Improvement the goal for rest of season
They’ve done better than expected, and coach D.J. Smith says trend is positive
The Ottawa Senators will hit the midway point of their National Hockey League schedule on Thursday night.
A fair assessment of the first half: They’ve been a pleasant surprise.
While many pre-season prognosticators didn’t give the Senators much of an opportunity to even compete in many games, they’ll carry a 16-19-5 record into Game 41 of the season, when the Florida Panthers pay a visit to Canadian Tire Centre.
With the start of the second half set for Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Senators are ranked 27th overall in the standings, but they’re 14 points ahead of the last-place Detroit Red Wings and there have been few nights where they haven’t given themselves a chance to win. Of course, the Senators will be outmanned by better teams, but they don’t want to be outworked and that’s rarely been the case.
“I thought we surprised a lot of people,” centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who has 18 goals and 11 assists in 39 games, said Wednesday. “We’ve competed most of the (first) half of the season. I’m very happy with the effort that we’ve given. We want to work on being consistent every game and that’s something that we’re still working on.
“The second half of the season, it will be really important … If we want to keep pushing and keeping winning games, then that’s going to be the key.”
After having New Year’s Eve off following Monday’s disappointing 5-2 loss against the host Pittsburgh Penguins, the Senators opened 2020 with a 45-minute skate.
Because they just can’t focus on what’s going to happen in the future, the current group wants to be respectable. Naturally, players know that changes could be on the horizon with the NHL trade deadline set for 3 p.m. on Feb. 24, with decisions on 10 potential unrestricted free agents to make before then.
It’s expected Senators management will talk with the likes of Pageau and defencemen Mark Borowiecki and Dylan DeMelo, who are three of the key players in that group.
With scouting department meetings set for next week in Fort Lauderdale, Senators general manager Pierre Dorion will sit with his key decision makers to determine what route the organization will take.
Once those sessions are completed, you’d have to think things could start happening quickly because the Senators must decide what’s next for forwards Vladislav Namestnikov, Tyler Ennis and Scott Sabourin, along with defencemen Ron Hainsey and Cody Goloubef. Veteran goalie Craig Anderson will only be dealt if other NHL teams show interest, but it’s not known if that’s been the case yet.
Dorion has always been aggressive in trade talks and he’s willing to deal at any time, so this situation will remain fluid. That’s why the best bet for this group of Senators is to continue to try to get the job done on the ice.
Head coach D.J. Smith is generally pleased with where the Senators stand at this point. The Senators came into this season wanting to develop their young players and Smith hasn’t been afraid to give everybody opportunities. That approach is one reason why 24-year-old winger Anthony Duclair has had big-time success, producing 21 goals, and is headed to St. Louis for NHL all-star weekend on Jan. 24-25.
“Our team has played really hard,” Smith said. "We’ve been very competitive and we’ve run into a rash of injuries here of late where we haven’t played as good. We’ve certainly been giving up too much and one of the things we’ve been good at is not giving up a ton and we’ve given up a lot recently.
“I would say we’re in a really good spot for the franchise for me. This is the first 41 games a lot of guys have gotten to play minutes. A lot of guys have gotten better and, if you look at (Brady) Tkachuk and (Thomas) Chabot, they’re playing important minutes and they’re a big piece of this and they continue to get better.”
Smith said the atmosphere had remained positive.
“Our culture is very good. (Senators players) know what to expect and I think we’re trending in the right direction.”
Anderson, 38, said he also liked what he had seen thus far.
“This team is improving,” said Anderson, who noted the Senators had to be better defensively than they were in losses to New Jersey (4-3 in OT) on Sunday and at Pittsburgh on Monday.
“We’ve got to continue to see growth and we need to see guys continue to improve and continue to find their role and be able to compete on a nightly basis.
“For the most part, we’ve done a good job of doing that. You can’t be perfect for 82 games. We know that. But the consistency thing is what guys chase after for years, and even good teams chase consistency, so we’re not different than a team that’s got gobs of talent and is looking to make a run. If we can be consistent with our game plan, then we’re having success.”