The Ottawa Senators held exit meetings Monday, earlier than would’ve wanted. Management and players alike aired their disappointment in how their season ended, but gave credit to a strong Carolina Hurricanes team.
One of the most vocal players of the day, defenseman Thomas Chabot wants the series sweep to be a reminder of his team has to do to succeed next season.
“Sometimes you just got to get punched right in the face. And that’s kind of what we did this year. And it hurts, and it should hurt, and it will hurt for many, many more weeks, and and it should be. That’s the way it really should be. But this group, man like guys, everybody cares so much, and seeing the look on the guys after the game and still being in the room, nothing was being said in that locker room. I know coming back next year, it’s this one. This one will be a good reminder for us.”
A despondent Claude Giroux said, “I think this year we dug ourselves in a little hole early in the season, and in the last two months, we’re playing playoff hockey, and
played some really good hockey to get into playoffs, and that’s something that we should be proud of. But sitting here right now, it’s not what we have planned.”
General Manager Steve Staios touched on his club’s uphill climb and the stress it put on the team just to get into the postseason, “Our group battled through
and showed what type of team we can be down the stretch. But I think that put us under a lot of duress, and so I think just consistency overall for our group (needs improvement.)”
While teams prefer not to use injuries as excuses for losses, the fact was the Senators dressed 13 different defensemen at times. Chabot sustained three injuries, called his season “s*****” due to his multiple absences. Unbelievably, the blueliner noted Monday, the broken bone in his right forearm is not fully healed, and was being held together with “plates and screws.” Three more weeks of recovery is still required.
Artem Zub, injured in the opening period of Game 1 said his recovery for his lower-body injury will take at least one more month.
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A pending unrestricted free agent at age 38, Giroux isn’t quite ready to think about his future.
“It’s too fresh right now to start thinking about it. I take a few weeks and kind of see, see what’s next,” added the 19-year-veteran, but his priority if he does return for a 20th season is to be an Ottawa Senator.
While the Senators GM stated his team made strides in their play at five-on-five, rising to ninth from 31st the previous campaign scoring at even-strength and improving defenseively, Staios recognizes his job is to not only win, but bring a championship to Ottawa.
“My job is to continue to build on this team, and it’s not just about making the playoffs, but striving to win a Stanley Cup,” Staios opined during his media availability.
Staios is open to adding in specifc areas to the club. However, it’s not easy. The GM explained on adding a top six goalscorer, “I mean, it’d be nice. They’re hard to find, and what you have to give up to get it is one thing, but we were eighth in goals for in the National Hockey League this year. I always like to add to the group and give them more support in certain areas. But we didn’t score in the playoffs against a very good defensive team, but we scored through the regular season. We improved In part five on five scoring.”
Staios has belief in his current forward group, “I don’t think the majority of our core players are into their prime. I think there’s still room for them to grow. There’s belief within from them as individuals, that they can get better. So yes, of course, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not looking outside our organization to try and continue to help, help this team in any way. That’s my job, and we feel like we’ve made some good decisions on where we’ve been able to support this group and help it move forward, and in others that we haven’t and but I’m going to continue to look.”
Addressing Tkachuk rumours
One important player not speaking during Monday’s exit meetings was the Senators’ captain. Brady Tkachuk left Ottawa immediately after Game 4 to be with his wife, Emma who gave birth to their second child. Tkachuk will speak to local media once life settles down in a week or two.
With two years remaining on his contract, Tkachuk’s trade value may never be higher. NHL insiders and media outlet continue to bring Tkachuk’s name to the forefront of the rumourmill.
Staios quickly shut that down saying, “Well, it’s nonsense. Is what it is, and it depends on what week and what fan base it’s coming from. So I don’t I don’t read it. I don’t bother with it. We know what we have internally. We have great communication with our players, so we really don’t focus on it.”
The Senators GM was satisfied with Tkachuk’s play this season, especially after injuring his right thumb in the team’s home-opener causing him to miss six weeks.
Despite this, the 25-year-old still managed to register 59 points (22 goals, 37 assists) in 60 games.
“Well, I think he dealt with a lot. I think we have to really put this into perspective here. I mean, he came out of the gate, dealt with an injury to start the season. Then
he’s off to the Olympics, wins a Gold Medal. There’s a lot in a condensed regular schedule. there was a lot this year, and he continued to play. One thing, is that Brady’s game continues to grow and mature, you know, both on and off the ice, and I’ve watched it from Day One, from when I got here, compared to where he is now.”
Travis Green also defended his captain’s play this season, “I think we lose sight of the season that he had. I mean, I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot in this room getting questioned about the player that 31 teams would love to have. Like, was he his absolute best? I don’t know if any player was their absolute best on our team. That rarely happens. Were there games that he could have played better? Yeah, for sure, every player does, might’ve had his highest point per game total. I’ve never heard one person in this room say anything about that, pretty sought-after guy in the league. So I don’t know why I have to keep being asked about it, to be honest.”
Staios did have one regret this season, not getting Linus Ullmark backup support when Senators goaltending was faltering during the first three months.
“You know, as far as the goaltending, when I talk about making decisions to help this team move forward. The one where we didn’t do a good job was on the backup position initially,” admitted the Senators GM.
“And the process in our room when we discussed it was on Leevi’s (Merilainen) performance. And we still believe in Leevi and saying this, his numbers were better than any of the alternative goaltenders that we were looking at. And so I think I didn’t do a good enough job of supporting Linus in that position, and probably didn’t put Leevi in the best position to have success as well, and we had to adjust and have James Reimer come in.”
It was hoped Merilainen was ready to take the reins of becoming a full-time backup to Ullmark this past season, especially after posting an 8-3-1 record, 1.99 goals against average, .925 save percentage in 2025-26 when Ullmark was out with injury.
The 23-year-old never found consistency during Ullmark’s leave of absence and was eventually loaned to Belleville upon his return.
Staios spoke of reviewing the process of coming to the decision that hockey operations did of their goaltending, noting Merilainen continues to grow his game, But a decision on what route to take with the team’s goalie situation for the 2026-27 campaign remains to be seen.
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