Making playoffs again was essential for Senators to establish next step of rebuild
Though it might’ve been a greater roller coaster than many would’ve wanted, the Ottawa Senators managed to secure a spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Senators clinched a spot in the postseason for the second year in a row, the first time since the franchise accomplished the feat in the 2011-12 and 2013 campaigns. It certainly wasn’t an easy path to the playoffs. Off-ice drama, a terrible start and relatively wild games led to the team hanging around the bottom of the Atlantic Division times. However, the core of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Thomas Chabot, which has been together for several years now, helped turn things around at a crucial point of the season.
On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discussed the importance of the Sens qualifying for the postseason once again.
Tyler Yaremchuk: They get back in. Now it’s time to again, all those negative stories, they, poof, go away if you can find a way to win a playoff round now
Carter Hutton: Winning solves everything. Then, you look back, obviously, on this year and the way they played. You look at the advanced analytics about how good they defend and what they’ve given up and the lack of goaltending. That being said, there was a situation I think is a key moment when they’re playing Tampa Bay and Linus Ullmark was not available. Everybody came out of the woodwork and was all over him…after that, he played every single game, seven of them, until the last game when they already had clinched and Reimer got the start. [Ullmark] went 5-2, and he was very good in those games.
I think that is a big factor here for this Ottawa team. They’re sneaky. This is a team that plays the right way. Linus Ullmark can keep pucks out of the net. He can be a difference maker. I look back to that experience they had last year against the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is a very, very good hockey team. There’s a lot of excitement around them. I think rightfully so, they earned the right to get in the playoffs. … So, they got a lot of momentum here heading into the home stretch of playoffs.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…