The Ottawa Senators relieved themselves from their alleged locker room problems in the departure of Brady Tkachuk for three first round draft selections.
William Eklund was acquired by the Senators with two of the original Florida picks to bring back some of the offense. Samuel Ersson was acquired via trade from Toronto for a fifth round pick. Andre Burakovsky was acquired from Chicago via trade for a sixth rounder.
Ottawa also has their first full season of Warren Foegele.
Giroux is retained on a bonus deal as a 35+ member of the roster.
The captaincy is also up for grabs as Chabot, Giroux, and Stutzle are the trio of finalists.
Every Ottawa/Florida game will be heated rivalry in the Atlantic between the Tkachuk controversy and Marchand versus Stutzle character drama.
All Battle of Ontario matches are also a battle of Yukon this season as Dylan Cozens and Gavin McKenna are both from the same hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.
The pesky Senators still have the same defense group, but did the offense, morale, and goaltending get better?