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The entirety of the 2019-20 schedule has been released, and here are the highlights from their upcoming season:
---Opening the season on Wednesday, October 2nd at the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ottawa is no stranger to opening up in a Battle of Ontario, and somehow they’ve done quite well against them recently despite not being a good team. It should be another entertaining atmosphere.
---Home opener vs. the New York Rangers on Saturday, October 5th. The new-look Rangers are already looking better than they were last year, plus they might be making another big splash or two in free agency or trades.
---14 back-to-back games, which is fewer than the 16 they had last season (17 was the most for a team in 2018-19). Still, with that many, Anders Nilsson and potentially even Marcus Hogberg will be getting a lot of games in order to spell Craig Anderson. It’s rare for even elite goalies to start back-to-back nights anymore.
---The Stanley Cup champions come to Ottawa Thursday, October 10th, their third game of the season.
---Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks return to Ottawa on Sunday, October 27th for their only visit of the season.
---They have only six afternoon games (I included anything that started before 4:00 local time), which definitely seems lower than other years. It seemed like Ottawa would always do terribly in afternoon games anyway, so I’m fine with that.
---Six out of their first 11 games are against Western Conference opponents.
---Their busiest month comes in November where they play 16 games and a whopping 11 of them on the road.
---Their first matchup against their rivals the Canadiens does not come until Wednesday, November 20th in Montreal.
---Northwest road trip goes from November 29th-December 7th as they begin in Minnesota, then also play Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, and finish off in Philadelphia.
---Kyle Turris’ Nashville Predators (if he’s still on the team) return on Thursday, November 19th for the only time this season.
---Sunday, November 29th: the first chance to get a look at first overall pick Jack Hughes on the New Jersey Devils.
---First home game vs. the Canadiens doesn’t come until Saturday, January 11th.
---That game vs. Montreal is the beginning of a five-game homestand, their second longest of the season.
---The Vegas Golden Knights come to Ottawa for the first time since Mark Stone’s departure, which will definitely be an emotional game for everybody involved.
---In the middle of that homestand, Ottawa gets the 19th until the 26th off for the All-Star break.
---The first home game vs. the Maple Leafs finally comes on Saturday, February 15th.
---The second home game vs. the Canadiens comes exactly a week later on Saturday, February 22nd. That’s the final game of a six-game homestand, their longest of the season.
---In fact, in 26 games across January and February, the Senators play 18 (!!) home games. That probably won’t matter because of what their roster looks like, but that’s quite incredible.
---On the flip side, their following 15 games has just four home games. Within that stretch, they have their California road trip, plus games in Chicago and St. Louis are tacked on at the end, making it even more difficult.
---The trade deadline is unofficially on Monday, February 24th. Ottawa plays in Columbus that night, so there could be a few players missing after the deadline. The final game before the deadline is at home vs. Montreal.
---That five-game road trip to California is tied for the longest of the season, and no other road trips are more than three games, so they’re actually pretty lucky in that department.
---On the fourth last game of the season, Ottawa gets their fourth and final chance to beat the Maple Leafs, as they play them at home on a Saturday night again (March 28th).
---The Senators finish off their season at home vs. the Penguins on Saturday, April 4th. I’m going to assume it won’t matter for Ottawa’s playoff implications.
---Micah Blake McCurdy has an interesting visual showing that Ottawa has the third least favourable schedule in terms of being rested against the opponent:
Click here to see the full schedule.
What are you most looking forward to on this schedule?
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