In the quiet of a February Friday night, we find ourselves browsing capfriendly.com. Hey, hold on. Unfortunately, defenseman Jake Sanderson, one of the Ottawa Senators’ brightest young core players, is injured. We shouldn’t focus on where they are in the rankings. Furthermore, Anton Forsberg, their backup goalie, is also sidelined. Moreover, Forsberg’s pay is being used as cap relief, which brings the capfriendly investigation into pertinent consideration. Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?
This conundrum highlights a more significant underlying issue that the Ottawa Senators appear to be dealing with. Why are they unable to overcome hardship? Therefore, it matters—just not in the way we might anticipate an injury to affect a team. In some ways, the players are to blame for their incapacity to get better. In addition, the Senators seem to play their best when their roster is full. But the Sens must figure out how to win when important players aren’t in the lineup, whether it’s Josh Norris from last year, Shane Pinto this year, or even Thomas Chabot in 2021–2022. This kind of difficulty is faced by all teams, and they all manage to overcome it.
Let’s not downplay Jake Sanderson’s injury and wish him a quick recovery. In the game against the despised Detroit Red Wings on January 31, he sustained an injury. In addition, he did not practice with the club during their break, and it is now approximately eleven days later. As a result, we can start to worry about how serious the injury is. I’m not saying it will be long-term; I’m just speculating that it might be more of a week-to-week situation. The fact that he hasn’t been practicing is alarming. This week, we will learn about his condition.
Is Hamonic the Best Choice?
This is the point where accountability is needed, especially if the Senators were in a close playoff race. At these moments, management needs to take charge and appoint qualified successors. Travis Hamonic fills in for them internally; he plays 14:44 a night. At one point in his career, Hamonic might have been a top-four defenceman on a team that made the playoffs. On the other hand, 2023–24 is not that period. Despite his (career-worst) CF% Rel of -11.7, the 33-year-old is unable to overcome it with big hits and shot blocking. The idea is that the Sens would have to upgrade their lineup if they were in a close playoff race. The trade route would probably be used for that.
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