After seven years without even a sniff of playoff action, hopes are high among the Ottawa Senators faithful that their club will contend for Lord Stanley’s silverware this season. Here’s a look at five storylines to follow closely in 2024-25.
How these storylines turn out could decide whether the team’s long playoff drought comes to an end or continues for an eighth consecutive season.
Will Tim Stutzle Rebound in 2024-25?
The Senators’ star centreman, Tim Stutzle, will have to return to form for his team to make the playoffs this season. In 2023-24, he played 75 games and notched 18 goals and 75 points – far from the 90 points he racked up in the previous campaign.
Explanations for his disappointing season were as abundant as armchair coaches up and down the Ottawa Valley. Some speculated that he had a hard time adjusting to interim head coach Jacques Martin’s more disciplined and defensive style. Stutzle implied as much, saying in a January interview with TSN that, “It was tough with the coaching change. I loved playing for (former Senators head coach D.J. Smith). He meant a lot. I’m a really thankful person and a loyal person, and a lot of the guys wouldn’t be here without him. And a lot of our guys wouldn’t have signed those contracts without him.”
Still, it’s a stretch to assume, based on these comments, that Stutzle chafed at Martin’s approach. As he said later in the same interview, “It doesn’t matter if you like the system or not. If everybody’s on the same page, you have a chance to win every night. Obviously, there’s pros and cons to every system.”
Injuries are probably a better explanation for Stutzle’s struggles last season. He suffered a wrist injury just a few games into the schedule and reinjured his shoulder later in the season. That shoulder injury has nagged him for two years. Even so, fans will be paying close attention to how well Stutzle adapts to the systems and style of new head coach Travis Green. That will determine in no small measure whether he becomes the NHL star fans expect him to become.
Does Linus Ullmark Live Up to His Vezina Pedigree?
If the good Burghers of Ottawa know anything, it’s that their team has poor odds of playing in the postseason without strong goaltending. All eyes will be on Linus Ullmark on opening night to see if that’s what the 2023 Vezina Trophy can deliver. That Ullmark is a better goalie than former Senators starter Joonas Korpisalo isn’t in dispute. Statistics wizards are already forecasting how many more games will be in the win column this season with Ullmark between the pipes instead.
Yet, that’s a bit of a mug’s game, especially when you realize that Ullmark had the Boston Bruins playing in front of him. Even Jesus would have had a hard time matching Ullmark’s save percentage (SV%) and goals-against average (GAA) backstopping the Senators.
Even so, Ullmark must live up to his reputation if Ottawa is to have a shot at contending for a playoff spot this season. Not only that, but his contract needs to be extended beyond the 2024-25 season – something that will be much easier for president of hockey operations and general manager (GM) Steve Staios to do if the Senators are in a playoff spot by the time the 2025 Trade Deadline rolls around. If they’re not, Ullmark will most likely be headed out of town.
As good as Ullmark may prove to be this season, he can’t play all 82 games. That means Anton Forsberg will be in goal for up to 30 games. He’s got to deliver more than the .890 SV% and 3.21 GAA that he put up in the 28 starts last season.
Can Josh Norris Recover His Swagger in 2024-25?
There will be a lot of focus on centreman Josh Norris to see if he can be the young gun he once was. In 2021-22, Norris racked up 35 goals and 20 assists in 66 games, challenging Stutzle for the number two spot on the Senators’ points list. His performance that season took some of the sting out of giving up Erik Karlsson in the 2018 trade that brought Norris to Bytown.
Related: Revisiting the Sharks’ Erik Karlsson Trade
After that spectacular season, the shoulder injury he first sustained at the 2019 World Junior Championship began to take its toll. In the last two seasons, he managed just 58 games. He missed almost all of 2022-23 and played just 50 contests last season before going under the knife in yet a third surgery on his left shoulder.
There’s no doubt that with Norris cruising the middle of the ice, Ottawa has a formidable lineup at centre. Yet, that will come into question if he is forced to play on the wing because his damaged shoulder no longer enables him to take faceoffs. What’s more, based on his play last season, there are lingering questions about whether he can regain the confidence that marked his play in 2021-22.
Can Travis Green Establish a New Culture in Ottawa?
There is a culture of losing in Ottawa and it will be up to Travis Green and his coaching staff to erase it. Doing that is probably the biggest challenge Green will face heading into training camp. The success of the 2024-25 campaign depends on it. Fans will be watching closely to see whether he and his staff can gain the confidence of a young team that has been through new ownership, management upheaval and two head coaches in just over a year. His young charges could be forgiven if they were a little jaded about yet another major change.
Related: Senators’ Latest Trades Helping Team Become More Balanced
Changing the Senators’ culture will be a tall order for Green in an organization where moral victories have been too easily accepted in place of real triumphs. He must be concerned that players like Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot, who have been in the league for six and seven years, respectively, have never had a whiff of the playoffs. With four years in a Senators sweater, Stutzle is farther away than ever from his dream of playing on a championship team.
Going so long without winning risks ruining these players. Not only that but at what point do they decide they want out of Bytown, as Jack Eichel did to the Buffalo Sabres? What will make this a compelling storyline is that there is skepticism about Green as a coach. My fellow writer at The Hockey Writers, Jesse Courville-Lynch, didn’t pull any punches on the Senators hiring Green as their new head coach, writing that “he has never been successful as a head coach no matter where he has been.” He’s not alone in that opinion, with social media mostly condemning the hiring.
Even so, head coaching records need to be put into context. Staios explained this at Green’s introductory press conference, saying, “When you look at coaching records, you gotta look at what the team was, what the team was at the time, all the circumstances behind it, the age of the group, the talent of the group. I know coaches get judged by their coaching record, but there’s a lot more to it.” Most pundits will agree that Green didn’t have much to work with during his tenure with the Vancouver Canucks.
As for Green’s approach to the job, he has a vision: “I’m a demanding coach that wants the best out of my players. I want to push them to be their best, to tap their potential, and make them understand what it is.” Yet, his vision goes beyond just developing his players. As he explained, “I want to win a Stanley Cup, and I’m going to push this team to get to that place.”
Fans will be watching very closely.
Can Thomas Chabot Finally Realize His Potential?
When Thomas Chabot cracked the Senators’ lineup in 2017-18, many said he was Norris Trophy material. Nine years later, he has proved to be anything but, never really having lived up to his potential. Some explain this by pointing to his excessive ice time. Last season, he averaged just over 23 minutes per game. At times, he chewed up north of 25 minutes.
If he played less, many fans think Chabot would show his true potential. His superb skating, the potent scoring threat he poses off the rush and his talent quarterbacking the power play would all combine to make Chabot the offensive threat that fans hoped he would be.
Pundits think that less ice time for Chabot is possible if he is paired with newcomer Nick Jensen. Acquired from the Washington Capitals on July 1, Jensen is a badly needed, stay-at-home right-shot defenseman. He brings stability to the Senators’ blue line, and the hope is that he’ll guard the fort and allow Chabot to open up offensively.
Senators’ 2024-25 Season Storylines Are Many
These five storylines are just a few of the many that Senators fans will be following closely this season. How they turn out will decide whether we’ll be watching the Senators in the playoffs or lamenting an eighth failed season.
