Senators season preview: Good start, goaltending keys to success
The Ottawa Senators’ 2026-27 season begins Saturday, with a trip up the 401 to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Brady Tkachuk era is over, with his departure to the Florida Panthers. Daniel Alfredsson isn’t behind the bench anymore. At least, not Ottawa’s. And all the while, a relatively young team is looking to take the next step, after getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes last spring.
But enough about the past. The Senators are chasing a third straight playoff berth in an increasingly difficult Atlantic Division, and they'll try to get there with a retooled forward group and a new captain in Thomas Chabot.
Let’s dive into the team’s depth chart and preview the upcoming campaign.
GOALTENDING: Samuel Ersson, Linus Ullmark
We’ll start here, because this was the story of Ottawa’s 2025-26 season.
Starter Linus Ullmark took a personal leave of absence for a month. The Senators ended up using four goaltenders in his absence, and none of Leevi Meriläinen, Mads Søgaard, or Hunter Shepard could take the reins.
The position didn't settle until free agent veteran James Reimer signed in early January. The signing was announced while the Senators were actively being blown out in an 8-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Ullmark ended up finishing the year with the first sub-.900 save percentage of his NHL career at .891 in a season that was a tale of two halves, split by the Olympic break.
Pre-Olympics | Post-Olympics | |
16-8-5 | Record | 12-4-3 |
2.86 | GAA | 2.51 |
.884 | SV% | .902 |
Ullmark found his form late and looked noticeably better after the Olympic break. On top of this, the 33-year-old netminder was arguably Ottawa's best player in the Carolina series, posting a .932 save percentage despite the sweep.
Behind Ullmark is another Swede in Sam Ersson. General manager Steve Staios traded a 2027 fifth-round pick to Toronto for his rights in June, and then signed him to a two-year deal at $2.2-million per season. The 26-year-old is coming off the worst season of his career with the Philadelphia Flyers, but Ottawa needs him to handle a real workload. Ullmark has never played more than 50 games in a season, and the schedule is increasing to 84 games this year.
The Senators also hired Maciej Szwoch, a friend and mentor of Ullmark's, as coordinator of goaltending scouting and development. Ullmark has credited Szwoch with helping him find his motivation.
Jonas Johansson will be the first call-up option from AHL Belleville. In 25 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2025-26, he posted an 11-10-2 record with a 3.29 goals-against average and a .884 save percentage.
The Senators acquired him for future considerations Friday, after losing Meriläinen on waivers to the Vancouver Canucks. Ottawa has to hope he doesn’t blossom into a future bona fide starter in the league. See Filip Gustavsson, Joey Daccord, Ben Bishop…
If Ullmark starts the season by playing like the goalie he was in April, Ottawa is likely a playoff team. If not, Sens fans may be in for a long winter.
DEFENCEMEN: Thomas Chabot, Cameron Crotty, Tyler Kleven, Nikolas Matinpalo, Jake Sanderson, Jordan Spence, Hoyt Stanley, Carter Yakemchuk, Artem Zub.
There’s already some injury concern around the Senators’ blue line, and the season hasn't started.
Artem Zub won't be ready for Saturday. He's still rehabbing the knee injury he suffered in Game 1 against Carolina and opted not to have surgery over the summer. Head coach Travis Green said there had been a setback, though he's seeing progress. That's a blow to the top pair. Zub is coming off the best offensive season of his career, with 30 points in 81 games, and he led the Senators in penalty-kill ice time.
Jake Sanderson missed the start of the preseason with an undisclosed ailment, then left the exhibition finale against Montreal after playing just 13 minutes. The team called it precautionary, but he also didn’t participate in Tuesday’s practice. After Sanderson's 54-point season, Ottawa can't afford to be without him too. He’s the team’s most valuable skater, and the first man over the boards in any situation.
The good news is that the new captain is healthy. Thomas Chabot broke his forearm late last season, and was back in the lineup a staggering two-weeks after surgery. Ideally he suits up in more than the 57 games he did last season.
Then there’s Jordan Spence. A year ago he was a healthy scratch on opening night. He went on to set career highs with seven goals and 31 points, took on more and more minutes down the stretch, and averaged more than 25 minutes a night in the playoffs as injuries piled up. The Senators rewarded him in June with a four-year, $20-million extension, and he's now taking on the minutes Nick Jensen used to play.
