Let’s face it – the Ottawa Senators have a scoring problem. Last season, they ranked 31st in the league in 5-on-5 scoring. They ranked 19th in total goals scored, and nobody on the roster was among the NHL’s top 20 goal-scorers. For too much of the season, their offence was summed up by its star power – captain Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Jake Sanderson. When the big guns went cold (as they often did last season), there was no depth scoring to make up for it.
Related: Senators Making the Playoffs Not Good Enough This Season
This season, the script could flip. It may no longer be all about the Senators’ top two lines. Over the summer, the Senators may have quietly built something they’ve been missing since their 2017 playoff run – true depth scoring. In a league where contenders roll four lines, that’s critical to the Senators’ hopes this campaign.
The Senators’ Depth Scoring Problem
Top-heavy offence and a weak bottom six have defined the Senators for years. Of the 243 goals the Senators scored last season, 134 of them – roughly 55% were notched by the top two lines, keeping in mind that the composition of those lines varied throughout the season. Similarly, those players skating in the bottom six racked up just 27% of Ottawa’s total markers last season.
Contrast this with the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, whose top six scored 117 goals, or about 46% of the 252 goals the team scored last season. That’s well below the production of the Senators’ top six, but what’s different about the Panthers is that their bottom six (recognizing those two lines varied) produced about 93 goals or almost 37% of the team’s total. In other words, the Panthers’ firepower was much more evenly spread across their four lines.
To be sure, injuries took their toll on the Senators’ bottom-six scoring power last season with Nick Cousins out for 30 games and Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig missing 16 tilts between them. Even so, the third and fourth lines lacked identity and stability last season with too many “tweeners” bouncing back and forth between the baby Senators in Belleville and the big club.
All of this is to say that when the top line wasn’t scoring, the Senators had a hard time winning – the bottom six couldn’t make up for it. That’s not how successful playoff teams survive an 82-game grind.
What’s Different About the Senators’ Depth in 2025-26?
There’s reason for optimism about the Senators’ depth scoring this season. The addition of Lars Eller centring the fourth line between Cousins on the left side and several promising options on the right, including the likes of Olle Lycksell, Stephen Halliday or Arthur Kaliyev, means they finally have a fourth line that can outscore opponents as opposed to just surviving shifts.
With Pinto centring the third line, the team has depth down the middle across all four lines. Not only that, but Greig on his left wing can fill in as centre to cover injuries. Add Claude Giroux, and the Senators’ third line is dangerous.
Last season, Greig, Pinto, Giroux, Cousins and Eller put up 61 goals between them. Assuming this season, Eller can return to form and is good for 15 goals, and a winger from Belleville settles into the fourth line and notches another 15, the bottom six could rack up over 100 goals this season. That would bring the scoring balance the Senators need so badly.
Perhaps we’ve been given a glimpse of what the Senators’ bottom six can offer this season over the three games they’ve played so far. In the season opener on Oct. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pinto and Giroux between them scored three of the Senators’ five goals. In the next matchup against the Florida Panthers, it was only the line of Pinto, Giroux and Greig who showed up to play with Pinto scoring twice and the latter two recording an assist each. Greig potted the team’s only goal in their 4-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Oct. 13.
Senators’ Depth Scoring and 2026 Playoff Success
The difference between a team that’s a playoff lock and a wild card entrant often comes down to how much offence a team gets when their best players aren’t on the ice. There’s no better example of this than the Panthers’ third line last season of Brad Marchand, Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell. Between them, they put up 21 goals and 57 points in the 2025 Playoffs.
Depth scoring like that would mean the Senators’ big guns wouldn’t have to do everything, which in turn dials down the pressure on the top six and improves the team’s overall consistency. It’s no secret that Stutzle and Tkachuk are struggling in the scoring department. In 2022-23, Stutzle marked up the scoresheet for 90 points. He hasn’t matched that since. As for Tkachuk, he notched just 29 goals and 55 points last season. That was only good enough for a ranking of 50th in the league. Not only that, but it represents his third consecutive season of declining point production per game.
It simply can’t come down to these two and just a handful of others to provide the Senators’ scoring punch this season. And they may not have to. For the first time in a long time, the Senators may finally have a dangerous bottom six.
Questions Remain About Senators’ Scoring Depth in 2025-26
Ottawa’s depth looks promising on paper, but staying healthy and maintaining chemistry could determine whether it becomes an X-factor this season. Can the bottom six muster offensive muscle consistently over the entire season? Not only that, but can they look to their blue line and goalie lineup for support? And will injuries this season once again expose the Senators’ lack of depth?
Still, one thing is certain. If the Senators can count on their depth to chip in night after night, they’ll make some noise this season.
