Senators late-season winning streak shouldn’t impact off-season changes
The club needs to have better depth up front, especially on its third and fourth lines.
Wins at this time of the year in the National Hockey League by also-rans are often referred to as “fools gold.”
The Ottawa Senators were riding a season-high fivegame winning streak as they prepared to face the MinnesotaWild Tuesday night at the Xcel Energy Center and, as the clock winds down on the season, it’s too little, too late. The Wild won the game 3-2.
The club went into Minny trying to win six straight for the first time since the 2017 campaign and that’s the last time the club made the postseason.
But as the Senators prepare to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight spring, coach Jacques Martin and Hall of Fame assistant Daniel Alfredsson were brought in to help this group play the right way for the next head coach who takes over behind the club’s bench next season.
No, these wins don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but if the club can at least close this season out on a high note in the final nine games of the year, it will bring promise and hope for the players that return next season.
Captain Brady Tkachuk, who scored the winner Saturday night inWinnipeg, has liked what he’s seen thus far.
“We’ve just got to focus on the little things that have made us successful,” Tkachuk told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson Tuesday before facing the Wild. “It’s about playing the right way and playing responsible. It’s all about us, our attitude, our mentality and the composure to keep growing.”
“We’re not just showing everybody else, we’re showing ourselves that we can do it on a day-to-day basis. It’s hard but you’ve got to enjoy the hard moments. We can keep growing our confidence.”
Still, these late-season wins shouldn’t give Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, any pause for thought when it comes to making the necessary changes in the offseason to help the Senators make the next step as soon as possible.
Just because a fourth-liner or a fifth or sixth defenceman has stepped up his play down the stretch, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should immediately be part of the club’s plan for next season.
The club needs to have better depth up front, especially on its third and fourth lines.