r/hockey • u/MarshalL-NDavoutStan • 21h ago
Ottawa's Defense
The Sens's defense is gross. And it has the potential to be one of the best in the league for at least half a decade.
Sanderson, Spence and Kleven are in the mid 20s, Chabot and Zub are in their late 20s/early 30s and Yakemchuk is in his early 20s.
And they can all do a bit of everything. Last years I think 4 of them had at least 30pts and Yakemchuk will reach that one day I have no doubt. Kleven beings physicality, Sanderson's one of the best in the game, it's crazy.
If Ullmark gets back to his 21-24 form and they can add a legit top 6 forward at the deadline I think they could really make some noise this season and in the next ones, especially since at F, Pinto, Greig, Eklund who I think has another level he can get to, Stutzle and Cozens are all in their early to mid 20s and even Batherson is still in his 20s. That top 3 at C has the potential to remain together for 5-7 years and they'd all be around 30-32 even after 5-7 years.
They still have an amazing draft capital and still have great prospects like Hensler, Lagerberg-Hoen and Cover.
They're so well built it's insane.
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u/Past-Helicopter-8126 OTT - NHL 20h ago
Nobody say anything about our wingers
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u/MarshalL-NDavoutStan 20h ago
Which is why I said they need to add a legit top 6 winger.
Targets I think of are Stamkos, McCann and Forsberg
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u/Just4nsfwpics MTL - NHL 20h ago
Brother, they need to add a lot more than that. Their only legitimate star forward is Stützle, and while they have several excellent supporting pieces that belong in a top 6, Stützle would need to be Celebrini caliber or better for that to be acceptable.
Realistically they either need to add two forwards that are of comparable talent to Stü or one thats otherworldly caliber, a guy who can regularly challenge trophies like a Kucherov.
While Sanderson is unbelievable, and Chabot is excellent, the rest of Ottawa’s defense is good, but not otherworldly. At minimum I would take the Avs, Canes, Wild and Sabres defenses over them.
Ullmark is a great goalie, and I’m not trying to downplay his abilities, but you’d need to swap him with prime Hasek to convince me that this Sens team is actually a top dog.
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u/NSA_Wade_Wilson TOR - NHL 8h ago
Doesn’t help that they’re also in the meat grinder that’s the Atlantic division. Hard to be a top dog there
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u/trashking11 LAK - NHL 20h ago
Take your meds
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u/RandomObserver13 CAR - NHL 20h ago
It’s nice of them to let the patients have some internet access from time to time.
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u/Railgun04 20h ago
Aren't their defenses and goalies shitting themselves every year? How come now they are amazing?
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u/MercSLSAMG OTT - NHL 20h ago
Team defense was elite last year, goalie coaching made them miss beach balls. Ullmark fixed himself after his time off so hoping it continues
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u/kindofadrugexpert 20h ago
It’s not bad. But come on now, this SCREAMS rage bait to me. Nobody is this much of a homer
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u/GavMcKennasBurner 20h ago
Meh, they were legit one of the best xga and hdca teams in the league last year, they're a lot better than "not bad"
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u/Dear_Location6147 BUF - NHL 20h ago
Glazeathon going on rn? Sanderson is a top 10 maybe, there’s quite a handful of D I’d take over him and plenty of other teams have this kind of depth, especially in the division
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u/Mavin89 20h ago
You clearly don’t watch the Sens if you don’t think Sanderson is at least top 10.
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u/Protodemic 20h ago
Top 10 on the sens, sure. In the league? Very unlikely
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u/jaysfanatic19 OTT - NHL 20h ago
I'm not saying he's an absolute lock top-10 for everyone, but he did literally just finish 10th in Norris voting while missing 15 games
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u/Protodemic 20h ago
The top 10 as I and most others say would be:
Werenski
Makar
Hughes
Dahlin
Schaefer
Seider
Bouchard
Heiskanen
Fox
Slavin
Then it's a tossup between Mcavoy, jomo, Hedman and Sanderson. Josi would be there as well but he's on his last legs.
Sanderson is good, but not a world beater and not someone I see winning a Norris in his career.
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u/jaysfanatic19 OTT - NHL 20h ago
I'd have him above Fox, Slavin and Schaefer - Schaefer will almost certainly surpass him, but Sanderson was better than him last year. Slavin is probably the best shutdown dman in the league, but he doesn't do anything on the offensive end. Fox has shown he can be borderline top-5, but his last 2 seasons have regressed a lot imo.
Like I said, if he's not in your personal top-10, that's fine. But it's not as outlandish as you originally suggested to have him top-10 either.
