Five-on-five goal scoring and penalty killing were problems for the Ottawa Senators in 2024-25.
According to Natural Stat Trick's data, the only team that scored fewer five-on-five goals than the Senators (139) last season was the Nashville Predators (130). That was just the raw data that does not take into account the disparities in how much time each team spends at five-on-five.
Delving into the five-on-five goals per 60 rates, the Senators actually come out looking better, averaging 2.13 goals per 60 - a marginal improvement as the league's 28th-highest rate.
Through four preseason games, the organization has done little to quell concerns about the team's ability to finish at five-on-five.
Admittedly, it is an incredibly small sample size, and it is difficult to glean much information from games when the Senators and their opponents continue to dress lineups that fail to resemble regular NHL rosters.
Meaningless games without meaningful rosters make it challenging to glean information from or invest too much energy into, but scoring two five-on-five goals in four preseason games won't help. When the same weaknesses from last season recur, it won't help alleviate fan anxieties. (One reader, Peter, astutely pointed out on Twitter that Arthur Kaliyev's goal occurred immediately after one of the Senators' power plays had expired.)
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One of the prevailing themes of the Steve Staios era in Ottawa is that the general manager and his staff have done an excellent job of targeting and acquiring players who represented good fits.
The Senators are hoping for five-on-five gains through the additions that they made at last year's trade deadline, coupled with replacing Travis Hamonic's minutes with Jordan Spence's. Having a more mobile blue line that can move the puck effectively and help transition it from the defensive zone to the offensive zone should pay dividends. It is no fault of Hamonic that his two most common defensive partners last season were Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot.
Taking one of the worst statistical defencemen in the NHL and replacing those 600-plus five-on-five minutes with Spence represents a massive relative upgrade that cannot be understated.
Conversely, the penalty kill is another area that warrants attention. The Senators' reliance on the diamond formation last season made for polarizing discussion.
Aesthetically, the system can often look very passive. Its structure concedes zone time with the intention of keeping the play on the outside, where it dares the opposition to take more harmless shots from the perimeter. The diamond often works more efficiently against umbrella power play formations, but it places a ton of emphasis on player rotations and coverage as the offence moves the puck. Those rotations create a need for players who can anticipate well and make quick reads. It is the responsibility of each defender to not only defend their immediate area but also recognize when they need to adjust to open space and help eliminate passing lanes through their movements.
The constant need for attention and correct reads puts a lot of pressure on the defenders, especially when the puck is worked down low, creating two-on-one situations where the lone defender must decide between pressuring the shooter or taking away the pass. If it's the latter, it affords the puck carrier the time and space to come out uncontested. If the defender pressures, the Senators' weakside player must step down to pick up the other offensive player.
Affording the league's most skilled players time and space is death. The players are too good.
The Senators finished the 2024-25 season with the 19th-ranked penalty kill unit. At the end of the season, Travis Green acknowledged that he and his staff would look for areas of improvement. In a copycat league where video can help teams identify trends and strategies they can implement for hopefully greater effect, there was hope that the Senators might add some new wrinkles to their penalty kill.
The return of the diamond has sparked consternation online, but it has already allowed six power-play goals during the preseason.
The staff may not want to tip their hands too much during the preseason when the games do not matter. Theoretically, they could change tactics in the regular season, so teams have less advance scouting and preparation for what the Senators will try to do.
If poor results carry over into the regular season and the organization is less responsive to change, the coaching staff will inevitably face criticism.
That is not necessarily a bad thing either.
Success fuels expectations, and last year's taste of the postseason will only spur higher standards for this group. Having two easily identifiable shortcomings to improve upon that are within this team's control is reason enough for optimism. It is up to the organization and players to improve upon them.
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