Ottawa Senators
You know, with a record of 23-28-5, the Sens weren’t really that awful last season.
They endured horrendous goaltending from Matt Murray (.893 SV%) and Marcus Hogberg (.876), who, combined, started for 35 of the team’s 56 games. With league-average goaltending, who knows, maybe Ottawa sneaks into the postseason instead of Montreal and a non-concussed John Tavares leads Toronto into the fabled final-eight!
Like Montreal (and then some), the Sens have continually found useful players in the draft and have a collection of good young talent already producing in the lineup.
Brady Tkachuk is an absolute force and Joshua Norris, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson, all 23 and under, continue to impress with their mix of size, strength and skill. This is going to be a really tough team to play against soon but right now that defense is pretty shoddy, Matt Murray is still the starter and Tkachuk, holding out for a new deal, may miss the start of the season (maybe owner Eguene Melnyk can donate some of his yacht money to seal the deal?).
And I’m not supposed to be pointing out positives anyway, so take that, Angus Crookshank!
Ottawa’s best fake NHL name: Crookshank almost made the cut, as did Dillon Heatherington, Zachary Magwood and Kole Sherwood, but the winner here is Chandler Romeo. Could he BE any more charming?