A New Opportunity, Thoughts on the Sens Embracing Alt Media and Josh Norris' Future

I should have written this piece earlier, but for those unaware, I will be penning Senators-related content for The Hockey News for the 2024-25 season.

You might wonder what that means for the status of ‘Rome in a Day,’ and that is totally fair. Ultimately, it is my hope that things will not really change that much. I still intend to maintain this site by writing long-form analysis posts that readers are accustomed to.

The work that will appear on THN will be significantly shorter, but the good news is that broadening my writing could potentially lead to new opportunities.

So, if you would like to continue supporting my writing, please check out THN’s Ottawa hub, and monitor my social media accounts on X (@graemenichols), Blue Sky (@graemenichols.bsky.social) to promote it. Again, I can’t thank everyone enough for reading. Without the support of the readers and the greater Senators community, opportunities to broaden my writing simply would not occur. So, I thank each and every one of you.

In other news, I will also be writing the Senators’ profiles for the McKeen’s hockey annual that comes out this fall. I’m not sure if it is available for preorder yet, but when I learn of its availability, I will post the link here and on social media. Keep an eye out for that.

In the spirit of plugging more content, I also appeared on the latest episode of the Senstennial Podcast. Thanks to Matt, Matt and Benet for having me on to chat about the Senators’ offseason. It’s always a good time talking puck with these lads. The episode can be viewed here and if you are not giving them a follow on X, you can find them here.

Sticking with the media theme to open this post, the organization’s announcement that Ian Mendes was appointed president of communications and Sylvain St-Laurent as its director of communications is a breath of fresh air.

Admittedly, it feels awkward to celebrate news when it means that longstanding employees have lost their jobs. But, in saying that, how can anyone not be excited by this development?

The organization has hired two of the city's most talented sports journalists and is covering its bases in both official languages. Their respective character outweighs their talent, making this news that much better. Especially with the hiring of St-Laurent, this signals a clear and strategic decision to make inroads with the fans and people of Gatineau ahead of this organization’s planned construction of a rink in the urban core. There is no question that this initiative was long overdue, but with St-Laurent running point, the organization is in solid hands.

This trend of sports organizations hiring prominent writers is hardly new. Earlier this summer, the Seattle Kraken hired Geoff Baker in an executive role. It is largely a function of a diminishing media landscape, but sports organizations, like the Senators, have historically struggled to capitalize by telling their own stories or creating content using access that no one could ever possibly threaten.

The obvious downside is the blow to local sports journalism. Ian Mendes was the preeminent figure in this community and no one is filling those shoes. Aside from his former colleagues waxing poetic about their experiences working alongside him, The Athletic has not formally issued any communications on their plans for the Ottawa hub. They could look to replace Mendes with another writer, but the Senators’ hub is relatively small compared to other markets. The site may rely on existing staff to create Senators-related content as needed. It could possibly consider hiring local freelance to fill that void with more informed content, but that seems unlikely. The majority of The Athletic’s freelance work was cut during the pandemic.

There is no question that the Ottawa media landscape has fundamentally changed. Bruce Garrioch and Wayne Scanlan still cover the team, but the former is polarizing, while the latter does not write as often for Sportsnet as he used to for the Ottawa Citizen. Tim Baines would prefer to cover the CFL and the Ottawa RedBlacks. Ken Warren now works a city beat for Postmedia, while Chris Stevenson no longer writes about the Senators but can be heard on TSN 1200. Callum Fraser fulfills his role by writing about the Senators for NHL.com.

It is unchartered ground, but one thing that Mendes has staunchly advocated for is an opportunity for alternative media. His presence within the organization may open doors where few previously existed. At a time when traditional media streams are drying up, it is all fans can hope for who crave Senators news.

Moving on…

It is incredible what the last few weeks have brought considering how quiet the Senators’ offseason has been of late. Players and staff have wholeheartedly jumped onto the podcast scene, which has been incredible from a local content perspective. It is a testament to the quality of the work being done by the individuals running those platforms.

Travis Green, Claude Giroux and Steve Staios jumped on the Coming in Hot Podcast while the Locked on Senators podcast landed El Capitaine, Brady Tkachuk. Even if you throw into the mix Shane Pinto’s appearance on The Empty Netters, the content has been flowing and key information came out.

In Shane Pinto’s case, the centre revealed that American friends of his placed bets for him while he was in Canada.

“I had my buddies, because I was in Canada, just place bets for me in America. I wasn't a Canadian citizen so I couldn't really use a Canadian sportsbook. That's proxy betting, so that's obviously a big no-no. It was an illegal act so, obviously, it was a pretty big deal.”

