OT: I Am Not Feeling Excited For Next Year

[Big Muddy]

If Ullmark doesn’t re-sign, I’m hoping they have a really good season this season. Not that easy to get a quality staring tender, and a team needs a bit of luck and good timing which isn’t always a given.

 

[Wondercarrot]

For some reason there's 0 hype, 0 excitement heading into 24/25. This is probably the bleakest situation since 21/22.At least over the last couple years there were some moves made to create some excitement.

Feels like another typical 78-82 point year, with another playoff miss.

I am eager to see how our goaltending is with Ullmark, but it stops right there.

yes you are definitely a huge bummer, no doubt about it.

 

[Alex1234]

Unfair comparison with Florida being a top destination for UFA's, something Ottawa won't be until we're contenders and even then, being a cold Canadian small market destination will always be a factor.

Plus taxes
Apart from Colorado at 4.40% ,the last 5 SC winners have no income tax
It was said at the time that it would have taken 13-13.5MM$ to match Stone Vegas salary
Can't compete
Never will

 

[lancepitlick]

The way I see it this is pretty much put up or shut up time for this team's core: Stutzle, Tkachuck, Batherson, Chabot, Sanderson, Zub, Norris, Pinto etc.

Based on their salaries they have surrounded them with as much talent as they can reasonably afford under the salary cap. They have an OK coach, a good goalie, some good vets and average depth.

If they can't get close to the playoffs, barring crazy injuries or something, then it probably isn't ever going to happen.

Staois has given them the pieces to succeed without further mortgaging the future.

If they fail again then I'd expect some big names to be shipped out as part of a major retool/rebuild. I also doubt someone like Tkachuck wants to stay if this team is bottom 10 in the league again.

 

[jhutter]

Apathy is beginning to creep in for me, but I'm still excited. I feel like this is the first season in a little while where there's absolutely no excuses. That's exciting to me.

 

[Adrianopolous]

Apathy is beginning to creep in for me, but I'm still excited. I feel like this is the first season in a little while where there's absolutely no excuses. That's exciting to me.

Apathy is the right word

 

[Silky Johnson]

Apathy is the right word

I can think of a couple better words...

 

[jbeck5]

I've been surprisingly able to hold off excitement until it's justified by results.

Every year I was part of the group that would get excited and hype up the sens...when they got Giroux...when they got debrincat...when they got chychrun... And every year they would fizzle away early. I would say I'm not going to get excited until next year. But every summer, I would regain that excitement.

This time, I said I would want to hold off any hype until they actually clinch a playoff spot (or be well on their way, like a 25-12 record going into the new year or something).

I haven't gone back on my word. Obviously I'll get excited for hockey in general when it's back, but I'm not hyping this team until they show it.

Maybe it's getting a raise, and then promotion. Maybe it's becoming an expecting father. Maybe it's buying my first house. Maybe it's buying a new car.

So much has happened that even though I'm still paying attention to the moves and lurking online, I still haven't built that hype up. I think I'm growing up and learning not to be fooled twice, but also that there is much more important than hockey in life.

I want the sens to win just as much as any of you, and will join in the celebrating when the time comes...but right now, it's just a lot easier to say the sens suck and are lacking. If I'm right, at least I can say I'm right. If I'm wrong, well, then I'd be over the moon. Win-win. I am surprised I've held up this long though.

 

[Tuna99]

Apathy is the right word

Glad we could be here for your online fan therapy session.

 

[Xspyrit]

Why would they start a rebuild when they have one of the best young teams in the NHL, they are just getting started while the older young guys are just entering their prime.? Kids today, no patience.

I agree and want to agree with this, unfortunately my brain tells me this :


Brady Tkachuk 25 y/o, 4 years left before UFA
Joshua Norris 25 y/o, 6 years left before UFA (and we all know about his injury concerns)
Drake Batherson 26 y/o, 3 years left before UFA
Claude Giroux 36 y/o, 1 year left before UFA
David Perron 36 y/o, 2 years left before UFA
Thomas Chabot 27 y/o, 4 years left before UFA
Artem Zub 29 y/o, 3 years left before UFA
Nick Jensen 34 y/o, 2 years left before UFA
Linus Ullmark 31 y/o, 1 year left before UFA

Pretty nice that Stutzle, Sanderson, Greig and Pinto are young but it seems that we will have a very short window until these 4 are a bit by themselves and will be in need of a new wave of support

The next 3 seasons are crucial, absolutely need to have some success or will need to go into another serious rebuild.