That brings us to Carter Yakemchuk. The seventh overall pick in 2024 had 40 points in 54 games in his first AHL season and made a strong first impression in the NHL, with a goal and an assist in his regular-season debut and two assists in his playoff debut. But his camp has been uneven. He had an especially rough night in a 6-1 loss to Toronto, but bounced back by scoring on the power play in the preseason finale while playing on the third pair with Kleven.
Zub's injury opens the door for Yakemchuk to start higher in the lineup than likely intended. The question is whether the 21-year-old still learning the position can hold down a job on a team that expects to make the playoffs. It’s clear the offensive tools are there, but questions around his skating and defensive awareness remain. Did I mention an AHL second-worst -31 in the AHL last season?
Nikolas Matinpalo and Cameron Crotty remain depth options, while Hoyt Stanley surprised many and made the team out of camp. The 2023 fourth-round pick turned pro at the end of last season, suiting up in six games with Belleville after wrapping up his third year NCAA campaign with Cornell University.
FORWARDS: Michael Amadio, Drake Batherson, André Burakovsky, Nick Cousins, Dylan Cozens, William Eklund, Warren Foegele, Claude Giroux, Ridly Greig, Stephen Halliday, Hayden Hodgson, Kurtis MacDermid, Shane Pinto, Tim Stützle, Fabian Zetterlund.
Two new faces lead the group up front.
William Eklund was the swing Staios decided to take in the immediate aftermath of Tkachuk’s departure. Staios sent the No. 9 pick in the 2026 draft to San Jose for the 23-year-old winger, who had 15 goals and 53 points in 78 games with the San Jose Sharks last season.
He shouldn’t have a problem making up the 59 points Tkachuk put up last season. But Eklund isn’t a physical power-forward like the Senators’ former captain. He’s a speedy, skilled winger who can keep up with the likes of Tim Stützle, offering the Senators more chances to create off the rush. Take a look at his NHL EDGE skating metrics, and you’ll see 111 speed bursts of 20+ MPH, compared to Tkachuk’s 50 last season.
André Burakovsky came much cheaper, from Chicago for a 2027 sixth-round pick. The 31-year-old had 11 goals and 33 points last season and won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2019. He’s also playing to earn a new contract next summer.
The question is which version Ottawa gets. Over his first 38 games he had 10 goals and 29 points, playing on the top line with Connor Bedard. Over his final 37 games he had one goal and four points. He is also dealing with an undisclosed injury, after taking a hard hit from Montreal's Arber Xhekaj during the preseason finale.
Make no mistake about it, this forward corps runs through Tim Stützle. There’s no debating that now after Tkachuk’s exit. The 24-year-old had 34 goals and 83 points last season, his second 30-goal campaign, and has led Ottawa in scoring in three of the past four seasons. His 200-foot game has also only improved under Travis Green.
Drake Batherson is also coming off the best offensive year of his career, with 33 goals and 71 points in 79 games, his first time reaching both 30 goals and 70 points. He's only the second player in NHL history to increase his point total in seven straight seasons. But questions remain surrounding his defensive game.
Two weeks ago, the Senators made him the highest-paid player in franchise history with an eight-year, $86-million extension that will pay him $10.75-million per year, starting next season.
Dylan Cozens gave Ottawa exactly what it hoped for when it traded Josh Norris to Buffalo. In his first full season with the Senators he played all 82 games and had 28 goals and 59 points. He also led the team with 215 hits, and according to Evolving-Hockey’s Total Defence metric, no Senators forward was more effective defensively.
Some, however, would argue Shane Pinto was. He finished sixth in Selke voting and will anchor the Senators’ shutdown line, likely flanked by a rotating cast of Michael Amadio, Ridly Greig, Nick Cousins and Claude Giroux.
Speaking of Giroux, he looked around in free agency and chose to come back on a one-year deal. The 38-year-old had 49 points and played all 82 games. He's missed just one regular-season game since joining the Senators in 2022, and he led the NHL in faceoffs again last season at 63.1 per cent.
Warren Foegele and Kurtis MacDermid will open the season on injured reserve. Foegele was back at practice Monday, taking line rushes on the top line in Burakovsky’s spot, so his absence may be short.
Greig will also miss the first two games, in Toronto and Boston. He's serving a two-game suspension for roughing, when he sucker-punched Carolina defenceman Sean Walker during the final game of last spring's sweep.
Ottawa finished eighth in the league in scoring last season. Getting back there without Tkachuk, who had 22 goals in 60 games, means someone has to fill the gap. Eklund is the most obvious candidate, but can his arrival also bring more production out of close friend Fabian Zetterlund?
If the goaltending can provide more stability than last season, and the Senators can get off to a good start, a playoff berth seems likely.
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