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Sens opening night roster/future roster and rumours on possible moves

October 13, 2021, 12:10 AM ET [36 Comments]
Kevin Francis
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With Ottawa opening the regular season tomorrow night at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs, I thought I would look at what areas' the Sens need help at, who they could acquire as they already need help due to injury problems. Had Sens GM Pierre Dorion done what they promised the fan base during the off season, Ottawa wouldn't be so desperate to add quality experience as we get set to drop the puck on the first game of the regular season for the Sens. Here is the depth chart with the team below.

LW - Formention, Stutzle, Paul, Kelly/Sanford
RW - Batherson, Brown, Ennis, Sabourin
C - Norris, Pinto, Tierney, Shaw/Bishop
D - Chabot/Zub, Mete/Zaistev, Brannstrom/Holden, MDZ/Brown
G - Murray/Forsberg

Naturally right wing and center are two positions that Ottawa needs help. Chris Tierney will most likely be dealt by the trade deadline, hopefully Colin White will return in March at some point if his rehab goes well. With Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic set to challenge for a full time roster spot next year at center, I'm not sure if Dorion will acquire a center unless more injuries begin to set the team back.

As I mentioned in my weekend blog, Dorion has been on the phone with a few teams and one of them was Chicago. With rumours that Dylan Strome is available, it comes as no surprise as the Hawks have cap issues which is why they put Brett Connelly on waivers last week but no team claimed him. Ottawa won't lock into a center that has more than 2 years left on their deal. As for right wing, Vincent Trocheck is beyond the target Ottawa has with Carolina who are in cap hell as they say. The Winnipeg Jets have put Bryan Little on IR, but it's Andrew Copp that Ottawa has looked at possibly acquiring with only one year left on his deal. Copp would be a nice fit down the middle. At this point, with eight defensemen under contract and all the prospects down in Belleville, there is no way Ottawa would acquire a defensemen. If anything, I am sure Ottawa would love to unload one from their blueline!

When looking ahead to next season, this is how I see some of the Sens youth fitting in. at forward.

Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Stutzle-Pinto-Brown
Formenton-Paul-Sokolov
Kelly-Greig-????(Tyler Boucher)

The Sens plan to announce who will be the Alternate Captains for the season. Ottawa hasn't had a captain since 2018 when Erik Karlsson was wearing the C. There is a chance they could go with a different set of player's wearing the "A" at home versus on the road like the NY Rangers did for the season. Or they just go with three players for the entire season. Thomas Chabot, Nick Paul and Connor Brown look to be the logical choices but you never know with this coaching staff. They tell the media that you have to earn your ice time or a spot in the line-up but then they do the reverse when it comes to how they handle the defense.

I am curious to hear what Sens fans have to say about what needs to be added to the line-up now and in the future!

Thanks for reading.
Kevin
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