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Reasons to Watch the Final 13 Games

March 11, 2019, 1:53 AM ET [18 Comments]
Trevor Shackles
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS

Take a deep breath. The season is almost over, and the 2018-19 Ottawa Senators will soon be a thing of the past. But in the meantime, let’s not wish the season away, because six months without watching the team will seem like an eternity. With that in mind, let’s go through five reasons to watch some or all of the final 13 games in the Senators season. Hey, it wasn't as easy as previous seasons, but these are still legitimate reasons:

1. Thomas Chabot’s development

Chabot has blossomed into a number one defenseman this season, which is something that was desperately needed. At the same time, you can see that the loss of Duchene, Stone, and Dzingel has had a big impact on him. He has 48 points in 61 games, but has just two assists in 10 games since the “Big Three” left. Those losses affect everybody on the team, although Chabot will be tested until the end of the season (and probably next season too) to see how much he can carry the team.

Can he stay at the top of his game and stay at an elite level amongst NHL defensemen? Or was he benefitting from playing with immensely skilled players in Ottawa? I tend to believe he can stay at this level, but I’ll be looking for more dominance as the season comes to a close.

2. Anthony Duclair’s trial run


Duclair is an RFA in the summer so it should be an easy decision to retain him, but he was not tendered a qualifying offer by Chicago last season, so there’s no guarantee that Pierre Dorion actually wants to keep him. He has two goals and two assists in eight games as a Senator, and he has been one of the more electric players on the ice for Ottawa. He isn’t going to be a phenomenal contributor, but he can be helpful if deployed correctly.

There is a decent chance that Marc Crawford stays on as head coach next season, so whether Duclair comes back or not will depend a lot on Crawford’s opinion of him. Considering that he is an old school coach, perhaps there might not be a match. Then again, the past two games he played 17 and 16 minutes, respectively, so who knows. Duclair probably isn’t even as good as Ryan Dzingel and he shouldn’t be expected to be, but it’s at least fun watching his speed and skill on a nightly basis as he auditions for a job.

3. Brady Tkachuk without Mark Stone

Stone positively impacted so many Senators players over the years, and Tkachuk was his final project. Tkachuk has had a solid rookie season, although now it is more interesting due to him being thrown into the fire without an extremely effective veteran by his side. To Brady’s credit, he has done fair so far with six points in ten games, and up until Saturday, he had a positive corsi in the games without Stone. It is going to be a lot harder for him to be as effective as he was with Stone, but I’m also excited at Tkachuk developing his own game.

He still sits 4th in the league at high-danger scoring chances per 60 as he is always around the net getting ready for scoring opportunities. We can only hope that he begins to get more confidence and can score even more than the 20 goals he is on pace for. Playing with someone like Duclair is a lot different than playing with Stone, and just like Chabot, it’s a massive test to see if if he can stay at the level he is at or even get better.

4. Anything different under Marc Crawford?

I don’t think Crawford should be the head coach next season, but we might have to be prepared for that possibility. It’s hard to say exactly how different he has been and how different he will be, and the next 13 games will give us a better sense. After the 3-2 loss to the Bruins on Saturday, he voiced his displeasure at certain things, which is different than how Boucher would frame losses:




Asking for more accountability is good, although I’m not sure how much better Crawford can actually make the team with the least amount of skill in the league. He doesn’t have much of a choice to play some younger players, although it would be interesting to see how he would handle things if the AHL batch of players were to get called up. We’ll see over the next month is there truly is anything fundamentally different under Crawford.

5. Get excited for Christian Wolanin

I feel like I’m the leader of the Wolanin hype train, as not everyone is as enthusiastic about what he means for this team. I can already sense that he isn’t going to be properly trusted during his Senators tenure but I hope I’m wrong there. He has proven that he is good enough to be in the NHL, although he has only played in 18 games this season. The good news is that he has been playing in the top-four recently, but the bad news is that Cody Ceci has been his most common partner this season, with over 100 minutes played together.

With seven points in 18 games in the NHL, and 26 points in 35 games in the AHL, we know that he can bring lots of offense from the blueline. He can be a perfect second offensive weapon behind Chabot, and I love seeing the skill that can display in the offensive zone. He isn’t the most polished defensively, although I reject the notion that he is actually bad defensively. Furthermore, it’s more entertaining to watch his offensive side anyway, and that is a reason to tune in. It’s crazy that he could end up being the third best left-handed defenseman on the team after Erik Brannstrom is up, but he’s still going to be a very good player.
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