With the release of their 2025–26 regular season schedule this week, combined with their long-awaited return to the playoffs last spring, the Senators had good news to share this week. Team president Cyril Leeder, speaking on TSN 1200 radio, confirmed the team expects to add between 1,700 and 2,000 new season-ticket holders this season.
“We had a bump already (on Wednesday) in our season tickets. We sold 15, 16 season tickets in a day, which is good in the middle of July,” Leeder said. “We will start the year significantly above last year's season ticket base. We're expecting that to be between 1,700 and 2,000 more season seat members than we had a year ago. And that's going to be good news for the fans, I think more energy in the building, and obviously good news for us.”
According to hockeydb.com, the Sens' average attendance last season was 17,306. The boost comes as fans react to the team's improved on-ice performance and now having the clarity of the new schedule, which allows them to start making plans.
The Senators will begin the season on the road with a tough two-game swing through Florida, including a date with the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers.
“Yeah, easy start there for our guys to go down to Florida,” Leeder said, tongue-in-cheek. “I heard somebody say yesterday it’s going to be a good measuring stick to see where our guys are at. And that’s exactly what it’s going to be.”
The home opener is set for Thanksgiving Monday, October 13, with a matinee at Canadian Tire Centre. If the schedule maker had an anthem, it would be "I Don't Like Mondays." But since every team has to have them, Leeder views having a game on a holiday Monday as a good thing.
“We have to play a certain number of Monday games to meet our TV obligations, and as far as this goes, we kind of like that,” he said. “If we can use a TV game on a Monday holiday afternoon, that’s better than Monday night in November at seven o’clock. So we like that.”
The Senators' longest road trip begins in November and stretches into early December, starting in California. Though seven games is longer than the team would like, the team always asks for an early-season road trip, which can help with team bonding.
Once again this season, on the heels of this year's 4 Nations Face-off, the schedule has another long February shutdown, this time for the 2026 Winter Olympics. When the Games in Italy are over, the Sens return to a favourable schedule. Of the 25 games after the break, only four take place outside the Eastern time zone.
“That's a good thing, obviously, from a competitive point of view, when you're trying to bear down down the stretch,” Leeder said. “As we saw last year, playoffs are so important to the club. So anything we can do that helps us with even a slight edge to work towards getting into the playoffs is going to go a long way.”
An intriguing date on the calendar is January 17, when the Sens will host the Montreal Canadiens on the 30th anniversary of the first game ever played at Canadian Tire Centre. Then known as The Palladium, the building opened its doors on January 17, 1996, also against Montreal, and Leeder says there will be some special celebrations included around that game.
As for the future arena downtown, Leeder says it’s not the type of thing where they’re going to have weekly or even monthly updates. So there wasn't really anything new to report at this point.
“We're fully committed to working away at doing something downtown, bringing down a major event center for the downtown.”
With higher ticket sales, some interesting events, and a team ready to take another step forward, Sens fans have every right to be excited about the season ahead.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News-Ottawa
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