Although the possibility of challenging the length of his suspension existed, the seriousness of proxy betting influenced Pinto’s camp to accept the 41-game suspension.

In the Claude Giroux episode of CIH, the veteran forward admitted that contract extension talks have not begun.

“I haven't really thought about it, to be honest with you. My main focus right now is having a good year with the Sens and taking that next step. I mean, those are just details that I don't need right now. I don't need those distractions, and everything's going to take care of itself.”

Having signed with the Senators as a 34-year-old who wanted to play at home and support his family, I have a hard time believing that Giroux’s motivations and desire to be near them would change. Despite this team’s unfortunate shortcomings and the mismanagement that led to some disappointing results, I’m hopeful that the organic growth of this team’s young core and the introduction of new ownership and management would be enough to persuade Giroux to stay.

Perhaps a reality exists in which the Senators fall out of playoff contention by the trade deadline, and Giroux expresses an interest in having one last kick at the Cup. It is possible, but it feels unlikely. I don’t believe the player makes the choice he made two years ago to bolt now when he’s older, and his career has less runway.

The captain’s future has been a point of interest all summer thanks to unsubstantiated speculation out of St. Louis that Brady’s patience is being tested and that a poor 2024-25 campaign could lead to him asking for a trade.

“That’s kind of why I turned off social media for a bit. These rumours are coming out of nowhere. It’s not at all how I’m feeling. I’ve always said this, ‘My number one goal is to bring a Stanley Cup back to Ottawa.’ Especially for this city that has never experienced it. Being so close to it the last (few) years and especially this summer, it has made that dream and fire burn even more inside me to do it. I always want to finish what I start and, yeah, just seeing those rumours, it was just not at all true. I want to win here, and I kind of won’t stop at anything until we do.”

One of the more intriguing topics new head coach Travis Green was asked about was Josh Norris’s health and whether he had given much consideration to playing him on the wing this season.

Green admitted he was open to all possibilities, but refused to commit to anything.

After undergoing a third surgical procedure on his left shoulder, Norris’ health and whether he can return to his pre-injury form are critical to the organization’s future success. The Senators’ investment in Norris following his breakout 2021-22 campaign was sizable. The centre was widely lauded for his defensive aptitude while he was a prospect and put it on display during his 2020-21 rookie season. During the 2020-22 season, Norris’ offensive game found another gear as he tallied 35 goals and 55 points in 60 games.

Cynics at the time pointed to Norris’ shooting percentage (20.2 Sh%) and argued that it was not sustainable. He was an obvious candidate for some regression, but Norris scored on 17.7 percent of his shots the previous year, so it was not like 2021-22 was some massive outlier. In truth, Norris’ shot is an absolute weapon but he is not a one-trick pony who does most of his damage on the power play. His 16 power play goals led the Senators that season, but he finished second on the team in even-strength goals (19).

Previous management believed in Norris’ offensive growth and, like the rest of the team’s young core, locked him up to a considerable long-term extension. If he could combine his defensive efforts with that goal-scoring production, he would be well worth an eight-year, $63.6 million deal. Injuries have derailed Norris’ last two seasons, however. Enough that it has created a ton of uncertainty regarding his growth and development.

According to HockeyViz, Norris scored 16 goals and 30 points in 50 games last season, but his on-ice impacts were underwhelming.

When Norris was on the ice, the Senators struggled to consistently control and drive play. The hope is that these problems can be explained by the fact that the Senators struggled as a collective under D.J. Smith. It is also reasonable to believe that Norris needed time to shake the rust off from the considerable time he missed while recovering.

It is hard to ignore the fact that Norris has only played in 58 games over the last two seasons. It is a long time to be off the ice, missing development time. With the exception of Vladimir Tarasenko, there are not many examples of players who have endured the frequency of procedures that Norris has.

In any other offseason, there could be an honest conversation about whether Norris is a good bet to fulfill the expectations of his deal or if it would be prudent for the Senators to buy him out. The NHL’s CBA would allow the organization to buy him out at one-third of his contract’s cost because he is under 26 years of age. Rather than return a player whose injuries may limit his effectiveness at both ends of the ice, the Senators could absorb a small cap hit and reallocate Norris’ money toward another player or two.

Puckpedia explains that a Norris buyout would cost the Senators approximately $1.4 million for the next 12 seasons.

