As part of The Leafs Nation’s Atlantic Division preview series, the TLN staff are examining the most compelling storylines and angles from each team. Here is our deep dive on the Ottawa Senators and below is the second part of the Senators’ preview:
Although the 2023-24 season was a resounding disappointment relative to preseason expectations, there were a few silver linings for the Ottawa Senators, namely that their young core are all showing signs of growth, even if it’s not resulting in team success. Jake Sanderson is poised to become one of the NHL’s breakout stars and he’s already the clear leader of the Senators’ defense, snatching the mantle from Thomas Chabot and the since-traded Jakob Chychrun, who submitted a miserable season, before being traded to the Washington Capitals for Nick Jensen in July.
Sanderson has been better than advertised since the Senators selected him fifth overall in 2020 but in large part due to the function of playing for a small-market team that missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year, you may have missed that he’s quietly turned into one of the NHL’s best young players. Ottawa controlled over 53 percent of the expected goals when he was on the ice at 5-on-5 with a plus-two goal differential. This is particularly impressive when you consider that the Senators’ defense otherwise capitulated, ranking in the bottom quartile of every major defensive category.
The 22-year-old is an outstanding skater who can get the puck out of his defensive zone with relative ease and he can play a throwback, physical game when the situation calls for it. He has terrific change-of-pace skills, with the ability and agility to cut on a dime in his defensive third to shield off oncoming forecheckers and set up the rush. Sanderson will routinely disrupt opponents by getting his stick involved and cutting off their pathways, stealing the puck before burning them up the ice. He is a fantastic player to watch, but he’s also an outlier on the Senators. And now, along with goaltender Linus Ullmark, he’s tasked with fixing a porous defence that haemorrhaged goals last season.
Jake Sanderson takes the puck to the net and tallies a beauty to put the Senators up by 2!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/XRjbkOtQC0
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 17, 2024
Sanderson signed an eight-year deal worth $64.4 million prior to the 2023-24 season and he’s undoubtedly one of the pillars of the franchise, even if captain Brady Tkachuk is the face of it. And with that comes the weight of expectations. Sanderson was primarily partnered with Artem Zub and the duo were the 20th-most used pairing at 5-on-5 in the NHL, recording a 55 percent share of the expected goals, with a plus-four goal differential in 824:43 of playing time. These are stellar results and a further indication of Sanderson’s ability to elevate his linemates. The problem lies pretty much elsewhere else among the blue line, as the Chychrun-Jacob Bernard-Docker pairing struggled miserably and Chychrun hampered Chabot’s efficiency throughout the year — perhaps Chabot regains his form alongside Nick Jensen, but the Senators will have to hedge their playoff hopes on Sanderson’s star turn.
It’s an uphill battle and it’s uniformly unfair to pin the Senators’ playoff hopes squarely on Sanderson and Ullmark, as the core of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig can no longer blame inexperience and relative youth for the team’s stagnation in the Atlantic Division. Sanderson could develop into a NHL All-Star this season and he’s one of the most fun young players to watch in the league. It may be incumbent upon taking him another leap to snap the Senators’ playoff drought and usher in a new, prosperous era.
