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With NHL training camps another month away, the dog days of summer are truly here. So, what does one do on a random Wednesday evening in August? Attend the Ottawa Senators Season Seat Member event, of course.
Senators President and CEO Cyril Leeder, Brendan Du Vall (VP Ticket Sales and Service), Peter Shier (VP, Marketing) all provided tidbits of pertinent information, or least as much as they could in advance of next season. While general manager Steve Staios responded to pre-submitted questions from fans.
Leeder touched on several items to look out for the upcoming season.
Balanced schedule
With the NHL schedule returning to 84 games last seen in 1993-94, divisional play will be balanced. The Senators will face each Atlantic Division team four times, two at home, two on the road. The club had been playing five games versus two of their divisional opponents.
Highlighted games
The club will put an emphasis of their October 8 home-opener when the Philadelphia Flyers come to Ottawa. Leeder higlighted Brady Tkachuk’s return visit October 21 as a game to be in attendance. The mention of Tkachuk drew a few jeers.
Requesting a Saturday evening game with Edmonton Oilers, something that hasn’t occured in recent years. This will happen December 12. A Monday afternoon home game against the Buffalo Sabres two days later is also on the Senators agenda.
In the league’s effort to grow the NHL brand in Europe, teams in Eastern and Central Time Zones will host games Monday afternoon’s throughout the season.
Leeder also promoted his club’s trip to Dusseldorf, Germany as part of the NHL Global Series, December 18 and 20 versus the Chicago Blackhawks, noting at least 300 Senators fans will be making the trip overseas.
Fan experience
Enhanced in-game fan experiences will be announced closer to the season. Second level seats have been replaced.
The Senators are also welcoming their new tenant, PWHL’s Ottawa Charge. Renovations are being which will make the Charge the envy of the league when it comes to arena facilities.
And finally, Leeder spoke of progress being made at LeBreton. Shovels in the ground for a new building are still a long ways away, but plans for creating a “full-on district” are well underway.
Ticketing VP Brendan Du Vall highlighted, VIP gamenight experiences for seasons ticket holders, September 12-13 Prospects Challenge in Gatineau, Fanfest, Senators Holiday Skate, two signature events during the season. In addition; STH’s will have an opportunity to exchange tickets for up to 30% of games as part of a Ticket Exchange Program. Great news, if they’re unable to attend a particular game.
Marketing VP Peter Shier discussed the successful Ottawa Senators app which now has 25,000 downloads and 1.3 million page views. The app features live postgame scrums and more.
Shier gave props to his team as winners of an NHL award for Social Impact and Growth Initiatives for their sale of 900 “Heated Rivalry” Senators jersey in support of Ottawa Pride Hockey.
Shier also made a key announcement in that there will be eight free Express round-trip buses leaving from designated locations throughout the city on game nights. Details to follow.
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Senators GM Staios meets with fans
It’s rare in any sport that fans interact with their favourite team’s GM, but this was the case Wednesday. Season Ticket Members were encouraged to submit questions via email to Senators GM Steve Staios. Fans were asked to acknowledge their question at the event in a fun back and forth.
Questions ranged from leadership and captaincy, Brady Tkachuk trade anatomy, roster depth, cap space management, Drake Batherson extension negotiations,
On the Senators next captain:
“We have a number of individuals who can be the next captain of the Ottawa Senators. A lot of factors come into play. Like I know our players very well. Obviously, Travis and the coaching staff will have discussions in regard to our next leader as for our team. We have both a mix of young and old players that are experienced. I shouldn’t say old. Sure, if those guys were here, they’d be eyeballing me right now. But we have experienced players and sort of players that are coming into their prime as well, and that’s an exciting thing for for me and for us, as a fan base to be able to watch this group continue to develop.
