What the Ottawa Senators Can and Cannot Learn From Their Remaining Games

As the Senators enter their final two weeks of the season, some evaluations are worthwhile and others are a mirage.

There are two weeks left in their season, and the Ottawa Senators are heading into their final stretch of games. And similar to past seasons, the Senators have been playing well to close things out in meaningless games. 

The front office, led by GM Steve Staois, has many questions to answer this off-season: Who will be the new coach? Who will they draft with their first round picks? And which players will they trade away to address roster needs?

In some ways, the handful of games can be used to gather useful information for the front office. But some of it will be nothing more than white noise.

Here's what the Senators can and cannot learn about their team from the remaining games.

1. Goaltending

Statistically, the Senators defence didn't change much under interim head coach Jacques Martin compared to the first 26 games with D.J. Smith. 

The Senators gave up 3.42 goals per game under Smith vs 3.48 goals per game under Martin. Has the goaltending changed dramatically? The answer is no. Despite this, Joonas Korpisalo has a .906 save percentage in his last 8 games while going 6-2-0. Of course, he is playing better in this eight game stretch and it is translating to Senators wins. 

Nevertheless, with Korpisalo’s stronger play he has a .890 save percentage since Martin has taken charge, and the Senators still sit in the bottom of the league in team save percentage. 

Meanwhile, Anton Forsberg claimed a shutout recently against the lowly Chicago Blackhawks. Both goaltenders have had a sub-900 save percentage all season. The team cannot read too much into this recent stretch. They need to address their goaltending situation in the off-season. 

2. Evaluating Young players

No one should be overly swayed by anyone's flurry of strong play that has no tangible effect on the future. We're looking at you, Brian Gibbons (14 points in 20 games to finish the 2018-19 Senators season). 

Nevertheless, it is an evaluation time for players like Angus Crookshank, Tyler Kleven and to a lesser degree, Ridly Greig. It's still the NHL, and if players like Crookshank and Kleven shine down the stretch it should give them the inside track on battles for NHL jobs this fall. If the young players falter, they may need more time in the AHL to work on their game.

3. The Value of the Tradeables

The off-season could provide a chance for a significant shake-up within the Senators core. The only true untouchables would seem to be Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson, and potentially, Shane Pinto. There's nothing more the Senators will truly learn about players like Thomas Chabot, Drake Batherson, or Jakob Chychrun during the final stretch of games. 

Ottawa has established NHL players, and the brass knows at this point exactly who they are. If any of those players have a strong or poor stretch of games, it shouldn't affect how management values them in any potential trade discussions. 

Things need to be changed and a few games – good or bad – doesn't change anything.