SENS NAME ALTERNATE CAPTAINS
Borowiecki, Pageau and Hainsey
In the best and worst of times for the Ottawa Senators — and there has been far more of the latter in the past few years — Mark Borowiecki has been ready and willing to talk.
That won’t change during the 2019-20 season.
Borowiecki, now 30 and entering his sixth full season with the Senators, will be joining Jean- Gabriel Pageau and Ron Hainsey as one of three alternate captains.
One of the major responsibilities of the position is answering to the criticism in the toughest times. For all the enthusiasm about a new season and the promise of the youth movement, everyone from general manager Pierre Dorion to the fourth liners realize there will be some long nights ahead.
“You get blown out of the water and you’ve got to stand here ... it sucks,” a candid Borowiecki said as the club officially opened training camp Thursday.
For Borowiecki, though, that’s part of the job of a veteran, along with trying to show the way for the team’s next wave of young talent.
While there are arguments to be made for Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk to be formally recognized as leaders — the organization is, after all, selling them as the future — Borowiecki says those players have enough pressures to deal with already.
Being thrust into the position of regularly trying to explain away ugly games, he says, isn’t necessary.
“Why give those young players added pressure? Let them focus on them, being the best players they can, the best teammates they can, and the leadership will come after.”
On that front, it’s interesting to note that a dozen years ago, midway through the 2006-07 season, a 19year old named Sidney Crosby originally turned down the Pittsburgh Penguins’ captaincy when it was first offered to him by former Penguins general manager Ray Shero.
“I thought I needed some time to grow a little bit,” Crosby told NHL. com. “I just thought it wasn’t the right time. We were playing great. You don’t want to disrupt that and I felt I wasn’t ready to accept that responsibility quite yet.”
Crosby took over as captain to start the 2007-08 season and the Penguins have since won three Stanley Cup titles.
When the Senators organization deems that Chabot or Tkachuk are ready to lead the way, Borowiecki could very well be retired.
For now, though, a lighter Borowiecki — he now checks in at a “spry” 203 pounds — will do and say his part in trying to help with the club’s most glaring weakness: too many goals against.
“There has to be individual accountability,” he said. “If you’re not going to play on that side of the puck and buy in defensively, there needs to be consequences.”
From his conversations with D.J. Smith and the rest of the coaching staff, Borowiecki believes that players who continually make glaring defensive errors could be sitting on the bench for extended periods.
“They don’t seem to be shy about that sort of stuff. You have to be willing to play on both sides of the puck or this idea that we have here is going nowhere.
“You’re not going to win games 7-6, you’re not going to have success in the playoffs doing that.”
Without high-scoring centre Matt Duchene and multi-talented Mark Stone around, the Senators can’t try to play a run-and-gun style.
“Are we missing that star firepower upfront a little bit right now? Sure. So that just puts more responsibility on our defensive game,” Borowiecki said.
“I’m not saying we go back to standing up five guys in the neutral zone and try to trap it up, but there has to be work ethic that is going to translate into defensive success.”
New coaches always bring new enthusiasm, new hope of positive change and players generally respond to the new message.
It’s long forgotten now, but the Senators did advance all the way to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference final against Pittsburgh in Guy Boucher’s first season behind the bench.
Boucher’s tenure also included endless distractions, however, including the departures of stars Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman, Stone and Duchene.
“I’ve tried to forget those,” Borowiecki said of the previous drama.
In his leadership capacity, Borowiecki will be asked to help sell that message.
“It’s always an honour for me,” he said.
“Being recognized as a leader is always special for me. Being in that kind of older-guy role is something I kind of relish.”