In a wide-ranging chat, he discusses goaltending, new coach Travis Green, playing better defensively and taking the next step.
Published Oct 05, 2024 • Last updated Oct 05, 2024 • 8 minute read
The next step for the Ottawa Senators and their new management group are to end a playoff drought that has gone on since 2017. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIAHope springs eternal in the fall for fans of the Ottawa Senators.
That’s what makes the leaves changing colours and the cooler nights easier to stomach because they know that the start of the season is around the corner with a strong belief the Senators are headed in the right direction.
Steve Staios, the National Hockey League club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, senior vice-president Dave Poulin and assistant GM Ryan Bowness had their work cut for them when the final buzzer sounded on last season.
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The Senators missed the playoffs for the seventh straight spring and there wasn’t one aspect of their game that was good enough. As they sat down to debrief and look ahead, the group knew the areas that they had to prioritize to make improvements coming into this season.
“I’m a list guy,” Poulin told the Ottawa Citizen in a one-on-one interview Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
As the Senators prepare to set the final roster and open the regular season next Thursday at home against the Florida Panthers, management is confident in the changes they’ve made.
Do they feel like they checked all the boxes?
“We feel like we did, but then again we’re the ones making the boxes,” Poulin said with a chuckle. “The lists you make are subjective. There’s objectivity to them, but they’re still subjective because this is what you think you need to improve the team.
“From that standpoint, we feel like we accomplished what we wanted to. Now, once again, that’s our viewpoint because we’re making the list.”
Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark, acquired by trade in the offseason, keeps his eyes on the puck as the Canadiens’ Oliver Kapanen and teammate Tyler Kleven (43) move in during an NHL pre-season game in Montreal on Oct. 1. Photo by Ryan Remiorz /THE CANADIAN PRESADDRESSING THE GOALTENDINGThe Senators thought they had solved their goaltending woes in 2023, when former GM Pierre Dorion signed unrestricted free-agent netminder Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year, $20-million deal.
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Korpisalo couldn’t live up to the hype, the team wasn’t good in front of him and backup Anton Forsberg couldn’t carry the load, either. The Senators knew something had to change, even if it started with hiring a head coach who would get the team to play better in its end.
“The goaltending numbers had to improve,” Poulin said. “We talked about whether the guys there were capable of doing it, and there was a way that we fashioned that it would be. We had to be better defensively system-wise, and, if we did all those things, would the goaltending be better?
“We feel it would have been had we stayed status quo. We also felt that one avenue to improve that area was to look to change and we were able to do that. We put a lot of time into conversation about that and we were patient. We knew this had to be a priority.”
Opportunities don’t come along often and the chance to get goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins was something the Senators couldn’t pass up.
The 31-year-old is only two years removed from winning a Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, and, after unsuccessfully trying to acquire him from the Bruins at the March trade deadline, Staios circled back in May.
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The Bruins decided during the 2024 playoffs that Jeremy Swayman was their No. 1 goalie and Ullmark became expendable. Even though he’s just a year away from becoming an unrestricted free agent, the Senators kept pushing and made the trade in late June.
Ullmark brings an air of confidence this group needs from the goaltending position.
“He’s one of the top goaltenders in the NHL,” Poulin said. “We felt that the opportunity to get him here, get him into Ottawa, let him settle in, it’s rare because you don’t see that often. It’s a unique set of circumstances.”
Poulin played with three Vezina Trophy winners in his playing career — the late Pelle Lindbergh and Ron Hextall in Philadelphia, later Jim Carey in Washington — so he knows what strong goaltending means to a team.
It’s all about confidence and it’s been a long time since the Senators have been able to have this much belief in their stopper.
“With Lindbergh and Hextall, I knew what it meant to have one of the top goalies in the league,” Poulin said. “I knew what it meant to the team, I knew walking to a building what it meant and I knew that, when the puck dropped, we were of the mindset that if we got one (goal) we were good.
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“Think about what that does for a team. We knew the importance of that availability.”
The Senators will sit down with Ullmark’s agent sometime soon to discuss a contract extension, but Staios really did mean it when he said he wanted to let his new acquisition settle in Ottawa before having a chat.
Ullmark is always on an even keel.
“He plays with a calm demeanour,” Poulin said. “He plays with consistency and calmness. That just affects the guys.”
The Senators hired Travis Green as head coach and signed him to a four-year contract. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIAHIRING COACH TRAVIS GREENThe Senators did a thorough search before deciding to hire Travis Green as head coach and signing him to a four-year contract.
