Senators, Canadiens head into Kraft Hockeyville with high hopes

TROIS-RIVIERES, Quebec -- "Keep building."

Jake Sanderson was asked Friday if he could describe an overall theme for the Ottawa Senators ahead of the regular season. The defenseman thought for a moment and then stressed the requisite steps needed to be taken seriously as a Stanley Cup contender.

"I feel like we are close …," Sanderson said. "We got to be more consistent, and we got to leave it all out there. We got to score more goals. Last year was tough, for sure, but a lot to build on and a lot to be excited for this year."

Sanderson referenced getting swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round after going 16-5-4 coming off the break for the 2026 Winter Olympics, the third-best record in the East to finish the season.

Keep building is a common thread between the Senators, the Montreal Canadiens and Kraft Hockeyville. The Atlantic Division rivals face off at Colisee Videotron in Trois-Rivieres on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1) to celebrate Saint-Boniface, the winning community about 20 minutes away. Hockeyville is back in Quebec for the first time since the Canadiens' 3-2 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Benoit-Levesque Arena in Roberval on Sept. 23, 2008. Ottawa plays its preseason opener 3-6-0 at the event and two seasons after a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Sudbury Community Arena to fete Elliot Lake, Ontario. 

The Senators of today wasted no time getting serious by hiring referees for their first intrasquad scrimmage on Day 2 of training camp, 33-year-old goalie Linus Ullmark referring to a half-glass-full kind of team that has grown on multiple levels since he was traded to Ottawa by the Boston Bruins on June 24, 2024. The Senators finished 45-30-7 and ended a seven-year Stanley Cup Playoff drought in 2024-25 before going 44-27-11 and qualifying for the playoffs again last season.

"If we had a conversation today regarding where this team was five years ago and comparing it to today, it's a completely different team (and) personnel," Ullmark said Friday. "It's fun being on this train going forwards and seeing the steps that we've taken, not just for us as hockey players, but for the organization as a whole."

The local vibes on each side are strong. Canadiens forward Zachary Bolduc was born in Trois-Rivieres and Senators forward Xavier Bourgault played junior hockey for Shawinigan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, 10 minutes from Saint-Boniface. Ninety minutes south is Laval, the native homes of Montreal coach Martin St. Louis and Ottawa defenseman Samuel Bolduc (no relation to Zachary), who played for Blainville in the 'Q,' also about 90 minutes away.

Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault is from Becancour, nearly 20 minutes from Trois-Rivieres. He has a home five minutes from Arena de Saint-Boniface and his wife, Daryanne, gave birth to the couple's first child in July, a girl they named Margot.

"Really nice rink, almost brand new," Montembeault said. "Really big for the region and I'm super happy for Saint-Boniface. Last time (I was) there, they really needed it. There was ice outside of the ice. A lot of good memories there when I was playing summer hockey."

Drake Batherson, signed by Ottawa on Wednesday to an eight-year, $86 million contract ($10.75 million average annual value) that begins next season, has twice played hero. His goal at 2:45 of overtime gave the Senators a 3-2 win against the Canadiens at J.K. Irving Centre in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, honoring Elsipogtog First Nation on Oct. 8, 2022. The next year he had four points (one goal, three assists) in a 4-2 victory against the Florida Panthers at Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Oct. 1, 2023, inside the building where he skated for Cape Breton of the QMJHL from 2015-18.

"Yeah, it's awesome just getting to interact with the smaller towns," Batherson said. "I come from a small town (Fort Wayne, Indiana), so I know how much it means to those kids, and I just try to make the most of it and have some fun with them."

The Canadiens were running back a 106-point team (48-24-10) that lost the Eastern Conference Final in five games to the Hurricanes until signing 35-year-old forward Chris Kreider to a one-year contract Sept. 12. Two days later, St. Louis signed a four-year contract. The Hockey Hall of Famer is 163-155-47 in five seasons as coach and the arrow is trending upwards.

"They're very engaged and embracing (expectations) and welcoming them," St. Louis said. "But then to me it's the attitude on the ice. I feel the group looks really hungry and not just in the effort, but also in the engagement and the conversations that we're having."

The same can be said about the Senators, who could have an extra chip on their shoulders on Monday before a partisan Canadiens crowd. Each were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion, yet Carolina's biggest margin of victory in the first round was two goals (2-0 in Game 1, 4-2 in Game 4). Ottawa lost 3-2 in double overtime of Game 2 and 2-1 in Game 3.

The intent on each side is to keep building. On Monday they will play for Saint-Boniface, a small community carrying tremendous momentum toward their own redesign.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to play," Samuel Bolduc said, "but it's always fun to go back to ... I never played in that rink, but I played (in) that area a couple of times when I was younger. It's a nice place, it's a nice area."

NHL.com independent correspondents Sean Farrell and Zoe Pierce contributed to this report