The Senators need to finally get off to a decent early start to the season, and we're getting started early with our fearless roster projections.

With training camp starting later this month, Ottawa Senators fans have begun to visualize the new season ahead. And with very few job openings (or clunky veterans setting up NHL prospect roadblocks), most of the hardcore fans are probably able to visualize the roster in 4K resolution.

That's not to say there won't be variables at play this fall. There always are. Maybe it's a key injury. Or maybe someone is so good in preseason he forces his way onto the roster. But even taking all that into account, you can probably count on one hand the number of Senator players who don't have a job completely locked up for opening night.

And in our opinion, here's what that might look like. Don't get bogged down on the choice of forward line and D pairing combinations. This is primarily an exercise in highlighting the players who will dress on opening night.

Possible Opening Night Lineup (Definites in Bold)

Forwards

Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stutzle-Claude Giroux

Drake Batherson-Josh Norris-Vladimir Tarasenko

Dominik Kubalik-Shane Pinto-Mathieu Joseph

Parker Kelly-Mark Kastelic-Zack MacEwen

Defence

Jake Sanderson-Jakob Chychrun

Thomas Chabot-Artem Zub

Erik Brannstrom-Travis Hamonic

Goalie

Joonas Korpisalo

Possible Variables and Substitutions

The second Shane Pinto re-signs, we'll obviously slather his font with boldness. But it's hard not to notice he's been a free agent for over two months. And with camp starting in less than three weeks, it's looking more and more possible that Pinto may remain stalled as we rev up the season. 

As a ready-made replacement part for Pinto, Ridly Greig would be all for it. Greig isn't Pinto yet, but he's right there in Pinto's rear view mirror (and that's probably enough old Ford references for the time being). 

Greig is a 2020 first rounder and could play third line centre or, if Pinto gets re-signed, Greig could slide into the spot of whichever player might get shipped out to be cap compliant by opening night. Mathieu Joseph is the player most commonly mentioned in that regard, so he has no choice but to accept a weaker font.

Parker Kelly has heart, effort, and energy to burn, and head coach D.J. Smith loves him. But Kelly isn't big enough to intimidate, and he has to find a way to improve on his 4 points in 55 games. For those reasons, despite his one way deal, Kelly doesn't have a job completely locked up. 

In energy and feistiness, Angus Crookshank is a Kelly comparable. But Kelly never had more than 10 goals in a season in Belleville. As a rookie last season, Crookshank had 26 goals to lead all B-Sens last season. After some tough love from coach David Bell, Crookshank has embraced that his ticket to the NHL will be developing the well-rounded tools he needs to thrive as a bottom six guy..

If he can stay healthy, 2021 first rounder Tyler Boucher might also soon be ready to upgrade the bottom six, both physically and offensively. That might come at the expense of Kelly or Joseph, but not until Boucher logs some serious minutes in the AHL.

On defence, it's certainly possible Erik Brannstrom or Travis Hamonic might get bumped off by Tyler Kleven, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Lassi Thomson or Finnish newcomer Nikolas Matinpalo. But Smith likes to lean on his experienced guys and Hamonic and Brannstrom blow away their competition in that area. 

The opening night goalie is anyone's guess. Anton Forsberg and newcomer Joonas Korpisalo will probably both play well in preseason. Forsberg is the veteran making a comeback from injuring both knees. Korpisalo is the hot new free agent who everyone wants to see. 

If all things are equal, it may come down to which story Smith thinks will most inspire his team in game one. We flipped a coin on Korpisalo.

Other skaters to keep half an eye on at camp include: Egor Sokolov, Jiri Smejkal, Matthew Highmore, Roby Järventie, Oskar Pettersson, Max Guenette, Tomas Hamara, Donovan Sebrango, and Jorian Donovan.

Admittedly, it's still a little early to be projecting lineups. But that's how it goes in the heart of a hungry fan base that hasn't seen a meaningful Ottawa Senators game in almost five months.