As the Senators continue to their push to make the playoffs, the status of their best defenseman is now very much in question.
Overshadowing the result of Saturday night’s important 7-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken was the uncertainty of Jake Sanderson’s health.
The 23-year-old left the game with approximately six and a half minutes left in the second period when Kraken defenceman Brandon Montour delivered a hard hit on Sanderson while he was pinching and trying to sustain possession for the Senators in the offensive zone.
Montour’s hit drove Sanderson’s left shoulder into the glass, and the Senators’ defenceman fell to the ice from the impact. Sanderson would skate to the bench and immediately proceed down the tunnel while gesturing to the training staff that it was right shoulder that was hurt.
Sanderson has been enjoying a career season. Through 62 games, he has tied a career-high with 11 goals, while adding 48 points. He was on pace to easily surpass last year’s totals of 11 goals and 57 points, and he has been averaging a career-high 24 minutes and 49 seconds of ice time per game.
His impact goes beyond the points and production. When Sanderson is on the ice, he is tasked with shutting down the opposition’s best players while tilting the ice in the Senators’ favour.
And in playing on one of the best-defensively structured teams in the NHL, HockeyViz.com’s visuals show the profound impact Jake Sanderson has, both offensively and defensively, for the Senators when he is on the ice.
Hockeyviz.com
Hockeyviz.com
Hockeyviz.com
Hockeyviz.comSanderson is an important cog for the Senators, and the organization has not experienced life without him since his arrival at the start of the 2022-23 season. The defenceman has only missed 10 games across his first four professional seasons.
The Senators are currently five points back of the Boston Bruins and the Eastern Conference’s second wild card seed with 20 games left in their season. The stakes for each successive game are high. Ottawa can ill afford to fall much further, or else their playoff aspirations are done, shifting a ton of emphasis to when Sanderson can return and how the organization can effectively allocate his minutes to others in his absence.
Should Sanderson miss games, and Dennis Gilbert's recall from Belleville on Monday morning suggests that he will, the added responsibility would understandably fall on Thomas Chabot.
The veteran defenceman has experience playing with Artem Zub and is capable of logging big minutes. Chabot has enjoyed a quiet but successful campaign. Through 47 games, he has contributed six goals and 27 points while averaging 22 minutes and one second of ice time per game. It represents the lowest average ice time since he averaged 17 minutes and 31 seconds as a rookie during the 2017-18 season.
The responsibilities won’t all fall on Chabot alone. When he reaggravated a back injury during the Senators’ November 22nd game against the San Jose Sharks, it forced head coach Travis Green to elevate the minutes of Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence.
In the 12 games that Chabot missed, Kleven and Spence rose to the occasion.
It is certainly easier to play insulated minutes with easier matchups on the third pair, but when they were called upon to play a larger role, they rose to the occasion. According to Natural Stat Trick, when the pairing was on the ice at five-on-five during this span, the Senators generated 57.48 percent of the shots (CF%), 55.38 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), and 55.98 percent of the expected goals (xGF%).
Assuming Sanderson is forced to miss some time, this pairing will be relied upon to do more heavy lifting now. Fortunately for the Senators, the Kleven and Spence pairing has continued to play quite well.
Evolving-Hockey’s data shows that of the 88 NHL defensive pairings that have logged over 300 minutes of five-on-five ice time this season, no pairing has generated a higher percentage of expected goals (xGF%) than Kleven and Spence’s 62.06 xGF%.
The rest of their underlying metrics are exceptional.
CF%: 59.48, 3rd
SF%: 60.94, 1st
GF%: 64.18, 10th
xGF%: 62.06, 1st
CA/60: 43.38, 1st
SA/60: 19.22, 1st
xGA/60: 1.90 1st
GA/60: 1.65, 5th
“We just read off each other well and have strong communication while playing simple,” Jordan Spence said while articulating why he and Kleven have posted some exceptional advanced metrics. “It is not just me and (Kleven). Everyone in this room knows their job, role, and what they need to do for us to win games.
“We just have to communicate and do our job in the defensive zone. We want to keep that going and improve on that. It's obviously good to see analytically how well we're doing, but the season's not done. We're trying to make the playoffs, so we just want to keep our play going.”
Tyler Kleven echoed those comments.
“We just go out there and play our game,” Kleven explained. “(Spence)'s very good offensively, and he's good at possessing the puck in the offensive zone. I try to just let him do his thing, and he lets me do mine. We kind of just work together on breakouts.
“I think we have another level to our game that we can still get to. But it's been a good work in progress.”
Kleven feels like he has had an up-and-down season to this point, but that his game has been improving of late.
“It's been ups and downs, for sure,” Kleven stated while describing his season. “We've had a lot of games that we could be winning, but we've been winning a lot of games as of late. Personally, I think I can grow a lot more while learning and improving on breakouts and the penalty kill.
“I've been trying to add that to my game, and I still think that I can add more as time goes on. But, I'm happy with how things have gone.”
Spence really enjoys playing with Kleven.
“He just brings a lot to the table,” Spence said while describing his partner. “He brings a physical presence. He hits hard. He's really hard in the defensive zone and boxes guys out well. I can read him really well, and he communicates well with me in the defensive zone.
“Especially with us, if we have clean breakouts, it allows the forwards to go down the other end and try and score, and for us to try and contribute. So it's been a really fun time playing with (Kleven), and we just want to keep on playing like that, and hopefully keep improving as well.”
It has been quite the turnaround for Spence, who struggled to stay in the lineup earlier in the season.
“Obviously, it's my first year here,” said Spence as he described his early-season struggles to stay in the lineup. “ (The coaching staff) didn't know how I played when I was in Los Angeles because of the different time zones. In training camp, I didn't really showcase myself well enough to be a mainstay in the lineup.
“As the season went on, I had to adjust and adapt to a new team and system. I learned how to play my role on this team, and I think I've done a good job. Obviously, there are some things that I have to improve on in the offensive and defensive zones, but at the same time, I'm really happy with the progress that I'm making through the season.”
One of the biggest adjustments for Spence since his arrival has been the Senators’ aggressive structure.
“In the offensive zone, even in the neutral zone, we're more aggressive,” explained Spence. “If the winger has the puck in the neutral zone, we can go up and shut that guy down. At the same time, it's a five-man system. We have to do our job, but the forwards also have to do their job by retrieving the puck in the defensive zone.
“That's the biggest adjustment. Instead of backing up, when the time is right, and the winger has a puck in the neutral zone before entering the blue line, we can gap up and really push them. I really like this system, and if we play the right way, we're a really good hockey team.”
There are obvious frustrations with the way the season has gone. Both Kleven and Spence recognize and understand the metrics that portray the team as one of the best defensive teams in the league. This is a team that is better than its record indicates.
“It's a long season,” Kleven said while expressing faith in his team. “You are going to have games where you play better and lose. You are going to have games where you did not play well and win. So it's how you manage that. You try to come to the rink every day and bring what you can to the table, and that is what we're all doing right now.
“We do not want to put pressure on ourselves, but we know what we have to do. Every game is super valuable. If you put a lot of pressure on yourself, you grip your stick a little too tightly. We've been playing the right way for most of this year, but we just haven't had the results. But if we just keep going out there and playing our game, we are going to be fine.”
No individual on the Senators can replace Jake Sanderson or his contributions, but if he is going to miss an extended period, it will take a collective effort to mitigate his absence from the lineup. If Kleven and Spence can continue to carry the play and tilt the ice in the Senators’ favour while facing tougher matchups, it will go a long way to helping ensure the team remains competitive down the stretch.
Graeme Nicholls
The Hockey News
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