The Senators' record right now is considerably worse than it was at this time last year.
Back in the fall, the Ottawa Senators were seen as one of the game's up-and-coming young franchises. After missing the playoffs for six straight years, plenty of experts picked them to not only end their drought but make some noise when they got to the playoffs.
Not only will the Senators fall miles short of getting there, which is a big disappointment in itself, they're also a considerably worse hockey team than they were at this time last year.
If we step back to the evening of March 4th, 2023, those were exciting times for the franchise.
Jakob Chychrun had just arrived on the scene, playing his first game in Ottawa as a member of the Senators. He was the elusive top-four defenceman they'd sought for so long. The fans applauded Chychrun loudly that night, and when the game day crew pictured him on the Jumbotron, he applauded them right back.
The Senators clobbered Columbus that night by a score of 5-2 in front of over 18,000 fans, who left the building feeling like a playoff spot was attainable, and at the very least, that the worst of the rebuild days were definitely behind them.
Unfortunately for the Senators, they lost six of their next seven games after that, torching their chances last season. But they still finished close to a playoff spot, falling six points short.
The club's record on March 4th, 2023, was 32-26-4, six games over 500, just three points out of a playoff spot. And now, almost exactly one year later, the Senators are 25-31-3, six games UNDER .500 and currently 19 points out of the playoffs.
So, as the Senators head toward the trading deadline this week, not to mention another brutally long off-season, GM Steve Staios needs to approach things as a manager of a team that's going in the wrong direction. Because that's what he is.
This isn't a team that might fix itself with another year of growth and development. We've seen that movie again and again, and rolling it back next season would be enough to evoke Einstein's definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
There is something fundamentally wrong with this team and its construction and the new architects (Staios and Dave Poulin) have to identify which parts are still good and which ones need replacing.
Is it goaltending? Are the Sens too easy to play against? Is their skill-to-sandpaper ratio out of balance? Are there too many young players who were stunted by the lack of experienced mentorship and guidance on the bench or behind it? Are there too many defenders who don't/can't defend? Are there too many kids who were handed multi-generational wealth before they learned how to play the right way?
The answer may be "all of the above." But don't let anyone tell you anymore that this team is heading in the right direction. Their record this season tells us otherwise.