But to answer the question on captaincy. I had an experience of being personal experience of being a captain in the NHL, and it was the greatest honour. I was with the Atlanta Thrashers, and I was relatively unknown captain. I got chosen after a very good off season and preseason, and thrust in this position. The one thing to keep in mind, I’ve told some of our younger players who are coming up this story to remind them that you got chosen to be a leader because of what you did. And I think the lesson I learned was I needed to be myself because for the first four to six weeks of being captain, I wasn’t a very good one because I was trying to force the issue, and I think that’s something to keep in mind when we’re going through the process and looking at our next captain and making sure that they are certainly ready for for that.
Because it comes with a lot of responsibility, and as you know, you guys live it every day like I do. But there’s ups and downs, and to be able to handle that and endure that and keep the ship moving forward, along with keeping your team in order. I think is important.”
On the Tkachuk trade and actively seeking a player in return:
“It was a difficult conversation with Brady, and I alluded to the fact, and I think you guys could see it as well that there was a little bit of a difference from him in this play, and he was dealing with a number of factors leading up to it. So when the conversation happened, I went into a strategic plan on how this was going to work. You’ve got to remember, the player had as much control of this as the team did. So we entered negotiations with four separate teams, and as the negotiations went on, it must have been all of probably five or six weeks until we had come up with a deal. Nearing the end of it, a few days before, I felt that I got the sense that it was going to be only the one team, and that team had the ninth overall pick weeks prior.
I’d already started to talk to teams about certain players on their teams that may have been part of a deal with that pick. So that plan sort of started a couple, two or three weeks in advance of when we got the deal. So the answer to the question, we did get back to the player back in William Eklund. A little more to that, just to give you some more insight, the goal was to continue to keep the team as competitive as they are. I wasn’t done. The 25th pick was in play as well, and I know I can feel it from you guys because I felt it too.
There’s some pretty good players out there. I’m sure you guys are saying, “Come on, Staios, let’s go get this guy right.” What you’ve got to keep in mind is that if I do go and make that deal for the 25th pick or whatever amount of draft assets or anything else that I could, it puts us in a position where we really do like our current players. We really like this core.”
On key AHL depth signings cracking the Senators roster:
“The answer is yes, always. I think the steps that we’ve taken as an organization is a number of different things that we’ve been able to execute on for us to be able to take those steps for you guys to see playoff hockey in back-to-back years.”
“The depth signings of Sammy Blais, Ryan Suzuki and Phil Thomasino was a little bit of a shift in philosophy for us because we were working towards our off-season strategy. I felt that we’ve done a good job at Belleville. You see players that came up last year from a depth perspective when we ran into that rash of injuries, in particular on defense, were able to come up and give us good games and good minutes, and we were able to sustain winning down the stretch, which was important for us to get in the playoffs. But the change in philosophy came by this, we feel like we built our Ottawa Senators team with a great deal of depth, and we’re trying to do the same thing in Belleville. We have an influx of younger players. Now we’re in a position where we have some prospects coming through, but we also wanted some proven NHL call-up winners. And with Tomasino and Blais in particular, they’ve had some real experience and had relative success in the NHL. So it’s not as much of an unknown on a call-up option with those players and we’ve insulated our younger players that are still developing with players with some experience.”
On managing salary cap flexibility:
“Well, the cap does continue to go up, and the landscape is changing, as we’ve seen with some of the contracts that have been signed more recently. We’re trying to be wise with our decision-making when it comes to not only player acquisition but with contracts as well. And it’s not like there isn’t going to be an opportunity for us to spend up to the cap, but to leave some flexibility is critical. I think teams that get up against the cap can get themselves in a bit of a position with not as much flexibility or variability to their lineup. In fact, in Year One when I was here, we had to play a match short on a couple of occasions because of it. So I feel like we’ve done some good business along the way to now where we not only have our current team as competitive as it was last year, possibly more.”
On Drake Batherson contract extension talks:
“There’s no secret we want to get Drake Batherson to sign here, where he wants to. That conversation is ongoing with Drake, and you know it takes two sides to come to a deal. But there’s been good dialog as we move forward, and he’s a homegrown talent. He’s a great story, but he continues to get better. And we feel like we have a very good, strong, contending team with a chance to win. We want him to be a part of it.”
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