Yeah because the team has done this so many times. Winning games after the trade deadline is done (no pressure), not playoffs in sight (no pressure), golf incoming (no pressure)..... these guys are ready to go have a long off season. I do believe guys like Tkachuk and Giroux don't want to stop playing but I never liked Josh Norris and Drake Batherson in terms of how badly they want to be competing for a cup. I get Norris had injuries but that's even more reason. I am done giving long term deals to young players unless your a top 5/6 pick, then I'll consider it.
- AlfieisKing

Very wise, for example.
The Islanders go on a streak when it looks like they are out of it, get back in the race and then promptly cave in again.
Somebody is going to make some tough decisions on the roster.

New York Rangers or Dallas Stars are going to the cup finals - I have Dallas winning the cup atm. Add Carolina to these teams - my top 3 cup contenders.

Nashville will be a VERY difficult out in the first round. If they play VAN, they might win

I guess glass half full it is nice to know this team is capable of stringing five wins together. But as has been the case for the last several years, the timing sucks. Winning after elimination isn't exciting - it is a tired trope for this group. Fan's expectations are going to be high for this team going forward, but this group only seems able to perform when there are zero expectations of them. It is exceedingly frustrating to see this pattern repeat itself - now we don't make the playoffs, AND we don't get to draft the player we need. Yay.

I guess glass half full it is nice to know this team is capable of stringing five wins together. But as has been the case for the last several years, the timing sucks. Winning after elimination isn't exciting - it is a tired trope for this group. Fan's expectations are going to be high for this team going forward, but this group only seems able to perform when there are zero expectations of them. It is exceedingly frustrating to see this pattern repeat itself - now we don't make the playoffs, AND we don't get to draft the player we need. Yay.
- Bartacus

Exactly.

IF the Sens draft 8th overall, it matters who Steve Staios drafts just as much as where they pick. He scares me because he seems way too pragmatic. Sometimes you have to swing for the fences or make a bold move. Dorion loved doing that.

Barring a major collapse by Calgary and Buffalo, Sens are picking 7th. 5th or 6th at best, if Arizona or Montreal start winning and the Sens eventually lose a game. But likely 7th. I'm okay with that. 5 to 9 ranked players in the draft are not game changers. And it is a very heavy D draft, and D tend to take awhile to develop.

So...do we trade that pick and if so, for a deal involving....?

Also...Kleven doesn't look out of place. But is another left D. If the Sens think Kleven is ready to be the in the NHL, they have to trade one of Chabot or Chycrhun. Even though I think Chychrun has move vale at the trade deadline next year.

I will never be one to endorse tanking and I think there is also an aspect of the opponents just taking the Sens lightly, but I do not understand how a team/players can look more comfortable when nothing is on the line. It’s situations like this that make you wonder if something psychological is up with this group. It really leads me to believe the losing culture is set with this group and it can really only be broken with a legitimate shakeup or two. Not just replacing 3rd and 4th line guys.

It's going to be a really interesting offseason. There are way too many new folks running the ship to stick with what they inherited. Just because you have a roster full of young players does not mean you cannot move them for other young players. While I am not putting the “for sale” sign on Sanderson, Brady, or Stu, I would be listening to what is out there if teams call. Spare me the “untouchable” list for a perennial lottery bound team. Explore every avenue to improve this team.

Exactly.

IF the Sens draft 8th overall, it matters who Steve Staios drafts just as much as where they pick. He scares me because he seems way too pragmatic. Sometimes you have to swing for the fences or make a bold move. Dorion loved doing that.
- AlfieisKing

You are hard to gage sometimes. On one hand you excoriate the Sens for their drafting choices, and then you indicate you want to see Staios swing for the fences on some picks. I could argue that the swing for the fences choices like Boucher, Thompson, etc. .... exactly what you disliked in the draft. I just some normalcy to return in the choices to start to rebuild a relatively depleted minor league (Belleville is sucking air right now and out of the playoffs). We need draft picks to build a stable minor league where we can graduate, consistently, one or two players every year to the big team. I can see that a bit in the future (Klevin and Crookshank next season .... then ???? .... eventually Jarventie, Ostapchuk and Halliday). After them ???? who knows. We have a real dearth of quality defencemen in the system, and our goaltending is a crap shoot at best. Its time to start using our draft picks to rebuild a pipeline for the future.
It is too hard for Ottawa to attract top level free agents. Even in good times, nobody wanted to come here. Stanley Cups are won by team depth .... that means strong 3rd and 4rth lines. That is where we can add quality veteran players to help the rebuild .... not the hacks that Dorion would bring in.

