It was supposed to be a better season for the Ottawa Senators — one full of promise and optimism around playoff contention. Prospects were becoming every day players and starting to have an influence on the roster. At least, that’s what folks in Ottawa said.
But, for the seventh straight season, the Senators were officially eliminated from playoff contention last week when they lost to the New Jersey Devils on April 6. It’s their longest playoff drought in team history and while they do have a lot to look forward to, here’s a look at what went wrong for the Senators this season.
Where the Senators’ Season Went Wrong
Simply put, the Senators had zero reliable goaltending this season. From Anton Forsberg to Joonas Korpisalo and even the young Mads Sogaard, the Senators couldn’t get consistency in net — which was ultimately detrimental to their efforts in making a playoff push.
Korpisalo had the best goals against average of the three at 3.26, while he also carried the best save percentage in 54 games this season at .890 and that’s pretty telling.
Outside of goaltending, the team couldn’t string wins together. They had three stretches of at least five games in which they couldn’t get a win equalling 18 games. Right there that’s 36 points they missed out on.
Add to that the absence of Shane Pinto to kick off the year and the ongoing injury issues with Josh Norris and the Senators were missing two key players from their young core. There was a lot of pressure on other players like Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle with others in and out of the lineup.
Senators Lacked in Special Teams
As the sixth most penalized team, averaging 10:32 per game in penalty minutes, the Senators needed to be strong on the penalty kill this season. Unfortunately their penalty killing efforts clicked at a rate of just 75 percent which was the fourth worst in the NHL this season.
In the same breath, they’ve drawn the second most penalties this season (364) behind only the Florida Panthers (386). Like their penalty kill, the Senators were in the bottom ten of the league this season when it came to power play success. They clicked at a rate of 18.3 percent which was good enough for 23rd in the league — a number that can really make or break your season when you’re getting as many opportunities as the Senators did.
Related: Montreal Canadiens 2023-24 Obituary – The Bottom of the Atlantic
So was there a silver lining this season for their special teams? Sure. They only allowed five shorthanded goals which was tied for the third fewest in the NHL this season.
Senators’ Core Offers Optimism
While it didn’t turn out how they expected, there is reason or optimism amongst this core. They’re young and for the most part signed to long-term deals. Outside of restricted free agent Pinto, the Senators are pretty sured up for next season.
As of now, they have eight draft picks in the 2024 NHL Draft which should help to restock their prospect pool.
Sogaard got a taste of the NHL this season — albeit probably not to his liking considering his numbers. Meanwhile, Jake Sanderson had a coming out party with Thomas Chabot’s injury troubles and Stützle should be expected to have a bounce back in 2024-25 — even with his 70-point season in 2023-24.
Surely, 2024-25 will start with similar optimism as what Senators supporters had coming into this season — maybe with a little more reservation this time around. That said, for now, the 2023-24 edition of the Ottawa Senators can rest in peace.