The Ottawa Senators have considerable expectations for the current NHL season. Flashing back to 2021, the Senators set their sights on a promising future.
In this cover story from The Hockey News’ 2021 Future Watch edition (Volume 74, Issue 4), editor in chief Ryan Kennedy profiled the Sens as they slowly but surely stockpiled elite talent that remains with the franchise to this day.
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One of the Senators’ biggest moves was drafting star left winger Brady Tkachuk fourth overall in the 2018 draft. Tkachuk’s rugged, determined game was exactly the type of talent the franchise needed to build around – and the Boston University talent quickly won over everyone with the team.
“When we had an opportunity to pick Brady, we felt that helped our development path because it allowed us to include a piece in our organization that doesn’t often come along,” Senators chief amateur scout Trent Mann told Kennedy. “Because Brady pulls everyone into the fight. That allows you to gauge other players, are you gonna jump into the fight here, or will you not fit in? Because teams that fight are teams that win.”
Two years after Tkachuk was drafted, the Sens added another crucial piece of the puzzle with the drafting of center Tim Stutzle. The German dynamo quickly bonded with Tkachuk, and any success the Senators will have in the 2024-25 season will pivot on the chemistry and camaraderie Tkachuk and Stutzle enjoy.
Here’s the original story.
RIDING THE WAVES
Vol. 74, No. 4, April 6, 2021
By Ryan Kennedy
Before the 2020-21 season began, the Ottawa Senators looked like they were going to be a punchline. The rebuilding organization was at that point of the cycle where a lot of younger players would be vying for important roles, and that usually involves taking your lumps in the win-loss column.
On top of that, the Senators would be playing in the realigned North Division, an all-Canadian grouping that didn’t have any other rebuilding teams in its ranks. Would this be a slaughter of epic proportions? The team’s Roman senator mascot was historically known for watching people get thrown to the lions, not being the meal himself.
As it turns out, a lot of those Northern lions didn’t like the taste they got when they faced the Sens this season. Sure, Ottawa has taken its lumps, but the team has also pulled off a number of impressive wins, and that vaunted young core is rapidly gelling. And the news gets better, because the Senators have a lot more prospects coming, many of whom are developing at one of the best NCAA programs around, the University of North Dakota.
Two waves are coming: one that is about to crest, and the other that’s on the horizon. It’s the best news in Ottawa since that near-run to the Stanley Cup final in 2017, and they have only themselves to thank for it. (OK, maybe the San Jose Sharks get a secondary assist.)
What’s fascinating about the Senators is that they’ve managed to stock their cupboards without picking first or second overall during this rebuild. They did pick third in 2020, grabbing electrifying German left winger Tim Stutzle, but even that was technically San Jose’s selection, acquired in the 2018 Erik Karlsson trade engineered by GM Pierre Dorion.
That Trading Places-style swap quickly put the languishing Sens on the Eddie Murphy upswing, while hammering the contending Sharks into Dan Aykroyd oblivion, where they remain right now. Not only did Ottawa get the pick that became Stutzle, but it also received prospect Josh Norris, himself now part of that exciting young core.
But the most important selection Ottawa has made so far was also in 2018, when the Senators scooped up burgeoning power forward Brady Tkachuk with the fourth overall pick. Some pundits had the Boston University freshman ranked much lower, scared that he only produced eight goals in his first NCAA season.
Ottawa knew better. “When we had an opportunity to pick Brady, we felt that helped our development path because it allowed us to include a piece in our organization that doesn’t often come along,” said chief amateur scout Trent Mann. “Because Brady pulls everyone into the fight. That allows you to gauge other players, are you gonna jump into the fight here, or will you not fit in? Because teams that fight are teams that win.”
Tkachuk is already wearing an ‘A’ on his sweater and his combination of skill, physicality and drive has made him the center of a kiddie corps that also includes Norris, Stutzle and Drake Batherson up front. Those four make up Ottawa’s top five scorers this season, alongside defenseman and alternate captain Thomas Chabot, himself only 24. “It’s really special,” Batherson said. “We’re going to look back on our first year playing together. We’re all best friends off the ice, too. Being able to come to the rink every day, especially with COVID, we don’t have much else going on, so it’s special being with them all the time. They’re all great guys and it’s been awesome.”
Forging ties has been key to the rebuild. Batherson’s dad played against Norris’ old man in Germany back in the day, and the kids worked up some chemistry together in AHL Belleville last season before carrying that over to the NHL this year.
Norris has also been living in a house with Tkachuk and Stutzle, something that has really helped newcomer Stutzle adjust to North American life. After all, the German teen is new to these shores and has become fast friends with everyone. His relationship with Tkachuk in particular has become a favorite in the hockey world.
