The Ottawa Senators’ 2024 training camp opens in eight weeks. So now’s the time to look at training camp battles that will be waged for one of the very few spots on the Senators’ opening night roster that haven’t already been sewn up by veterans.
Training camp battles are the stuff of compelling story lines that hold fans in their grip. The winners of these battles often become fan favourites. After all, who doesn’t love an underdog who came out on top?
Projecting the Ottawa Senators’ Opening Night Depth Chart
On Oct. 10 at 7 pm, the Senators will face off against the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in Canadian Tire Centre. In the depth chart below are the players who I think are a lock to suit up on opening night.
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
| Brady Tkachuk | Tim Stutzle | Claude Giroux |
| Ridly Greig | Josh Norris | Drake Batherson |
| Michael Amadio | Shane Pinto | David Perron |
| Noah Gregor | Open | Zack MacEwan |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
| Jake Sanderson | Artem Zub |
| Thomas Chabot | Nick Jensen |
| Open | Open |
If I’m right in this projection, there are only three open roster spots at this point.
Who Has a Shot at Playing Senators’ 4th Line Centre?
I reckon that only five players have a chance at cruising middle ice on the fourth line as the season opens. They are Adam Gaudette, Jan Jenik, Matthew Highmore, Garrett Pilon and Xavier Bourgault.
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While a long shot to make the roster, Pilon will be interesting to watch. Now 26 years old, this is probably one of the few chances he has remaining at cracking an NHL lineup. Last season with the Belleville Senators he put up his highest points total in his six American Hockey League (AHL) campaigns. In the league’s Calder Cup Playoffs last season, he registered five points in seven games. If his camp isn’t good enough to earn a spot on the opening night roster then at the very least, he’ll want to show that he should be on head coach Travis Green’s call-up list.
The same can be said for the recently acquired Xavier Bourgault who Ottawa got from the Edmonton Oilers in July as part of a trade involving injury-plagued Robbie Jarventie. At just 21 with only two AHL seasons under his belt, odds are long that he’ll play his way into the fourth-line centre spot.
Even so, as my colleague at The Hockey Writers, Jacob Billington wrote recently, in Bourgault, the Senators “are bringing in a player who isn’t as good as Jarventie right now. But over the course of the next few years, his much higher ceiling could see him take over as the better player.” Bourgault will be aiming to turn some heads at training camp and like Pilon, make some room for himself on Green’s call-up list this season.
Jenik is 23 years old, has played in four AHL campaigns and has 22 NHL games with the then-Arizona Coyotes under his belt. He has the potential to put himself on Green’s radar in September’s training camp. He’s been a respectable goal scorer in the AHL and shot the proverbial lights out in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) notching two points per game in 2019-20 with the Hamilton Bulldogs. The team’s president and general manager (GM) that season was the Senators’ GM Steve Staios.
Staios said of Jenik back then, “He’s the best player in the league (OHL) in my opinion” (from, ‘SCOTT RADLEY: Injury to their best player a disaster for the Bulldogs,’ The Hamilton Spectator, 1/1/20). That’s a vote of confidence that could prove valuable in Jenik’s battle in training camp to win a spot on the roster.
The sun has probably set on Matthew Highmore’s NHL career, and the upcoming training camp could be his last best chance of playing his way into a Senators sweater. At 28, he has 146 NHL games to his credit, but most of those were played with the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks from 2019 to 2022. In the last three seasons he’s appeared in only nine games and seven of those were with Ottawa as a replacement for injured roster players. While it’s unlikely he’ll make the team, a good training camp could position Highmore high on the call-up list.
I give the strongest odds on Adam Gaudette playing at fourth-line centre on opening night. It’s true that his best days in the NHL are probably behind him. His last steady gig in the league was back in 2021-22 when he played 50 games with the Senators. Since then, he has bounced around the AHL before being picked up by Ottawa on a one-year, two-way deal that will pay him $750,000 if he makes the team and $450,000 if he plays in Belleville.
Even so, Gaudette has played 220 games in the NHL and arguably brings more to the fourth line than Pilon and Highmore. As for Bourgault and Jenik, they’re young and the Senators may want to see them develop further in the AHL. All of that tells me that the edge goes to Gaudette.
Who Could Play Their Way Into Senators’ 3rd Defence Pairing?
Left defence on the third pairing is Tyler Kleven’s job to lose. So depleted is the team’s prospect cupboard, that you can make the case that the 6-foot-4, 205-pound bruiser is pretty much all the Senators’ depth at that position. Besides, with just under $2 million in cap space left, it’s not like Staios can bring in additional high-end talent for his blue line.
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The contest for the spot on the right side of the third defence pairing will be a dogfight. Vying for it will be Maxence Guenette, Travis Hamonic, Jacob-Bernard Docker and Nikolas Mantinpalo.
On most nights, Hamonic will most likely be a healthy scratch as the seventh defenceman. That’s where he spent much of last season. This and injuries – many owing to his constant shot blocking – limited him to just 48 games.
Bernard-Docker must be feeling the pressure to keep his job. After all, the Senators placed him on waivers just before the start of last season and rumour had it that Staios didn’t rule out the possibility of putting him on the trade block at last season’s trade deadline. All of this is to say that he’s not untouchable.
What’s more, Mantinpalo is not going to let Bernard-Docker simply be anointed. At 6-foot-3 and 207-pounds the 25-year-old Finn brings the same size to the Senators blue line that Kleven does. Whether he can also bring Kleven’s surliness isn’t clear. Still, with only 67 games over one season in the AHL, Mantinpalo may need more seasoning in Belleville before making the leap to the big club in Ottawa. Yet fans can be sure that at training camp in September, he’ll want to show that he belongs in the NHL.
Finally, Guenette will be in the thick of the battle for a spot on the third defence pairing. The 23-year-old was one of the final cuts in last season’s training camp hanging around Bytown until Oct. 8 before being sent down to Belleville. He saw action in seven NHL games last March as the Senators dealt with injuries. In his three AHL seasons, he has improved each year. Although a long shot to make the roster, with a good camp he could make it difficult for Staios to send him back to Belleville.
Senators’ 2024 Opening Night Roster Not Set in Stone
While the 2024 opening night roster looks almost set, that doesn’t mean training camp won’t be interesting to watch. There are still a few spots up for grabs and even prospects with long odds playing in Ottawa this season will have a chance to turn some heads.
