depends on what ends up happening in the near future

I think they bounce back next year as things stand right now

but if they do end up trading Eichel they could end up really bad again next year, especially if they trade Reinhart too which has also been getting rumors

 

[Adrianopolous]

No way

 

[NyQuil]

Tampa isn't going anywhere
Toronto - I'd be shocked to see them go anywhere. In the regular season, they'd be a top team.

I've been predicting for Boston to 'crash and burn' for a few years now - but it hasn't happened yet, and they again looked super strong this year. Very unlikely
Florida came a bit out of nowhere this year. We'll see how repeatable it is - but even if they crash a bit, that's a might low fall to allow Ottawa to pass them

Habs - have been ahead of Ottawa for years in a row. They may not be as scary as Tampa - but they're competitive in the regular season. Sens will have a very hard time passing them


Which leaves Detroit/Buffalo. I don't think Detroit is quite ready to break out yet, but....Buffalo might. They can't suck forever.

That's a ton of competition. I can't see Ottawa finishing top 3. They're simply not very good. They have good young players, but they need a few more years

I think this is a decent take although I can see the Senators passing Montreal as soon as next season.

I’m not sure if I would characterize it as a “very hard time” to pass them.

Anyway, I voted no if it is indeed the Atlantic teams.

 

[Korpse]

I don’t think so. Just hopeful they can be in the race. That said people always underestimate how close teams really are. Did anyone expect the President trophy winning Boston bruins to miss the playoffs in the following two seasons. Tampa had cemented themselves as a perennial contender before they missed the 2017 playoffs.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Nope--the kids will need to develop. They are a couple of season away from making noise

 

[Golden_Jet]

Lol no

If you made the poll, and the answer is a lol no,
Then is there even a point to a poll.

 

[keglu]

You should double check teams that probably gonna play in their division.
They would be good bet for Top 3 in North division next season, thats for sure.

 

[Xspyrit]

I voted no because I think they'll need a bit more time but note that after an horrible first month (2-12-1, explained by a lot of factors), since March 13th, Ottawa was 15th in the NHL in Pts% with 0.561 (21-16-4)

Looking at other "Atlantic teams", Florida (0.678) Toronto (0.643), Tampa Bay (0.636) and Boston (0.593) still did better during that period of time. So yes, not an easy division

Yeah, my last year prediction of this team, didn't go so well, maybe i was ahead of things with one season

F :

Connor Brown
Tim Stutzle
Brady Tkachuk
Josh Norris
Drake Batherson

all 5 had strong seasons
avg age : 22.2 years

Add, Shane Pinto, Yevgeni Dadonov, Nick Paul, Colin White, Chris Tierney
even Ryan Dzingel (if they bring him back, re-sign him), to the mix.

Then there's Alex Formenton, Yegor Sokolov, Logan Brown, Vitali Abramov,..
and...Roby Järventie, Ridly Greig fighting from the last forward spots

Looks soooo good and very interesing, for years to come.

D :

Thomas Chabot
Nikita Zaitsev
Victor Mete
Artyom Zub
Erik Brännström
Josh Brown

+

Jake Sandersson
Lassi Thomson
Bernard-Docker

That d, to be honest, looks sick in the future, if everyone pans out
as they project to be.

And what comes to goaltending, if Matt Murray really can't get to his A game
(again, which personally, i don't that's the case, he can be what he was at his best
for Pittsburgh, all he needs is a good play-offs caliber team front of him) its not that
big of a deal, their goalie prospect pool is strong.

Sörgaard, Gustavsson, Meriläinen, all 3 are awesome goalie prospects,
but the first 2, should, could be already challenging Murray for the SG position next season,
Gustavsson for one, was already great for the Sens this season,
sure small sample size, i know.

Ps. I don't think Högberg will ever be that what Sens fans
have for long hoped he be, better, younger goalies are coming,
i predict he won't be coming back next season.

Pretty well informed post for a non-Sens fan... Since you're in Finland, do you have any personal report on Meriläinen by any chance?

