Pool Outlook for Ottawa

The Ottawa Senators were not exactly great to start the 2015 calendar year, as they started January 1st outside of the wild card spots and had a couple teams to jump over in order to get there.

Come February 16th, the team was still in 5th place in the wild card race, 9 points back of the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot and then, enter the Hamburglar, goaltender Andrew Hammond.

In a season where the Senators seemed to be destined to move on to the off-season with much to trumpet about, the injury problems in the Ottawa crease forced the hand of management and the coaching staff, letting the rookie keeper take to the net and magic ensued.

Hammond finished the year, 20-1-2, vaulting the Senators to the first wild card spot and helping to knock the Bruins out of the playoffs for the first time in quite a while.  All of a sudden, the fortunes of this team changed and now the questions have changed from, "how does this team work their way back into the playoff picture?" to "how can this team improve into the second round and beyond in the playoffs?"

In the hockey pool this year, the Senators were relatively popular, maybe more so through the Waiver Draft, when the rookies had already started to shine and pick up some points.  By the time Hammond had finally started to roll for Ottawa, the second Waiver Draft had just concluded the week before and no one knew to pick up the goaltending dynamo.  Overall, 13 Senators players were touched by the hockey pool, two of which were dropped, but I think with their late-season heroics, they'll be a much more popular team in 2016.

It's hard to argue with the best defenseman in the game, offensively, as Erik Karlsson led the way yet again for the Senators, aptly wearing the captain's C on his chest.  Karlsson picked up 21 goals and 66 points in all 82 games from the blueline, which ranked him 39th overall in pool scoring, which would have qualified him to be a solid 2nd round pick, by regular scoring means.  His overall value was awfully high, as this team found some confidence from the back end and he was no different in that regard.

The Senators finished the season with seven forwards that were pool worthy, according to the 2015 draft pool, which showed they had lots of scoring potential throughout their lineup.  Rookie Mark Stone and Kyle Turris led the way with 64 points, followed by Bobby Ryan (54), rookie Mike Hoffman (48), Mika Zibanejad (46), Clarke MacArthur (36) and Milan Michalek (34).  Both MacArthur and Michalek went through tough years with injury and to be noted, shows the depth of this squad in 2015.

Only one more defender got the nod for being pool worthy in 2015, sophomore blueliner Cody Ceci finished with 5 goals and 21 points in 81 games for the Sens, he was ranked 83rd among defensemen, well down on the list, but on the list, nonetheless.

Believe it or not, the Senators actually had three goalies in the top 46 this season, as Hammond finished 27th, Craig Anderson finished 35th and Robin Lehner, who missed the bulk of the second half of the season, due to a concussion, finished 46th.  Anderson had the bulk of the minutes through the year, while Lehner had about 60 minutes more than Hammond, so you could certainly believe how that all happened.

2016 Pool Outlook

These are exciting times for the Senators, as they have lots of weapons in the forward ranks and when they are playing some confident hockey, they were putting the biscuit in the basket a whole lot.  I don't think there is any question that the pool next season are going to love these darlings, but this group of players will have some targets on their backs next season, as everyone knows who they are and what they can accomplish, so it won't be easy.  All of this will have to be taken into consideration, so tread carefully.

It was a rookie explosion for the Senators in 2015, which should temper the freshman class of 2016 in Ottawa, but Matt Puempel, who played in 13 games this past season, does still qualify as a rookie for next season and depending on how the roster shapes up, he may have a case for being on the team.  If his training camp and preseason become any indication, the Senators forwards could be a good match for him and the points may accumulate by osmosis on the scoresheet.

The Senators were able to win the sweepstakes for NCAA standout goalkeeper Matt O'Connor on the weekend (May 9th), but with goaltending depth rather plentiful for the Senators going into the off-season, there is a good chance that O'Connor will start the season in the minors, but he will be someone to watch.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

According to their list, unrestricted free agency will be an important part of their Summer, as their season saviour, Andrew Hammond is 27 years old and now eligible for the open market, while Erik Condra will also head to the open market, barring a new deal in this off-season.

Restricted free agency is also an interesting piece of the puzzle for the Sens, as Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman, their rookie standouts up front, are also up for free agency and new deals after their entry-level deals will expire on July 1st.  Can't imagine they will be an issue to get signed up, it's just going to make for an interesting off-season.  Oh yes, let's not forget Mika Zibanejad, Alex Chiasson and J-G Pageau either.

The Senators have a number of key free agents on the list, but their salary cap number may be somewhat worrying.  With 33 players signed on, nine more than the full roster, they still have $2.9 million left to work with against the projected cap number, but when you started taking away minor league talent, the cap room doesn't exactly go up very fast.  Hammond, Stone and Hoffman may have only excelled in one season, but we all know that they will get paid, even if they are reasonable bridge numbers.  I don't think this is going to be easy.

Needs at the 2015 Entry Draft

The Senators did use up a lot of organizational depth in the 2015 season, as they pulled out a number of their young players to fill roles throughout the year.  This draft will go a long way to help replenish those stocks and move the franchise forward.  There doesn't seem to be any real glaring need for the 1st round pick, so taking the best player available won't hurt them moving forward.  With the 18th pick overall, I can see the Sens taking a chance on Dutch forward Daniel Sprong, looking to hit another home run with a young player.  The word is that this kid has the skills to be a real steal at the draft, but it will depend highly on how his mental aspects are looked after.

What I Said Last Year, At This Time...

Although I'm not GM Bryan Murray's biggest fan, I do respect him enough to say that he has done a pretty good job with the Senators and has done well with moves in and out of the organization for the most part. If he is going to make some moves to change the complexion of the team, I think there is a good chance that he will succeed and see his team make the playoffs again in the 2015 season. I like Karlsson to come back with another great year and as long as Anderson stays healthy, the Senators will be a team to reckon with in the 2015 season.

I really didn't have much to say about these Senators at the end of last year, but the small notes I did provide were not too far off.  Karlsson had another strong year and on the backs of their goaltending, maybe not Anderson, they were a team to be reckoned with, they just ran into a very strong Montreal team in the playoffs.

The Senators 2016 season may depend highly on what the kids are able to do for them in the next go around.  With the emergence of Stone and Hoffman, there might be some who may forget about Curtis Lazar and his sophomore season upcoming, as he may not have shot the lights out, but he did play a very complimentary role for his club and when the rest of the league focuses on his teammates, he could come to the forefront and do well for this team.  Assuming the Senators can get close to the same kind of goaltending that they got in the back end of 2015, I think Ottawa will be strong again, especially with Karlsson still leading the charge.