Pierre Dorion was one of the league’s busiest General Managers during what was a frantic off-season.
Adding depth and experience appeared to be the priority for the Ottawa Senators. With so many young players expected to make the jump to the National Hockey League in the next two seasons, the organization is making a clear effort to surround those players with NHL vets.
It makes sense.
What’s interesting about Ottawa’s approach though is they also seemed to be prioritizing toughness. Maybe not in the old school sense where they went out and acquired a bunch of goons but it was hard not to notice their effort to acquire players considered tough to play against.
Josh Brown. Erik Gudbranson. Austin Watson, Micheal Haley. There is a pattern here. While none of those four guys would be labelled a “fighter” necessarily, all four of them are more than comfortable with their gloves off.
And it comes at a time when fighting is becoming a smaller part of the NHL game. Long gone are the days of staged fights and enforcers and instead, what we’ve seen is a pretty steady decline in the number of fights around the league.
The game has changed a lot over the years. And given everything we’ve learned about head trauma, CTE and the lasting effects of concussions, there is no doubt the game has changed for the better.
In the 2019/2020 season, the Ottawa Senators had just 20 fighting majors as a team. The Anaheim Ducks led the league with 25. The year before the Senators had 22 while the Bruins led the way with 26.
As recently at the 2011/2012 season the Senators had more than 50 fighting majors as a team. In their second season in the league, the Senators had a ridiculous 80 fights. Dennis Vial (214), Troy Mallete (166), Bill Huard (162) and Darren Rumble (116) led the way in PIMs that year.
While nobody is suggesting the Senators are going back to the approach we saw in their early days in the league, it does seem like they see some potential benefits to having a few guys that can drop the gloves if they have to.
It’s partly to “protect” the young players and make them just a little more comfortable on the ice. It’s partly so someone like Brady Tkachuk doesn’t feel like he has to do it. And maybe, it has something to do with the idea of being in an all-Canadian division where they are playing the same teams over and over again and in some cases, two or three times in a row. Tensions will be high.
The good news is in the case of Josh Brown and Erik Gudbranson, the toughness they bring to the blueline is about more than fighting. It’s about playing physical all over the ice and as Dorion mentioned when acquiring both players, making the front of Ottawa’s net an unpleasant place to be. While fighting is down, being tough to play against matters more than ever.
Austin Watson and Micheal Haley both bring experience but also that same all-around toughness in a bottom six role. They’ll fight if they have to but it’s more about bringing energy. Getting in on the forecheck, throwing a big hit and forcing the other team to make quick decisions. That stuff still matters.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out and how much “being tough to play against” is part of Ottawa’s identity in the upcoming season. DJ Smith talked about it a lot in his first year behind the Ottawa bench and it’s clear that both he and Dorion made it a priority this off-season.
We’ll see what it looks like when the puck drops in January. Er…if the puck drops in January.
