Ottawa Senators are in NHL playoff mix, but challenge is staying there

Has it been as good as they hoped? No. But they're definitely still in the hunt and that's a good thing in itself.

Published Jan 11, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  7 minute read

Senators centre Shane Pinto, far right, celebrates his first of two goals during the first period of Saturday's NHL game against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Photo by Gene J. Puskar /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

It was appropriate for the Ottawa Senators to hit the midway point of the National Hockey League schedule in Steeltown.

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Trying to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years, the Senators were back at the PPG Paints Arena, site of one of the most heartbreaking moments in club history, where Chris Kunitz scored the overtime winner in Game 7 to send the Pittsburgh Penguins to the 2017 Stanley Cup final.

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As the Senators reached the 41-game mark of the National Hockey League schedule with the matchup against the Penguins, they were in the mix to make the playoffs for only the second time since that trip to the Eastern Conference final.

A lot has to go right for the Senators to make the playoffs, but first they need to get back to the consistency they enjoyed in December, when they posted a 9-3-1 record and moved into the second wildcard spot in the East.

Injuries to top goalie Linus Ullmark and depth players David Perron, Michael Amadio, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Noah Gregor and Travis Hamonic have made the task more difficult, but injuries can’t be an excuse.

This team doesn’t have a sizeable gap to make up to move into a playoff spot, as in recent years, and that’s why the Senators need to seize the opportunity with a little help from management.

“It’s good that we’re in the position we wanted to be in,” alternate captain Thomas Chabot said earlier this week. “You look at the standings, everybody is so tight and everything is so close. There’s not a lot of breathing room out there.

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“That’s what you want, every game to matter, and to get every point you can throughout the rest of the season. It’s fun with where we’re at and we’re focused on what we have to do.”

Owner Michael Andlauer told Postmedia before the season he would be “disappointed” if the Senators didn’t make the playoffs, but he also understood the roster had to stay healthy to make that reality.

“We’re right in the thick of things We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Andlauer told TSN’s Claire Hanna during the second period of Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. “I didn’t think we were going to get the type of injuries that we’ve had, so we haven’t had Lady Luck on our side from that standpoint.

“We’re looking good and we’re in a good position. We’ve just got to keep it up and keep having the right habits moving forward.”

Maybe the best bet for the Senators is not to look at the standings because they can be a rollercoaster ride on a daily basis.

Steve Staios, head of hockey operations and general manager of the Ottawa Senators. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMeDIA

MAKE A TRADE

Steve Staios, the Senators’ president of hockey operations and general manager, has been working the phones and trying to find help for his struggling club.

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Head coach Travis Green and his staff along with the players have done their parts, putting the club in a playoff position. Now it’s incumbent on Staios, senior vice-president Dave Poulin and the hockey operations department to lend a hand.

Depth of defence has been put to the test with the loss of Artem Zub twice this season for lengthy stretches along with recent injuries to Bernard-Docker and Hamonic.

Bringing up Nikolas Matinpalo and Max Guenette from the American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville is a good short-term solution, but neither of them has the experience to help the club make the playoffs.

You also have to remember that defenceman Tyler Kleven is still an NHL rookie and hasn’t been through the rigours to know what it takes to play the kind of hockey required down the stretch.

It has been an issue since training camp and something Staios has been trying to address, studying the waiver wire and trade options, but hasn’t been able to find the right deal.

That’s fine and you don’t want him to make a move just to do something, but the clock is ticking towards the March 7 trade deadline.

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Forwards Perron and Amadio are close to returning. TSN analyst Jamie McLennan made a good point recently when he said getting the veteran Perron back — he’s suited up for only nine games — would be akin to a “trade-deadline acquisition.”

League executives say the Senators would like to get centre Josh Norris and his $7.95-million salary cap hit off the books, but not many teams can take on that contract without giving Ottawa something back.

Staios is expected to address the media this coming week.

The Senators remain without the services of goalie Linus Ullmark, who has been sidelined by a back injury. Photo by Greg Southam /POSTMEDIA

LEAN ON LINUS

The injury to Ullmark has been devastating in a lot of ways.

Show me a good goalie and I’ll show you a good team that’s a contender.

You can’t do anything about a bad back, but the Senators need Ullmark to return as quickly as possible.

The Senators went into Saturday’s visit to Pittsburgh with six losses in their previous seven games. In nine games before his injury, Ullmark was 8-0-1 with a 1.48 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage.

They have improved their defensive play under Green and there have been nights where they simply haven’t gotten the necessary stops.

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Backup Anton Forsberg, who missed three weeks himself because of an unspecified lower-body injury on Dec. 14, hasn’t been nearly good enough. while Leevi Merilainen is young and needs more experience.

Forsberg had surrendered three goals or more in his past eight starts heading into Saturday, and he had lost five straight since his last win on Nov. 25. Since then he has been 4-8-1 with a 3.10 goals-against average and a .883 save percentage.

Does this mean Staios has to look for a backup?

This is the second lengthy stretch that Ullmark has missed since he was signed to a four-year, $33-million U.S. contract extension one day before the season began. He’s a great goalie and his absence has proven the Senators can’t afford to be without him for long stretches.

There aren’t many goaltending options around the league, but the plan was to have Mads Sogaard as the backup next season, and he hasn’t set the world on fire in Belleville, either.

BACK TO SCORING

The most mystifying part of this crawl towards the midway point has been the Senators’ inability to score, with just 10 goals in the seven games before they faced the Penguins.

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That’s an average of just 1.43 goals per game, and they had surrendered an average of 3.29 in that stretch. You’re not going to have a lot of success with those kinds of numbers.

Except for captain Brady Tkachuk and winger Ridly Greig, pretty much all of the Senators’ top players were slumping before facing Pittsburgh. It’s hard to explain.

Drake Batherson hadn’t scored in 10 games, while Josh Norris had just two goals in 13 games, Tim Stutzle had just two goals in 15 games, and Shane Pinto hadn’t scored in seven games, though he got two in the first period against Pittsburgh. Veteran winger Claude Giroux only had two points in his previuos seven contests.

To make matters worse, there hasn’t been any depth scoring from Nick Cousins, Zack Ostapchuk and Cole Reinhardt to name a few, while offence from defencemen such as Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson has been non-existent.

Nobody could have predicted this and it has to change or it will be another quiet spring in Ottawa.

The Senators are still in the top 10 in the NHL on the power play, but they ranked No. 29 on the road going into Saturday’s action. That’s another trend that needs to be turned around in the second half.

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They also need to play with more discipline because they’re ranked No. 23 on the penalty kill.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Senators are in a much better place at the halfway point of the season than they have been in a long time.

They can still get this done, but they have to get this turned around before they slip out of the race. The league will shut down for the Four Nations Face-Off in February and the Senators need to either be back in a playoff spot then or within striking distance.

They kept their heads above water with a 4-4-1 record on a stretch of nine consecutive road games while the 2025 IIHF world junior championship was held in Ottawa, and now they need to find a way to get back to playing good, consistent hockey.

AT THE MIDPOINT

2024-25 20-18-3 43 PTS

2023-24 16-24-1 35 PTS

2022-23 19-19-3 41 PTS

2021-22 15-22-4 34 PTS

2020-21 7-15-1 15 PTS#

2019-20 16-20-5 37 PTS

2018-19 15-21-5 35 PTS

2017-18 14-18-9 37 PTS

2016-17 22-15-4 48 PTS

# This was a shortened 56-game season because of COVID-19.

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