Before they hit the rink full-time, the Ottawa Senators hit the links.
The Senators annual charity golf tournament, which was held Monday at The Marshes Golf Club in Kanata, is the unofficial start to training camp, which won’t officially begin until Sept. 17 at the Canadian Tire Centre.
After making the playoffs for the first time in eight years, the Senators want to make the “next step” in 2025-26 after being eliminated in the first round by the Toronto Maple Leafs and general manager Steve Staios is confident this group can get the job done.
Coach Travis Green, heading into his second season behind the bench with his staff, did a tremendous job getting this group to buy into the program with an onus on playing well at both ends of the ice.
“I have a belief in this group,” Staios said before teeing off.
The changes Staios made in the off-season were minimal, which means that if the Senators are to be a contender in the challenging Atlantic Division, the answers will have to come from within.
“Time will tell with the next step,” Staios said. “I believe in the group. It’s pretty clear. We made minimal changes to the group. I didn’t see, when I took an honest look at our group, how they performed post-trade deadline and even how they grew in that Round 1 series.
“As a manager, you look back and you see that growth and it gives you optimism to bring back this group.”
Captain Brady Tkachuk and top centre Tim Stutzle, along with Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto, all had their first opportunity to compete in the playoffs.
They learned the hard way that once you get there, you have to dig down deep because the Leafs used their experience to win the series in six games.
“We’re excited to get back here,” Chabot said. “Last season was great. It sucks to lose in the first round, but it leaves you going into the summer with the hunger of getting back to the playoffs.
“It was our first time getting in there and there’s no better time of the year or bigger stage to play on. We set the standard that once you get in the playoffs, you want to be back there every year.
“We all went through the process of being on the stage for the first time and we all went home thinking of how the playoffs went. That’s going to help us come into this year.”
The club added centre Dylan Cozens from the Buffalo Sabres at last year’s NHL trade deadline and he should be more comfortable because he’ll be here from Day 1.
Defenceman Jordan Spence was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in late June and veteran centre Lars Eller was brought in as an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
So, what’s the next step?
“It’s a process,” Staios said. “We know how hard it is to get into the playoffs. To be able to focus on having the confidence that we can play a certain style that will lend itself to us being a playoff team again.
“Then the confidence of the experience should help.”
In our opinion, home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs would be a good start, but that won’t be easy in a division with the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
For that to happen, the Senators need to improve their five-on-five scoring because that’s an area that Staios opted not to address in the off-season, instead opting to let the answer come from within.
It was important to bring back veteran winger Claude Giroux because he plays a big role for this team, along with former Stanley Cup champion David Perron.
A player who needs to have scoring success is winger Fabian Zetterlund. The Senators signed Zetterlund to a three-year contract extension that will pay him $4.275 million per season through the 2027-28 campaign.
Acquired from the San Jose Sharks before the deadline, Zetterlund, 25, will have the chance to be a top-six forward next season. But he isn’t the only forward who has to score more even-strength goals.
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“The hope and the plan is that we’ve established a defensive style of play,” Staios said. “We’re not only comfortable with that, but our players also hold each other accountable and we’ve laid that foundation.
“There are layers of offence that we can add to it within the group, growth within, growth with individuals and growth in the style of play as well. I think it was important that we stayed consistent with being a strong defensive team. We don’t expect that to change at all, but with some strategic things and some confidence, can we add some layers to the offence?”
Goaltender Linus Ullmark wasn’t on hand on Monday because he’s representing the club at the NHL’s Media Tour in Las Vegas. But he holds the key to the Senators’ fortunes this season.
The four-year extension that will pay him $8.25 million he signed on the eve of last season will kick in. That means it’s incumbent on Ullmark to carry the ball and, hopefully, stay healthy.