 

[aragorn]

I agree and want to agree with this, unfortunately my brain tells me this :


Brady Tkachuk 25 y/o, 4 years left before UFA
Joshua Norris 25 y/o, 6 years left before UFA (and we all know about his injury concerns)
Drake Batherson 26 y/o, 3 years left before UFA
Claude Giroux 36 y/o, 1 year left before UFA
David Perron 36 y/o, 2 years left before UFA
Thomas Chabot 27 y/o, 4 years left before UFA
Artem Zub 29 y/o, 3 years left before UFA
Nick Jensen 34 y/o, 2 years left before UFA
Linus Ullmark 31 y/o, 1 year left before UFA

Pretty nice that Stutzle, Sanderson, Greig and Pinto are young but it seems that we will have a very short window until these 4 are a bit by themselves and will be in need of a new wave of support

The next 3 seasons are crucial, absolutely need to have some success or will need to go into another serious rebuild.

People have been very negative about this team for a while given ownership & GM, but that doesn't change the makeup of the team. They have a number of very good young players who are going to be here for a number of yrs who need to stay healthy, but with every team if there is no success there will be changes, that is the nature of sports in the pros.

The Sens have their #1 goalie in place, top six in place & their top 4 D & are trying to find the right bottom six now & bottom pairing although they may be close to having that in place soon. I wouldn't be suprised that they have at least one more line in place (3rd line) by the end of this season. They also have some depth in place that could help when there are injuries.

While it is arguable whether they have the right personel in place in the right positions & we won't fine that out until they play this season, but on paper it looks like they are getting closer. It's the same with most teams who are not at the top of the league, they have to work their way up & pass the teams ahead of the them. We'll see if they have made strides forward or not sooner or later.

 

[Xspyrit]

People have been very negative about this team for a while given ownership & GM, but that doesn't change the makeup of the team. They have a number of very good young players who are going to be here for a number of yrs who need to stay healthy, but with every team if there is no success there will be changes, that is the nature of sports in the pros.

Yes, I have listed them. But is it better than current contenders or future contenders? I have listed these players with their age and the numbers of years they have left. For example, Batherson is 26 years old and has 3 years left. A comparable player, Bobby Ryan stopped being a Top-6 forward at 29 y/o. Sure, there was a bunch of injuries but like it has been the case for Norris, not all players are going to be good for "a number of yrs", which is why it is CRUCIAL to keep pumping prospects like Ridly Greig through the pool.

This is where our rebuild is FAILING so far, we'll need some of these late round picks to become quality players to reverse that trend. This is what many of us have been trying to explain for years regarding "asset management" and the importance of stockpiling quality prospects/picks as much as possible

So the question is :

What do we do once the players I have listed start declining? You think we'll be able to become a contender by attracting UFAs? We'd be lucky just to replace Giroux, Perron and Jensen.

Even if we start making the playoffs this year, we'll have to learn "how to lose" in them... our window looks to be very short unfortunately unless we pull several rabbits out of our ass (finding great players in later rounds)

The Sens have their #1 goalie in place, top six in place & their top 4 D & are trying to find the right bottom six now & bottom pairing although they may be close to having that in place soon. I wouldn't be suprised that they have at least one more line in place (3rd line) by the end of this season. They also have some depth in place that could help when there are injuries.

While it is arguable whether they have the right personel in place in the right positions & we won't fine that out until they play this season, but on paper it looks like they are getting closer. It's the same with most teams who are not at the top of the league, they have to work their way up & pass the teams ahead of the them. We'll see if they have made strides forward or not sooner or later.

That #1 goalie is UFA at the end of the season.
That Top-6 F has two 36 y/o players and a guy who just had his 3rd shoulder surgery at 25 y/o
That Top-4 D is great but 2 years left for Jensen, hopefully Yakemchuk replaces him and hopefully Chabot is not the immensely overpaid player that a part of this fanbase is clamoring

Let's not forget that we're talking about a team that still hasn't sniffed the playoffs so it's not like we were debating "are they still good enough?"

I am "praying" that miracles happen in Sens land and that we become one of these good teams but looking at it rationally, it's impossible to blame anyone not enthusiastic.

 

[SensFanInMTL]

 

[TheNewEra]

View attachment 899972

that 4th line is going to be interesting. I hope we dont hand macewen a spot and have that and the center spot open for training camp battle since we have the room and the cap space

ostapchuk/macewen/crookshank/jenik/halliday/bourgault/highmore/gaudette/boucher (for his one week of health)

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I'm not excited, but calmy confident this year. Imo they upgraded goaltending, defence, and I like the Amadio in/Joseph out swap, along with Perron up front.

