The Ottawa Senators Set to Play 50 Games in 99 Days

The National Hockey League released their modified schedule Wednesday. Schedule-makers issued new dates for 98 games that were previously postponed due to covid-19 protocol measures or for government-mandated arena capacity restrictions. In addition; another 23 games were shifted to accommodate the previously postponed contests league-wide.

The Ottawa Senators were involved in 15 schedule revisions in total, 12 of which saw postponed games rescheduled and three games shifted.

We all knew it was happening, with no Olympic break in sight, the Senators will now play 12 games in 26 days in February – with nine of those coming at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Starting Thursday in Pittsburgh, the team will be on a non-stop sprint to the finish of the regular season on April 29. The Senators are slated to play 50 games in only 99 days.

The changes to the Senators schedule are as follows:

Originally scheduled April 7 game versus New Jersey is now set for Feb, 7 at 7 pm.

• Postponed Dec. 23 game versus Carolina is now set for Feb. 8 at 7 pm.
• Postponed Dec. 31 game versus Pittsburgh is now set for Feb. 10 at 7 pm.
• Postponed Dec. 29 game versus Boston is now set for Feb. 12 at 12:30 pm.
• Postponed Dec. 27 game at Washington is now set for Feb. 13 at 12:30 pm.
• Postponed Dec. 21 game versus St.Louis is now set for Feb. 15 at 7 pm.
• Postponed Dec. 21 game versus St.Louis is now set for Feb. 15 at 7 pm.
• Originally scheduled April 20 game at Buffalo is now set for Feb, 17 at 7 pm.
• Postponed Nov. 20 game versus New York Rangers is now set for Feb. 20 at 5 pm.
• Postponed Jan. 3 game versus Minnesota is now set for Feb. 22 at 7 pm.
• Originally scheduled March 24  game at New York Islanders is now set for March. 22 at 7:30 pm.
• Originally scheduled Jan. 15 game at Winnipeg is now set for March 24 at 8 pm.
• Postponed Nov. 18 game versus Nashville is now set for April 7 at 7 pm.
• Originally scheduled Jan. 6 game at Seattle is now set for April 18 at 10 pm.
• Originally scheduled Jan. 8 game at Vancouver is now set for April 18 at 10 pm.
  
  All times Eastern.

A complete Senators schedule can be found here.

It’s going to be an interesting 99 days for the Senators.

Colin White will return to the lineup in the next few weeks. Shane Pinto may also return late in the season. Both are recovering from shoulder surgeries.

Lassi Thomson will most assuredly see more games down the stretch on the blue line.

And there’s the anticipated debut of the club’s 2020 fifth overall selection Jake Sanderson. The University of North Dakota defenseman along with Michigan’s Owen Power are arguably the best currently outside the NHL.

Senators’ fans will have an opportunity to view Sanderson representing the United States at the Winter Olympics in February, but likely won’t see him in Ottawa much before mid-April – that is providing the d-man makes the decision to turn pro – which at this point appears to be a foregone conclusion.

There’ll also be players leaving with the NHL Trade Deadline is March 21.

The Senators have a lengthy list of pending unrestricted free agents who may fetch draft picks or future roster players.

Key players that may be on the move include:

Goalie – Anton Forsberg.

Defenseman – Josh Brown, Nick Holden.

Forwards – Tyler Ennis, Nick Paul, Zach Sanford, Chris Tierney.