What Is The Ottawa Senators' Identity?

Winning teams in the NHL or professional sports in general all seem to have one thing that the losing or unsuccessful teams don’t. That would be a clearly identified winning identity.

After a positive effort in Minnesota failed to yield even a loser’s point because of a breakdown in the defensive zone with less than 30 seconds left, it’s time to see how the Senators measure up, identity-wise.

It’s one man’s opinion, but a winning identity would seem to include the following:

a) Able to play through adversity/injuries

b) They win the games they deserve to or should win

c) They find ways to win when they shouldn’t

d) They are consistent in the way they play

e) They excel on special teams

Able to play through adversity

The Senators certainly distinguished themselves during Brady Tkachuk’s 20-game absence. An 11-5-4 record would be worth bragging about with your leader in the lineup. Other players stepped up, and this certainly gave reason to believe that the team was ready to take the next step when Tkachuk returned.

Oddly enough, the Senators are 2-6-0 since Tkachuk's return and 3-8 with him in the lineup this season. The team and its fan base are left looking for answers as to why they have not enjoyed the same level of success with him as without him.

Obviously, the Senators are a better team with their captain than without, and to suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

However, are they too dependent on him when he is there? And is that part of their identity? Obviously, the absence of Thomas Chabot and Shane Pinto has created more adversity.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers have not had Aleksander Barkov or Matthew Tkachuk for a game this season, and they sit two points ahead of the Senators.

Suffice it to say, the jury is still out on this team and its ability to manage and overcome adversity.

They win games they deserve to or should win

Letting the Wild get two regulation points out of that game on Saturday was not the only example of a well played game plagued by a few untimely mistakes or bad goals.

The Wild were ripe to be picked with Quinn Hughes not yet in the lineup and Zeev Buium and Marco Rossi gone to Vancouver.

The Senators fell behind, showed character in coming back, controlled the game and all the key metrics with the noted exception of goals due to a bad defensive zone collapse with less than 30 seconds left.

The loss to St. Louis where they doubled their opponent in shots and failed to get more than a goal can be classified as a goalie stealing a game. It could also be classified as finding a way to lose. The goals against were not a result of great execution from the Blues. The winning goal was 12 seconds into the third period, which suggests not being ready when the puck drops.

The loss to New Jersey in the next game was more of the same, where the other team’s goalie delivered a superior performance, and some critical errors led to some goals that shouldn't have happened, including the game-winner. Territorially, the Senators were better. Yet they found a way to lose in regulation.

Earlier in the season, we all recall the Islanders game with Jordan Spence’s gaffe with a minute to go as another example of a play that shouldn’t have happened, and a save that needed to be made that didn’t come.

The Senators were inside three minutes of taking two road points in regulation from the Habs in early November. A late goal was surrendered on a brutal sequence and the game was lost in overtime.

This is a major alarm bell for the 2025-26 version of the Ottawa Senators.

They find ways to win when they shouldn’t

On the flip side, the number of games that were stolen by the Senators is shorter. Linus Ullmark has turned in a few solid performances, which could have gone the other way if he hadn’t.

However, how many wins can you truly recall where you thought “Wow! The Senators had no business winning that game,” or a loss in OT where you said “The Sens were lucky to even get a point”?

Games are typically stolen by outstanding goaltending and timely goal scoring. This means making saves that otherwise wouldn’t normally be made. In terms of goals saved above expected, Linus Ullmark is 82nd and dead last in the league and Leevi Merilainen is 76th. Considering that, it’s a wonder that the Senators are still within striking distance of playoff spot and even a top three position in the Atlantic.

Stats and the eye test don’t always match up, and this could be said about the Senators duo. It’s hard to think of the Senators' goaltending as being that bad based on what we've seen live. That said, when it’s been good, the goaltending has been very good. When it has been bad, particularly in the early going, it’s been terrible.

After 31 games, the fanbase has a right to be concerned about this.

They are consistent in the way they play

The Senators have been consistently inconsistent. Every time they string some strong performances together, such as the three-game winning streak in October when they ran up the score on the Capitals and Bruins, only to go to Chicago and lose 7-3.

Teams with winning identities don’t allow that to happen.

Going 11-5-4 without your captain and 3-8 with him also suggests that some of the players may be looking to their left or to their right and wondering who is going to make the difference.

Inconsistency can even be in the same game. On the road against Dallas, the Senators were arguably the better team for the first half of the game and were carrying the play. Tim Stutzle made a mistake leading to Jason Robertson’s go-ahead goal and they basically folded their tent for the remainder of the game and hung Linus Ullmark out to dry.

Again, this is not the earmark of a team with a winning identity.

They excel on special teams

As a general rule of thumb, the sum of a team’s power play percentage and penalty kill percentage should be 100 or better.

Despite having the league’s fourth-best power play (26.3%), the Senators, thanks to their 25th-ranked penalty kill of 69.8%, sit at 96.1.

A team’s goaltender is supposed to be their best penalty killer and that certainly hasn’t been the case this year with either Ullmark or Merilainen. That said, it’s a unit killing the penalties, and the Senators' penalty kill unit struggles are more than just goaltending issues.

Detroit is tied for first in the Atlantic and leads the NHL with 546 blocked shots. The Senators trail badly in this category with 439. Both teams surrender roughly the same shots per game on average (Ottawa 25.6 and Detroit 26.9).

This could be misleading, however, saying that the Senators have not excelled on special teams as a whole is not.

Teams that have aspirations of not only making the post season, but doing something when they get there, don’t have these kinds of alarm bells going off.

There's still time to fix things, but the time is now. If they don’t, it’s hard to imagine the 2025-26 season yielding the kind of results that Sens fans originally hoped.

Pat Maguire
The Hockey News - Ottawa

This article was originally published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Read more:

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