Rebuilds can be tricky.
What has become abundantly clear over the last decade or so is there is no single path to building a contender. Bottoming out and acquiring multiple top picks seems like a good place to start but it certainly doesn’t guarantee success. Also, there is a huge difference between building a team that can make the post-season and building a team that can win the whole thing.
On top of all that, trying to put a timeline on this sort of thing is next to impossible. You can generally guess when all the pieces might fall into place but figuring out exactly when those pieces will turn into a contending hockey team is a complete guessing game. So even when you have elite talent in the lineup, it doesn’t mean you have a contending hockey team
Anyway, the Ottawa Senators host the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night.
Based on the noise coming out of Edmonton the last few weeks, you would think this Oilers team was well on their way to a another lottery pick but a quick glance at the standings shows they are just two points back of a playoff spot in the West. Meanwhile, the Senators come into tonight’s game sitting 23 points out of the final spot in the East and the vibes couldn’t be much better around this team.
Expectations are funny like that.
While this Ottawa team has been ravaged by injuries, they continue to turn in solid efforts. Case and point- Saturday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. The Senators completely dominated that game from start to finish and if not for John Gibson, it’s a rout.
There’s a lot to like about the way this team is playing right now.
No game day skate scheduled for the Senators today, presumably because there are freedom-seeking transport trucks blocking the player’s entrance, but DJ Smith is expected to meet with the media at 10:30 AM to outline any potential lineup changes. We’ll assume same look for now.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Ennis
Sanford-Paul-Watson
Formenton-Tierney-Sokolov
Kastelic-Bishop-Gaudette
Chabot-Thomson
Holden-Zub
Brannstrom-Brown
Milan Borjan is expected to start for the Senators.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:38 PM down at the CTC. The game is available on television (Sportsnet), radio (TSN 1200) and streaming devices (Motorola KRZR).
Here’s a closer look at how these teams match-up via the HEAD2HEAD table.
But first…
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 22-16-2 (46 pts) | 13-21-4 (30 pts) |
| Goals For | 3.30 (10th) | 2.76 (22nd) |
| Goals Against | 3.30 (22nd) | 3.39 (25th) |
| Power Play | 28.6% (2nd) | 18.0% (22nd) |
| Penalty Kill | 77.3% (T-20th) | 80.7% (15th) |
| Shots For | 33.3 (10th) | 30.6 (18th) |
| Shots Against | 32.5 (23rd) | 33.3 (26th) |
| Leading Scorers | Draisaitl- 61 pts McDavid- 58 pts RNH- 30 pts Puljujarvi- 25 pts Hman- 24 pts |
Batherson- 34 pts Tkachuk- 27 pts Norris- 26 pts Chabot- 21 pts Stützle- 20 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | Matt Murray 3-6-2 2.94 GAA, .906 sv% |
