The Ottawa Senators have a right defenceman problem. Heading into their offseason, the right defence position was one of the obvious spots on the roster that required immediate attention.

At the start of the 2025 calendar year, the struggles of the Senators' second and third pairings at five-on-five were well-documented in this corner of the interwebs.

According to NaturalStatTrick's data since January 1:

Chabot/Jensen: 33 GP, 472:13 TOI, 48.40 CF%, 44.64 SF%, 46.67 GF%, 44.35 xGF% Kleven/Matinpalo: 37 GP, 353:25 TOI, 46.36 CF%, 43.07 SF%, 44.00 GF%, 37.12 xGF%

When these two pairings were on the ice, the opposition generated a higher percentage of the shots (CF%), shots on goal (SF%), total goals (GF%), and expected goals (xGF%).

At least within the context of the team's second pairing, there is an explanation for their struggles. When Nick Jensen suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury, his pairing with Thomas Chabot's numbers suffered remarkably.

The Senators' players spent their day yesterday having exit meetings with management after being eliminated in their quarterfinal postseason series by the Toronto Maple Leafs two days ago. Afterwards, many of the players met individually with the media.

During Jensen's availability, the veteran defenceman failed to disclose what had afflicted him.

"Obviously, I've been grinding a little bit to get through a lot of these games, but a credit to our health staff," Jensen acknowledged. "They've been helping me get through this.

"I've been able to get all the way through playoffs with it, obviously, and I could have continued to play with it. But now, it's pretty fresh, so we're taking time to assess what the future is like and how we can move forward to make sure I'm in the best shape I can be for next year."

Just as he entered the Senators' media centre, Jensen had walked around with a visible limp. The suspicion is that he is dealing with some kind of hip ailment, but he was steadfast in his refusal to elaborate on his injury.

"I don't think I'm disclosing exactly what is going on until we figure out exactly what our progression going forward should be," Jensen stated while maintaining his guard. "I just want to make sure the doctors and everything that we work all that stuff out with them first, before anything gets talked about."

When asked whether a prospective solution to his ailment was surgery, Jensen maintained that he needed to talk to his doctors.

"I have to talk to the doctors," Jensen said plainly. "That's why we have them here, so they'll give me the best advice and best advisors that I can get. I've got to sit down with them and talk to see what the best options are."

If surgery is necessary, Jensen's recovery could take months.

Even with a healthy Jensen, the need for acquiring another talented right-shot defenceman was already there.

One of the lessons from the 2024–25 season is that when one of the team's top four right-shot defencemen was injured, they lacked a capable replacement.

For as well-respected as Travis Hamonic is within the dressing room and by the coaching staff, he was ill-equipped to handle the responsibilities of playing in the top four. But he played there out of necessity because of Nik Matinpalo's inexperience or an unwillingness to break up the third pairing of Tyler Kleven and Matinpalo.

Regarding the latter, the organization appears to be pleased with Matinpalo's size, skating, and ranginess. He appeared in 41 games while playing in each of the Senators' six postseason games. This sample represented his first real foray as an NHL regular, so this lack of NHL experience may lead some to believe that there is room for Matinpalo to grow.

Conversely, he turns 27 years old in October, so there is a very good chance that the version of Matinpalo we see now accurately represents his current and future talent level.

Ottawa Senators Captain Brady Tkachuk At His Seasonal Farewell: 'We Want More' On Saturday morning, with the echoes from Thursday's season-ending Game Six loss still rattling about in the rafters of Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was made available to the media for one final time this season. For Tkachuk, not being able to complete an epic comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs is still an open wound.

According to Evolving-Hockey's proprietary "wins above replacement" metric (WAR), Matinpalo played slightly below a replacement player's level. In other words, he played at a level slightly below what the league average player would contribute.

Banking on significant growth from Matinpalo is risky. Knowing that, and the possibility that Nick Jensen may not be afforded a proper offseason to train and put himself in the best position to contribute immediately next season, the Senators will have to explore the market for another right defenceman.

The free agent market is bereft of quality right-shot options, which will likely force general manager Steve Staios to swing a trade for a defender.

Interestingly, Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch speculated that the Senators could look at moving on from Artem Zub. The team's best defensive right defenceman has two years left on a contract carrying a $4.6 million average annual value per PuckPedia.

What would make more sense is for Staios to acquire a defenceman to pair with Thomas Chabot on the team's second pairing. Such a move would guard against the possibility that it may take time for Jensen to recover or even return to the level of play that fans witnessed last fall.

With only one year left on the 35-year-old Jensen's contract, there should also be a realization that the 2025–26 season may be his last in Ottawa.

By bringing in another right-shot option, the organization can create a succession plan by adding quality depth to the top four, sliding Jensen to the third pairing and affording the talented prospect, Carter Yakemchuk, an opportunity to spend a year in Belleville acclimating to the professional game.

By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News

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