Are the 2025-26 Ottawa Senators a Better Team?

To sign the likes of the Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser or the Boston Bruins’ Tanner Jeannot, as many armchair GMs in Ottawa had counselled, would have devoured all the Senators’ remaining cap space and then some. Acquisitions like these are made when teams feel they have a legitimate shot at the Cup, and Staios rightly judged them premature.

Not only that, but Staios seems to believe in the forward corps he has assembled. Big-name talent isn’t what he thinks is needed at this point in his team’s development. As he put it at a presser following his July 1 moves, “We feel like we have a good plan in place for this group. We’re mindful of this group and their growth and their development, and I think I can’t emphasize that enough. They are taking hold of it. The manager is there to support it and to make sure that you can add to where you need to add. The emphasis is on this group. So, making additions is strategic to this group. I don’t think that they need so much as the support around them to continue to grow and develop together.”

With building support around his young guns in mind, Staios nailed down a one-year contract extension with alternate captain Claude Giroux at less than a third of what he was making last season. Also returning to the roster under a one-year deal is veteran Cousins, who, along with Eller, Michael Amadio and Perron, adds Stanley Cup championship pedigree to the lineup.

Staios seems to believe in 25-year-old Fabian Zetterlund despite the lacklustre five points he notched in the 20 regular-season games he played with the Senators after a surprise deadline deal brought him to Bytown last March. To be fair to Zetterlund, he was trying to adjust to new systems and new teammates in Ottawa. Despite that, fans could see his goal-scoring promise and his outstanding forecheck. It’s no doubt why Staios signed him to a three-year contract worth $4.275 million per season. 

The Senators’ power play at 23.79% last season was better than the league average of 21.64%. They ranked 11^th in the league, but not as high as key Atlantic Division rivals like the Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s hard to argue that Staios and company have done much in the offseason to improve the Senators’ power play.

In a previous article, I argued that a marker of success this season would be for the Senators to win two series. That may sound like a stretch, but it’s not an unrealistic expectation for their fans to hold. Looking at the last 20 games of last season, the team boasted a record of 13-5-2 for a points percentage (PTS%) of .750. That 20-game heater made them one of the very best teams in the NHL.

Rating: B – Unless a major trade or two are made later this summer, it’s hard to argue that the Senators have much more scoring punch than they did last season. To be sure, the forward lines feature solid veteran experience with the addition of Eller and the re-signing of Giroux and Cousins. Even so, Senators fans must hope that the torrid pace their team set in the final 20 games of last season is their true measure.

The Senators’ Defence Has Improved

For the first time in many seasons, the Senators can boast a bevy of talent cruising their blue line. The top-four on the backend was never a question mark last season, featuring as it did, the combination of alternate captain Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen on the top pairing and Jake Sanderson skating alongside Artem Zub on the second. It was always the third pairing that was considered weak.

That’s no longer the case with the addition of Jordan Spence to the roster in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings. The 24-year-old Australian-born, right-shot defenceman should be capable of adding 30 points to the Senators’ total this season. With a full year remaining on a contract that pays him $1.5 million per year, the Senators will have the opportunity to test drive him this season with the option of either trading him at the deadline or extending his contract. All the while, they’ll have the luxury of further seasoning Carter Yakemchuk and their number one 2025 draft pick, right-shot defender Logan Hensler.

It’s a certainty that Tyler Kleven, with his brand-new contract, has a spot on the third pairing. The Belleville Senators are now full of defencemen with the ability to skate with the big club, including Maxence Guenette, Lassi Thomson and Donovan Sebrango. This year’s training camp should be a battle royale among these three, Yakemchuk and Nikolas Matinpalo, for a spot as the seventh D-man. 

Rating: B+ – On the backend, the Senators are deeper and more talented than last season. They are now capable of rolling three solid defence pairings. Gone is the glaring weakness on the third that fans endured over the last few seasons.

Goaltending Still a Question Mark With Senators

Ottawa’s second-string goaltender Anton Forsberg decamped for Tinseltown in July, signing a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings that will pay him $2.25 million per season. That leaves the 22-year-old Leevi Merilianen as Linus Ullmark’s understudy this season.

Many in Ottawa were happy to learn they wouldn’t have Forsberg to kick around anymore, saying that Merilianen had proven himself a bona fide NHL crease keeper. As I argued in a previous piece for The Hockey Writers, I think it was a mistake for the Senators to let Forsberg walk out of town as a UFA. 

Merilianen has just 14 NHL games to his credit. It’s true that in his 12 games last season, he registered an impressive goals-against average of 1.99 and a save percentage of .925, but performance over just 12 contests proves nothing in this league. Should the rookie Finn fly too close to the sun and fall back to earth, the Senators will be in trouble, especially if Ullmark is injured and they need to rely upon him as their number one.

At no point in his 10-year NHL career has Ullmark played more than 49 games. That means Merilianen will likely be called upon to play at least 30 games this season and probably more. That will be the real test of whether he is an NHL-calibre goalie. If he’s not, Ottawa has nobody else in the system who can step up to replace him.

The fact that Staios extended Merilainen’s contract by just one year at the relatively low salary of $1.05 million suggests to me that he’s not fully convinced the kid is the real deal. There is potential in Merilainen to be sure, but it needs to be borne out in many more games over a longer period. Ottawa needs more seasoned backup goaltending than what he offers.

Rating: C – Ullmark aside, Ottawa is still thin on proven talent between the pipes. Staios and company have done nothing to address that in the offseason. Still, to be fair, proven goaltending talent is hard to come by in the NHL. Most of it is drafted and developed rather than acquired.

How Much Better Will the Senators Be in 2025-26?

At this point in the offseason, I think it’s hard to argue that the Senators are a much-improved squad over the one they iced last season. How could they be? They haven’t added that much new talent. And what they have acquired can’t be considered game-changing.

Still, they are a more balanced club. They have strengthened their bottom-six and put together three solid defence pairings. While goaltending is suspect, Staios seems confident that he has built a core upon which he can develop a team capable of making a playoff run this season.

Even so, the Senators are in a very tough division. They still look like a bubble playoff team and not yet a contender.

Overall Rating for Offseason – C+