Sens getting younger, but are they getting better?

There is a youth movement going on in Canada's capital city, and a new coach to oversee it.

For the second time in three years, the Ottawa Senators failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season -- a fact that cost coach Cory Clouston his job. But with former Detroit assistant Paul MacLean the new bench boss in Ottawa, the Senators -- whose AHL affiliate is coming off its first Calder Cup championship -- are hopeful that good times are ahead.

MacLean, 53, spent the past six seasons as Mike Babcock's assistant in Detroit and helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 2008. It's his first head-coaching gig in the NHL, but he did lead the UHL's Quad City Mallards to a stunning .787 winning percentage (112-27-9) over two seasons at the turn of the century.

It will be MacLean's job to oversee the maturation of what will be a young team with a lot of promise. Sure, veteran mainstays such as Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Chris Phillips are back, but eight players are 25 or younger. That doesn't include 21-year-old Nikita Filatov, who was acquired via trade from Columbus on draft weekend.

Goaltending will be key for this group, which is why GM Bryan Murray didn't even wait for the season to end before he signed Craig Anderson to a four-year, $12.75 million extension. Anderson won 11 of his 18 appearances and had a 2.05 goals-against average after being acquired via trade from Colorado in February. Murray shored up his tandem in July when he signed Alex Auld to be Anderson's backup.

Ottawa's 13th-place finish in the Eastern Conference last season allowed Murray to pluck Mika Zibanejad with the No. 6 selection in the Entry Draft. The skilled center was one of three first-round picks by Ottawa this summer, as some wheeling and dealing by also allowed the Senators to select Stefan Noesen (No. 21) and Matt Puempel (No. 24). While it's unlikely any of the three will land in the NHL this season, the future for this franchise is certainly bright.
     


After reaching career highs in both goals (11) and points (27), 28-year-old winger Ryan Shannon left the club via free agency last month and signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Also gone is Marek Svatos, who was claimed off waivers from Nashville in February but was limited to just 19 games due to concussions. He remains an unrestricted free agent.

Three of Ottawa's six goaltenders from last season also won't be back. Curtis McElhinney, who went 3-4-0 in seven appearances for the Sens, signed with the Phoenix Coyotes as a free agent. Oft-injured Pascal Leclaire and Mike Brodeur remain on the market.



Fourth-line center Zenon Konopka joins the Senators and will provide the club with plenty of faceoff victories -- and penalty minutes. Konopka appeared in all 82 games for the New York Islanders last season and led the NHL with 307 penalty minutes. The next closest was Ottawa's Chris Neil, who had 210.

Auld, a journeyman backup, is now in Ottawa after signing a one-year deal last month. This will be Auld's second stint with the Senators -- he went 16-18-7 with a 2.47 GAA for the club in 2008-09. Auld was 6-2-2 with a 2.64 GAA in 16 appearances for Montreal last season.

The wild-card for Ottawa this season could be Filatov. The Russian winger was highly touted when he was taken with the sixth pick by the Blue Jackets at the 2008 Entry Draft, but Filatov only appeared in 44 NHL games over three seasons and had 6 goals and 7 assists. He was shipped to Ottawa in June for a third-round pick. Could he put it all together under MacLean? If he does, it will be a steal for the Senators.
 


The Senators have missed the playoffs twice in three seasons after making the postseason 11 times in row. If they plan on ending their slump, they're going to need to buy into MacLean's system from Day One and also get both durability and production from their veterans.

That means Alfredsson, the team captain who has been a part of the organization since 1994, needs to bounce back from an injury-plagued season that barely saw him break the 30-point plateau. It also means Spezza needs to stay on the ice and return to the form he exhibited from 2005-09, when he gave opponents fits on a nightly basis and tallied 87 points or more in three of those four seasons.

The bottom line is that this is a team in transition. In order for the Senators to return to the playoffs, they're likely going to have to overachieve. It's a safe bet that MacLean will do everything he can to change the culture and bring a winning attitude. But does he have the horses to tally victories consistently? Time will tell.

Follow Brian Compton on Twitter: @BComptonNHL