TORONTO — Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios and senior vice-president of hockey operations Dave Poulin must have felt pleased watching their team pummel the Toronto Maple Leafs from the visiting management suite at the Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night. Even owner Michael Andlauer, walking tall through the event-level hallway past the media horde, felt cheerful.
Bragging rights are always great to hold over your provincial rival. But for a team that feels it should be higher in the standings, the Senators’ win in Toronto helped provide momentum for a playoff push while further validating the idea that Ottawa should be buying rather than selling, even if they’re on the outside looking in.
Ottawa dominated the lifeless Maple Leafs, winning 5-2 and practically extinguishing whatever faint playoff hopes they had. Toronto hardly put up a fight against an Ottawa team that ran the game at five-on-five, added a power-play goal and ran away with the shot count, 40-23. The Sens ended the first period tied 1-1, but with 16 shots to Toronto’s two — a familiar refrain throughout the year — before pulling away with four goals in the second period. Dylan Cozens and Drake Batherson both hit the 20-goal mark, while Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stützle were among those who contributed points in the win.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Cozens said. “I think we’ve played good games this season and haven’t found ways to win. Where we are now, every point matters. So to get two tonight, that’s really big for us.”
Cozens isn’t wrong. The Senators continue to hang around the top of the NHL in chances, goals scored at five-on-five and expected goals against. While only three points separate the Senators and Maple Leafs in the standings, the vibes couldn’t be more different in the two dressing rooms. Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark called the belief metre among his teammates “so high” after the game. Contrast that to Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, who called his team’s performance “embarrassing.”
The Leafs have been tagged as sellers as they plummet down the standings and likely retain their top-five protected first-rounder. Barring a change of heart from the NHL, the Senators won’t have theirs, which heightens the urgency to push for a playoff spot despite all of the Atlantic Division teams ahead of them.
The Sens are five points out of the playoffs with games against Edmonton and Calgary remaining before Friday’s trade deadline. The players believe in themselves and feel that they can make it. The season-long pressure on Staios and his management group to add won’t be slowed this week.
There was a time when they could have been sellers, recouped draft picks and maybe parted with veteran pieces. But considering how they’ve played and how integral those veterans are to their core, something catastrophic between now and Friday might have to occur for Staios to deal any away. For example, Claude Giroux, who has a no-move clause, holds his future in his hands. And it’s hard to envision him wanting out if the Senators are giving themselves a chance at a playoff run.
But like last year, when they had limited cap space, the Senators are going to have to be creative. They don’t have that first-rounder, but have six picks in the upcoming draft, including Buffalo’s second-rounder that they acquired at last year’s deadline. The Senators also moved a core piece last year, trading Josh Norris for Cozens at the deadline. It would be a surprise to see the Senators do the same this year.
It’s not clear if the Sens would want to move top prospects like Carter Yakemchuk or Logan Hensler to make a deal happen. Understandably, the Senators want to resist parting with those pieces unless the right deal comes along. And it wouldn’t be a surprise if that feeling extended to Stephen Halliday, who has impressed in his limited time with the Senators. But on a team with plenty of centres, as well as wingers who can play centre, other teams should identify that as a position of strength.
If the Senators don’t succeed at landing a forward ahead of the deadline, they could always give offseason acquisition and AHL All-Star Arthur Kaliyev a try. There’s also been plenty of noise around the Senators landing a defenceman. On Chris Johnston’s trade board, Dougie Hamilton and Justin Faulk are among the top defenders available. Sens fans would also love to see their native son, MacKenzie Weegar, return home.
You could argue the Senators probably have a stronger need on defence than forward. While they have a glut of defenders in Jordan Spence, Nick Jensen and Nikolas Matinpalo, who can play on the right-hand side, Jensen is a pending UFA coming off hip surgery, while Matinpalo and Spence are probably better served as third-pairing options. It wouldn’t hurt the Sens to add someone else to potentially play in a second pair.
These are options the Senators should be considering. Staios has another opportunity to take the league by surprise, much like he did last year with the Cozens deal. As The Athletic reported, many teams expressed interest in Cozens, but it wasn’t clear if the Senators were among them. Sure enough, the Senators worked in stealth mode and got him.
We shouldn’t be surprised if Staios, once again, finds himself making another move to improve his team ahead of this week’s deadline.