The Ottawa Senators will hit their quarter-mark to the 2025-26 campaign when they take to the ice Thursday in Anaheim
While there is certainly room for improvement, the Senators currently possess a 9-6-4 record. At the same juncture last season, the club was struggling to tread water at 8-10-1. The Senators were in the midst of a five-game winless streak. Fortunately, the team was able to turn their season around, going 37-20-6 the rest of the way. However, in seasons past, seven to be exact, they were unable to overcome such a slow start.
Parity is king in this National Hockey League season. On any given night, a team can be in the mix for a playoff berth or on the outside looking in with a pair of losses or wins. It’s that tight. The Senators are definitely aware of this. Heading into this past Saturday’s action, they stood in third place in the Atlantic Division standings. After 1-0 loss to Los Angeles, the Senators are technically one spot below a Wildcard position. This with the New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Ottawa all playing 19 games and accumulating 22 points as of Tuesday evening.
If it wasn’t for a rough 2-4-0 opening to this season, it could easily be the Senators sitting atop the Atlantic and not the surprising Boston Bruins.
Senators 7-2-4 after a tough start
Senators head coach Travis Green acknowledged Monday his team started slow, but has since reeled it in.
“After Game Five or whatever, I thought our game was little bit loose. First five games. Kind of tightened things up lately, and the rest of our games have followed and ensued,” noted Green. “And it’s a grind this year, the whole NHL has tight separation, especially in our division.”
David Perron chalked up his teammates’ early foibles to the opposition playing well.
“I would say that most teams like you come back into it, you want to hit the ground running. And the tough part of doing that is at the end of the year only the playoff teams that feel like they have that. Then at the start of the year, after a good training camp, you feel like all 32 teams feel pretty good about themselves, what they’ve got going, additions, draft picks, whatever they did over the summer. So I think that’s the reason why it’s a little bit harder sometimes at the start of the year, and we did a good job of grabbing it. And you know, like the good part, we can keep getting better.”
In addition, for the most part, the Senators have been able to soldier the loss of Brady Tkachuk, injured in the third game of the season. The Senators captain underwent surgery to his right thumb after Tkachuk attempted to brace himself from hitting the boards after a crosscheck from behind by Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, Nashville Predators’ Roman Josi.
Players stepping up in the captain’s absence
Several players have taken the reins in Tkachuk’s absence. Tim Stützle is a point-per-game player (10 goals, nine assists in 19 games), as is Drake Batherson (six goals, 12 assists in 16 games). Recently extended, Shane Pinto has notched nine goals, Dylan Cozens seven, and Michael Amadio has six. The Senators defense core sits sixth league-wide in points (47) from the blue line.
Last season, the Senators ranked second-last in even-strength scoring. This is one area which has seen continued improvement. The team currently ranks eighth in total goals per game (3.26). But better yet, the team is sixth in total goals scored at five-on-five (42).
Not to mention, Tkachuk will likely return at some point during their upcoming road trip. The Senators play in the 26-year-old’s hometown St. Louis November 28, if he doesn’t return to the lineup sooner.
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It was the 18-year veteran who noted all teams have to find a way to win without key players out of their lineups. Perron cited the Kings beat them Saturday after all-star D-man Drew Doughty left the game after blocking a shot. The Dallas Stars faced the Senators last week minus forwards Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene.
“No, it’s hard, but at the same time, we didn’t really talk about it. And I know, I think Travis (Green) mentioned that to you guys before, but we really didn’t. It’s not unlike every team you try and move on, and if we didn’t have success, we would probably hear about it more from you guys. We would talk about it more. We want to have him back because we know we’re a better team with him. And that’s just the reality of it right now,” explained the 37-year-old.
Room for improvement
However, like all NHL clubs, there’s always room for improvement in certain areas. For the Senators, it’s three-fold.
Special teams have been a thorn for the coaching staff. Early in the season, Ottawa’s power play ranked among the league’s top three for a good stretch of games. The PP unit has slumped to 11th (23.3%), and has tallied only once in its last 23 attempts. The PP failed to garner a shot on goal in its two-man advantages versus the Kings.
Though the Senators penalty kill has performed better of late, allowing three goals over their past seven outings, the PK still ranks as the NHL’s second-worst (67.9%).
Another key area that needs more consistency is goaltending. As a team, Ottawa’s 3.42 goals allowed per game sits 26th.
Linus Ullmark’s save percentage (.874) is 31st among goalies making 10 or more appearances. Ullmark’s analytic stat Goals Saved Above Expected for 60 minutes ranks 35th (-0.523) among netminders playing 10 games or more. Fortunately, for the 2023 Vezina Trophy-winner, there’s plenty of runway to amp up his game.
Since giving up seven goals in his first start, backup Leevi Merilainen is sporting a .913 save percentage.
Bottom line, the Ottawa Senators much-ballyhooed even-strength scoring from last season has been their saving grace early in the 2025-26 campaign.