Forwards (order of impact IMO) : very young and solid top-9 that'll keep improving

Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson, Connor Brown
Shane Pinto, Alex Formenton, Nick Paul, Colin White

On the fence : most HF Sens fans hope Seattle pick one of Dadonov/Tierney. For Dzingel, could be brought back as a cheap short term stop gap. Many injuries during a season

Evgeni Dadonov
Chris Tierney
Ryan Dzingel

Vitali Abramov : there won't be a spot for him, not good enough defensively to play further down the lineup. Could be a good guy for Seattle to take a chance on. Worst case scenario, he's a guy ala Balcers, has NHL talent for sure, more offensive skill than Balcers but not as good 2-way. Ripe for the taking for a rebuilding team or even a team against the cap

Wildcards :

Logan Brown : so much skill, skating seems even better now but the guy can't stay healthy to save his life. It'll be hard for him to truly establish himself if he can't figure that out. Fully healthy, he's a NHL player for sure. It's taking "forever" because he has basically lost 2 years in development in total, which is crazy.

Yegor Sokolov : still in his first pro season, can afford to be a bit more patient with him but looks like the kind of guy that will just force the team's hand with his progression. He almost looked "out of place" in his first 3-4 AHL games then adjusted quickly and now looks real good

Ridly Greig : a bit like Sokolov, it wil be hard to keep him off the roster very long but he's very young (still 18) so might have to spend a year in the WHL and then a partial one in the AHL. He's ready to play pro but CHL transfer agreement...

Roby Järventie : long term project, will need at least 2-3 years in the AHL. Could be a sniper down the line.

Angus Crookshank : 13 pts in his first 15 AHL games, plays the game the right way. Another guy to keep an eye on but can afford to be patient. There's also a few other guys but they're still years away (Daoust, Reinhardt) or more like 4th liners depht guys (Kelly, Kastelic)


Defense : in order of importance IMO. There's still a lot of work to do IMO

Thomas Chabot, Artyom Zub, Erik Brännström, Nikita Zaitsev, Victor Mete, Josh Brown

Wildcards :

Jake Sanderson : well, Sens fans cant wait to have him, might not be until later in the season. That guy is going to be so good.

Jacob Bernard-Docker : somewhat underrated, the guy won't be "spectacular" but solid overall player.

Lassi Thomson : some are still hopeful about this guy, some are on the fence. I see him as a bottom-pair D-man who brings offense, he has some very nice tools but his hockey sense probably not good enough for the top-4

Tyler Kleven : more interesting prospect than Thomson IMO, but a longterm project that was just drafted, so far so (very) good.

Maxence Guenette : long-term project as he was a 7th round pick

Goalies :

Matt Murray : looked quite good when he came back from injury and the "team defense" was finally fixed (mainly road games). He had a 0.954 SV% and 2 shutouts in 5 games. Obviously, this guy had a lot of success in both the AHL and NHL at a young age. He certainly has the ability. He is goalie that will thrive playing behind a good structure.

Filip Gustavsson : I was starting to give up on him but I did a complete 180. He looked fantastic. Lesson : don't give up on goalies with strong fundamentals too quickly

Mads Sogaard : I am super high on this guy (highest on a Sens goalie for me since Robin Lehner) and well, 5 wins in his 5 first AHL games, 0.922 SV %. He's 6'7, athletic and quick. Could be a monster

Daccord, Mandolese and Merilainen are also pretty good prospects. Hogberg won't be back (Dorion has confirmed). He was probably the least good of all goalies in the organization. No idea why Anton Forsberg was brought back too.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Here's MY prediction for Ottawa next season.

Dead last in their division.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Here's MY prediction for Ottawa next season.

Dead last in their division.

Shocker coming from you, I’m surprised you didn’t say worse than last.

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

We're probably going back to Atlantic aren't we? If so these teams are their competition:

Tampa, Toronto, Florida, Boston

That's 4 elite teams. They're not finishing higher than any of them

Boston is 2 injuries away from being a basement team. Same with the Panthers. Anything can happen