The Ottawa Senators have done their best to climb back into the wildcard race in the Eastern Conference, but in all likelihood will fall short. Regardless, there are many pressing questions that will need to be answered this summer.
Aside from the ongoing process of the franchise being sold, here are 3 burning questions Senators fans will have when the final whistle blows on the 2022-23 season:
Is Alex DeBrincat’s future in Ottawa?
Hands down the most pressing question this off-season will be DeBrincat’s status with the Senators. He will be a Restricted Free Agent, meaning he’s under team control before potentially becoming an UFA in 2024.
He also carries a $9 million qualifying offer, so any contract discussion would presumably begin with that number as an average annual value on a long-term deal.
The Senators will find themselves in a salary cap crunch this summer, needing new deals for players like Shane Pinto and Erik Brannstrom, as well as finding depth pieces in free agency. The less they give DeBrincat, the better.
Beginning next season, Tim Stützle will be the highest-paid player with an $8.35 million cap hit. General Manager Pierre Dorion and his staff will need to decide if they’re willing to pay DeBrincat more money than their MVP and leading scorer.
When DeBrincat had his best stretch in December, I wrote about what a potential long-term extension might look like.
If the Senators decide they don’t want to sign him long-term, there are a multitude of conversations that will need to happen regarding what to trade him for.
🎵Meow meow meow meow
meow meow meow meow
meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow🎵#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/8LzbqghWsC— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 31, 2023
Is D.J. Smith the right Coach?
May 2019 was the last time the Senators addressed the Head Coaching position. Smith has been behind the bench of the franchise for nearly 4 years, and his record isn’t pretty.
However, given how poor the roster and particularly the defence has been for his tenure, it was hard to blame him for most losses. Until this season.
The Senators have been wildly inconsistent this year. There have been both memorable and very forgettable stretches, which sounds accurate for a team that’s been hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season.
While the process of the franchise being sold drags on, some fans were under the assumption that new ownership would clean house and implement a new coaching staff. Whether it would have been warranted or not, it’s pretty standard for ownership groups to select their own people rather than inheriting the previous regime.
However, with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman expecting the sale to wrap up by July 1st, the Senators will need to decide if they’re going to hire new staff or keep D.J. Smith at the helm well before then.
Can Mads Søgaard be a full-time NHL goalie?
One reason for the Senators’ struggles this season has been the carousel in the crease. Since February 11th, 5 different goaltenders have started a game for the Sens.
Søgaard has started 15 of the 25 games and has certainly had his ups and downs throughout. The 2019 2nd-round pick was thrust into this role when Anton Forsberg and Cam Talbot went down with injuries.
Søgaard enjoyed some success early on but lost his confidence in a 6 game stretch from March 6th to March 19th. He allowed 27 goals in 6 starts, and that stretch is frankly where the Senators lost most of their momentum toward a realistic playoff push.
While it certainly isn’t all on him, any losing streak is bound to be tough on a goaltender. Søgaard has since found some confidence as he looks to finish the year on a high note, but the Senators will need to decide if they want him to back up Forsberg next season or if he would benefit from another year in the American Hockey League.
Either way, it will be fascinating to see how Søgaard responds to this “thrown to the wolves” approach to begin his NHL career.
The Senators have plugged many holes in their roster over the past 12 months, but there’s still work to be done to become a perennial playoff threat.
-Jack Richardson
Twitter: @jackrichrdson
Photo: Alaney2k. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.