It may take them a while to get used to the new and sassy Ottawa Senators.
Senators play the role of the hunter, not the hunted. The team is “going for it,” not selling off assets to accumulate draft picks and prospects. Instead of building for tomorrow, in an endless loop, the Senators are telling their fans and their young core that they are aiming for today.
If you’re like me and either live in Ottawa or are connected to the Senators in some way, you get text messages during both days of the NHL Draft. Mostly in the vein of “what’s up with the Sens? DeBrincat? He is legal.
In case you missed it, the Senators traded their first-round pick, seventh overall, plus a second-round pick and a third-round pick in 2024 for the 24-year-old Chicago Blackhawks sniper, a two-time 41-goal scorer. The trade marked the first time since 2014 that the Sens did not make a first-round draft pick.
This team, which was building a core of high draft picks like Brady Tkachuk, fourth overall in 2018, Tim Stützle, third overall in 2020, and Jake Sanderson, fifth overall in 2020, plus reasonable later picks like Drake Batterson and Shane Pinto, changed in a pretty significant way.
It’s not lost on anyone that both general manager Pierre Dorion and head coach DJ Smith are under pressure to compete for a playoff spot for the first time in five years (six by the time of the next playoffs). So there are some survival instincts.
Yet I’ve hardly heard a discouraging word about this aggressive approach from Senators fans who are tired of always being that rebuilding franchise at the bottom of the Atlantic (the Division, not the ocean). Even the amateur scouts who had to give up their precious first-round picks are benefiting, according to former head amateur scout Trent Mann, recently promoted to co-assistant general manager (with Ryan Bowness).
“The scouts agreed with what we did (in Round 1),” Mann said after Day 2 of the draft, where the Sens made nine selections.
“How often do you get a 40 goal scorer? Our scouts, like everyone else in the organization, like everyone in the city of Ottawa – we want to win. And it’s time to start winning.”
If you’re scoring at home, DeBrincat is just the tip of the iceberg. Even before that deal surfaced, forward Colin White was bought out, signaling an end to roster malaise in favor of aggressive management, even at a short-term financial cost. Good man, Wyatt. But quite overpaid.
Suddenly, anything seems possible. Despite acquiring DeBrincat, the Senators are believed to still be active in free agency this week, including pursuing hometown hero Claude Giroux. The Sens are aggressively pushing goalie Matt Murray and Nikita Zaitsev out of the net, one way or another. The Toronto Maple Leafs have shown serious interest in Murray (link to Kyle Dubas OHL Soo) and now winger Connor Brown’s name has come into play. It was as if a bomb had hit hockey operations in Ottawa.
What’s next, a top-4 defenseman, a female hockey operations staff member and a former player serving as a defensive consultant? Every day there is a new move. On Monday, former D-man Wade Redden was hired as a development coach and was scheduled to skate with prospects in the afternoon. Stay tuned for more news.
When it comes to the new Sens, Butch Cassidy’s classic line comes to mind when he and the Sundance Kid were relentlessly pursued by a group: “Who are these guys?
Who really. Use the song and video from The Heavy — How You Like Me Now? A song perhaps best revisited this week as free agency begins.
As for that massive DeBrincat move — whether he can continue to score in Ottawa will be tested on the ice, just as the team lets him adjust to the new room. There is plenty of time for both parties to determine if this is a marriage worth saving. DeBrincat has RFA status after this season, in which he will be paid $9 million. With a qualifying offer of $9 million, he can become a UFA a year later.
But for the first time in a long time, there’s a belief that these senators could realistically extend DeBrincat if they felt fit. The fact that they traded for a $9 million player is staggering in itself.
“I’m very excited to join this young group and hope to do something special,” DeBrincat said in an introductory Zoom call with media in Ottawa. “That’s everybody’s goal – to become a better team, make the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup.” I think this is a good start and I hope we are headed in the right direction.”
Pretty much what we’d expect a human to say, but there was no alarm either.
Let’s see how far this goes. It shouldn’t be too hard to find happiness between a streak scorer and a talent like Stützle.
Oh, and they drafted nine players
The Senators made such an impact on Day 1 with the acquisition of DeBrincat that it was easy to overlook a busy Day 2 of the draft, during which they made nine selections:
64: Philip Nordberg, LD
72: Oscar Peterson, RW
87: Thomas Hamara, LD
104: Stephen Halliday, C
136: Jorian Donovan, LD
143: Cameron O’Neill, RW
151: Kevin Reidler, G
168: Theo Wahlberg, LD
206: Tyson Dyck, K
All but Nordberg will attend development camp starting Monday at the Sensplex in Kanata. The camp culminates in a 3-on-3 tournament on Thursday at 10am. All skating sessions are open to the public, beginning with skating at 2pm on Monday.
A few notes about the selections. The senators don’t mind the fact that many of their draft picks are college-bound. Barring some high-end talent in some drafts, and with Ottawa not picking until No. 64 in the second round, it will take time for these picks to develop. Time will be an asset.
We recently did a piece on Ottawa’s quest to find, develop and retain goaltenders, and the Sens picked up another goaltender in 201-pound Swedish prospect Kevin Reidler.
Reidler will need time to develop and will probably stay in Sweden for a year or two. His grandfather, Hakan Wikberg, played professionally in Sweden and was a two-time Olympic champion.
The Senators strengthened defensively with four picks, a development that just happened as the draft unfolded, Mann says.
The feel-good pick of the day for Ottawa had to be D-man Donovan, son of former Senators wing Sean Donovan, now head of the team’s development program and one of the most popular members of the Sens’ alumni. The club made sure both Donovan and his father were fine with Jorian posing for a photo with his hometown team.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, it was special,” Jorian Donovan said. “Growing up as a Senators fan, it’s a huge honor to be drafted by a team that I’ve always looked up to and always looked up to when I was a kid. . . I couldn’t be happier.”
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