“He texted me right after the draft, a couple of the guys did, and it was great to be welcomed like that,” Stutzle said. “After the world juniors, he asked me to come live with him, and we understood each other right from the beginning, Josh too. It’s great having those guys helping me every day. They want to make me better and it’s definitely fun learning from them.”
Because as hard as both Tkachuk and Stutzle play, it’s tough not to feel warm when you see the two youngsters smiling at each other on the ice. “It’s almost like how two brothers would hang out,” Mann said. “They torment each other, but they also have each other’s backs. Brady is easy to like and easy to be around, so it was nice for him to take Tim under his wing right away. And quite honestly, that whole group embraced Tim quickly, from Norris and Batherson to Chabot.”
COVID-19 protocols and a tight game schedule have limited a lot of outings for the housemates, but they do find time to watch shows, take walks and play the occasional video game while they recover from NHL action. Their youth is also something on the minds of Ottawa’s brain trust.
One of the Senators’ best young blueline prospects is Erik Brannstrom, acquired from Vegas in the Mark Stone trade. Brannstrom has bopped between Belleville and Ottawa this season, sometimes sitting out an NHL game to watch from above. The Senators don’t see this as a bad thing, even if fans might be getting antsy about the mobile Swede’s development.
“Every time he’s come back in, he’s played well,” said Sens coach D.J. Smith. “In saying that, this is a different year. Part of development is not just jamming games on guys. Even guys like Timmy, Norris and Batherson, this is a lot of games for them. Some nights you can see they’re tired, though they are certainly trying. It’s much harder to break in for a center or a defenseman, and if you watch one (game from the press box), usually you come back in and you’re better. The plan is to make it so they’re regulars and next year they hit the ground running.”
Acknowledging the different development paths of players has been key. Tkachuk and Stutzle went right from the draft podium to the NHL, but Norris did another year at the University of Michigan after the Karlsson deal, then headed to Belleville last season, where he was AHL rookie of the year after tallying 61 points in 56 games.
Batherson, a 2017 fifth-round pick and a raw late-bloomer, used the past two seasons to his advantage, spending about two-thirds of his time in the AHL and the rest in the NHL.
“I didn’t start playing major junior until I was 18 and then only played two years before I hopped right to pro,” he said. “The two years down there helped me tremendously, learning how to live on your own and all that stuff that comes with playing pro hockey. And especially at the rink, the coaches and the older guys really helped me a lot. I found my identity down there. I know how to play the pro style, and just coming up here every day and having the mindset to get better and do whatever I can to help the team win on a nightly basis.”
In a weird way, getting thrown into the fire of the North Division has been a great training ground for the Senators. Normally, Ottawa would have been competing in an Atlantic Division with lowly Detroit and Buffalo. Instead it’s been nothing but six other Canadian teams, all with older lineups and headier playoff expectations.
“I said at the start of the year there would be a lot of hard nights, and there have been some hard nights, but we’d be a better team for it,” Smith said. “Would we have more wins if we played in our regular division? I believe so. But the tight checking of the teams we play, the little amount of room that you get and to play against players like (Connor) McDavid, (Leon) Draisaitl, (Auston) Matthews and (Mitch) Marner on any night, sometimes three times in a week, can only make you better. It’s exciting going forward that these guys got an opportunity nightly to play against the best in the world.”
What it has done is bring out the competitive fires that the Senators’ brain trust likes so much. “The thing is, I hate to lose,” Stutzle said. “That’s the only thing with me, I can’t lose. In the beginning it was tough, but we’ve grinded back.”
That’s been the story of Stutzle’s season, really. Playing for a German world-junior squad that was forced to start the tournament with a COVID-19 protocol-ravaged lineup, the junior superstar and his piecemeal team endured some wallops, notably a 16-2 dismemberment at the hands of Canada. But he didn’t get down, and once the team got some bodies back, Germany took wins over Slovakia and Switzerland to punch the country’s first-ever ticket to the quarterfinal, where they lost a closely contested game to Russia.
Mann went into the tournament a little worried Stutzle would put too much pressure on himself, but he was pleased to find a player who just wouldn’t say die, even when Canada was up by a touchdown.
“He was pushing hard every shift, and you could see him on the bench interacting with the other players, pushing for them to compete,” Mann said. “And I thought that said a lot about his character. That maturity and how he handled the situation, it was all that ‘next shift’ mentality. He wasn’t sulking, he wasn’t throwing sticks. That was the most satisfying part for me, personally. He was ready to compete and he was going to bring more than skill to the table.”
So Stutzle has the drive. Ottawa already knew Tkachuk had the drive, and with the fifth overall pick in 2020, two selections after Stutzle, the Senators believe they have another player like that on their hands: defenseman Jake Sanderson.
