It was one of those moments we all saw coming from a mile away but still, another huge day for the Ottawa Senators.
With the awkward slow-motion stitching of that letter on his jersey, the Senators made it official- this is Brady Tkachuk’s hockey team now. Sure they have surrounded him with an incredible amount of young talent and yes, there’s more on the way but with yesterday’s announcement, they let it be known that they want Brady to lead the way.
In many ways, the captaincy is a symbolic gesture more than anything. There are certain on-ice responsibilities and away-from-the-rink expectations that come with it but in this case, it’s an outward statement on the kind of team they want to be. This team has worked hard on their identity over the last few years and focused on building what they feel is a winning culture.
And Brady is the perfect representation of that identity and culture.
The Captain Tkachuk era begins in Ottawa this afternoon.
With the early puck drop, the Senators won’t have a game day skate ahead of this one. That means the lineup will be a bit of a mystery until until DJ Smith meets with the media at 11:30 AM and even then it’s fair to assume a good amount of juggling among the forward combinations.
What we know is Nikita Zaitsev draws back in for the Senators and returns to a spot where he has been a little more comfortable in the past- beside Thomas Chabot. There was some predictable criticism of the decision to break up Chabot and Zub but at this stage, the options are pretty limited. Calling up Erik Brannstrom is something they’ll look at it in the not too distant future but they really wanted to see him play well in Belleville first. He scored last night so maybe that’s a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, Artem Zub is going to play with Victor Mete while Nick Holden and Josh Brown skate on the third pair. We’ll see how it goes. As in, watch with our eyes before freaking out about it on the internet.
Up front, the Senators are going to be without Austin Watson who was placed in the NHL’s COVID protocol. The team hasn’t said anything else about his status but when you consider that multiple players have been sick in the last week or so, it is mildly concerning. Hopefully Watson is doing well.
Meanwhile, Tyler Ennis is out with a non-COVID illness and Parker Kelly has been recalled to take his place.
The forwards are a bit of a jumble right now, as DJ Smith desperately tries to find some combinations that stick. The last few games have seen plenty of in-game juggling and kind of expecting more of that this afternoon.
Here’s how the Senators will start for this one.
TkaChuk-Norris-Batherson
Elztüts-Tierney-Brown
Formenton-Paul-Shaw
Sanford-Gambrell-Kelly
Chabot-Zaitsev
Mete-Zub
Holden-Brown
Matt Murray gets the start in goal for the home side.
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 2:00 PM. That means the game is over around 4:30 PM which means plenty of time to celebrate/drown your sorrows afterwards. The game is available on TSN5 because Sportsnet just couldn’t be bothered to include the Senators in their Saturday production, apparently. Works for me! TSN1200 has the radio call and big bad Bort brings barely beneficial…streams.
Anyway, here’s a HEAD2HEAD table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 5-3-2 (12 pts) | 3-6-1 (7 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.00 (11th) | 2.50 (T-25th) |
| Goals Against | 3.10 (T-23rd) | 3.50 (28th) |
| Power Play | 16.1% (23rd) | 22.6% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 82.4% (14th) | 74.1% (24th) |
| Shots For | 30.9 (17th) | 30.1 (20th) |
| Shots Against | 29.9 (11th) | 34.4 (30th) |
| Leading Scorers | Stamkos- 12 pts Killorn- 10 pts Hedman- 9 pts Cirelli- 7 pts Point- 6 pts |
Batherson- 11 pts Norris- 8 pts Brown- 6 pts Ennis- 6 pts Elztüts- 5 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | Matt Murray 0-2-0 2.79 GAA, .897 sv% |