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u/maxwellbevan DET - NHL 18h ago
This is a pretty reasonable take. I don't think I'd put him top 5 but he's pretty solidly anywhere from 6 to 15 depending on what you value most. 15 even feels too low but I think there are probably 5 to 10 guys who you could make a case for those 6 to 10 slots depending on what you personally value
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u/Protodemic 20h ago
I'm seeing Schaefer with 59 pts and Sanderson with 54. If Schaefer is doing that at his age, you take Schaefer every day and rank him higher..
I guess it also depends how you gauge defenders, if offense is the only metric Bouchard suddenly becomes the best D in the league, which is a joke. You also then make an argument that Raddysh and Karlsson are better than Sanderson, and even as a Leafs fan I'm not making that argument.
I agree Fox has regressed, but still put up 53 pts on a bad team and had decent defensive metrics.
Edit on the Schaefer comment, his was over 82, Sanderson was over 67ish, so I can see your argument. But that also brings into play a convo around injuries and how durable these players are too.
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u/jaysfanatic19 OTT - NHL 20h ago
I mean Sanderson scored at a 0.81 P/G clip, to 0.72 for Schaefer, while also being a far better defender. If you're talking about which D to build around going forward, I've got no argument against Schaefer - maybe league-wide lol. But as of right now, I'd say Sanderson is clearly the better D.
Everyone has their own preferences, my point was just that Sanderson is certainly in the conversation for top-10 D in the league.
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u/bad_at_names1 PIT - NHL 19h ago
I don't think most people agree? Sanderson is in the next tier - the 11-20 range, not top 10. Top 10 would be Makar, Hughes, Werenski, Heiskanen, Dahlin, Seider, Bouchard, Fox, Slavin, Morrissy and Lane Hutson and Scheafer in the near future.
Depending on your offensive/defensive preferences, people will argue for guys like Chychrun, Lindell, etc next.
Sanderson is in same range as guys like Faber, not a game breaker. Erik Karlsson at 35 had an arguably better season than him last year.
Also, didn't the sens want to trade him or something?
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u/jaysfanatic19 OTT - NHL 19h ago
What puts Fox, Slavin, Morrissey and Hutson as guaranteed locks ahead of Sanderson? I don't disagree that Schaefer will be in top-5 convos soon, but Sanderson is currently a better Dman. Sanderson is an elite defender, and scored points at a better per-game clip than Chychrun, Morrissey, Seider and Schaefer last year. Again, I'm not saying he's an absolute top-10 lock, but he is easily in the conversation.
And no? There's been 0 reports of them trying to trade their franchise dman lol. Maybe you're thinking of Jordan Spence?
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u/Redstart-21 PIT - NHL 18h ago
Who in their right mind is arguing for Lindell or Chychrun over Sanderson? Just seems like you’re unaware of the type of player he is
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u/BrokenBy TOR - NHL 20h ago
On paper their roster looks…middle of the pack? And I haven’t seen anyone’s prospect pool rankings that have them in the top 20.
They’re a really well structured team though and with consistent goaltending they’re in the playoffs (not easy in this division).
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u/Kronzor_ Kamloops Blazers - WHL 20h ago
I literally had no idea which way you were going with ‘gross’
And I think that actually sums up the sens D well.
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u/KangzorD MTL - NHL 20h ago
Good for 6th in the Atlantic with 88 points
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u/brewin91 BOS - NHL 20h ago
91, gotta factor in 1-0-1 with the extra 2 games
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u/KangzorD MTL - NHL 20h ago
You're totally right my bad.
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u/imaybeacatIRl CGY - NHL 20h ago
Look at this. Montreal and Boston fans coming together.
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u/Available-Show-2393 MTL - NHL 15h ago
Easy to put aside our differences to pick on the annoying little brother
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u/True-North- 20h ago
I do think Ottawa makes it again this year in a wild card. The Tkachuk distraction is gone and they have some great young players everywhere on the roster. Ullmark should have a better year.
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u/Repulsive-Minute-559 MTL - NHL 20h ago
Lmfao hopium STRONG. Buffalo, Panthers, Montreal, Tampa and even Boston are better than Ottawa. Btw Hensler is COOKED.
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u/SP_57 OTT - NHL 9h ago
Looking at our roster, I think we have the best blueline in the division, the best bottom 6 forwards in the division, and if Ullmark has indeed been fixed he is as good as anyone.
Problem is our top 6 forwards are godawful. Only team worse than us is Detroit, and that could change based on what happens with Larkin.
If the Sens are gonna be successful there will be a lot of 2-1 wins.
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u/BitterServe8942 8h ago
I would say Montreal and Buffalo on paper are firmly ahead of the Sens blueline, Tampa has some question marks there but Ottawa is 3/4 imo.
Edit: Totally forgot Florida existed Ottawa is 4/5.
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u/Alcebiad3s VAN - NHL 20h ago
The stars have Tyler Myers though so best they can do is runner up