2019-20 Senators yearly review

[yave1964]

The second team on the list, second worst record in Hockey, the Senators

 

PRESEASON OUTLOOK Wow were they glad to move on from the fiasco that was 201-19, the prolonged Karlsson ordeal, the Hoffman situation and trade, players in an uber mocking an assistant coach, worry that their first rounder that they had traded to the Sharks would be the first pick in the draft. So much more. Not much was expected, the team was hoping to just have a nice quiet season as the kids developed.

 

FINAL RECORD 25-34-12 62 Points, 7th in division, 2nd worst record in Hockey

 

HIGH POINT OF THE SEASON The team started slow but then went on a decent run, from November 7th thru November 22nd the Sens went 7-1-1 to claw their way back to .500

 

LOW POINT OF THE SEASON They hung around near .500 until Christmas when the wheels fell off, beginning December 29th they lost 9 straight, then after stopping the bleeding by winning 2 of 3 they then lost 6 more in a row, pushing them down towards the bottom of the standings from which they never came close to recovering.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR When they beat the Canadiens 2-1 on November 20th it was their 5th road win of the season (they were 5-7-1 on the road at that point). After that they simply stopped winning on the road for the rest of the season, going 2-14=5 from then on away from the friendly confines. They only won a single road game all year after December 4th.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Brady Tkachuk developed nicely as one of the games up and coming power wingers. Reclamation projects Conner Brown and Anthony Duclair had fine seasons. Chabot was a minute munching defender who was a solid offensive blueliner. Pageau had a breakout year before being traded.to the Islanders for their third first round pick this year. Tierney and Ennis were decent middle six wingers.The Sharks were awful and the Sens own their first pick and it is conceivable they may end up with the first two picks in the draft. Boroweicki had 7 goals and was among the leaders in the league in total hits.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Start in net, Craig Anderson simply cannot play anymore and nobody else in net pushed him, the trio they played in goal were all dreadful. Colin White was supposed to be the first line center and failed miserably. The blueline was not only bad at keeping pucks out of the net they provided very little on offense, other than Boroweicki and Chabot, the rest of the defense COMBINED had only 3 measly goals. Brannstrom especially was a dissapointment having zero goals and 3 assists and two trips to the minors. promising kids Batherson, Formenton, Brown, Chlapik, Brannstrom, Beaudin , Lajoie and Norris all got ice time, none really impressed.

 

FREE AGENTS Boroweicki is the big one they cannot afford to lose but he will command a decent salary and term. Others such as Boedker, anderson and Hainsey wont be invited back. 

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS First off, did they overrate the kids or do they just need a bit more seasoning? My opinion is the Senators are in decent shape with a bunch of B level prospects. 

  The big question mark is, how will they draft? The Sens are sitting with a ridiculous 3 first rounders, 4 second rounders and 2 in the third round as well. On top of that they already have 3 second rounders for next year as well. 

  Gotta find some goaltending and some real defenders but they seem to be on a decent path.

[mojo1917]

@yave1964

I always appreciate these.

 

Watching the Senators I felt like they were a team on the rise.

They gave my team fits. They skate well, they act like assholes, they have some skilled players. There just weren't enough of them.

I think their core was pretty solid, I didn't like the Pageau trade at the time, but the picks they have in this draft could be the a nucleus of a strong team  that will be good for a long time. 

Their goaltending was meh, their bottom 4 were exploitable. I never thought, damn they suck when I watched them though. 

Full disclosure I thought the Wings were decent for 40 minutes a game too, but when they went "bad" they were really bad, Senators were  in that same boat. 

 

[yave1964]

8 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

@yave1964

I always appreciate these.

 

Watching the Senators I felt like they were a team on the rise.

They gave my team fits. They skate well, they act like assholes, they have some skilled players. There just weren't enough of them.

I think their core was pretty solid, I didn't like the Pageau trade at the time, but the picks they have in this draft could be the a nucleus of a strong team  that will be good for a long time. 

Their goaltending was meh, their bottom 4 were exploitable. I never thought, damn they suck when I watched them though. 

Full disclosure I thought the Wings were decent for 40 minutes a game too, but when they went "bad" they were really bad, Senators were  in that same boat. 

 

Thank you for the kind words. Hope that you and yours are doing well.

 

 As for the Sens... Truthfully i think they are one of the best bad teams in Hockey. Detroit is still a mess, the three California clubs are all on a downhill slide and havent really hit rock bottom yet, the Sabres have gotten slightly better but seem rudderless. The Senators seem to have a plan, if they get two picks right at the top of the draft among their 9 picks in the top 80 or so the turnaround could come much sooner than later.