Coming into the 2020-21 season, the Ottawa Senators were expected to be the bottom team in the North Division and possibly the entire NHL after finishing 2nd-last in the league last year and dead last in 2018-19. What we learned this season about the Sens, however, is that they are no easy out.
According to Sens GM Pierre Dorion, conversations that he has had with other executives from around the North Division revealed to him that his team is definitely on the right track.
"If you ask the other six Canadian teams.. ask them which is the hardest team to play against, it's Ottawa," Dorion said in his end of season media availability on Friday.
While this may sound like a GM posturing following a losing season on the surface, a quick glance at the Sens' run down the stretch paints a pretty clear picture that perhaps the Sens could have been in the playoff hunt this season, were it not for an abysmal start to the year, when they lost 15 of their first 20 games.
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The Senators won 10 of 14 games for a total of 21 of a possible 28 points from April 12th through May 12th and ended the season winning 4 of their final 5 games, including a thrilling 4-3 OT win against the North Division's top team, the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
With a collection of young budding stars like
Drake Batherson,
Josh Norris,
Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle,
Thomas Chabot and
Filip Gustavsson already in the NHL and a slew of high-end talent such as
Jake Sanderson, Ridley Grieg, Roby Järventie and
Lassi Thomson on the way, the Sens look poised to begin their ascent from the lower end of the standings to the upper echelon of NHL teams in the very near future.
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