Earlier this summer I wrote about five Ottawa Senators storylines to keep an eye on as the 2024-25 season approached. My piece asked whether Tim Stutzle will rebound this season and whether new head coach Travis Green can build a winning culture in Ottawa.
Related: 5 Ottawa Senators’ Storylines to Watch in 2024-25
Even so, there are many more burning questions than these. Here’s a look at five of them as the Senators head into the opening of their training camp on Oct. 18.
Will David Perron Emerge as a Senators Leader?
The Senators signed free agent David Perron on July 1 to a two-year, $8 million contract. They didn’t sign the big, gritty left winger because he could score goals (although he’s usually good for 20 of them per season). They expect Perron to add sandpaper to their lineup and make the Senators hard to play against.
Even more important though, is that president of hockey operations and general manager (GM) Steve Staios probably hopes Perron will help transplant his DNA into the team. With 17 seasons under his belt, a Stanley Cup win with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and an All-Star Game appearance in 2020, Perron knows what it takes to win in the NHL.
Related: 7 Cool Things About David Perron
The burning question is whether Perron and the other veterans that Staios added to his roster this summer will rub off on his team’s young core. Will the likes of Stutzle, Josh Norris and Shane Pinto adopt Perron’s gritty style and attitude to take their game to the next level? Will he emerge as part of the Senators’ heart and soul along with Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux?
Whether he does or not could determine whether the Senators see playoff action next spring or hit the golf course early.
Will Linus Ullmark Stay in Ottawa?
There’s no question that Staios hit a home run this summer when he shipped Joonas Korpisalo, Mark Kastelic and his 2024 first-round draft pick to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Linus Ullmark. Not only will the 6-foot-4, 212-pound Swede fill most of Ottawa’s net, but he brings a career save percentage (SV%) of .918 and a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.51. That’s a vast improvement over what Ottawa has had in goal these last few years.
Yet his performance isn’t what should worry the Senators. His contract needs to be extended beyond the 2024-25 season – something that will be much easier for Staios to do if the Senators are in a playoff spot by the time the 2025 Trade Deadline rolls around. If they’re not, Ullmark will most likely want out of Ottawa. And if he’s unsigned at the deadline, Staios needs to trade him or risk getting nothing for him. That would put a major dent in the Senators’ playoff hopes next spring – assuming they’re battling for a spot.
Will 2024-25 Be a Breakout Year for Shane Pinto?
Pinto is slated to become the Senators’ third-line centre this season playing between Michael Amadio and Ridly Greig. Cruising down the middle with solid talent like that on both wings, it’s reasonable to expect he’ll put up 60 points over the course of a full season assuming he stays healthy. After all, he notched nine goals and 18 assists for 27 points over the half-season he played in 2023-24.
Not only that, but all the drama around his contract and activities relating to sports wagering that got him suspended for 41 games last season is over. He has nothing to do but concentrate on his game and take advantage of an opportunity this season to step up and take the next step.
Look for Pinto to have an exciting breakout year in 2024-25. Depending on whether Josh Norris can bounce back, he could emerge as the team’s number two centreman.
Which Rookies Could Make the Senators’ Roster?
Like most NHL rosters, that of the Senators will be very tough for a rookie to crack. Arguably the only spots open are at centre on the fourth line and on the right side of the third defence pairing.
Zack Ostapchuk will be battling hard in training camp to convince Sens management that he should be centering the fourth line skating between Nick Cousins and Noah Gregor. Yet the Belleville Senators’ Matthew Highmore will be working hard to convince management otherwise.
Ostapchuk is just 21 years old with only one season in the AHL. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Albertan excites fans in Ottawa with what they saw of him in the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2022 and 2023. As The Hockey Writers observed in their 2021 NHL Draft Prospect Profile, he brings size, strength, solid skating and puck control to the lineup. Not only that, but he has a reputation for being a good playmaker. Even so, with such limited professional experience under his belt, earning a steady roster spot this season may be a bridge too far.
On the other hand, Highmore, at 28 years old, is probably facing his last best chance to earn a permanent spot on an NHL roster. He has played 146 games over parts of six seasons in the league and has seen five seasons in the AHL. He may bring the maturity and experience that most youngsters like Ostapchuk simply can’t.
As for the right side of the third defence pairing, that spot is Jacob Bernard-Docker’s (JBD) to lose at this point. There are a few blueliners who could take his job away and one of them is rookie Maxence Guenette. Many thought he had made the roster out of last season’s training camp only to see him get returned to Belleville. He’ll be fighting hard to make sure he’s looking for permanent housing in Ottawa after training camp ends.
Could This Be Josh Norris’ Last Season in Ottawa?
There will be a lot of focus during training camp on Norris to see if he can be the young gun he once was. In 2021-22, he challenged Stutzle for the number two spot on the Senators’ points list. His performance that season took some of the sting out of giving up Erik Karlsson in the 2018 trade that brought Norris to Bytown.
After that spectacular season though, the shoulder injury he first sustained at the 2019 World Junior Championship began to take its toll. In the last two seasons, he managed to play in just 58 games. He missed almost all of 2022-23 and played just 50 contests last season before going under the knife in yet a third surgery on his left shoulder.
If he doesn’t rebound this season questions will arise in Ottawa about what to do with him. He is under contract for the next four seasons during which time the Senators must pay him $31.8 million.
Clearly, given his performance in the last several seasons, he’s not worth anywhere near that much money. Buying him out would hurt, but could be the team’s only option given that few teams would consider taking him on with a contract that features an average annual value (AAV) of $7.95 million. That is unless the Senators retain a pile of his annual salary.
These five questions will fuel many a barstool debate in the nation’s capital. Stay tuned for more as training camp unfolds!
