NATIONAL POST NHL PREVIEW Eugene Melnyk | Owner Bryan Murray | President of hockey operations, general manager Assistant general manager; Head coach $380M 18,108 dir. of player personnel Paul MacLean Pierre Doiron Assistant coaches Forbes 2013 valuation Average 2013-14 attendance Assistant general manager; Dave Cameron NHL rank: 15th NHL rank: 13th dir. of hockey operations Mark Reeds Randy Lee Rick Walmsley (goalies) Scouting and development Tim Pattyson (video) Current 2014-15 payroll consultant Chris Schwartz (conditioning) $55.78M NHL rank: 29th Jason Smith 2014-15 OTTAWA SENATORS YEARBOOK FRANCHISE OUTLOOK RECORDS 2013-14 | 88 points (37-31-14), fifth in Atlantic | 2.79 goals per game (11th); 3.15 goals allowed per game (27th) When the Ottawa Senators named 0.95 5-on-5 goal ratio (19th) | 18.4% power play (14th); 80.9% penalty kill (22nd) | –1.9 shot differential per game (24th) GAMES PLAYED, CAREER Erik Karlsson captain it signalled the 2013-14 post-season | Did not qualify 1. Daniel Alfredsson | 1995-2013 1,178 dawn of a new era. 2. Chris Phillips | 1997-2014 1,143 Karlsson, along with Bobby Ryan, THE FRANCHISE INDEX: THE SENATORS SINCE INCEPTION 3. Chris Neil | 2001-14 855 Kyle Turris, Clarke MacArthur NUMBER OF NUMBER OF WON STANLEY LOST STANLEY LOCKOUT and Jared Cowen are the Senators’ POINTS WON GAMES PLAYED CUP FINAL CUP FINAL GOALS, CAREER future, while names like Daniel Al- 1. Daniel Alfredsson | 1995-2013 426 fredsson and Jason Spezza are now 140 part of the past. SEASON CANCELLED 140 2. Jason Spezza | 2002-14 251 Spezza was traded this past 3. Alexei Yashin | 1993-2001 218 summer to the Dallas Stars after re- 120 120 questing a fresh start, while longtime GOALS, SEASON captain Alfredsson left two off-sea- 100 sons ago to sign with Detroit. 100 The Senators will look to Turris 50 to take over from Spezza as the No. Dany Heatley | 2006-07 80 1 centre. Two years ago Turris was 80 handed the responsibility when Spe- zza was injured and filled in admir- ASSISTS, CAREER 60 ably; now the 25-year-old is looking 60 1. Daniel Alfredsson | 1995-2013 682 forward to taking on the job full-time. 2. Jason Spezza | 2002-14 436 “It’s going to be a challenge and 40 3. Wade Redden | 1996-2008 309 I’m trying to prepare for that, but I 40 definitely feel I’m more ready than ASSISTS, SEASON I was a couple years ago when I was 20 put into that position,” Turris said. 20 “I’m excited about it and it’s going to 71 be lots of fun.” 0 Jason Spezza | 2005-06 MacArthur will likely line up on 0 Turris’ left as the two found instant 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 POINTS, CAREER chemistry last season, while Ryan or SOURCE: HOCKEY-REFERENCE.COM NATIONAL POST Mark Stone could play on the right. 1. Daniel Alfredsson | 1995-2013 1,108 Ryan, who recently signed a seven- 2. Jason Spezza | 2002-14 687 year extension, has also been playing 3. Alexei Yashin | 1993-2001 491 on the left side with Mika Zibanejad, who is expected to centre the second POINTS, SEASON line, and newcomer Alex Chiasson, acquired in the Spezza trade. Playing on the left side is nothing 105 new for Ryan as he often did while a Dany Heatley | 2006-07 member of the Anaheim Ducks. Ryan has made it clear he’s looking for an expanded role, and Senators PLUS-MINUS, SEASON head coach Paul MacLean says the plan is to have Ryan on the power play as well as the penalty kill. +42 “When you lose a guy like Spezza Daniel Alfredsson | 2006-07 and he moves on you’ve got to re- place a lot of different things that he PENALTY MINUTES, SEASON brought to the team,” Ryan said. “If I can do that in one regard and they ask me to step up my game in certain 318 areas then certainly it’s something Mike Peluso | 1992-93 that I would like. “I think it helps you thrive when you know that you’re going out for GOALIE WINS, CAREER more shifts. Hopefully for me I get a 1. Patrick Lalime | 1999-2004 146 chance to take on those opportunities 2. Craig Anderson | 2011-14 81 and then it just keeps you in the game 3. Ron Tugnutt | 1996-2000 72 and you can go from there.” The remaining questions up front GOALIE WINS, SEASON are how well Milan Michalek’s knees hold up, how free-agent centre David Legwand will contribute and if Curtis 39 Lazar is ready to play in the NHL. Patrick Lalime | 2002-03 The 19-year-old Lazar will start the season with the Senators, but management has made it clear he will GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE, only