As the Senators seek a stable choice for captain, there's one man who checks all the boxes.
Since Brady Tkachuk abandoned ship in June, one of the most talked-about topics in Ottawa has been who will replace him as captain of the Senators.
The speculation picked up in the media again this week, and the dialogue hasn't changed much. Everyone thinks it's down to Jake Sanderson, Tim Stützle or Thomas Chabot, with the aging Claude Giroux being the dark horse.
Stützle has a compelling case as the club’s most dynamic offensive player, but most people seem to be honing in on either Sanderson or Chabot.
Chabot and Giroux served as alternate captains under Tkachuk last season, and if the Sens are considering the idea of just elevating one of them, both have some strikes against them.
Giroux will turn 39 in January, and in hindsight, most fans wish now he'd been given the C when he first arrived here. But naming him captain now would be a temporary band-aid, the kind of solution that's only necessary when you have no other options. That's not the case here.
Like Giroux, Chabot would make a fine captain. But it won't be long before we're talking about his future too. He seems to like it here, but as we know, things can change quickly at the bargaining table.
Chabot has two seasons remaining on a contract that carries an $8-million cap hit. By this time next summer, he'll be eligible to sign an extension, creating the same kind of conversation we've had this summer about Drake Batherson.
How much will Chabot want? How much term will the Sens be willing to offer? And how far should they go to prevent him from reaching unrestricted free agency?
To be blunt, you wouldn’t have much trouble finding Senators fans who already question whether Chabot is an $8-million player. But if the Sens want him to bypass the open market and commit what's left of his prime to the organization, there will be a higher price attached.
So how much appetite will the Senators have to give Chabot a heavy raise on his current $8 million? It at least creates pause for thought, and so we don't know what will happen with Chabot in two years.
In a market where the Senators' letter C suffers from abandonment issues, they would be wise to prioritize stability with their next choice.
Sanderson provides that. He is signed through the 2031–32 season, longer than any other player on the roster. They could give him the C and not have to worry about it again for a long time.
Durability is another consideration.
Chabot has enjoyed only one relatively injury-free season over the past five years, missing just two games in 2024–25. In the other four seasons, he missed 23, 14, 31 and 25 games.
The strongest arguments Chabot's backers have aren't really hockey-related.
Giving him the captaincy would recognize his loyalty, and that's clear. Chabot committed to the Senators in the early days of a long, dark rebuild, signing an eight-year extension in September 2019. His decision helped establish that talented young players could see a future in Ottawa despite the organization’s struggles under a volatile owner.
Chabot endured years of losing, and before Sanderson, he played ridiculously big minutes.
Never once did he complain that he wanted out.
His fluent bilingualism would be another valuable asset for an organization trying to strengthen its connection with fans in Gatineau and throughout francophone eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
Those are all legitimate points in his favour. They just aren’t enough to make him the best choice, because we haven't talked about hockey ability yet.
That's where the scales tip in Sanderson's favour.
Sanderson plays against top opponents, kills penalties, and quarterbacks the first power-play unit. He's blazing fast, can skate the puck out of danger, defend or lead the rush, break up plays, and he's big and strong enough to absorb contact to make the correct play.
His offensive production is also trending upward. He had 54 points last season despite appearing in only 67 games. After four NHL seasons, he is already one of the league’s most complete defencemen.
The Norris Trophy voting reflects that progression. Sanderson has finished 10th in each of the past two seasons and played in the 4-Nations Face-Off and the Olympics. Chabot has received Norris votes only once in his career, finishing 18th in 2019 and is never mentioned as an option in a best-on-best event.
The captaincy doesn't automatically have to go to the team’s best player. Leadership requires a pile of other skills: communication, accountability, preparation and the ability to command respect in the room.
In those areas, we have no real intel. The Senators have all that in-house. But the fact that Sanderson plays over two minutes a night more than any other player on the team tells you exactly what the head coach thinks of him.
And guess who will probably have the biggest say in who his next captain will be?
If Sanderson didn’t play for the Senators, Chabot would have a much stronger case. The other players love him, and he's been loyal, productive and professional during a pretty grim period in the franchise's history.
But Sanderson does play here. He's the best defenseman, the guy you want others to emulate, and he's the guy who's locked up long-term.
So if the choice comes down to the two defencemen, it really shouldn’t be a difficult decision at all.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published in The Hockey News. For more Sens coverage at The Hockey News, click on one of the latest headlines below:
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