The Ottawa Senators’ 2024 training camp will be full of drama as players battle for roster spots and management agonizes over who to keep and who to cut. Yet this year, the battles and storylines fans will be following will be as much about who turned heads in the executive suite as it will be about who snagged one of the few roster spots up for grabs.
Few Senators Roster Spots Open at 2024 Training Camp
As the Senators’ training camp opened on Sept. 18, it was clear that their roster was mostly set. In the depth chart below are the players who I think have a lock on the opening night roster. If I’m right, there are only three roster spots that are in play.
Forwards:
| Brady Tkachuk | Tim Stutzle | Claude Giroux |
| David Perron | Josh Norris | Drake Batherson |
| Nick Cousins | Shane Pinto | Michael Amadio |
| Noah Gregor | Ridly Greig | Open Spot |
Defence:
| Jake Sanderson | Artem Zub |
| Thomas Chabot | Nick Jensen |
| Tyler Kleven | Open Spot |
Seventh Defenceman: Open Spot
Goaltenders:
| Starter | Linus Ulmark |
| Backup | Anton Forsberg |
Challengers for Senators’ Open Spot at Forward
Some pundits say 6-foot-3, 205-pound tough guy Zack MacEwen should have the lock on the only open spot on the Senators’ fourth line since he’s signed to a one-way contract, albeit at the league minimum. Sending him down to the American Hockey League (AHL) means running the risk of losing him on waivers for nothing. Even so, last season he bounced back and forth between the Belleville Senators and the NHL, clearing waivers twice. There’s a low risk of losing him.
That may mean president of hockey operations and general manager (GM) Steve Staios will feel he’s able to experiment with five or six options he has to beef up his fourth line. They include veteran Adam Gaudette and rookies Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Jan Jenik, and Zack Ostapchuk.
Among the rookies, my money would be on Ostapchuk to battle his way onto the opening night lineup. As my colleague and resident prospect sage Dayton Reimer at The Hockey Writers pointed out, Ostapchuk proved in his six NHL games last season that he could be a good fit for the Senators and slide into a prominent role even as a rookie. He’s a heart-and-soul player who brings a physical edge, is good with the puck, is fast, and has a high hockey IQ.
Related: Senators Prospect Report: Ostapchuk, Crookshank, Nikitin & More
Crookshank won’t roll over in training camp and give up the open spot on the fourth line to Ostapchuk. Crookshank made his NHL debut last season, playing 13 games and scoring two goals and three points. Injuries had plagued him in the minors early in his time there, but by the 2022-23 season, he was fully recovered and put up back-to-back 24-plus goal and 46-plus point seasons in Belleville. Last season he was named to the AHL All-Star Game. Along with skill, energy, and speed, he brings a gritty physical style to the rink.
Ostapchuck and Crookshank are cut from the same cloth as Tkachuk. His high-skilled, gritty style underpins the identity that the Senators under Staios and head coach Travis Green are trying to establish. Ostapchuck and Crookshank could help bring Tkachuk’s heart and soul game to the bottom six.
If veteran experience on the fourth line is what Staios thinks he needs, Gaudette brings it. He played 50 games with Ottawa in 2021-22 before moving on as a free agent at the end of that season. In all, he has 220 games under his belt over parts of six seasons with four NHL clubs.
Competition for Senators’ Third Defence Pairing
Ottawa’s first two defence pairings are set. I’d also bet that Tyler Kleven is a lock on the left side of the third pairing, leaving the right side available for several players to contest at training camp.
Early in the summer, it looked like the job on the right side was Jacob Bernard-Docker’s to lose with veteran Travis Hamonic on most nights as the seventh blueliner. Some are now saying that Hamonic could muscle Bernard-Docker off the roster now that he’s healthy. Not only that, but he once was a teammate of Staios and played under Green when he coached the Vancouver Canucks. That should count for something if Bernard-Docker fails to make it clear at training camp that the right side of the third pairing belongs to him.
A dark horse in the race will be Calen Addison. Staios signed him on Sept. 5 to a professional tryout (PTO) giving Addison a shot at resurrecting his NHL career after the San Jose Sharks surprisingly let him walk as a free agent at the end of last season.
Related: Senators Smart to Sign Calen Addison to PTO
Addison is undersized, but he brings speed and offensive skill to the roster. He’s a puck-moving D-man – something the Senators could use more of now that Jakob Chychrun and Erik Brannstrom are gone. What’s more, Addison can complement Kleven who is more of a classic stay-at-home defenceman.
Staios has other options on the right side of the third defence pairing. Prospects Maxence Guenette and Nikolas Mantinpalo will be trying hard to make the case that if they aren’t chosen to suit up on opening night, then they should be on the short-list of call-ups when injuries leave holes to fill in the lineup.
Of the two, Guenette probably has a decent chance of playing his way into a permanent roster spot since last season he was widely regarded as having earned a spot out of camp. He had to go back to the AHL because there was too little cap space to sign him. That may be a problem again this season with only $1.1 million available to Staios.
The Battle to Be the Senators’ Backup Goalie
Linus Ullmark is the Senators’ starting goaltender. Yet what could make things interesting at training camp this year is whether Mads Sogaard can put the idea in Staios’ head that he could be an alternative to Anton Forsberg as the team’s number two twine minder.
That question matters because as good as he is, Ullmark won’t be playing every night and his backup will need to play 20-30 games this season. If Forsberg struggles, could Sogaard take his place? If he’s injured, what then? And God forbid, if Ullmark is injured, could Sogaard back up Forsberg when he’s the team’s number one?
The Senators’ 2024 Training Camp is One to Watch
To his credit, Staios tinkered with his lineup right up to the start of training camp with additions (see Nick Cousins) and PTOs (see Addison and Nikolay Kulemin). I have to believe that’s at least in part because he was aiming to torque the level of competition for roster spots and see who thrives under pressure.
This camp could see a dark horse or two play their way into the lineup. Yet for those who don’t, the camp is a chance to make the case that they should be first in line for a call-up when injuries and departures take their inevitable toll this season.
