The Senators aren’t in a rebuild anymore – they’re on the attack

May 2, 2025, 11:00 EDT

The Senators aren’t in a rebuild anymore – they’re on the attack

Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

When the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated by the Washington Capitals earlier in the week, Habs fans weren’t upset.

Well, some might have been. You never want to lose. But that was a team nobody expected to come anywhere near the playoffs. The fact that they gave the Capitals a run for their money was impressive enough. But diehard Habs fans know the experience was huge – and the future looks bright in Montreal.

But for the Ottawa Senators, it’s a slightly different story. Hear me out for a second.

The Sens were eliminated on home ice at the hands of their biggest rivals – the Toronto Maple Leafs. The chirps between the two fanbases got a bit nutty over the course of the series, just like you’d expect. You never want to lose a rivalry series, that’s for sure.

But unlike Montreal, the Senators don’t have a stout pipeline to lean on. They don’t have a game-changing prospect in the wings ready to transform the team like Lane Hutson did this year or Ivan Demidov is expected to do next year in Montreal.

In fact, the Sens have one of the worst prospect pools in the game, with very few high end names ready to change the team’s identity. But that’s OK. Ottawa is going to build a contender in a completely different way than Montreal. Ottawa built up an impressive pipeline shortly after missing out on the Stanley Cup final in 2016-17. At one point, the young core consisted of Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle, Erik Brannstrom, Shane Pinto, Josh Norris, Alex Formenton, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Lassi Thomson, Mads Sogaard and Colin White, among others. But here we are in 2025. Stutzle and Batherson are big parts of the team’s forward core and Shane Pinto is continuing to grow into his own after dealing with injuries early on.

But beyond that, almost everyone else is gone. Some of them struggled and never made it. One of them got arrested. Norris spent most of his tenure dealing with shoulder injuries and was eventually swapped out for Dylan Cozens. The rebuild definitely didn’t go to plan, delayng the team’s hope of another playoff run.

That all ultimately changed this year. Between coaching, GM and even ownership changes, this is a different Ottawa Senators team. One that had to build on the fly to become a playoff-caliber threat.

This is a team that won games by committee. Stutzle is a star, but didn’t produce to the same level of Auston Matthews, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, or Nick Suzuki in the same division this year (his analytics were spicy, though). This team missed its starting goalie for a large chunk of the season and still remained in playoff contention. Brady Tkachuk was hurt at the 4 Nations Face-Off and missed time, too – only to put up point-per-game numbers in the playoffs.

If you didn’t follow the team closely this year, here are a few things you need to know. Jake Sanderson is a certified star defenseman. Get ready to see him at the Olympics, America. Cozens is ready to make some serious noise in his first full season with the club next year. Oh, and Linus Ullmark is the No. 1 this team has been lacking for years. Anton Forsberg will be a UFA this summer, but Leevi Merilainen – who likely won’t cost much on his next deal this summer – is more than ready to take over as backup.

Like Montreal, this was a club that just needed playoff experience under its belt. They knew it was an uphill battle to beat the Leafs – even if their playoff history would suggest otherwise.

Next up? Another important summer.

Puckpedia has the Senators sitting at more than $18.44 million in cap space with 13 roster players signed for 2025-26. Fabian Zetterlund is the only RFA forward needing a new deal, and blueliners Tyler Kleven and Nikolas Matinpalo aren’t going to cost much. The core group is signed long-term already—by design—so they’ve got little to worry about there. If they want to sign Claude Giroux again, the 37-year-old likely won’t cost $6.5 million on his next deal.

The team likely won’t have any notable rookies next season. Defenseman Carter Yakemchuk was a huge get last summer but could probably use another year to solidify his game, especially in his own zone. Stephen Halliday could fill a depth roster spot, but that might be it. But, things like that are important. Ottawa managed to get some great performances out of depth forwards this year, especially Adam Gaudette. Seriously, you’re not finding many 19-goal scorers at league minimum. Nick Cousins played a role, and and he’s the type of guy you want for your playoff runs. Michael Amadio registered 27 points for the third straight year, but he was more than serviceable as a depth forward.

Deals like that could go a long way toward helping them spend more on star talent while still extracting value out of the bottom six.

GM Steve Staios will have his work cut out for him this summer. If the Sens could sign someone like Brock Boeser, that could be massive for the team’s top six. Sam Bennett would be a perfect fit alongside Brady Tkachuk, and could potentially come in under $7 million. Maybe you take a flyer on Patrick Kane and hope he has another good year or two left. What about Mikael Granlund, Nic Dowd or Brock Nelson? There’s no shortage of good options the team could target in free agency. And they could easily clear out more cap space before the draft if needed, too.

Ottawa might not have the young guns ready to take over, but they’ve got cap space – and an established core – they can take advantage of.

The Senators have been one of the busier teams in the free agent market the past few summers, and they’ve got plenty of roster holes to fill again this year. It’s up to Staios to prove to the open market that they’ve got good things brewing in the nation’s capital.

After years of wondering when the team would take the next step, they’ve finally become legit playoff contenders. Every team’s path to the Stanley Cup final is different. In Ottawa’s case, they’ve got work to do. But they’re closer than they’ve been in almost a decade.

SPONSORED BY bet365

The Senators aren’t in a rebuild anymore – they’re on the attack

Recent Articles from Steven Ellis