Last year at about this time, I wrote a piece arguing that the Ottawa Senators needed to be bigger, badder but mostly meaner to make the playoffs. Just as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager (GM) Brad Treliving had done last summer by adding Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Ryan Reaves to his squad, I made the case that then-Senators’ GM Pierre Dorion needed to “add more snot” to his roster. He didn’t and that’s one of the reasons the Senators hit the golf links early this spring.
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With only $1.9 million in cap space left, Senators GM Steve Staios’ makeover of his club is probably complete, save for a few finishing touches coming out of training camp. So now is the time to ask whether he managed to add the grit his team needs to return to respectability. Call snot what you will, but does this version of the Senators have enough of it to contend for a playoff spot this season?
The Senators Are Easy to Play Against
For much of last season, playing in Canadian Tire Centre was an easy way to pick up two points for most of the NHL’s teams who finished the season ahead of the 26th-place Senators.
Ottawa’s forecheck struck fear into the hearts of precisely no one. As for entering the Senators’ defensive zone, most teams could do that unmolested. And once there, it seemed as if they could pitch a tent and camp out. That, and arguably goaltending, was why the team’s goals against (GA) last season put them at 27th in the league.
When the Senators did muster some bad temper, it was their captain Brady Tkachuk who brought it. Last season he spent 134 minutes in the sin bin to become the second most penalized player in the league behind the then-Arizona Coyotes’ Liam O’Brien. As for hits, Tkachuk dished out 294 of them to opponents who were unlucky enough to stand between him and the puck. No regular on Ottawa’s roster last season came close to Tkachuk in either penalty minutes or hits except for Parker Kelly and Mark Kastelic when adjusting for total time on the ice.
Yet Stanley Cup contenders just can’t have their captain and leading goal scorer hammering opponents and slugging it out with other clubs’ tough guys every night. Exposing Tkachuk to injury in tilts with fourth-liners is bad for the Senators’ business.
Who Brings Grit to Senators in 2024-25?
Considering the acquisitions Staios made at the trade deadline, roster players and prospects in Belleville, who could take some of the burden off Tkachuk in his role as Mr. Uncongeniality this season? Here’s a look.
David Perron
Coming in from the Detroit Red Wings, David Perron is a big, gritty left winger and comes with 17 seasons in the league under his belt with six different teams. He plays with an edge and isn’t afraid to mix it up physically. Just ask Artem Zub who he cross-checked in the head during a dust-up in front of the Senators’ net last season. He got a six-game suspension for his trouble.
Related: Senators David Perron Was an Ideal Free Agency Signing
Among all forwards in the Motor City last season, he finished third in hits with 111. Based on hits per minute of play, that would have put him among the Senators’ top-six hitters. Yet it’s not just because of his physical game that Staios brought him to Ottawa. Even at 36 years old, Perron can still play and has notched at least 50 points in almost all of the last five seasons. He also knows what it takes to win a Stanley Cup having done it with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. That kind of mental grit is at least as important as the physical variety.
That he plays a hard game will give Senators’ head coach Travis Green the ability to add both skill and physicality to his middle-six. That will be important since the Senators will no longer have the services of Parker Kelly and Mark Kastelic – among the Senators’ top three when it came to laying the body on opponents.
Noah Gregor
A Maple Leaf last season, Noah Gregor certainly wasn’t brought in to add physicality to the Senators’ game. He’s fast and smart in the offensive zone and an excellent passer. At $850,000 on a one-year contract, he’s an inexpensive upgrade to what the Senators had last year in their bottom-six.
Even so, what nobody in Bytown seems to be talking about is that last season the six-foot, 190-pound centreman notched 147 hits in just 718 minutes of play. As measured by total number of hits, he ranked fifth among skaters suiting up for Toronto last season – just behind tough guy Reaves.
He bears watching as a physical presence cruising down the middle of the ice on the third or fourth line this season.
Tyler Kleven
In this year’s training camp, all eyes will be on Senators rookie Tyler Kleven to see if he can play his way into a full-time job in Ottawa. If he does, he’ll bring both snarl and skill to the Senators’ blue line.
The 22-year-old with 17 NHL games under his belt stands 6-foot-4 and tips the scales at 213 pounds. He’s a fast, first-rate defender capable of playing a shut-down game. Still, he’s an offensive threat with a thunderous shot from the point.
On the ice, he has a reputation for being nasty. He’s a big, mean defenceman who can clear the space in front of the net and that’s something the Senators badly need this season.
Ridly Greig
Ridly Greig is another skilled player who will bring grit to the Senators’ lineup, possibly playing in the top-six alongside Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux.
He plays with attitude and last season notched 129 hits on 1,062 minutes of ice time putting him fourth among his teammates for hits registered per minute of ice-time. Not only that, but he was the second most penalized player on the team.
Yet it’s the chutzpa he brings to the Senators that is at least as important as his physicality. It can enrage opponents and draw penalties – sometimes even suspensions. Who could forget Morgan Rielly’s cross-check to Greig’s head last winter after the young gun had the gall to drill a puck into the Maple Leafs’ empty net with a slapshot when the Buds were trying to come back to tie the game?
Zack Ostapchuk
If the rookie left winger cracks the Ottawa lineup this season, he’ll bring both skill and grit to the team. At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds he has a reputation for being willing to go into the dirty areas where goals are scored. He’s at his most impressive when he is driving to the net.
Related: Senators Prospect Report: Ostapchuk, Crookshank, Nikitin & More
He made his NHL debut last season playing seven games in which he impressed the Senators’ coaching staff with his high-energy, spirited play.
Zack MacEwan
If he makes the roster this September, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Zack MacEwan will sit in the Senators’ nuclear missile silo awaiting a call when things on the ice get out of hand. A pugilist by trade, he played 30 games last season in which he marked up the scoresheet for just three points, but 55 hits and almost one hour in penalties.
As wanting in skills as he may be, every team needs a MacEwan.
Senators Have More Grit in 2024-25 – Is it Enough?
What should be encouraging for fans of the Senators is that Staios has added skill combined with grit to his roster. And the grit is not just the physical kind – it includes players with mental toughness and experience with what it takes to win in the NHL.
Being soft in the Atlantic Division in 2024-25 will be costly for Ottawa given the skilled and physical players many of their division rivals have assembled. The Atlantic Division is arguably the most competitive in the NHL and is home to three of the last five Stanley Cup champions. Teams will need more than just talent to compete in it.
