Reflections on the First Game
Even with a completely healthy roster, it is never easy to go into Carolina and come away with two points.
The Hurricanes are a well-coached squad that play a strong two-way game and have earned their praise as a viable Stanley Cup and Presidents’ Trophy contender. They were the Senators’ toughest October matchup and last night’s game represented a nice measuring stick opportunity.
Losing 5-3 while giving up 42 shots on goal is never ideal. The Senators only generated 36.46 percent of the total shot share at five-on-five (CF%) with 39.79 percent of the expected goals (xGF%) per NaturalStatTrick. Their fate was deserved.
It is too small of a sample size to get overly worked up about, especially in the consideration of context when two of the team’s top three centres are out of the lineup.
With the Senators dressing their full… well, almost full lineup, it is the first real opportunity to gain insights and reflect on lineup decisions and usage.
Dressing 11 Forwards
This is the point that is garnering a ton of attention and discussion and deservedly so. As others have noted, it is not uncommon for teams that are against the cap ceiling to be put in situations where the lack of cap space prevents teams from having available bench players.
As a local journalist noted on ‘X’ yesterday, the Los Angeles Kings were also faced with a situation in which they had to dress 11 forwards and six defencemen.
To my knowledge, Los Angeles does not also have a 22-year-old 20-goal scorer sitting on the sidelines because the team willingly exhausted their cap space, but teams occasionally are forced to play shorthanded from time to time.
For it to happen in Ottawa’s opening game while the Shane Pinto contract extension saga is playing out, it is going to get that extra attention.
Tarasenko’s Ice Time
Even with a shortened bench, this offseason’s marquee addition had 13 minutes and 12 seconds of ice time. There were only four games last season in which Vladimir Tarasenko played less than he did last night.
Of the Senators’ forwards, only Parker Kelly (12:40) and Mark Kastelic (7:33) played less.
The Russian winger played exclusively on the team’s third line with Dominik Kubalik and Rourke Chartier and had a rather nondescript game. The only event he was credited with was a missed shot at the end of the second period.
Although he played three minutes on the power play, at no point was he ever afforded the opportunity to play with more skilled teammates at even strength.
It was a forgettable debut, but the good news is that it is just one game.
It is possible that Tarasenko could be playing with an undisclosed nagging injury which would have affected his workload, but his usage and role will be worth monitoring going forward.
There is a history and pattern of the organization targeting the wrong fit at the worst time. If Tarasenko’s marginalized role and reduced workload continue, it will inevitably raise a lot of questions about management’s allocation of resources — especially with management exhausting its remaining cap space to sign the player and potentially alienating Shane Pinto, who has to patiently sit on the sidelines awaiting a fair contract offer and for the team to clear the appropriate cap space. (As an aside, I also wonder how well Tarasenko will handle having a reduced role should it continue.)
As with the shortened lineup because of the cap considerations, the optics of Tarasenko’s usage are not great. And, for a general manager who desperately needs to create a favourable impression for his new bosses, Dorion will feel the heat if this continues.
Joonas Korpisalo and Poor Defensive Structure
Like his teammates, I thought Korpisalo had a strong first period before the wheels fell off over the final two frames.
The Michael Bunting goal was a function of the defencemen, especially Travis Hamonic, getting caught too high as the puck got worked back down low.
He had no chance on Teuvo Teravainen’s goal.
The Jordan Staal marker was the product of Thomas Chabot putting Tim Stützle in a difficult spot creating a forced turnover. Chabot then whiffed on a poke-check as Staal worked his way out of the corner creating the scoring chance.
Poor defensive structure contributed to the Hurricanes’ first three goals, but to their credit, the Senators found a way to claw their way back into the game and tie it at three.
Unfortunately, Korpisalo probably wants to have those final two goals back. They were deflating backbreakers to give up.
An unscreened shot like Brady Skjei’s simply cannot go in from where it was taken. And, Jaccob Slavin’s goal was a nice short-side shot, but Korpisalo was vulnerable to the high shot after dropping into a butterfly early.
Mathieu Joseph
For all of the uncertainty facing Mathieu Joseph’s future with the Senators as his name continues to swirl in the rumour mill, the winger has put together some strong performances.
Joseph opened the scoring for the Senators with a nice deflection on an Artem Zub shot from the point.
After failing to record a five-on-five goal in 56 regular season games last season, Joseph was one of the few players on Ottawa you could count upon to enjoy some positive regression in his game. To see him score so early in the season is encouraging and hopefully, it is something he can continue to build upon… in Ottawa.
Other News and Notes:
Alex Formenton is returning to the Ambrì-Piotta Hockey Club. The Swiss league club announced that he had signed an extension that ends on December 31, 2023, with a club option to extend the agreement until the end of the 2023-2024 season. As the Hockey Canada scandal continues to play out in North America, Ambrì-Piotta acknowledged that the club “reserves the right to review the contractual situation with the player should new elements emerge.” However, it noted that Formenton will maintain the right to return to the NHL at any point during the contract if the investigation plays out favourably for him.
The Senators revealed a new jersey sponsor this morning. CIBC will have a patch featured prominently on the front of the Senators’ home jerseys. As much as I hate ads on jerseys, they are not going anywhere. Fortunately, the CIBC patches are innocuous and have a pretty clean look.