remain in the NHL if they feel Erik Karlsson CAREER it’s beneficial to his development. It’s 1. Patrick Lalime | 1999-2004 2.32 likely the Senators will let him play 2. Ron Tugnutt | 1996-2000 2.32 nine games before making a final HARRY HOW / GettY Images 3. Damian Rhodes | 1996-99 2.56 decision. The only options available for Lazar are to remain in the NHL or GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE, return to junior. DEPTH CHART Defensively the Senators will once SEASON again rely heavily on Karlsson, but LEFT WING CENTRE RIGHT WING they will need him to be much better in his own end. GP G A TOI GP G A TOI GP G A TOI 1.69 No one complained about Karls- Clarke MacArthur 79 24 31 17:38 Kyle Turris 82 26 32 18:44 Bobby Ryan 70 23 25 16:52 Craig Anderson | 2012-13 son’s offensive abilities last season as Milan Michalek 82 17 22 17:35 Mika Zibanejad 69 16 17 14:20 Alex Chiasson* 79 13 22 15:07 he scored 20 goals and had 54 assists, Zack Smith 82 13 9 15:32 David Legwand* 83 14 37 16:59 Mark Stone 19 4 4 14:29 SAVE PCT., CAREER but on more than one night MacLean Mike Hoffman 25 3 3 13:11 Curtis Lazar ^ 58 41 35 n/a Chris Neil 76 8 6 11:48 1. Craig Anderson | 2011-14 .920 was frustrated at his defensive lapses. 2. Patrick Lalime | 1999-2004 .908 It’s highly likely Karlsson will be DEFENCE GOAL 3. Martin Gerber | 2006-09 .907 paired with Marc Methot, as long as Methot can recover from a nagging GP G A TOI GP G A TOI GP GAA SV% SO back injury, or Cowen could find him- Erik Karlsson 82 20 54 27:04 Jared Cowan 68 6 9 20:31 Craig Anderson 53 3.00 .911 4 SAVE PCT., SEASON self rounding out the top pairing. Chris Phillips 70 1 14 19:14 Cody Ceci 49 3 6 17:12 Robin Lehner 36 3.06 .913 1 Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press Eric Gryba 57 2 9 17:31 Mark Borowiecki 13 1 0 12:35 .941 This is the sixth in our series DEPTH PLAYERS ROOKIE WATCH Craig Anderson | 2012-13 of Canadian NHL team previews. LW Colin Greening, RW Erik Condra, D Patrick Wiercioch; Lazar Sources: Hockey-Reference.com, Yesterday Jets | Tomorrow Maple Leafs Injured: D Marc Methot (IR); Minors: C Jean-Gabriel Pageau Senators.NHL.com, NHL.com, See previous ones at nationalpost.com * Acquired in off-season, stats are with previous team; ^ rookie, stats are from 2013-14 junior season Forbes.com, Capgeek.com Nov. 24 at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS Jan. 13 at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS March 4 at Winnipeg, 7:30 p.m. SN, TVA SCHEDULE All times Eastern Nov. 25 at St. Louis, 8 p.m. TSN5, RDS Jan. 15 Montreal, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, SN-E, RDS March 6 Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS Oct. 9 at Nashville, 8 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 Nov. 28 at Florida, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 Jan. 17 Carolina, 7 p.m. HNIC, TVA2 March 8 Calgary, 7 p.m. CITY, TVA Oct. 11 at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. SN1 Nov. 29 at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. HNIC Jan. 20 at NY Rangers, 7 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 March 10 Boston, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 Oct. 13 at Florida, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDSI Dec. 2 at NY Islanders, 7 p.m. TSN5, RDS Jan. 21 Toronto, 7 p.m. SN, TVA March 12 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, SN-E, RDS Oct. 16 Colorado, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 Dec. 4 NY Islanders, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS Jan. 29 Dallas, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 March 13 at NY Islanders 7 p.m. TSN5, RDS Oct. 18 Columbus, 7 p.m. SN1 Dec. 6 at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. TSN5, RDS Jan. 31 Arizona, 3 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 March 15 Philadelphia, 7 p.m. CITY, TVA Oct. 22 Toronto, 7 p.m. SN360, SN1, TVA Dec. 7 Vancouver, 7 p.m. CITY, TVA Feb. 3 at New Jersey, 7 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 March 17 at Carolina, 7 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 Oct. 25 New Jersey, 7 p.m. SN1 Dec. 11 Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS Feb. 5 Washington, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS March 19 Boston, 7:30 p.m. TSN5, RDS2 Oct. 26 at Chicago, 7 p.m. CITY, TVA Dec. 13 at Boston, 1 p.m.