Ottawa Senators 2009 Season Preview, Picks & Odds

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Ottawa Senators 2008-’09 record:
36-35-11, 83 points (4th in Northeast, 11th in East)

Ottawa Senators 2008-’09 playoffs:
Did not qualify

To say that last season as a disappointment would be selling the Senators short. After losing in the Stanley Cup Finals three years ago, Ottawa regressed for the second consecutive season, finishing with a 36-35-11 record and out of the playoff race. The Senators fired their coach at midseason for the 2 nd consecutive year and star winger Dany Heatley later requested a trade, leaving Ottawa in a major bind as Heatley had both a no-trade clause and clear desire of where he wanted to be dealt.

Ottawa Senators 2009 Preview

Ottawa Senators General manager: Bryan Murray (517-452-181, 16th NHL year, 4th team)

Ottawa Senators Coach: Cory Clouston (19-11-4, 2nd NHL year, 1st team)

Ottawa Senators Captain: Daniel Alfredsson

Ottawa Senators Top Returning Scorer: LW Daniel Alfredsson (24 goals, 50 assists, 74 points)

Ottawa Senators Top Returning Goalie: Pascal Leclaire (4-6-1, 3.83, .867)

Ottawa Senators Key Additions: RW Alexei Kovalev; C Martin St. Pierre; RW Jonathan Cheechoo; LW Milan Michalek.

Ottawa Senators Key Subtractions: G Alex Auld; D Brendan Bell; C Mike Comrie; LW Dany Heatley; D Jason Smith.

Ottawa Senators Top Line: LW Daniel Alfredsson, C Jason Spezza, RW Alexei Kovalev

Ottawa Senators Top Defensive Pairing: Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov

Despite dealing Heatley, Ottawa has some talent up front. Longtime captain Daniel Alfredsson enters his 10 th season with the ‘C’ on his chest and is still one of the NHL’s most dynamic players. Along with playmaker Jason Spezza, Kovalev, Cheechoo and Michalek give the Senators some solid scoring options. However, only three teams in the Eastern Conference finished with fewer goals last year and that was with Heatley on hand, so expect the Sens to struggle up front.

Luckily, the Sens appear to be stronger on defense this year after underachieving a year ago. There are some solid players on hand such as Filip Kuba, Chris Campoli and Chris Phillips and the group as a whole should be improved. However, Kuba is the only defender that can remotely be considered a top flight player and this group will be no better than solid but unspectacular.

There are also a ton of questions in the net, where Pascal Leclaire will attempt to shed his current labels of ‘injury-prone’ and ‘bust’ after being acquired late last year from Columbus. As Leclaire has never played 50 games in a season in his career, the goaltending situation appears pretty shaky.

2009 Ottawa Senators Goaltending:

Desperate for a solution to their long-standing goaltending woes, the Sens have turned to the oft-injured Leclaire, who’s been very good when healthy, only very rarely is he healthy. Limited to 12 games last season by a preseason ankle injury that ultimately required surgery, when on his game, he’s quick laterally, aggressive and athletic. Posted nine shutouts during 2007-08 season with Blue Jackets.

2009 Ottawa Senators Player To Watch:

D Erik Karlsson. Retirement of Jason Smith created an opening on the Ottawa blue-line and it could go to Karlsson, voted top defenseman at last season’s world juniors. Tied for tourney scoring lead among rearguards with nine points in six games. Smallish (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) defender will likely find physical NHL a challenge, but has the puck-moving talents to overcome his lack of size.

2009 Ottawa Senators Offense:

While the Senators might be relieved to have rid themselves of the headache that is Heatley, they will be hoping Cheechoo regains his scoring touch and helps offset the loss of Heatley’s team-high 39 goals. Cheechoo scored an NHL-best 56 goals in the 2005-06 season with San Jose, but has totaled 72 in the three seasons since — including only 12 last season in 66 games.

Ottawa Senators 2009 Season Predictions

The Heatley trade circus, combined with the addition of the seldom-motivated Kovalev led to a very unsettling summer in the Canadian capital. The winter months don’t look like they will be much better.

We predict that the Ottawa Senators will finish 5th in the NHL Northeast, 13th seed in East: 83 points.

Ottawa Senators Betting

Ottawa Senators Stanley Cup Odds: +6000
Ottawa Senators Eastern Conference Odds: +2500
Ottawa Senators Northeast Odds: +600

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