The Ottawa Senators Are In Serious Danger Of Taking Another Step Back
The Ottawa Senators had a step-back season this past year. But their 2026 off-season has been nearly as disastrous as it could get, and the question now is if the Senators will be a Stanley Cup playoff team at all. How will the Sens respond to a boatload of adversity?
Video Transcript
Least that wants to be in the mix once again is the Ottawa Senators.
But after that Brady Tkachuk trade, things are looking a little dicier in that respect.
You know, they made, you know, a, a couple of moves involving this weekend.
You know, gave up, the number nine pick to get William Eklund from San Jose.
So he's a winger.
He's, he's certainly not Brady Tkachuk, but he has a lot of, great skill himself.
And then they made two selections in the first round, neither of whom are going to be Ottawa Senators immediately.
Jonas Lagerbck Hone missed almost the entire year due to a knee injury.
And then Jackson Cover, you know, he's a very tantalizing prospect but, you know, he's still with the London Knights.
He's committed to the NCAA, Penn State, if I'm not mistaken.
But he's actually only been playing hockey since he was 13.
You can read that story basically everywhere.
I wrote it months ago.
The Cayman Islands product that came up through roller hockey.
But, for Ottawa right now, Mike, it seems silly to say do you think they did enough to replace Brady Tkachuk, 'cause obviously they're not there yet.
But how are you feeling about Ottawa right now?
It's not a playoff team.
Not, not even close.
And you know, Ryan, had they kept Brady Tkachuk and just rolled it back, I don't think it's a playoff team.
And it- it's nothing against Ottawa per se, it's the fact that Florida's gonna be a playoff team next year.
Now that Toronto has made those moves and drafting Gavin McKenna, I fully expect them to at least be in the mix for a playoff, spot.
So Ottawa was always kinda looking like maybe the odd man out.
You know, now you take away the heart and soul captain in Brady Tkachuk and, you know, we'll see what William Eklund can do.
Can he replace that offense at the very least?
But even so, I think that Ottawa needed to make significant reinforcements to even just kinda keep up with the Joneses in what is gonna be a very, very competitive and top-heavy, Atlantic Division.
Yeah.
And you know, we do have free agency coming this week, and there are names out there, players that could be traded.
I don't know if Ottawa is gonna be high on their list.
I, I think we got a report that Jason Robertson turned down a potential deal, to the Senators.
But-
