Going into the regular season, fans and pundits had the Ottawa Senators fighting for a playoff spot towards the end of the year.
Instead, they fired both their general manager and head coach, dealt with long suspensions and injuries, and with a record of 33-38-4 with 70 points, seventh in the Atlantic Division and tied for second-last in the Eastern Conference, 2023-24 has been a disappointment for the Senators organization.
The team has a number of young players signed, including Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson, all signed for at least the next four years. But what do they need to do to take that next step?
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yarmechuk discuss the Senators’ rebuild and what to expect in this off-season and beyond.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s do our post-mortem segment for the day: the Ottawa Senators are officially eliminated from playoff contention. We’ve known for awhile now that it would not be the year that the Senators would take a step forward.
Frank, they have a new regime in charge, and Steve Staios is going to be heading into his first year at the helm. Ottawa has taken different approaches in trying to get out of this rebuild, they have a young core in place, and the bulk of it is signed for the foreseeable future.
Is this summer going to be more of trusting the process, or could we see a summer of shakeups?
Frank Seravalli: I would lean towards the latter, and they’ll be some significant change. Basically, what we’ve seen from Ottawa is not much action. Since Staios took over, we’ve haven’t seen much in terms of changes.
It’s fact, not opinion, that the Senators have had the most disappointing season of all 32 teams in the NHL. I’m real curious as to how aggressive Staios is in his nature when trying to make changes. I can’t stress enough how critical this coaching hire is. They brought Jacques Martin in, and that was one of their big mistakes this season. I think we’ve seen enough from other coaching changes that someone can come in and change the culture.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…
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