Way too early Atlantic division predictions for the Toronto Maple Leafs
5. Ottawa Senators
Last season the Sens had another disappointing season where they finished seventh in the Atlantic with 78 points.
Ottawa had an interesting offseason, they had two big trades one where they traded away Joonas Korpisalo (retaining 25 percent of his deal), Mark Kastellic and a 2024 first-round pick in exchange for Linus Ullmark. They also acquired Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Jacob Chychrun.
The acquisition of Ullmark from the Boston Bruins should solidify the goaltending position for the Sens who have struggled to find one since Craig Anderson. Ullmark had a great year last year while splitting time with Jeremy Swayman where he posted a .915 save percentage, 13.37 goals saved above average and a 21.62 goals saved above expected (stats from EvolvingHockey.com). I liked this move for Ottawa.
head-scratchingThe Jensen trade was more head scratching for me. While Chychrun hasn't been what Ottawa expected Jensen is 33 years old and struggled last year in Washington. Jensen fills one of Ottawa's needs: a right-shot defenseman, but I'm still not a big fan of the move.
The Senators also added David Perron, Michael Amadio, former Leaf Noah Gregor as well as Nick Cousins. These adds helped strengthen the bottom six, which they did need.
They don't have many notable outgoing players aside from the guys they used in trades.
What makes me think Ottawa misses the playoffs yet again is the defence core. Sanderson is a great piece and a full healthy year of Artem Zub would be big for the Sens, while Tomas Chabot is a great puck mover who tends to win his minutes and drive play,
The rest of the blueline concerns me because players like Tyler Kleven and Jacob Bernard-Docker look to be their best options to fill out the blue-line. As I mentioned earlier Jensen struggled last year and I can't see him getting significantly better at the age of 33.
The Ullmark move was good and much-needed. If the Sens want to make the playoffs I still think they need to upgrade the blueline and they also need a fully healthy year from Josh Norris which they haven't had since he entered the league. Another big factor for this upcoming season is the coaching change from DJ Smith to Travis Green. Green wasn't great in Vancouver but we'll see if he will be able to turn the Sens around.