1. Staying Healthy
The Senators might have been one of the most impacted teams by injury this year. They ended the year with seven players on IR, including Clarke MacArthur, who has been there the past two years, Kyle Turris, Dion Phaneuf, Mark Stone, and Marc Methot. That’s a crazy amount of players in the first case, and in the second that’s some of the Senators more important players. Phaneuf is expected to help the Senators top 4, and provide some capable leadership. Stone is one of the Senators’ leading scorers, and Turris is important for the Senators depth. MacArthur has never played a long stint for the Senators, and while he has been out for a long time with some very serious head injuries, and he didn’t play after Oct. 14th.
These are players the Senators need healthy if they want to be competitive, and if they are able to remain healthy this year, they should return to competition, especially in what should be a more unpredictable Atlantic division.
2. Scoring
The Senators’ big problem, now that GM Pierre Dorion has addressed the top 4 with the addition of Phaneuf, and with Karlsson, Ceci, and a recovering Chris Wideman with him already on the squad, is scoring. Bobby Ryan has not been the Bobby Ryan of yesteryear, when he could score 70+ on a regular basis. The leading scorer has been Erik Karlsson, and only because he has a hand in what seems like every goal. They need to be able to score without Karlsson, and bringing in a true number one wing could help the team. Someone whose job it is not to play defense, nor work along the boards, but just drive to the net and score. The Senators need a Patrick Kane, a Jamie Benn, an Alexander Ovechkin. And while they won’t get a player on this level, a lesser version should do just fine, because Karlsson won’t start scoring. Bobby Ryan will bounce back. The team will be healthier. But they need that number one guy, because Ryan is just not fulfilling the duty currently.
They also need to extend some of their pre-existant scoring, including Mike Hoffman and Cody Ceci. These two players are especially important to the future of the Senators, and are in restricted free agency, but if claims are as active as I would like them to be to make a more exciting offseason, either could receive a bid from another team. There are a ton of teams in need of a top 4 defenseman, so Ceci especially should be on Dorion’s watchlist.
3. Working With the System
Guy Boucher was just hired, and he was the proponent of the 1-3-1 system. With Karlsson being one of, if not the, best offensive defensemen, this is a system that could work with Ottawa. The new number one wing could also take on the top 1 in the scenario that this is the system that Boucher rolls with. But the Swiss league could have changed Boucher, so it’s important for the team and for Dorion to be able to quickly adapt to whatever Boucher’s plan is (Dorion would already know the gameplan, having had a four hour sit down with Boucher) and fill whatever the needs are in this system. Being able to sit down with each for-sure returning player to have a conversation about what their role will be would be a very important thing for Boucher to be atop of. The more the players know going in, the better prepared they will be.
I also really wanna see the 1-3-1 in action, although I prefer a 2-1-2 that the Hawks should consider.
4. Trading Craig Anderson
Craig Anderson is aging. The Senators are looking towards the future – the window is still currently being opened – and so should be getting younger. Anderson has been a very good goalie for the Senators, especially in the playoffs last year where he helped them extend their season, although they were ultimately beaten, and would be a very popular goalie on the trade market, with an affordable contract and one that ends relatively soon. Andrew Hammond proved that it wasn’t a one year glitch, posting a better GAA that Anderson and a .914 to Anderson’s .916. Improving the defense through the trade will help Hammond (and backup of the present, perhaps starter of the future Matt O’Connor) transition to his new role, and it will help the Senators continue to future gaze.
The Senators are a team that should be good soon and for a time. With Erik Karlsson as a perennial Norris nominee, they have their all-star. Now it’s about building around their core, getting younger, and getting more scoring than just ethe NHL leader in assists.