After breaking a seven-year postseason drought last season, the Ottawa Senators enter the 2025-26 NHL campaign not wanting to settle for just making the playoffs. They want more.
Though the Senators fell in six games to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening round, the experience alone is providing players with a lofty goal heading into this season.
“it’s about that Stanley Cup mindset right from Day One. And that’s something that I’ve seen up close in personal, and that’s something that I know we’re not going to stop until it gets done,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk at the club’s kickoff launch September 3. “And I think playoffs is a great goal to have, but I think there’s bigger goals that we’ve set for ourselves.”
After finally earning a playoff berth in his ninth pro season, like his teammate, defenseman Thomas Chabot is striving for more: “That’s what we want to do every year. But now we don’t want to just take part in it, we want to go in and do some damage,” Chabot declared at the Senators’ golf tourney prior to training camp.
Are the Senators ready to take the next step?
For starters, the team is in one of, if not the most competitive, divisions in the league. The Senators need to hang with the likes of the Panthers, Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the up-and-coming Montreal Canadiens all season just to have an opportunity to earn a postseason berth.
Perennial playoff clubs such as the Boston Bruins and the Metropolitan Division New York Rangers faltered, and the Senators took full advantage, recording a 19-point increase over the previous season, the team’s first with head coach Travis Green at the helm. The Senators also allowed 47 fewer goals, while notching 64 power play markers, tied for tops in the NHL.
However, if the Senators are to take that next step, there’s little doubt they need to score more goals skating at even-strength. The team tallied the NHL’s second-fewest (139) total playing 5-on-5 in 2024-25.
5-on-5 scoring is key.
Despite missing the final three weeks of the regular season, Tkachuk led the team with 29 goals, Drake Batherson netted 26, Tim Stützle 24, and Shane Pinto added a career high 21.
More is expected from all of them. A past-first player, Stützle has seen his shots on goal totals dip the past three seasons, 228, 192, 162, and vows to shoot more this year.
Scoring only two goals in 20 games after being acquired from the San Jose Sharks, Fabian Zetterlund will get an opportunity to line up on the right side of Tkachuk/Stützle, at least to open the season.
The Senators are also hoping Dylan Cozens will score more than his 16 total combined, 11 of which were garnered with the Buffalo Sabres.
Green noted post-practice Monday, he’s confident his team will add more goals, “I think we are (confident). The onus is usually comes down to the players that are supposed to score, but we’ve tried to look structurally look at different things that we can do to create offense. I’ve seen some improvements.”
Exciting roster depth
Tim Stützle noted Monday, the most exciting aspect about the Senators this season is their roster depth, “I mean, since I got here, I don’t think we’ve been this deep ever. And I think we improved again over the summer.”
“Everybody can play with anyone. All the guys can play left/right, feel like we have a bunch of centres as well. So I think it’s really important. And especially throughout the season, there’s gonna be injuries. There’s gonna be times where guys are not able to play, and then the other guys have to step up. So I think that that’s what’s gonna help us a lot,” Stützle explained.
The 23-year-old isn’t wrong – credit to general manager Steve Staios. In only one and half seasons, Staios has put his club into a position whereby the biggest decisions in training camp are “Who will be the 13th forward?” and “How will the defense line up?”
Signed as a free agent, Lars Eller brings 16 seasons, 1228 NHL games of experience, plus a Stanley Cup ring to the club. Eller will anchor the Senators’ fourth line at centre and kill penalties.
Seeing a need for more team toughness, the Senators added forward Kurtis MacDermid in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on Friday evening. At 6’5″, 233 pounds, MacDermid is one of the true heavyweights in the league. His presence will lessen the load for Brady Tkachuk to defend his teammates.
Olle Lycksell, signed to a two-way contract July 1, cleared waivers Monday but will remain with the team due to Drake Batherson being placed on injured reserve. Batherson sustained an upper-body injury on September 24. While the right winger is skating, he may not be available for the Senators’ opener in Tampa Bay on Thursday.
Jordan Spence was acquired from Los Angeles Kings on Day Two of the NHL Entry Draft as insurance if Nick Jensen was unable to start the season after undergoing offseason hip surgery.
Nick Jensen returns.
The fact that Jensen was able to return to the Senators’ lineup for their preseason finale Saturday was a testament to his workout regimen. Evasive hip surgery can take up to a year for a full recovery.
With Jensen returning, decisions on the Senators blue liners are still not resolved, even after the team submitted their opening day salary cap compliant roster.
Battle for ‘D’ spots.
Jensen’s opening the season means he’ll remain on the second d-pairing with Chabot. Jake Sanderson/Artem Zub are the number one duo, while the Senators’ third pair is in a state of flux.
Left-shot defenseman Tyler Kleven sustained an injury during the Senators’ first preseason game. While he is currently skating, he’s yet to appear in a regular practice.
Rookie Donovan Sebrango manned Kleven’s spot at practice Monday with Nik Matinpalo playing the right side. It’s highly possible Spence will be the odd man out come Thursday.
Where the Senators wll finish is anyone’s guess. The Panthers are missing Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and the Maple Leafs will ice a different look minus Mitch Marner. There’s a legitimate chance, the Senators can finally become a top-three team in the Atlantic.
If you ask EA Sports NHL 26, the Senators will be the next Stanley Cup champion.