The U.S. National Team Development Program product and son of former NHLer Geoff Sanderson was one of the top blueliners available in 2020, and there was a debate over who would go first: him or OHL Erie standout Jamie Drysdale. Ottawa wanted Sanderson while Anaheim was more than happy to snap up Drysdale one pick later.
“There was always the debate between Drysdale and Sanderson and I don’t know if you can really go wrong, they’re both great players,” Mann said. “For us, it’s a deeper rebuild than Anaheim, and we believe Jake brought a similar piece to Brady, he’s going to drag everyone into the fight because he doesn’t know how to do it any differently. We feel those are pieces that help you win down the line and help other players be their best.”
Sanderson also happened to be a University of North Dakota commit. And when the Senators snagged big, nasty Tyler Kleven in the second round, the franchise’s NCAA pipeline became comically monochromatic in Fighting Hawks green: Sanderson, Kleven, Shane Pinto and Jacob Bernard-Docker all played for North Dakota this season while another Sens pick, Jonny Tychonick, had transferred out of Grand Forks to Nebraska-Omaha to get more ice time.
Needless to say, it’s a funny trend, but it’s also one that has great developmental merit. “They identify the best players for their program and they go after those players,” Mann said. “It’s interesting because when we look at our draft list, you see a kid going to college, ‘Where are they going? North Dakota. Ah geez, another kid going to North Dakota!’ But it is a nice feeling knowing they’re going there because you’re comfortable with the development path, you know what they’re going to receive. Our strength and conditioning coaches like what they do there, our development coaches like what they do there and that makes us more comfortable.”
Sanderson’s rise began last season at the NTDP, where he became an essential part of the lineup and the team’s best player, particularly in the second half. He carried that momentum over to college, even though he only played three games before heading off to Team USA’s world-junior camp, where he and Kleven helped the Americans win gold. He entered the NCAA championship tournament with 14 points in 20 games, putting the freshman third in team blueline scoring behind the older Bernard-Docker and coveted free agent Matt Kiersted.
“You’re seeing his offensive play blossom,” said North Dakota coach Brad Berry. “He was always known to be very good defensively, breaking out pucks, defensive-zone coverage, defending off the rush through the neutral zone, but I don’t think he got enough credit as far as his offensive ability. He’s getting acclimated now to the NCHC (National Collegiate Hockey Conference), how hard, heavy and fast it is. And now he’s feeling comfortable doing things.”
One thing Berry has noticed is how evasive Sanderson can be when he’s feeling it on the ice. He’ll make an extra play to make a checking winger miss, holding onto the puck instead of simply dumping it into the corner.
Up front, the biggest revelation for the Ottawa Fighting Hawks/North Dakota Senators has been Pinto, the 2019 second-rounder who has become an all-encompassing force in two short NCAA seasons. As someone who had to choose between baseball and hockey as a teen, Pinto impressed the Senators with his game knowledge during pre-draft interviews: he could read his own game, good and bad.
“He was a big kid who played hard, he showed some skill and he showed power,” Mann said. “So he had all the attributes we liked, but there were other pieces, too. He hadn’t been playing hockey full-time too long at the time because he had been a multi-sport athlete. So we knew there was plenty of upside. It was only going to go north very quickly.”
And north it has gone. Pinto won an armful of honors as a sophomore this season, including conference player of the year, forward and defensive forward of the year. “It’s his consistency,” Berry said. “He does all the same things on the ice and off the ice, he has a routine and he takes pride in it. The pace of his game has improved, as has his heaviness in protecting pucks and then his shot and his release. It’s all due to him investing in himself on a daily basis.”
So things are looking good for that second Ottawa wave in North Dakota. While many of the top forwards are Senators already, Pinto could join Norris as a great 1-2 punch at center, while the blueline will get a boost from the likes of Sanderson, Kleven and the steady Bernard-Docker.
In goal, a challenging season has provided opportunities for Joey Daccord and Filip Gustavsson to serve notice that Matt Murray is not alone when it comes to crease options.
And even though the North Dakota crew is still on campus, the Senators are paying attention to what their front office has accumulated. “I can’t say enough about our scouting staff, Pierre Dorion and Trent Mann,” Smith said. “The amount of players coming is refreshing for not only the staff here, but the fan base. They’ve done a heck of a job picking these players, and it’s only going to help this team as they join the young players we watch here right now.”
Want more? The Senators are sure to land yet another young stud from the 2021 draft with a likely top-five pick. It could even be top three.
What once looked bleak, now looks bountiful. The waves are coming, and the Senators hope they can ride them back to a long playoff run in the near future – perhaps even to a Stanley Cup. Whatever happens, they know this group won’t go down without a fight.
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- Archive: How The Ottawa Senators Built Their Core, Starring Tkachuk and Stutzle
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