News Article: Thomas Chabot is the hero Ottawa needs right now

[Agent Zub]

How are people so confident that Chabot is going to sign?

He's a superstar, he's gonna ask for superstar money.

 

[Agent Zub]

Ya he gives me some vibes of being a certain type of leader that I like. Sort of like Alfie in a sense. Calm, cool and collected with swagger, while not saying a ton or being too in your face. Everyone's ready to hand the keys to Tkachuk, but he reminds me of the ra ra, gotta be a man's man 110% of the time annoying a holes I've played with before. Dominate a room even though everyone can't stand you. Not saying that's what he is, just the impression he's given me.

Brady just seems goofy in a everyone's friend type of way.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Brady just seems goofy in a everyone's friend type of way.

Ya I could see that too. What the hell do I know anyways, I'm not in the room.

 

[JungleBeat]

Werenski,Mcavoy, and Provorov are all due for a contract before the season starts. That will set the market on Chabot.

 

[Crosside]

I just read an article on le droit and said Chabot flying yesterday on the ice. He do it all he want on the ice. Him and Norris have a good chemistry and put lots of goal.

 

[Tuna99]

Only 2 defenseman currently playing in the NHL have ever put up 80 points in a season - Karlsson and Burns. In the history of the league, it’s happened 65 times. 30 of those times it was done by Orr, Coffey or Bourque. Only 22 guys have ever done it.

I feel like we were spoiled watching Karlsson such a short time ago, but the chances Chabot ever does it are small. The odds that a team drafts 2 defenseman who do what only 22 players in the history of the league have ever done in the span of 8 years is very unlikely.

Chabot finished with 55 points. Getting an extra 25 is a lot.

If he scores 55-60 points for the next 8 years he’ll be a perennial all-star, and we should pay him whatever. Let’s just hope he does that. Projecting him as a hall of famer at this point is a bit much.

He’s a Hall or Famer. Morgan Reilly was 3rd in Dman points win 73, and he’s not even that great. 70 points in Karlsson first 70 point season seemed unreachable and now just good players are doing it.

The game has changed. Chabot is going to get 70 points this season and he could get 80

 

[DaveMatthew]

He’s a Hall or Famer. Morgan Reilly was 3rd in Dman points win 73, and he’s not even that great. 70 points in Karlsson first 70 point season seemed unreachable and now just good players are doing it.

The game has changed. Chabot is going to get 70 points this season and he could get 80

Morgan Rielly did it playing in an offence with Matthews, Tavares and Marner. Chabot will be hard pressed to have one of his forwards score 25+ goals.

 

[Micklebot]

Morgan Rielly did it playing in an offence with Matthews, Tavares and Marner. Chabot will be hard pressed to have one of his forwards score 25+ goals.

Scoring in general did go up last year. When Karlsson hit 78 pts in 2012, teams were scoring an average of 2.54 goals a game. Last season teams scored an average of 2.81, roughly a 10% increase.

Having said that, Chabot's production last year was almost entirely done in the first half of the season with a blistering 36 pts in the first 35 games and only 19 pts in the last 35 games. Part of that was the trade deadline striping away all the talent, but even if you look at 2nd half games that occured prior to Stone Duchene and Dzingel getting scratched leading into the deadline, he "only" put up 10 pts in 16 games.

I suspect we will see Chabot in the 40 to 50 pts range unless somebody in the forward corps has a breakout year and fills the gap.

I also think this might be beneficial to Ottawa, as Chabot isn't in any rush to sign an extension, the crappiness of our team and likely focus on defense under DJ Smith might diminish Chabot's leverage in negotiations. If he "only" puts up say 45 pts, Aho got offersheeted because his new contract negotiations coincided with a breakout season. Chabot isn't being set up for success, so the incentive to try and offersheet him might not be as great, thus reducing his leverage.

 

[BondraTime]

We were scoring on a ridiculous amount of our shots early last season.

We were getting outshot by tons, bit were getting goals based on an extremely unsustainable shooting %. This is what led to the ill timed, extremely short sighted “better than all the pundits predicted” mini series and lots saying we were a possible playoff team in October/November last year.

Chabot put up a lot, lot of points that stretch, I think it’s pretty fair to say that the ridiculously high shooting % helped with his 36 points in 35 games.

Chabot is going to collect a lot of points in his career, a lot. I think ~50 is a reasonable, if not generous number for this coming season with the talent we have.

 

[jhutter]

He’s a Hall or Famer. Morgan Reilly was 3rd in Dman points win 73, and he’s not even that great. 70 points in Karlsson first 70 point season seemed unreachable and now just good players are doing it.

The game has changed. Chabot is going to get 70 points this season and he could get 80

I think Chabot certainly has the ability to be a 70+ point defenceman, but I would be shocked if he put up 80 or even 70 with this season's supporting cast.

 

[Micklebot]

We were scoring on a ridiculous amount of our shots early last season.

