First off, I wanted to thank everyone for the nice welcome yesterday! It’s a great community of Sens fans here and I will be online a few times throughout each day replying to as many of the blog comments as possible. Lets grow our Sens community here! There were some great comments and having solid NHL discussion is what this Sens writer would love to see on a daily basis. I will do my part in posting daily fresh content so we get as many Sens fans as possible coming back to our Sens coverage. We all aren't going to agree on everything in the discussion, but that is what makes for great hockey talk. We have very knowledgeable fans here and yesterday was a great start in our comments thread.
With the release of the 2021-22 schedule ast night, here is a quick breakdown of Ottawa’s schedule. (monthly Away/Home games)
October - 2A/5H - 7 games in 15 days November - 8A/7H December - 5A/9H January - 9A/6H February - 1A/1H - Olympic and All-Star breaks March - 8A/6H April - 8A/7H
When looking at the schedule, the Sens biggest rivals are scheduled in odd ways. Ottawa doesn’t play Montreal until Feb.26. Then they play the Habs three times in April. Ottawa then plays Toronto for the first two games to start the season, followed by games in January and April.
The Dallas Stars play Ottawa twice in 12 days in October. The Arizona Coyotes play Ottawa twice in 9 days during the month of March. While the Seattle Kraken make their first visit to Ottawa January 6th.
The Sens only have one instance in which they play back to back nights at home but Ottawa plays back to back nights on the road, three times. In the past, Ottawa has had many of these not so favourable back to backs, so it was nice to see a few less this season. Other tough spots in the schedule include Ottawa returning from a road trip to play a home game the following night on three occasions. While the Sens play a home game only to play a road game the following three times during the course of the season.
In terms of long road trips, Ottawa has 2 five game road trips. One in January where they head to Seattle for their first visit ever, followed by 3 games in Western Canada, ending with a game in Winnipeg. They also have a five game road trip in March. Ottawa has a four game road trip in six nights early in the season when they visit Colorado followed by three games in California.
To finish off, Ottawa has only one five game homestand and two 4 game homestands. Overall, it’s a pretty solid schedule as I have seen far worse for the Sens over the years.
Moving onto who the Senators could target as a top four defensemen, here is a quick look at their depth chart.
Thomas Chabot Nikita Zaitsev Artem Zub Victor Mete Erik Brannstrom Jacob Bernard-Docker Josh Brown
Keeping in mind that Ottawa has 1st round draft pick Jake Sanderson, the Sens don’t want a contract that would take up a spot for their youth on the blueline. Ottawa needs a veteran as a stop gap until JBD and Sanderson are NHL ready.
Many NHL experts say Ottawa should target UFA David Savard. While I agree he would be a great fit next to Chabot or for that matter in their top 4, Ottawa isn’t going to give out a 3 or 4 year contract and be cap strapped as more of their core younger players need new deals in the next few years. Savard was making 4.25 million a year on his last deal and unless he wants to come to Ottawa on a short term deal, I don’t see a fit.
Ideally I would love to see Ryan Suter sign a two year deal in Ottawa. He would be the perfect fit for what the Senators need at this time with the development of players on defense, while adding a veteran presence in the locker room.
I have been told Ottawa is targeting players on one year deals to better gauge where their young core is at the end of this season, so they aren’t tied up with a long term contract. I know Ottawa has inquired about Justin Schutlz in Washington. He is on an expiring contract at 4 million this year and would bring size/veteran presence on the blueline. The Caps are trying to clear cap space to sign Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Samsonov and a replacement for Vanecek who they lost in the expansion draft. With 8 defensemen under contract in Washington, Ottawa is definitely looking hard at this option.
The question is, will Ottawa trade down in the draft tonight to possibly acquire a center or a defenseman that can step in right away to help this club? Or will Ottawa trade up by packaging one of their 2nd round picks to get an offensive player? Or will Ottawa stay in the 10 spot and look to make a trade on day two of the draft with the extra picks they have in next year’s draft? All good questions for discussion as we wait on the draft to start tonight.
Thanks for reading. Kevin