Despite making the playoffs, the 2009-10 Season was a bit of a disappointment for the Ottawa Senators. While the season began strong for Ottawa they dropped rapidly after the Olympic break. The Senators where able to hold onto 5th in the Eastern Conference, finishing the season winning 7 of 9 games. Ottawa would lose in six games to Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1st round, missing big free agent acquisition Alexei Kovalev. A bounce back season from several key players that struggled last year could help the Senators make a challenge for the Northeast Division title, and perhaps a deep playoff run.
The Northeast Division is a fairly wide-open division, and with 4 different champions in the past five seasons the title could once again be up for grabs. The Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadians could all potentially be in the hunt along with Ottawa. Even the Toronto Maple Leafs, while not a contender for the division crown, could make a push for a playoff spot and should be in the mix come April. The flipside of such a balanced division is any team could also falter and finish last as all 5 teams have finished 4th or worse in the last four seasons. Consistency will be the key but certainly some of Ottawa’s players should perform better then last year.
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Offensively the Senators have a number of highly skilled players. Despite this they managed to finish 15 in goals scored and a dismal 21st on the power play. While Daniel Alfredsson had a strong season, at age 37 and with his style of play he certainly will be hard pressed if he has to carry the offense again. Players like Jason Spezza and Alexei Kovalev have the talent to be point per game players however they managed just 106 points between them. Another player the Senators will need to rebound is Milan Michalek, the key piece in the Dany Heatley deal. Michalek scored 22 goals last season but managed only 34 points. Mike Fisher had a career year last year with 25 goals and 53 points and talented youngster Peter Regan should continue to improve his numbers. Chris Kelly, Nick Foligno, Ryan Shannon, Chris Neil and Jarrko Ruutu all provide the potential for double digit goals from the bottom six to help give the Senators a well-balanced attack.
Ottawa made a big splash in the off-season signing free agent defenseman Sergei Gonchar. He has proven to be one of the most dynamic defenseman in the league and along with late season acquisition Chris Campoli, and budding youngster Erik Karlsson should help to greatly improve the Senators power play. Ottawa will need to address the defensive side as they finished 18th in goals against, only Pittsburgh finished with a worse goals against amongst playoff teams. The loss of defensive stalwart Anton Volchenkov will be greatly missed, and the Senators will need Chris Phillips, Matt Carkner and newcomer David Hale to help provide support to Ottawa’s net-minders. Once healthy, veteran Filip Kuba should help both the offensive and defensive sides of the game.
Like many teams in the NHL today goaltending seems to again be a question for the Senators. Pascal LeClaire again faced injury problems after being coming over from Columbus, playing in only 34 games last season. His numbers weren’t exactly spectacular with a 3.20 goals against average and .887 save percentage while going 12-14-2. He did however show flashes last year of the promise he once had in Columbus. He will compete with Brian Elliot for the starting job. Last season Elliot once again showed he can be a dependable option in net with 45 wins in 86 games over the last two seasons. Either way LeClaire and Elliot will make for a solid tandem.
Ottawa should be able to get into the playoffs and might even be able to put together a strong playoff run. If everyone is healthy and playing well the Senators should boast a much improved power-play as well as a very balanced attack with scoring coming from all four lines and the defense. If the offense is clicking the defensive deficiencies shouldn’t be a bad as more puck possession will help to limit the opposition’s chances and the team has enough speed and grit to grind opponents down. In fact the Senators have enough offense to challenge for the league lead in goals, while at least among teams not named the Washington Capitals. Yes indeed, it could be glory or time to implode the team and start rebuilding next spring.
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