I will never be one to endorse tanking and I think there is also an aspect of the opponents just taking the Sens lightly, but I do not understand how a team/players can look more comfortable when nothing is on the line. It’s situations like this that make you wonder if something psychological is up with this group. It really leads me to believe the losing culture is set with this group and it can really only be broken with a legitimate shakeup or two. Not just replacing 3rd and 4th line guys.

It's going to be a really interesting offseason. There are way too many new folks running the ship to stick with what they inherited. Just because you have a roster full of young players does not mean you cannot move them for other young players. While I am not putting the “for sale” sign on Sanderson, Brady, or Stu, I would be listening to what is out there if teams call. Spare me the “untouchable” list for a perennial lottery bound team. Explore every avenue to improve this team.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

The coaching switch has exposed both fundamental roster weaknesses and major areas of psychological fragility on the team. Staios has his work cut out for him in terms of roster upgrades, but more than a couple of key players will also be expected to step up their off-season mental preparation. If this group thought the burden of expectations was too great this year with 2/3 of their first 20GP played at home, then buckle up for having a new long-term coach, new teammates, a whole new system to learn, and zero tolerance for not being ready to hit the ground running in Game 1. Failure this year cost Dorion/Smith their jobs... failure next year will necessitate changes to the roster core. And while I'm sure many will disagree, for me the only true "untouchable" at this point is Jake Sanderson.

One thing this new management group can do is invest serious resources into the front office and player supportive services. More comprehensive training and medical staff, incentives and facilities for off season practice and conditioning, a sports psychologist, a team chef. Make some proactive moves, shift from reactive - decades of Eugene skimping and botched PR has hurt a lot of aspects of the team's game and the fans' perception of the team, and this group has done very few favors for itself by waiting too long to change. This offseason and draft will be an important gauge of whether or not they've learned anything after a year on the job.

Wow that was a nice setup by Batherson for Chychruns goal.

JC has come alive post trade deadline IMO.

2024 May NHL Draft Lottery

1. San Jose - 100%
2. Chicago - 49 points - 7 games
3. Anaheim - 54 points - 6 games
4. Columbus - 62 points - 6 games
5. Arizona - 67 points - 8 games
6. Montreal - 70 points - 8 games
7. Ottawa - 70 points - 8 games

It looks like the order will be SJS, CHI, ANA, CBJ. Then Arizona is very likely to finish 5th worst although it's still possible for Sens to catch that spot but I think the best we can hope for is for Montreal to pass us.

Shoulda won that one.

Pinto had a horrendous game.

Shoulda won that one.

Pinto had a horrendous game.
- Octavarium

That last goal had about 6 horrible mistakes before it reached Korpo. What was Brannstrom doing, turning his back and getting pushed over? TOO SMALL....

First thing this Summer is hire the right coach, then I would put out feelers for a Stutzle trade and move Chabot and Brannstrom. Then address the goaltending situation by signing a good 35+ goalie and moving Forsberg because they're stuck with Korpi. On D I would keep Guenette and Kleven. They're both big and physically strong and ready for the NHL plus contribute to special teams. Guenette can play on PP he's been a 40+ point player at every level and Kleven can play PK. Keep Hamonic as 7th D. At F I think they would be OK with the addition of 2 solid bottom 6 vets. Then there's always the return for trades which I would use primarily to replenish the prospect pool.

I don't know why, but I'm not too worried about goalies. Sens defense structure is so bad and/or badly implemented by players, that's usually a cause for the Goalies being bad. My evidence for that statement is all goalies have been equally bad. I don't see how that's possible to be consistently bad for every goalie. Talbot, Gustavsson, daccord, etc.

Does a goalie coach really matter that much? It's gotta be the defense/defense structure.

Trade Chabot AND chychrun! Rebuild the d-core lol.

First thing this Summer is hire the right coach, then I would put out feelers for a Stutzle trade and move Chabot and Brannstrom. Then address the goaltending situation by signing a good 35+ goalie and moving Forsberg because they're stuck with Korpi. On D I would keep Guenette and Kleven. They're both big and physically strong and ready for the NHL plus contribute to special teams. Guenette can play on PP he's been a 40+ point player at every level and Kleven can play PK. Keep Hamonic as 7th D. At F I think they would be OK with the addition of 2 solid bottom 6 vets. Then there's always the return for trades which I would use primarily to replenish the prospect pool.
- granpa

I remember the day when the Sens traded Zibanejad. Some folks thought it was a great idea because he had levelled off in development. It was a really dumb trade.

