Today I continue my off-season breakdown with a look at the much maligned blue line of the Ottawa Senators.

And I will focus on the defensive aspect this time around, setting aside the offensive part, and will focus less on individuals rather than the group as a whole.

It was a tough go in their own zone this season, where the structure of 2016-17 seemed lost. Personnel-wise, losing Marc Methot for nothing was a big blow to the top pair, a spot that proved to be a gaping hole almost all season. They couldn't find a consistent partner for Erik Karlsson, which also had an effect on the captain's performance.

And speaking of Karlsson, he lacked the same attention to detail in his own end than the stellar performance of the previous season, whether by design or simply by lack of ability after having to recover from a tough ankle surgery in the off-season.

Without a consistent partner Karlsson had a tough time defensively, and whether you put much stock into the stat or not, he finished with a -25 rating, a difference of 35 from the +10 he posted in 2016-17.

And he didn't even "lead" the team in that category, with Cody Ceci going -11 after the Dion Phanuef trade to come from behind to beat Karlsson with a -27 rating. Ceci was forced to play large minutes, he continued to struggle in his own end and as rumors of Karlsson's possible departure with Ceci as the backup plan put shivers in the hearts of Sens fans.

The loss of Chris Wideman and Mark Borowiecki to injury in October/November didn't help, as despite the fact that they were the 5/6 defensemen on most nights, they were still far superior options than the replacements. Well at least those that should have been replacements, because Johnny Oduya spent much of his tenure playing far more minutes against much better competition than he was capable of handling this season.

The fact is, the Senators have a #1 (for the time being at least), a budding top pair defenseman in Thomas Chabot, and then a whole lot of question marks. The return of Wideman will help, maybe Christian Wolanin develops in to a top 4, and maybe the disaster of a season will at least get them Rasmus Dahlin as a consolation prize.

They simply have too many 5/6 guys in Borowiecki, Ben Harper (who seemed way out of his element after a promising end to 2016-17 and into the playoffs), Wideman, Freddie Claesson and Wolanin.

At least they got a bit younger with the departure of Oduya and Phanuef, which forced Guy Boucher to use Chabot more and steepen the learning curve on his development.

This is a group with a ton of question marks, and while the team as a whole gave up 3 more shots per game than the previous season, goaltending can cover up a lot of blemishes and the lack of consistent netminding didn't help their cause.

A top 3 of Karlsson, Chabot and Dahlin would look pretty nice going forward, but a lot of things have to go the Senators' way for that to happen.

A top 4 consisting of Chabot, Ceci and two of Claesson, Wideman, Borowiecki, Wolanin is a depressing thought to enter the off-season with, but one that could very easily come to fruition.

None of that matters if the group doesn't buy into the system, whatever that is, instilled by the coach, whoever that may be in October. What was a structured group in 2016-17 showed little of that buy-in this season and we saw the results.

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» Boucher Day

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