The Ottawa Senators are off to a 3-1-0 start to the season.
It’s early but through the first four games of the year, the Senators have shown that they’ll be a handful offensively, averaging 4 goals a game. At the same time, defence and goaltending haven’t been sharp as they’ve given up as many goals as they’ve generated (16). Shots against are hovering around the 30 mark while they’ve produced a little over 35 a game.
An offensively dangerous team with possible issues on the blueline and in-between the pipes. Four games is no sample size but that’s probably pretty close to what we expected for this team in 2016/2017.
What’s especially encouraging in the early going though is that this team has shown the ability to right the ship mid-game. Even in that Detroit game where they ended up on the wrong end of a 5-1 decision, they managed to control the play for large portions of the game despite being in an early. The battled back several times against the Leafs. Against Montreal they were the better team for most of the game. They gave up an early goal against Arizona but managed to right the ship in a hurry.
These are early hallmarks of a team that believes in the system and trust that system when times get tough. All good signs, especially when you consider that in Guy Boucher’s mind ( a place none of us could handle, by the way), it can take up to six weeks for a new system to really catch on.
The Senators were on the ice for practice today and based on some of the reaction from the media in attendance, it was no leisurely skate. The team skated for close to 90 minutes with plenty of raised voices throughout.
The players can expect more of that this week as they don’t play again until Saturday night. The extra days off are great for this Coaching staff as they allow a little bonus time to work on some of the details they didn’t get around to in training camp.
-No lineup notes for Saturday yet obviously but based on some of Boucher’s post-practice comments and where players lined up for the skate, it sounds like there’s a chance Phil Varone could draw back in on Saturday. That would likely mean returning to a more conventional 12 F/6 D alignment and maybe another game in the press box for Thomas Chabot.
-Some prospect news yesterday as the organization announced that Gabriel Gagne has been sent to Wichita of the ECHL. It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Gagne in Binghamton and obviously the team feels like he could use a little extra playing time before transitioning to the AHL game full-time. The organization seriously considered sending Gagne back to his Junior team this season but had a last minute change of heart. Will be interesting to see how they handled him the rest of the year. Gabriel Gagne was a second round pick in the 2015 Entry Draft.
-Clarke MacArthur is gradually working his way toward a return after another concussion during Training Camp late last month. Most assumed that this last concussion was the end of the line for MacArthur but he and the organization have been surprisingly optimistic about his potential return. MacArthur skated alone this morning and will join the team on the upcoming road trip out West. He’s not out there to play but rather be around the team while he recovers.
