With Tkachuk, it is not
Buffalo, ARZ, CBJ, ANA and DET are my buttom5 (not necessarly in that order)

Murray has to be league average for the team to contend, if you get a much better year out of him, the sens will win some games.
They might not win a lot this season bu they wont be easy wins

Healthy , I thought they might make a shot from 10-15 but as is, the bottom 9 is pretty weak and same with the bottom 4. Add in 1-2 more injuries and they will struggle

I always thought this season would be dictated by the plays of Pinto, Brannstrom and Murray

IMHO CBJ and DET are the same if not better than OTT

Arizona and Buffalo are clear cut bottom 2. Detroit, Anaheim and Columbus are in the same tier as the Sens

5 years of unparalleled success

As it stands I think this team is better than Arizona and Buffalo, maybe Anaheim (although they actually have some defense), but CBJ and DET have some pieces that Ottawa is lacking (better goaltending, guys like Laine+Bjorkstrand or Larkin+Bertuzzi are just as good as, if not better than Norris+Batherson and we don’t have Tkachuk yet to push us ahead of them, admittedly all these teams only have like 1-2 good D but in Ottawa’s case it’s Chabot and Zub, and Chabot’s defense is horrendous right now). Not playing Brannstrom is also just asking to lose, he’s arguably already our best PP QB and we need more talent in the lineup. With Tkachuk and Brannstrom in the lineup, and preferably White and Bishop healthy, I think this team could stay in the wildcard hunt for a while, ultimately falling just short and picking around 12oa. But as it stands there’s a solid argument for this roster being the 3rd or 4th worst in the league. Hopefully they make a splash via trade, like Eichel or at least Kravtsov.

At this form...yes, they're going to suck.

Yup

Its the only form were ever going to have with Melnyk at the helm. Wont spend during the rebuild to take bad cap.

Hows a rebuild supposed to be successful when its hamstrung at every opportunity

The bottom 6 is weak now but once Tkachuk (and Watson) come back, they'll have a bottom 6 that consists of Formenton, Paul, Watson, Tierney, Sanford, Kelly which isn't as bad. Should have White in there too. And the top 6 will be really fun to watch and should be able to get them to at least .500

The season hasn't even begun yet and we're already declaring that Ottawa will finish in the bottom 5.


I think we'll need to watch a few games before jumping to such a hasty conclusion.

I see 7 forwards, 4 D-men and 1 goalie I'd want to be on my team


Stutzle-Pinto-Batherson
??????-Norris-??????
Formenton-??????-Brown
Paul-??????-??????
??????

Chabot-Zub
??????-??????
Mete-Holden
??????

Murray
??????

White and Watson would be there if not injured, Tkachuk if signed and Brannstrom if not "bias evaluated" by the coaching staff.

That’s pretty much exactly what I see.

Ok so let's add Tkachuk and the injured players, plus who SHOULD BE HERE.

Stutzle-Pinto-Batherson
Tkachuk-Norris-??????
Formenton-White-Brown
Crookshank-Paul-Watson
Bishop

Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-??????
Mete-Holden/Zaitsev
Brown

Murray
Gustavsson


* Bishop : 13th forward so Kelly gets minutes in Belleville. Same with Sokolov for now
** Brown as the 7th D-man so JBD, Guenette and Thomson get minutes in Belleville. They could still get called up instead of playing him
*** Brannstrom should absolutely play, get his value up as much as possible before Sanderson arrives. Brannstrom would be his placeholder
**** It's ok to "feel" for Anton Forsberg having to move several times in a year but the 2nd goalie should be Gustavsson. He's ready, his time starts now.

So pretty much like I have been saying and waiting for months, this team needs a RW and a RD. As you can see, either Holden or Zaitsev would be great as the 3rd pairing RD but we shouldn't ask them to be top-4 D-men. We always ask too much from our D-men, which has been the problem for this team since Dorion became GM.

My team looks much better than Dorion's, no? I'd want 10-15 M$ to fill the ?????? so I'd get guys with high salaries to fill these holes without giving too many assets. Ex : I would have gotten Jakub Voracek (3 years left with a 7.08 M$ average salary, no NTC/NMC)

Don't know what else could have been possible but looking at Arvidsson, Reinhart, Buchnevich, Duncan Keith, Ryan Suter, etc... it's frustrating that we're not doing anything

Stutzle-Norris-Batherson
Tkachuk-Pinto- XXX
Formenton-White-C. Brown
Paul-Kelly-Watson
Bishop

Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-XXX
Mete-Holden
Brown

Murray
Gus

This would be my team. Now try to find a speedy winger for 2RW, I really want someone like Ehlers. As for the D , it’s clearly Sanderson’s spot to fill. So this team needs a big trade for an Ehlers/Boeser type of winger + adding Sanderson to the team and I think they’re very close to a playoff spot

I feel like murray will rebound so I'd say bottom 10