As he looked ahead to the new season, the longest-serving active Senator was asked about the vacancy at captain and the guy who created it.
As every fan in Sens Nation knows by now, the Senators have a leadership decision to make this fall.
As the longest-serving player on the roster and the guy who committed long-term to Ottawa in the very darkest days of the rebuild, the affable Thomas Chabot is an obvious candidate to become the team's 11th captain.
As the Senators gathered at Rideau View Golf Club in Manotick this week for their annual charity golf tournament, the 29-year-old defenceman said he's heard the captain's talk from people around Ottawa this summer.
“It’s a huge honour, and obviously it feels good to see that people recognize it quite a lot. Actually, a lot more than I thought, honestly,” Chabot said. “But I don’t control that. I’ve always been the same kind of guy around the room. I try to be the best teammate I can be and be fun to be around every single day.”
A lot of the fan base would love to see Chabot wearing the ‘C,’ maybe because he's the opposite of Tkachuk in some ways. He's the Canada to Tkachuk's America.
Both men wore a letter and entered the offseason with two years left on their contracts in Ottawa, but there's never been a hint that Chabot wants to abandon his ship or its crew.
Sounds like a captain already.
“It’d be a huge honour, for sure,” he said. “Obviously, I felt fortunate enough to be an assistant captain to Brady for so many years, and this is going to be my 10th season here in Ottawa.
“It feels like home. I spent a lot of time here this summer. I’ve been here for a while now, and it would be a very cool thing, for sure.”
But Chabot also made it clear that the Senators' success isn't going to hinge on one player or the guy who wears a letter.
“It doesn’t matter who it’s going to be. I think we have a lot of great options, and it’s just going to help that we have so many great leaders around the captain.”
Chabot believes leadership begins with actions rather than speeches.
“The most important thing is just trying to do it on the ice every night,” he said. “It’s not maybe the voice all the time. I feel like if you have to say something, you’ve got to say it, but it’s mostly what you do on the ice.
“If you bring it every night, try your best every night and lead by the right example, I think that’s really important.”
While Chabot was diplomatic about the captaincy, he was maybe a little more candid when asked how Tkachuk’s departure affected him and the rest of the team. The two were close friends and teammates, and Chabot admitted it was difficult to see Tkachuk decide that his future was no longer in Ottawa.
“Obviously, it’s not fun for us as players,” Chabot said. “You know how good of a hockey player Brady is. Obviously, I was close with him as a friend and as a teammate, and you don’t like seeing that.
“I’d be lying if I said I was happy when he decided to leave. He’s a heck of a hockey player, and you want guys to stick around. We felt like we were on the verge of starting to make the playoffs and building something.”
Despite that disappointment, Chabot said he does not harbour any resentment toward his former captain. The two spoke after Tkachuk’s decision, and Chabot wished him well.
“I don’t hold anything against Brady,” he said. “He was a good friend of mine, and you just wish him the best in Florida.”
But Chabot also delivered a clear message about the players who remain and their commitment to each other.
“We take pride in what we have here in Ottawa as a team and as a group,” he said. “We are building towards something that I believe is going to be a great thing, with lots of talent and a very good team.
“If you don’t want to be here and you want a change of scenery, then that’s fine. But obviously, we want to focus on what we have here.”
That focus shifted toward the coming season weeks ago. Chabot said the Senators’ goal is to build on their progress over the past two years, with several new players joining a core that still believes it has another level to reach.
“I think it’s keep building on what we’ve been doing the last two seasons,” he said. “We believe we have a lot more, and we added some pieces that I think will help this team a lot.”
For Chabot, the start of his 10th season still brings the same enthusiasm it did when he first arrived in Ottawa.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “It’s fun to be back and obviously having all the guys back at the rink for the last few days. It kind of feels like the first day of school when we were kids.”
The only lingering issue is that the Head Boy has moved away, transferring to a new school.
Whether Chabot is the one to fill that void or not, his attention remains fixed on where the Senators are going next.
“We have a bunch of those guys (leaders) on the team,” Chabot said. “That’s what makes me excited for the future, for sure.”
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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