We were getting outshot by tons, bit were getting goals based on an extremely unsustainable shooting %. This is what led to the ill timed, extremely short sighted “better than all the pundits predicted” mini series and lots saying we were a possible playoff team in October/November last year.

Chabot put up a lot, lot of points that stretch, I think it’s pretty fair to say that the ridiculously high shooting % helped with his 36 points in 35 games.

Chabot is going to collect a lot of points in his career, a lot. I think ~50 is a reasonable, if not generous number for this coming season with the talent we have.

I look at what Ekman-Larsson did in Arz at around the same age in the 2014-2015 season, and not to suggest they are particularly similar stylistically, but he'll be in that kind of situation where there isn't a lot of support. That's what I expect; Chabot to lead the team in scoring, and having to do it the hard way.

 

[Tuna99]

I think Chabot certainly has the ability to be a 70+ point defenceman, but I would be shocked if he put up 80 or even 70 with this season's supporting cast.

I think the PP will be hugely improved as will the 5 on 5 play.

He got 55 points playing in a horrid system last year - all the metrics point to Ottawa being one of the worst possession teams ever. That’ll change and he’ll benefit massively from it.

A top group of Chabot - Zaitsev - Tkachuk - Batherson - Tierney can put up decent production. That’s a respectable top 5 group and he’ll be able to get points.

The size of our forwards and how they’ll be a big time net from presence will open up the blue line for Chabot. And with Zaitsev he should have a better partner who’ll help his game improve

 

[jhutter]

I think the PP will be hugely improved as will the 5 on 5 play.

He got 55 points playing in a horrid system last year - all the metrics point to Ottawa being one of the worst possession teams ever. That’ll change and he’ll benefit massively from it.

A top group of Chabot - Zaitsev - Tkachuk - Batherson - Tierney can put up decent production. That’s a respectable top 5 group and he’ll be able to get points.

The size of our forwards and how they’ll be a big time net from presence will open up the blue line for Chabot. And with Zaitsev he should have a better partner who’ll help his game improve

If he can put up 80 points playing the majority of the time with Zaitsev (27 points in his last 141 games), Tkacuk (a second year player likely with a career ceiling of 75 points), Batherson (rookie with high upside, but a rookie nonetheless) and Tierney (a solid 3C), he should change his number to #4. I hope you're right, but I really don't see it. 80 points is a massive season, on a strong team.

 

[Micklebot]

I think the PP will be hugely improved as will the 5 on 5 play.

He got 55 points playing in a horrid system last year - all the metrics point to Ottawa being one of the worst possession teams ever. That’ll change and he’ll benefit massively from it.

A top group of Chabot - Zaitsev - Tkachuk - Batherson - Tierney can put up decent production. That’s a respectable top 5 group and he’ll be able to get points.

The size of our forwards and how they’ll be a big time net from presence will open up the blue line for Chabot. And with Zaitsev he should have a better partner who’ll help his game improve

so... what about removing Stone, Duchene and Dzingel is going to improve the PP? Heck, our PP wasn't even bad last year ranking 13th in %, and 15th in goals. We are far more likely to see the PP suffer than improve. Chabot will have a giant target on his back all season. Teams will be looking to shut him down.

 

[Viletho]

so... what about removing Stone, Duchene and Dzingel is going to improve the PP? Heck, our PP wasn't even bad last year ranking 13th in %, and 15th in goals. We are far more likely to see the PP suffer than improve. Chabot will have a giant target on his back all season. Teams will be looking to shut him down.

I realistically could see Chabot having around the same points total but with a significant improvement in term of defensive play.

Chabot isn't a bad defender, but he is a young one that need to progress. And I hope he takes the next step in that departement.

 

[DaveMatthew]

I think the PP will be hugely improved as will the 5 on 5 play.

He got 55 points playing in a horrid system last year - all the metrics point to Ottawa being one of the worst possession teams ever. That’ll change and he’ll benefit massively from it.

A top group of Chabot - Zaitsev - Tkachuk - Batherson - Tierney can put up decent production. That’s a respectable top 5 group and he’ll be able to get points.

The size of our forwards and how they’ll be a big time net from presence will open up the blue line for Chabot. And with Zaitsev he should have a better partner who’ll help his game improve

What about the changes we made will make us a better possession team?

We swapped out one of the best possession wingers in Stone with no one.
We lost a PPG number 1 center and offensive driver in Duchene and replaced him with no one.
We swapped an analytically terrible defenseman and replaced him with another analytically terrible defenseman.
We hired the coach who ran an objectively bad defense in Toronto.

So unless Babcock was over-ruling all of Smith's great decisions and he's the next Scotty Bowman, I don't so how our possession numbers will be "hugely improved".

Instead of focusing on shutting down Stone, Duchene and Chabot... opposing teams can now just focus on Chabot.

 

[Agent Zub]

I think the PP will be hugely improved as will the 5 on 5 play.

He got 55 points playing in a horrid system last year - all the metrics point to Ottawa being one of the worst possession teams ever. That’ll change and he’ll benefit massively from it.