One of the demands that Green is making of core Senators players — captain Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Shane Pinto, Ridly Greig, Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson — is to be better defensively.
This group has stated how hungry it is to improve, but there’s a price to pay at both ends of the ice to make it happen.
“Just look at the amount of teaching that’s going on,” Poulin said. “You watch (the staff) and the teach that’s going on and it’s substantial.”
This is Green’s second turn as an NHL head coach — four-plus seasons with the Vancouver Canucks previously —and often the person learns a lot from their first experience, which is helpful.
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“Every one of these players was the top offensive player on their team,” Poulin said. “At a level, some of them had to learn to play defence. They had the puck their whole careers.
“They have to take what they do at their best and add to it. You add to your toolbox through your career, and we’re hoping that’s one element that Travis can bring to this group.”
Senators winger Adam Gaudette tries to score on Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Wolf during a Sept. 22 pre-season game at Toronto. Photo by Paige Taylor White /THE CANADIAN PRESSBRINGING IN HELP FOR THE COREThe Senators also had to make changes to the on-ice personnel.
Defenceman Erik Brannstrom and fourth-line winger Parker Kelly didn’t receive qualifying offers and were allowed to leave as free agents, while Korpisalo was sent to Boston along with centre Mark Kastelic in the Ullmark trade.
Ottawa brought in defenceman Nick Jensen from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Jakob Chychrun, while Staios also signed veteran forwards Michael Amadio and Nick Cousins.
Winger Noah Gregor agreed to a free-agent deal after he didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Toronto Maple Leafs and he’s been a good addition.
“In each case, you’re not only getting improvement from that position, you’re also getting the trickle-down improvement,” Poulin said.
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Those players have helped to complement the core. Chabot and Sanderson are the keys to the back end, along with Artem Zub.
“He’s just an NHL player,” Poulin said. “He just gets the job done.”
The Senators drafted Carter Yakemchuk seventh overall in 2024. The plan had been to return him to junior hockey, but he has turned heads in his first NHL training camp. Photo by Candice Ward /Getty ImagesTHE BATTLE FOR JOBSThe Senators didn’t open camp with the roster settled.
Heading into the final preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night, there were decisions still to be made.
Forwards Zack MacEwen, Zack Ostapchuk, Jan Jenik, Matthew Highmore and Adam Gaudette were all on the bubble, pushing for spots. Only three of those five will end up on the roster.
On defence, rookie Carter Yakemchuk has been strong, but he’s in a mix including Tyler Kleven, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic.
“We have options,” Poulin said. “And those are good options. If you’re sitting here a week before the season and you’re not clear-cut on your decisions, then that’s a good thing.”
Yakemchuk, 19, the No. 7 overall selection in last June’s draft, has been a revelation. He has pushed to start the regular season in the NHL, but the plan was to send him back to junior, so that will be one everyone is watching.
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“It’s Oct. 3 and you’re asking about Yakemchuk,” Poulin said. “You never know with these young kids. You just don’t. Every year, eyebrows around the league about a couple of draft picks are raised because every year there are kids (like this), and this year we have one.”
You have to like Yakemchuk’s poise and you can always teach a player to be better defensively.
“You want the player to make the decision and not you,” Poulin said. “So far it’s October third and he’s out there practising. The hardest part for these scouts to evaluate is the situation a player is in while playing junior.
“He was playing in a situation where he wasn’t playing for a very good team, he was given free rein and he took that to do what he wanted. His adjustment to the defensive game here has been strong. He’s absorbing learning.”
The most likely scenario is that Yakemchuk starts the season with Ottawa, but returns to junior.
The Senators haven’t qualified for the NHL playoffs since 2017. Here Colin White (82) prepares for a faceoff against Nick Bonino (13) of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final at the Canadian Tire Centre. Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photo /Getty ImagesTHE NEXT STEPThe reality is the clock is ticking on this group to end this playoff drought stretching back to 2017.
Nobody wants to become the Buffalo Sabres, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2011. Senators owner Michael Andlauer understands the difficulty of getting to the post-season, but told Postmedia his expectation is this group will make the playoffs in the spring.
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As a former player, Poulin knows how tough it is take the next step.
“It’s almost like the stages of life,” Poulin said. “You make the NHL, you have some success in the NHL and then you have more success in the NHL. You look around and you have your things, your material things, your home, you start a family and you have all those things in life that are great.
“Then you want more (on the ice). They just have to do it. What will it take? Doing it. It sounds crazy, but you have to go every night and play that game like you’re going to do it. The confidence will go with that.”
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
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