The 24-year-old Camrose, Alberta native has already reached career-highs this season in goals, assists and points.
In the NHL, if you're not a star, you have to find ways to make yourself valuable. In the case of winger Parker Kelly, in his third season with the Senators, he has been able to make his mark as a consistent fourth-line contributor.
Kelly has provided the Senators with a spark plug, who never cheats in his game, competes hard, knows his role, and provides a defensive acumen that many of his teammates lack.
Kelly has put together his best NHL season to date, scoring a career-high eight goals and 17 points. He credits a mindset change.
"I think just trying to stay consistent," said Kelly. "I think last year was a year where I maybe dwelled on things a little too long, like after a bad game, and it kind of snowballed. This year, I've (adopted) a 'whatever happens happens' mentality. The sun's always going to come up, and it's a new day."
On top of the mindset change, Kelly focused on providing more offence within his game to force the hands of coaches and management to continue to play him.
"I worked really hard on my offensive game this summer," said Kelly. "I'm pretty proud of how it turned out this year, but I'm also just really happy with my game as a whole."
Kelly's renewed offensive touch, combined with his defensive prowess, has earned the trust of his head coach, Jacques Martin.
"I think I do a good job of playing the right way, and I have been trying to earn his trust," said Kelly. "And when you're getting confidence from the coach, I think it helps you as a player, too. When you have the trust of the coach, you can go out and play a little bit more free and not grip the stick as tight."
The trust of the coach and Kelly's recent knack for finding the back of the net hasn't changed how he views himself as a player.
"I'll always have a defence-first mentality and that's something that's been in my game ever since junior," said Kelly. "I always pride myself on killing penalties and defensive zone play over the offensive zone and offensive numbers.
"When you look at some of the top teams in the league, they're getting contributions from everyone," said Kelly. "And for me, I noticed that last year and kind of took it upon myself to try and be better in that aspect."