GARRIOCH: The Ottawa Senators ramping up to get ready for opening of camp

Published Sep 10, 2024  •  4 minute read

Ottawa Senators' Thomas Chabot moves the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks. Photo by Jae C. Hong /AP PHOTO

The Ottawa Senators are ready to turn the page and start a new chapter.

And that’s why even though the Senators don’t officially open camp until next week with medicals on Tuesday at the Canadian Tire Centre, all of the players expected to be on the roster already are in town.

Many spent part of past month here, but the rest arrived on Labour Day weekend and they’ve been ramping up with informal skates at the rink daily as they prepare for the first camp under the watchful eye of newly appointed head coach Travis Green.

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Green’s reputation for having tough camps precedes him from his nearly four seasons as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, so the Senators are expecting that once the puck is dropped, the next stretch will be tough.

Nobody is expecting Green to go overboard.

“I kind of like that. Everything has to make sense for the group,” centre Tim Stutzle said Monday before the club’s annual charity golf tournament. “All the guys have been here for a while skating, so I really don’t think that camp will be that hard.

“It’s going to be great to get all the boys and grind together.”

After missing the playoffs for seven straight years, the Senators want to get back to the post-season for the first time since 2017. The core group has been put in place and Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has made several changes to the roster.

The most significant was the acquisition of goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, but the Senators also dealt Jakob Chychrun to the Washington Capitals in exchange for veteran Nick Jensen, who will play in the club’s top four on the blue line.

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It would appear Jake Sanderson will skate with Artem Zub in camp while Jensen be on the right side of Thomas Chabot.

“We’ve skated together,” Chabot said. “He’s a very good skater and he plays very well defensively. We’ve only skated a couple of times together, but I think before camp gets started we’re going to have the chance to get to know each other better and feed off each other on the ice.

“And you know what? He’s been awesome. It’s been great getting to know him. We’ve played a few rounds of golf, we’ve been around each other at the rink and everybody is fitting right in. That’s what makes it good.”

Of course, Jensen and Ullmark weren’t the only additions.

The club brought in veteran forward David Perron from the Detroit Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent along with centre Michael Amadio from the Vegas Golden Knights and winger Nick Cousins from the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

The Senators also signed forward Noah Gregor.

“I think we added some key pieces. I mean, when you look with Jensen coming on the back end, another right-handed (shot), I think everybody will kind of fit more in their side, on playing on their good side, lefties, righties,” Chabot added.

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“I think just all around. (Perron) coming in. I heard great things about him, just his leadership. And, like, I always say a guy that’s been around the league for so long, you can’t buy that anywhere else.”

Veteran winger Claude Giroux is confident the changes will help.

“I think our staff, (Staios) and everybody else, did a great job of adding players that have a role on the team,” Giroux said. “And I think it’s important you know whatever you’re best at. I think that’s what you have to bring. That’s how you’re going to help the team.

“And it’s important that we all know whatever it is, that you do just whatever you do best. You go out there and do that, and if everybody does that, it’s going to be the first good step to the season.”

Mind you Giroux, who is heading into the final year of his deal with the Senators, has been through this before.

“Every year, at this time of year, there’s always a new buzz and always new faces,” Giroux said. “With the season we had last year and how we want to start this year, we’re a little bit older team. We have great additions to our team everywhere.

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“We’re just excited to get going and get the chemistry going. At this time of year, you get excited for camp and after the first day of camp you want to get the season going. It’s coming really soon and the excitement is high.”

The roster for camp won’t be settled until after the club’s top prospects participate in the rookie tournament taking place in Buffalo. The players headed to the six-team event will skate Thursday in Ottawa before boarding the bus for the long ride to Buffalo.

The Senators will open the 2024 Prospects Challenge on Friday at 3:30 p.m. against the New Jersey Devils and will face the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday at noon. The club will wrap up the event Monday at 1:30 p.m. against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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