The wrinkle is that he is on the LTIR recovering from surgery, and injured players are ineligible to be bought out. This puts Ottawa in a position where they have no choice but to try to maximize Norris’ potential as part of their long-term plans. This begs the question: how do you go about maximizing and realizing Norris' potential?

A lot of the rehabilitation and recovery will be up to the individual, but Norris’ usage and position are within the Senators’ control.

The arrival and emergence of Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig as middle-six centres have helped fuel the conversations about Norris’ future at the position.

Would it be better served by playing the wing?

Norris has never played any sustained length of time at the professional level at the wing.

There is merit to those suggesting playing him at wing protects his shoulder from having to put stress on his shoulder by taking draws, especially since that is how he reinjured his arm in 2023. The Senators could also protect him by using their wingers to take draws — similar to how the organization has shielded a weaker faceoff guy in Tim Stützle by relying on Giroux and Tkachuk.

There is also the question of whether Norris is best served playing a role where he will be required to forecheck more and battle along the boards for puck possession.

A fair assessment of Norris’s game is that while he has been an excellent finisher, he has never established himself as a strong puck carrier or distributor.

Ironically, this puck distribution consideration extends to the player fans may prefer to see occupy the 2C role.

From a playmaking consideration, Ridly Greig is the best of the three.

The good news is that the Senators have the luxury of options. They are all young and have shown a measure of defensive aptitude. An obvious concern with Norris is that his defensive impact has diminished. If he cannot get back to his pre-injury levels, it will invite more conversations about moving to the wing, where his defensive responsibilities will shrink.

Norris’ most productive seasons were his first two in the league when he remained healthy. In those seasons, he played primarily between Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson. According to Evolving-Hockey’s data, that line generated 4.2 goals per 60 minutes of five-on-five hockey. To put that into perspective, when Tim Stützle had his 90-point 2022-23 campaign, his line with Tkachuk and Claude Giroux generated 3.5 goals per 60 minutes.

That line provided a lot of offence, but it feels naive to believe Norris will be afforded the first opportunity to play with the Senators’ top left winger. The most logical choice for that role would be Tim Stützle, but in a weird twist (or maybe my short-term memory is becoming shoddy), the centre who Brady played with the most at five-on-five was Shane Pinto. The two played 387.2 minutes together per Evolving-Hockey, followed by Norris with 364.6 and then Stützle with 288.1.

Perhaps it is not so outlandish to believe Norris could eventually be given a chance to play with Brady.

The stylistic makeup of Travis Green’s line-making has to be a major consideration. Armed with finishers down the middle like Norris and Pinto, it only makes sense to support these players with wingers who have playmaking ability. And, in Norris’ case, having linemates who have two-way aptitude can help him shoulder the load. (Sorry, but not sorry, for the pun.)

Claude Giroux is the Senators’ best right winger, but he spent 58.5 percent of his five-on-five ice time playing with Stützle. Michael Amadio possesses some impressive underlying two-way metrics, but like Norris, he is more renowned for his finishing ability than his playmaking. Drake Batherson is hardly renowned for his defensive aptitude, but he possesses the playmaking ability that Norris needs. The two also have considerable experience playing together from Norris’ first two seasons in the league. David Perron has lost a step and his NHL Edge data is not particularly flattering when it comes to tracking and speed data. Despite those flaws, he is still generating some efficient results, especially on the defensive end. Defensive performance tends to decline more gracefully as a player ages, so the hope is that he can continue to be a positive contributor in the defensive end.

If those two can mesh well with Norris, it will leave Pinto to play with Ridly Greig, who possessed some strong playmaking numbers of his own — as can be seen by the JFresh Hockey visual earlier in this piece.

Of course, all these lineup decisions are predicated on the possibility that Norris arrives in camp healthy and ready to play. If it continues to take time for him to recover and reintegrate into the lineup, it will put the Senators in a challenging position. Having Pinto and Greig as insulators is a boon, but any prolonged absence will exacerbate the team’s depth at the bottom of the lineup.

Other News and Notes:

• The Senators announced that their seventh overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft, Carter Yakemchuk, has signed an entry-level contract with the organization. This entry-level contract signing is just a formality. The right-shot defenceman will showcase his talents in the rookie tournament in Buffalo and will get an invite to main camp with the opportunity to play preseason games. Barring some ridiculously unforeseen situation where he plays himself onto the roster, Yakemchuk will be returned to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen.

• The Senators’ front office has continued to grow. The organization announced the hiring of Josh Mallory as an assistant video coach. Mallory worked previously with the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Brock Badgers. It represents