Thinking about trading a 22 year Stuetzle does not seem like a wise move.

Not having a great year on a team that has struggled all year. But he still has
a shot at ending the season as a point a game player. Whatever, Zibanejad has done with the Rangers would be trifling in comparison to what Stuetzle would do if he were placed into an elite line up. It makes little sense to start by unpacking the top of a line up. Almost certain Staios would lose his job if Stuetzle were to be moved to the Rangers or Carolina and immediately produce as the elite talent that he is.

2-0 in first 100 seconds ... let's gooooo! (sorry for people at the game lol)

You are hard to gage sometimes. On one hand you excoriate the Sens for their drafting choices, and then you indicate you want to see Staios swing for the fences on some picks. I could argue that the swing for the fences choices like Boucher, Thompson, etc. .... exactly what you disliked in the draft. I just some normalcy to return in the choices to start to rebuild a relatively depleted minor league (Belleville is sucking air right now and out of the playoffs). We need draft picks to build a stable minor league where we can graduate, consistently, one or two players every year to the big team. I can see that a bit in the future (Klevin and Crookshank next season .... then ???? .... eventually Jarventie, Ostapchuk and Halliday). After them ???? who knows. We have a real dearth of quality defencemen in the system, and our goaltending is a crap shoot at best. Its time to start using our draft picks to rebuild a pipeline for the future.
It is too hard for Ottawa to attract top level free agents. Even in good times, nobody wanted to come here. Stanley Cups are won by team depth .... that means strong 3rd and 4rth lines. That is where we can add quality veteran players to help the rebuild .... not the hacks that Dorion would bring in.
- OttawaB

Pierre Dorion early in his tenure was amazing in some ways. But he was sacrificing the future in other ways that would be harmful (trading Zibnaejad for Brassard) and then again trading for DeBrincat without a contract extension in hand. Brassard helped Sens get to the third round "Big game Brass" but it's nothing compared to what we gave up in Zibnaejad. It's mentioned here above. Talking about trading Stutzle is the worst thing for this franchise. He has the ability to be at Elias Pettersson level.

This current Sens core of Tkachuk, Stutzle, and Sanderson is similar to the 2017 team in that there's some start power but right now there not looking like a core good enough to compete for a cup. They need to add to it and make one great trade. Erik Karlsson was the best D-man in the world and was in the conversation with McDavid, Crosby as the MVP of the league. I will say that after that there was a big drop off to Mark Stone, who was still becoming the captain and star player he became in Vegas. Ottawa could've used a 7th overall pick in 2022 (over DeBrincat) but Staios has to quickly learn from those mistakes.

Dorion did find role players that mixed well with the team but that was prior to 2018. Tom Pyatt was excellent for the Sens as a depth piece, lots of people forget about Alex Burrows who was outstanding for this team - Tommy Wingels was a reasonable depth piece - although I remember the impact of Pyatt and Burrows much more. After that the vets that came in were horrible fits. Yes I liked Austin Watson but Stepan, Gudbranson, Del Zotto, and now Hamonic is too much waste (I think Coburn was in there somewhere)

Power play is just awful. Completely non effective and disorganized.

I'd care but I want them to lose.

Power play is just awful. Completely non effective and disorganized.

I'd care but I want them to lose.
- GrimmdaGoalie

Final Standings Projections - Reverse

1. SJS - 47 points
2. CHI - 54 points
3. ANA - 58 points
4. CBJ - 67 points
5. ARI - 73 points
6. MTL - 76 points
7. OTT - 77 points
8. CAL - 81 points

Final Standings Projections - Reverse

1. SJS - 47 points
2. CHI - 54 points
3. ANA - 58 points
4. CBJ - 67 points
5. ARI - 73 points
6. MTL - 76 points
7. OTT - 77 points
8. CAL - 81 points
- AlfieisKing

Tried NHL lottery simulator 10 times.

It landed on 7th pick on 70% of pulls. the other 3 tries came up 8th.

Remember that time I posted an article about the 3 moves the Sens had to make in the offseason, the key among them a RD? How they could do this bare min. and, along with the right coach, improve the team? How I didn't suggest blowing up the team?

Well...last night was one of those games that makes me say pour this sucker in gasoline and light it on fire. Just a soul sucking game to watch. Could have been their worst effort of the year.

what a complete gong show

Joseph was a -3 like...halfway through the second? How a player can look so good one night and completely lost another.

Also.
Bobby Ryan should get off twitter

I love Bobby Ryan twitter.