Big additions bring big expectations this season for Senators

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators have been perennial basement dwellers for five years running, but the team finally seems poised to make significant progress.

The past few difficult years have been spent building a young core that started with workhorse defenceman Thomas Chabot and went on to include captain Brady Tkachuk and forwards Drake Batherson, Josh Norris and Tim Stutzle.

With the additions of veteran Claude Giroux, high-scoring winger Alex DeBrincat and goaltender Cam Talbot, the Senators might finally be able to make some headway in the Eastern Conference, although they’ll be facing some tough competition in the always competitive Atlantic Division.

Ottawa will need to shed some bad habits if they want to keep pace with the likes of Tampa, Toronto and Florida.

For the past three seasons, which coincides with how long head coach D.J. Smith has been behind the bench, the Senators have struggled to get off on the right foot.

In his rookie season in 2019-20, Ottawa was 2-7-1 after ten games. The 2020-21 season, which was comprised of an all-Canadian division, saw them go 1-8-1. Last year, they stumbled out to a 3-6-1 record.

"Clearly we know we've got to get out to a good start," said Smith. "You've got to be in every game. You've got to chip away at points right from the get-go, and that's pro sports. We're big boys and we've got to be ready when the season starts."

While the Senators will likely be able to score a few more goals thanks to DeBrincat, Giroux and the supporting cast of forwards, the bigger question is whether or not Ottawa's defence and goaltending will have sufficiently improved.

As impressive as general manager Pierre Dorion's moves were this summer, he failed to acquire a solid, veteran blue-liner.

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