NHL Preview: Ottawa Senators

The bad news looks set to continue for the Ottawa Senators. Charlie Boccanegra reports.

The Ottawa Senators’ free fall hit rock bottom last year as one of the Eastern Conference premier teams for the past decade had one of the worst records in the NHL. I don’t expect that to change this upcoming season as the team has gone into full rebuilding mode.

There is virtually no chance of them winning the Stanley Cup; making the playoffs seems to be an enviable task at this point. Their season point total is set at 73.5 points and I am very inclined to look at the under. Last season they had 74 points and I see no way how they improve on that.

The predominant reason is the complete lack of depth offensively. They only have one legitimate line that poses any threats to opposing teams with Spezza, Alfredsson and Michalek. The biggest problem with that trio is health, neither of them have been able to play consecutive full seasons at any point in their career. In order to have any chance of competing Spezza and Alfreddson will need to remain healthy and live up to their full potential of being all star caliber players.

Because after that they don’t have any legitimate top six forwards giving them virtually no scoring on the second and third line. In order to have any chance of competing for a playoff spot it will require some of the youthful talent to blossom early; like this year’s first round pick Mike Zibanejad or see the progression of Nikita Filatov and Nick Foligno who have some offensive talent but have never lived up to full potential.

The rest of the team will not struggle nearly as much as the offense because there is some talent and upside. On the back end Chris Phillips is still one of the premier stay at home shut down defenders in the NHL. Surrounding him are some good puck moving offensive minded defenseman in Sergei Gonchar, Filip Kuba, and young up and comer Erik Karlsson who may emerge as the teams best overall defender. Brian Lee and Matt Carkner are a decent third pairing which gives them some good overall depth.
In order to help the offense produce more it will be essential for the skill of these defenseman to chip in by pinching up and plays and making crisp first passes out of their zone.

In net Chris Anderson is a very interesting goalie. At times with Colorado in the past and towards of the season last year with Ottawa he’s looked brilliant; like a premier NHL goalie. Then at other times extremely inconsistent like a career back up. Who knows what to expect? It seems if he starts to many games he runs of out steam. Alex Auld is not the best back up in the world but surely serviceable.

Look for Ottawa to fade when you can see Anderson self destructing after a couple of bad starts. If not when he starts to catch fire and it seemingly happens every year for a good month the Senators will offer tremendous value as a huge underdog in most games. Furthemore, with their lack of overall offense and above average defense betting under the total will also be profitable.