I'm bullish on Ullmark being a massive upgrade on Korpisalo, basically the worst starter in the league last year. I think that alone is going to completely change the look of things for this team. To actually have a goalie you can have some confidence in is huge. Ya, he's a UFA, but I think he'll stay, and we're also rid of Korpisalo either way, which allows us to reset at the position without his contract as a worst case scenario.

 

[TheNewEra]

I'm not excited, but calmy confident this year. Imo they upgraded goaltending, defence, and I like the Amadio in/Joseph out swap, along with Perron up front.

I'm bullish on Ullmark being a massive upgrade on Korpisalo, basically the worst starter in the league last year. I think that alone is going to completely change the look of things for this team. To actually have a goalie you can have some confidence in is huge. Ya, he's a UFA, but I think he'll stay, and we're also rid of Korpisalo either way, which allows us to reset at the position without his contract as a worst case scenario.

Agreed. I feel like at minimum Ullmark will give us average goaltending, which compared to Korpisolo would be a massive upgrade.

Ideally Ullmark stays, but if he does leave it allows us to try and get a goalie without being hampered by the full Korpisolo contract

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Agreed. I feel like at minimum Ullmark will give us average goaltending, which compared to Korpisolo would be a massive upgrade.

Ideally Ullmark stays, but if he does leave it allows us to try and get a goalie without being hampered by the full Korpisolo contract

Of all the questionable decisions made, imo Korpisalo was the most predictable if you looked past the outlier season. I'm ecstatic to be rid of his contract.

 

[Big Muddy]

I'm not excited, but calmy confident this year. Imo they upgraded goaltending, defence, and I like the Amadio in/Joseph out swap, along with Perron up front.

I'm bullish on Ullmark being a massive upgrade on Korpisalo, basically the worst starter in the league last year. I think that alone is going to completely change the look of things for this team. To actually have a goalie you can have some confidence in is huge. Ya, he's a UFA, but I think he'll stay, and we're also rid of Korpisalo either way, which allows us to reset at the position without his contract as a worst case scenario.

Things look good or at least better on paper, but we’ve been here before. It seems something unpredictable happens that has a negative impact. Maybe we get lucky for once, but its hard for me to ignore history and block out the idea that something will happen that will damper the situation.

Agreed. I feel like at minimum Ullmark will give us average goaltending, which compared to Korpisolo would be a massive upgrade.

Ideally Ullmark stays, but if he does leave it allows us to try and get a goalie without being hampered by the full Korpisolo contract

Getting rid of Korpisalo was big. However, getting a good goalie in any given offseason isn’t always easy and can be quite challenging. I’m hoping Ullmark will re-sign with us as it make me nervous to have to be scouring the market again for another goalie next offseason. I understand that the 2025-26 season isn’t getting a lot of attention at the moment and seems way out in the future though at this point.

 

[TheNewEra]

Things look good or at least better on paper, but we’ve been here before. It seems something unpredictable happens that has a negative impact. Maybe we get lucky for once, but its hard for me to ignore history and block out the idea that something will happen that will damper the situation.

Getting rid of Korpisalo was big. However, getting a good goalie in any given offseason isn’t always easy and can be quite challenging. I’m hoping Ullmark will re-sign with us as it make me nervous to have to be scouring the market again for another goalie next offseason. I understand that the 2025-26 season isn’t getting a lot of attention at the moment and seems way out in the future though at this point.

I fully agree. However getting an average goalie should not be difficult. Also even if its not an average goalie we should not miss as badly as we did with the Korpisolo signing.

I am pretty sure Korpisolo was dead last in most categories that involved a starting goalie. There is missing on a signing and there is whatever the hell this was haha

 

[Big Muddy]

I fully agree. However getting an average goalie should not be difficult. Also even if its not an average goalie we should not miss as badly as we did with the Korpisolo signing.

I am pretty sure Korpisolo was dead last in most categories that involved a starting goalie. There is missing on a signing and there is whatever the hell this was haha

I hope you are right. It also depends on the team D performance as well. Getting average goaltending is more feasible if the team plays decent team D. We haven’t seen our team actually play decent team D with any consistency or longevity before. But, with new coaches that will focus on this more, I guess I can see how this is more of a possibility.