A top group of Chabot - Zaitsev - Tkachuk - Batherson - Tierney can put up decent production. That’s a respectable top 5 group and he’ll be able to get points.

The size of our forwards and how they’ll be a big time net from presence will open up the blue line for Chabot. And with Zaitsev he should have a better partner who’ll help his game improve

There's optimism and then there's this.

 

[Tuna99]

There's optimism and then there's this.

Chabot is the best player Ottawa has ever had. I don’t set my expectations on what Morgan Reilly did with his 2 elite forward lines - I set it off what i see on the ice. I can’t actualky believe not more Ottawa fans think he’s a top 3 scoring D next year, that’s a no brainer. The 80 points could be tough but he has a very good chance

 

[Agent Zub]

Chabot is the best player Ottawa has ever had. I don’t set my expectations on what Morgan Reilly did with his 2 elite forward lines - I set it off what i see on the ice. I can’t actualky believe not more Ottawa fans think he’s a top 3 scoring D next year, that’s a no brainer. The 80 points could be tough but he has a very good chance

Chabot will go down as one of the better Ottawa Senators if he stays. But to say that this team will be better 5 on 5 and on the power play after losing two elite producers in Stone and Duchene (not to mention 25 goals from Dzingel) and replacing them with Connor Brown and Anisamov is crazy.

Not to mention we don't even know how good or what kind of system DJ Smith will run. It could be even worse than Boucher.


Also Tierney and Zaitsev should never ever be mentioned in a NHLs top 5 group. That's more embarrassing than a respectable top 5 group.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Chabot is the best player Ottawa has ever had. I don’t set my expectations on what Morgan Reilly did with his 2 elite forward lines - I set it off what i see on the ice. I can’t actualky believe not more Ottawa fans think he’s a top 3 scoring D next year, that’s a no brainer. The 80 points could be tough but he has a very good chance

Jason Spezza - 2nd overall pick, 687 points in 686 games as a Senator, led team to SCF
Daniel Alfredsson - 1108 points in 1178 games as a Senator, future HOFer, led team to SCF
Erik Karlsson - 518 points in 627 games as a Senator, 2 Norris trophies, led team to ECF
Dany Heatley - 180 goals and 362 points in 317 games as a Senators, led team to SCF
Zdeno Chara - Became one of the most dominant defensemen in the league as a Senator, was nominated for the Norris, became a 2-time SC winner and sure-fire hall-of-famer

Thomas Chabot - 80 points in 134 games as a Senator, on teams that finished 30th and 31st in the league.

 

[BondraTime]

Jason Spezza - 2nd overall pick, 687 points in 686 games as a Senator, led team to SCF
Daniel Alfredsson - 1108 points in 1178 games as a Senator, future HOFer, led team to SCF
Erik Karlsson - 518 points in 627 games as a Senator, 2 Norris trophies, led team to ECF
Dany Heatley - 180 goals and 362 points in 317 games as a Senators, led team to SCF
Zdeno Chara - Became one of the most dominant defensemen in the league as a Senator, was nominated for the Norris, became a 2-time SC winner and sure-fire hall-of-famer

Thomas Chabot - 80 points in 134 games as a Senator, on teams that finished 30th and 31st in the league.

Yeah, that claim is fundamentally insane

 

[Tuna99]

Jason Spezza - 2nd overall pick, 687 points in 686 games as a Senator, led team to SCF
Daniel Alfredsson - 1108 points in 1178 games as a Senator, future HOFer, led team to SCF
Erik Karlsson - 518 points in 627 games as a Senator, 2 Norris trophies, led team to ECF
Dany Heatley - 180 goals and 362 points in 317 games as a Senators, led team to SCF
Zdeno Chara - Became one of the most dominant defensemen in the league as a Senator, was nominated for the Norris, became a 2-time SC winner and sure-fire hall-of-famer

Thomas Chabot - 80 points in 134 games as a Senator, on teams that finished 30th and 31st in the league.

Just keep watching - your post needs to be updated in 2026, bookmark this and do me that favour

There’s really only 2 players to compare him to (Spezza, Heatley are never thought of as the best Sens) -to me the only question is will be pass Karlsson. And he will. He’s already as good at the same age but a better defender, bigger and overall I like his game more

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Just keep watching - your post needs to be updated in 2026, bookmark this and do me that favour

There’s really only 2 players to compare him to (Spezza, Heatley are never thought of as the best Sens) -to me the only question is will be pass Karlsson. And he will. He’s already as good at the same age but a better defender, bigger and overall I like his game more

I hope you are right!

 

[JungleBeat]

to me the only question is will be pass Karlsson. And he will. He’s already as good at the same age but a better defender, bigger and overall I like his game more

You’re wrong on all accounts. EK won a Norris at 21 or 22.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

You’re wrong on all accounts. EK won a Norris at 21 or 22.

21 years old (if they only count regular season) he was awarded the actual award when he was 22.