Senators have promising young core, but head into off-season with work to do

OTTAWA — A season that started with optimism for the Ottawa Senators finished with the same result — the team outside the playoffs.

After a strong 7-2-1 finish to the 2020-21 season, Ottawa came into this campaign hoping to challenge for a post-season berth.

"The rebuild is done," general manager Pierre Dorion said before the season after signing a contract extension. "Now we're stepping into another zone."

Instead the Senators (33-42-7) finished the 2021-22 season 26th overall and missed the playoffs for a fifth straight year.

The development of players like Tim Stützle, Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk bodes well for the future, but at closing interviews Saturday the players were hesitant to say Ottawa would be a playoff team next season.

“Of course, we want to be playing meaningful games and that’s our goal year in and year out,” said Tkachuk, who hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his first season as team captain.

"I think for us we’re not going to put pressure on ourselves. We want to get better and we don’t want to listen to the outside noise because at times it can be distracting so if we just focus on getting better every day and have a great summer all individually and come back ready to go I think we’ll be happy with the results."

Defenceman Thomas Chabot said he’s ready to experience meaningful games after five losing seasons, but added the jump to playoff contender could be a tough one.

"For us to take the next step next season it’s going to require all of us as a group to improve and make sure we’re ready right from the start of the season," Chabot said. “Next year is my sixth season, and while we all love playing hockey, at the end of the day we’re all competitive and want to win and want to make the