 

[TheNewEra]

I hope you are right. It also depends on the team D performance as well. Getting average goaltending is more feasible if the team plays decent team D. We haven’t seen our team actually play decent team D with any consistency or longevity before. But, with new coaches that will focus on this more, I guess I can see how this is more of a possibility.

Ullmark's worst year in his career was in buffalo 2018/2019. If we compare save percentages even during his worst year he had a significantly better save percentage than korpisolo last year (905 vs 890). Average save percentage for a goalie last year that played more than 40 games was 906/907 (ingram and saros).

If our team defense is so bad that Ullmark ends up doing worse than when he was playing on buffalo ....then yeah we should fully rebuild

 

[Big Muddy]

Ullmark's worst year in his career was in buffalo 2018/2019. If we compare save percentages even during his worst year he had a significantly better save percentage than korpisolo last year (905 vs 890). Average save percentage for a goalie last year that played more than 40 games was 906/907 (ingram and saros).

If our team defense is so bad that Ullmark ends up doing worse than when he was playing on buffalo ....then yeah we should fully rebuild

If the belief is that the team is pretty decent or good, but it was just goaltending that held us back, then I’d say the objective should be more than just squeaking into the playoffs. You’ll hear the words “good young team” and “good core” in here quite frequently.

Yet, from what I gather from past discussion on this topic is that many/most believe that squeaking into the playoffs would be a good/decent achievement this year.

I’m sensing some incongruent thinking here. Maybe the modest goal setting (just squeaking into the playoffs) is based on a belief that more than better goaltending is required even if that thinking is seldom vocalized? That’s kind of the way I’m leaning, but part of it is that I’d like to do more than just squeak into the playoffs and then kind of bow out quickly after that. If we have a good group of players and core, and if was just goaltending that held us back and that improves, then I’m primed for a significantly better year.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Things look good or at least better on paper, but we’ve been here before. It seems something unpredictable happens that has a negative impact. Maybe we get lucky for once, but its hard for me to ignore history and block out the idea that something will happen that will damper the situation.

That's fair to say, but I'm one that had zero confidence in Korpisalo even though I felt good about the rest of the team last year and feel like I can believe again knowing he's not there anymore. We have someone that deserves the title of starting goalie and I assumed we'd have to move on from Korpisalo to have success eventually anyways.

 

[OD99]

If the belief is that the team is pretty decent or good, but it was just goaltending that held us back, then I’d say the objective should be more than just squeaking into the playoffs. You’ll hear the words “good young team” and “good core” in here quite frequently.

Yet, from what I gather from past discussion on this topic is that many/most believe that squeaking into the playoffs would be a good/decent achievement this year.

I’m sensing some incongruent thinking here. Maybe the modest goal setting (just squeaking into the playoffs) is based on a belief that more than better goaltending is required even if that thinking is seldom vocalized? That’s kind of the way I’m leaning, but part of it is that I’d like to do more than just squeak into the playoffs and then kind of bow out quickly after that. If we have a good group of players and core, and if was just goaltending that held us back and that improves, then I’m primed for a significantly better year.

I'm ready for a significantly better year, and believe we will make the playoffs.

We have a lot of possibilities for big gains.

1. In net (Obviously from Ulmark but also a better season from Forsberg)
2. D Corps (more well rounded, progression from Sanderson and JBD, potential of Kleven)
3. Pinto for a full season
4. Healthy Timmy back
5. Norris back (question marks but I remain bullish)
6. Greig taking a step.
7. Batherson repeating or improving on last season.
8. More speed and depth in bottom 6.

They may not all pan out, but the upside is huge if many of them do.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I'm ready for a significantly better year, and believe we will make the playoffs.

We have a lot of possibilities for big gains.

1. In net (Obviously from Ulmark but also a better season from Forsberg)
2. D Corps (more well rounded, progression from Sanderson and JBD, potential of Kleven)
3. Pinto for a full season
4. Healthy Timmy back
5. Norris back (question marks but I remain bullish)
6. Greig taking a step.
7. Batherson repeating or improving on last season.
8. More speed and depth in bottom 6.

They may not all pan out, but the upside is huge if many of them do.

I think they have a really solid coaching staff as well. Still have a pit in my stomach for time lost in emphasis on play without the puck for too long. Still I think this group coupled with the addition of some solid vets will help get this ship turned all the way around... We'll see how long it takes them to gel. Special teams clicking early could help with a quick start.

Staios did a pretty good job given what he was left to work with. Depth is the only concern for me but if they stay healthy for the most part that may not be such a factor.