GM Steve Staios Ready To Support Senators’ Core Group This Offseason

From the outset this season, it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions for the entire Ottawa Senators’ organization and its fans.

After a drawn-out process, Michael Andlauer took ownership of a team that appeared to be close to breaking through the playoff barrier, especially based on last season’s performance.

However, the Senators were dealt several blows. Among them, Shane Pinto’s 41-game suspension, an inevitable forfeiture of a first-round draft pick leading to General Manager Pierre Dorion’s departure, the firing of head coach D.J. Smith, assistant Davis Payne, goalie coach Zac Bierk was re-assigned.

Due to the cards dealt, the organization was forced to pivot their 2023-24 campaign into a fact-finding mission – taking stock of the on and off-ice makeup of the team from players to hockey operations.

And those facts have become abundantly clear to General Manager Steve Staios that change is required from within his roster to move forward.

After going through the motions of this past NHL trade deadline, Staios and his hockey ops staff now have an idea what the offseason trade market will bear after consulting with fellow GM’s. The Senators’ GM didn’t make any bold moves other than dealing unrestricted free agent Vladimir Tarasenko to Florida for draft picks and claiming forward Boris Katchouk from the Chicago Blackhawks, but those conversations will be a baseline for the Senators’ summer.

In an interview with Gino Reda for TSN’s “That’s Hockey,” Staios re-iterated his message since joining the Senators: to build around the team’s existing core group of players. Staios and Senators’ senior vice-president of hockey operations, Dave Poulin, have each expressed a desire to add a veteran player or two to the roster mix on multiple occasions.

“I think some of the (playoff) expectations were a little bit debilitating for us. We have a young team, a very good talented group of players. I think we’ll see how the offseason goes, what we can add. But there has to be growth from within as well. I don’t think any of our core group of players can be looking outside to just improve themselves and continue to move forward as a group. There’s certainly things we can do as a management staff to help support that, but also the growth within the group,” said Staios Wednesday from the NHL GM meetings.

Even under the leadership of interim head coach Jacques Martin and his assistant Daniel Alfredsson, the team is still prone to inconsistencies.

When Martin/Alfredsson took the reigns, the Senators were mired in a four-game losing streak. Upon losing another pair, the club reeled off an 11-4-3 record and seemed to be making headway, making lots of positives.

However, they went on a seven-game winless streak prior to last week’s success, earning three victories, all in dramatic fashion, two overtime games, and a shootout win.

Once again, it appeared the ship was righted. But a disastrous 21 minutes Saturday versus Carolina and another third-period collapse in Boston Tuesday sent the Senators back to square one.

After the loss versus the Hurricanes, a game in which Carolina surged ahead 3-2 with 22 seconds remaining in the second period prior to registering four third-period tallies, Senators’ alternate captain Thomas Chabot explained his team needs to manage the puck better, but also lends kudos to the Hurricanes with their style of play

“I think it’s on maturing and just being better with the puck at certain times. We had some chances of putting it behind them and forechecking them which worked for us and we didn’t do that. And obviously when you play a team like them that have a chance of winning the Stanley Cup, that’s going to come back and haunt you, and exactly what happened in the third there,” noted the eight-year veteran.

“I think it’s just the way they support each other everywhere. I mean, there’s no time that whether one guy makes a mistake, there’s not another player that’s not there to back him up. And whether it’s in the neutral zone or one guy being flat-footed, the other guy comes in with speed. Or it’s in their own zone, on squeezing in and again getting right into battle. I think they play a very solid game and you have to give them credit. There’s a reason why they’re winning most nights.”

Martin aired his disappointment, “I think at some point you’ve got to learn about game management. It’s part of being a good pro. It’s part of being a good team. You know, when you look at the third goal we had puck possession, then an offensive zone turnover ends up in our net. So those are things that you have to learn and rectify. I thought we through the first two periods, actually we had a couple more chance then did. We played very well. We competed hard. We did a really good job, and they’re one of the better teams in the league. And I think we self-destruct and also can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

TSN analyst Cheryl Pounder expanded on her weekly hit on TSN1200 Monday morning with a more technical response of not being connected as a unit and not providing a layer of support. But her main message was, “The best teams do find ways to manage the bumps within their game, and they don’t compound their mistakes. And I think that’s something that the Ottawa Senators haven’t figured out yet.”

Comments from Chabot, Martin, Pounder are telling. They recognize deep issues when it comes to hockey fundamentals in their own way.

One thing is for certain, Steve Staios has reached the point, he’s fully aware what areas of the Senators’ roster needs to be addressed this offseason.