Pre-GAME
Welcome all to another season of SensFanatics!
The Senators enjoyed a 5-1-1 record during the preseason however we all know that these types of records are meaningless. Pre-season is an opportunity to test your line up with prospects, rookies and recently signed free agents to formalize your starting line up.
The Senators announced their final roster – check here for the full line-up an detailed information about any team transactions.
Game Day Report / Look Back 2023-24 / On This Day / Around The Rink
GAME DAY REPORT
Senators vs. Panthers
Last season: The Senators faced the Florida Panthers on four occasions, each resulting in defeat. The Tkatchuk battle was certainly once sided, starting with the first contest on Nov 27th, during Hockey Fights Cancer Night, when the Panthers blanked out the Sens 5-0 in a brawled filled affair. The game set the record for the most penalty minutes in a game for the season. Then, on Feb 20th, the Senators rallied back in the game but lost to Florida in overtime 3-2. April 6th saw a repeat of the Nov 27th game, where Florida blanked Ottawa, this time 6-0 in a bowling shoe ugly contest. Finally, their final encounter on April 9th resulted in yet another shutout as the Panthers defeated the Senators 2-0.
Is it any wonder Florida advanced through the playoffs and captured the Stanley Cup Championship last season!
Game Day: Brady Tkachuk saw his brother Matthew hoist the silver chalice last year. Today, marks the first battle of Tkachuk in 2024-25 and the Senators are looking for a different result. Scoring a goal would be a start and stealing a win would be a step in the right direction.
Injury Report
Senators: C. Giroux (Day-to-Day), M. Highmore (IR – Upper Body), B. Tkachuk (Day-To-Day),
T. Stutzle (Day-To-Day)
Panthers: J. Sourdiff (IR-NR – Undisclosed), T. Nosek (IR – Upper Body)
A Look Back – 2023-2024
Although last season saw the Senators fail to qualify for the playoffs, you may be surprised to see that many players achieved career highs despite a challenging season.
Brady Tkachuk – The captain played 81 games last season, just shy of the 82 games he played during the 2022-23 season. Despite playing 1 game less, Brady still broke some records, scoring a career-high 37 goals and 134 penalty minutes. Brady played his 400th NHL game during the season and surpassed 150 NHL goals, ending the season with 162 career goals.
Drake Batherson – The right-winger played all 82 games last season, tying the record he set during the previous season. Batherson scored a career-high 28 goals and recorded 38 assists (two short of tying a career-high), resulting in a career-high 66 points. Batherson also played his 300th NHL game during the season.
Mathieu Joseph – The former Lightning forward played 72 games, a career-high, surpassing the 70 games he played in his inaugural year with Tampa Bay in 2018-19. He scored 11 goals (two shy of his career high) and recorded a career-high 24 assists (beating his previous record of 15 from the prior season) for a career-high 35 points. Joseph played his 300th NHL game during the season and also recorded a career-high 51 penalty minutes last year. Joseph was traded to the St. Louis Blues by the Ottawa Senators on July 2, 2024, with a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, for future considerations.
Mark Kastelic – The fourth line center played 63 games (2 games short of his career-high last year), recorded 5 goals (also 2 short from last year’s career high) but did record a career-high 5 assists. Kastelic played in his 100th NHL game during the season and ended the season with 25 career points after three years with the Senators. Kastelic was traded to the Boston Bruins along with Joonas Korpisalo in exchange for Linus Ullmark.
ON THIS DAY IN SENS HISTORY
In 1992, The Quebec Nordiques defeated the Senators 9-2 at Le Colisée in Quebec City. It is the first road game for the Senators since the 1933-34 season. Owen Nolan recorded the first hat trick against the Senators during that game.
In 2017, Christian Jaros made his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators facing off against the Vancouver Canucks. He only played two games that year before returning to play 61 games in the 2018-19 season, recording 1 goal and 9 assists. He would return the following year for 13 games before trying his skills in San Jose and New Jersey.
In 2018 – Brady Tkachuk recorded his 1st NHL goal and assist and also became the 4th-youngest player, at 19 years and 18 days, in franchise history to score the first goal of his NHL career while also becoming the second youngest player, behind Alexandre Daigle, to record at least 3 points in one game.
In that same game, Max Lajoie became only the 4th defenceman in franchise history to record two power-play goals in one game during a 7-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
In 2019, The Senators lineup included 4 Russian-born players as part of its roster for the first time in franchise history. Vitaly Abramov, Artem Anisimov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikita Zaitsev each earned their respective first point with the team in a 6-4 loss to St. Louis at the Canadian Tire Centre.
In that same game, Erik Brannstrom registered his first NHL point, an assist. Brannstrom recorded 7 goals and 62 assists in 266 games, all with the Senators. He was originally drafted, 15th overall, by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Draft and was traded to Ottawa in exchange for Mark Stone in 2019.
Brannstrom, at 24 years of age, was a restricted free agent during the summer but the Ottawa Senators decided not to provide him with a qualifying offer, essentially making him a free agent. Brannstrom signed a one year deal with the Colorado Avalanche for $900k.
In 2020, Ottawa acquired Austin Watson from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 4th-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, which has previously been acquired from Colorado.
In 2022, the Senators signed Derick Brassard to a 1-year contract after attending training camp on a professional tryout contract. This would mark Derick’s second stint with the Senators, having played with the Sens during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 season before he was traded to Pittsburgh. In his latest stint, Brassard played 62 games, scoring 13 goals and 10 assists with the Senators before suffering a career ending injury. He was a nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually by the Professional Hockey Writers Association to the player best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.
AROUND THE RINK
- Senators opt for experience over youth on Opening Night roster
- Campell ready to make history with Kraken as 1st woman to coach in NHL
- James Reimer claimed off waivers by Anaheim, among five players claimed off waivers
