It’s no secret that the Ottawa Senators struggled in their own end of the rink last season.
It wasn’t any one player. Sort of a team thing. Not only did forwards look lost in the defensive zone far too often but the defenceman spent well, way too much time defending. The end result was the Senators sitting dead last in the league in shots against, giving up 32.8 shots a game.
Certainly not a recipe for success in today’s NHL.
Each guy in that locker room deserves part of the blame for the team’s struggles. Guy Boucher and Marc Crawford have been brought in and the team will be expected to play with more structure next season. But they also need better seasons from a few guys on the backend and that includes the reliable Marc Methot.
While he was by no means the Ottawa’s worst defenceman (there were a few candidates for this title), he did struggle at times.
His +12 rating led all defenceman but he often found himself on the wrong end of the possession battle on most nights. Maybe not surprising for a guy known as a defensive defenceman but odd considering how much time he spent with Erik Karlsson. Methot and Karlsson played more than 923 minutes together at 5 on 5. The next closest pairing was Ceci and Wiercioch with 398 minutes.
He appeared in just 69 games missing time with a concussion early in the season, a lower body injury in December/January and then another injury later in the season. Injuries have been a bit of an issue for Methot the last couple years. Methot logged heavy minutes when he was in the lineup though, averaging 20:39 a night including more than 2 minutes a game on the penalty kill.
Heading into this season, it’s pretty clear that the Senators see Dion Phaneuf and Cody Ceci as their second pair. These two were billed as a perfect fit following last season’s blockbuster deal and by all indications they’ll start together again when camp opens in September.
That leaves Methot playing important minutes again alongside his buddy and usual defence partner in Erik Karlsson.
It’s not always an easy gig playing with Karlsson, especially in the role of a defensive defenceman. You always have to look after your own end of the rink first and always be waiting/expecting Karlsson to jump into the play. But as we’ve seen in previous seasons, nobody fills that role better than Methot. And when Methot is on his game, he’s actually among the league’s elite defenceman when it comes to supressing shots against.
While the addition of Phaneuf has obvious benefits for Ceci, it should also help Methot a little bit. For most of last season, the Senators were ridiculously thin on the left side with a combination of Cowen/Wiercioch/Borowiecki behind Methot on the depth chart. It really didn’t give the Coaching Staff many options on that side and forced Methot to play some difficult minutes.
He’s still going to see tough match ups but having Phaneuf in the picture should ease his workload a little bit. And while that top four seems pretty much set, I do think there’s a chance Methot and Phaneuf switch at times, leaving Methot to play with Cody Ceci, particularly in games where Ottawa needs a goal.
It goes without saying but this is obviously a big year for Methot.
He’s entering the second year of a 4 year/$19.6 million deal. His $4.9 million dollar salary is a big price tag and the Senators desperately need him to earn that money. The obvious elephant in the room as far is Methot is concerned is the possibility that he could be left exposed when Ottawa submits their protected players list ahead of the expansion draft next summer.
If Ottawa’s blueline is going to have a bounce back season and finally address the shots against issues that have been such a major problem the last few seasons, they’re going to need all hands on deck. And that includes a big season from Marc Methot.
It doesn’t have to be anything flashy but the Senators certainly need Methot to be a reliable top four defenceman if they are going to return to the playoff in 2016/2017.
–Interesting bit of news on the business side of things as apparently the Senators have hired Stephen Brooks as their new Chief Financial Officer. This is a position that was previously held by Ken Taylor and only for the last year and a half. Brooks is a former senior vice-president of business operations with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was extremely well-liked and highly regarded in that organization. There have been plenty of changes going on behind the scenes with the Senators lately. Having someone with Brooks’ experience can only help the organization off the ice.
