Before & After: Overhaul in Ottawa

BEFORE: 

January 5th 2020 - The Ottawa Senators introduce Bates as their new GM.
Ottawa’s General Manager vacancy was a glaring hole after the Sens finished 2nd last in the NHL. Upon the Bates hire, here's how things looked on The Senators depth chart.

McCan Cirelli    Kase
Nosek  Turris   Acciari
Paul     Nosek    Nash
Khaira Wilson   Stenlund
Prokhorkin Kamenev Jones

Murray       Scandella
Sbisa             Stone
Harrrington Djoos
Binnington
Crawford

AFTER:

November 29th 2020 - Post Draft, RFA & UFA period. A stark contrast with Cirelli, McCan, and Paul being the only returnees. 

Bailey  Cirelli  Zuccarello
McCan  Pageau Duclair
Drouin  Backlund Granlund
Paul     Rowney  Reaves

Yandle  Hainsey

McNabb Subban

Borowiecki Dekeyser

                    Seabrook

Lehner

Hutton

PROSPECT POOL & PICKS

After a ton of movement, a respectable pool of prospects remain. The focus moving forward will be to improve the depth in net and on the blue line with an already formidable group up front.

Tolvanen   Rossi Kaliyev

Elvenes     Barratt Quinn

Chinakhov Brown  Perreault

Jones        Abramov Teply

                  Ljungman Foley

Bahl    Regula

Ludvig  Dilliberatore 

              Tucker

Berdin

Comrie

2021 CHI 1st

2021 OTT 1st 

2021 BUF 5th

2021 VGK 5th

2021 OTT 6th

2021 OTT 7th

2022 OTT 1st

2022 OTT 3rd

2022 OTT 4th

2022 OTT 5th

A statement from the GM:

"We are a much better team. Many of the important players in our system are cost-controlled which will assist with sustaining a competitive roster over the near and distant future. I like our depth, and I have the upmost faith in Barry Trotz behind the bench."

"Lessons were learned when I got a little trigger happy in UFA before Foligno and Haula were rushed out for very little to clear space. It's undeiable however, that the overall body of work has brought Ottawa to a point where we are competitive now, and flexible moving forward."

Post Overhaul in Ottawa

The Sens are likely to stand pat 20-30 games into the Regular Season before considering any additional moves. The much-improved roster in Ottawa will cause even more competitiveness in the Atlantic Division. With difficult opponents both in division and in the rest of the Eastern Conference a playoff berth will be tough task.

Regardless, Sens gained enough depth to make a significant jump from their 2nd last place finish in the 2019-2020 season. If things go south, a respectable amount of cost-controlled assets, including two 2021 1st round picks, ensure the future is bright either way.

With that, best of luck to all other 30 teams this season.

Showtime!