Five storylines to watch as Senators open training camp

The sun will cross the celestial equinox the evening of Sept. 22 to mark the beginning of fall, but in Ottawa, the season has arrived early.

The Senators announced a roster of 57 for training camp on Wednesday morning before players reported to Canadian Tire Centre for the first official day of camp — though they will not take to the ice together until Thursday. 

Head coach Travis Green met the media in the afternoon, and discussed a plethora of storylines, including the team’s vacant captaincy, offseason additions, and expectations for the season.

Will the Senators name a captain before opening night?

The Senators are one of eight NHL teams currently without a captain, along with the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks.

Green said that the team had not chosen a captain yet and was looking to see the team together at training camp to ensure that the right decision would be made.

“Part of that reasoning is we want to see our team together again. We also have young guys that are maturing from year to year,” said Green. 

“I think it's important that we get a look at our group throughout camp. It's not something that we need to rush into, but it's definitely something that we're talking about, and we'll let you know when we know.”

What does life after Brady look like?

After eight seasons with Brady Tkachuk, the Senators will move into a new era in 2026–27. What was Green’s initial reaction to hearing that his captain requested a trade?

“I mean, it's been a while now. I have talked about it a few times, I think disappointing… That anytime a player has to be traded or moved, doesn't matter who it is, I think as a coach, you do get disappointed,” said Green.

“And when it's your captain, and someone you’ve built a relationship with, that would be probably the first thing that came to mind, and I think that's a pretty natural reaction from any coach, to be honest. He's a good player, and you don't want to see that. But you know, that happened, and here we are today.”

How will offseason additions Eklund, Burakovsky, and Ersson fare?

On Thursday, William Eklund will take his first official skate with his new Senators teammates. So will Andre Burakovsky and Sam Ersson. Green was asked about Eklund’s fit with the group.

“Well, he's just a good player. I mean, at the end of the day, that's the easiest way to explain it, and he's still relatively young, too,” said Green. 

“I'm probably going to get asked where [I] see some of these guys playing, and I don't know yet, but he's a good enough hockey player, and he's still young, [so] he's going to definitely help our hockey team for sure.”

Eklund has missed only 11 games over the past three seasons and has averaged 16 goals and 53 points prorated to 82 games over his 252-game career thus far.

Can the Senators continue to improve structure and identity with familiar cast?

The Senators will begin camp with a familiar cast of players, and not many jobs to be won. 

While there are a handful of players arriving at camp with NHL experience who will push throughout camp and preseason for a roster spot, the bulk of Ottawa’s lineup is set to return, giving the group an opportunity to build on the structure and identity they have established over the past two seasons rather than starting over.

“I think we've progressed the last two seasons for a lot of reasons… our players have improved. We've still got a relatively young group, [I] Iooked at our board the other day with the age of our players. I think they've all become better hockey players, and quite honestly, I expect them to be better again,” said Green. 

“That’s a big way that we're going to get better. The players we've added, they're going to help us move the needle. [I] just talked to our team about that a little bit, and I think another way... our young guys pushing to take a spot on the team, and I think we have that more this year than we have had in the past.”

What are internal expectations for the group?

Green said that he wasn’t going to share all of the messages he told his group, but one stuck out: be better. He said that he has high expectations for his group this season, and expectations to improve on last season’s 44-27-11 record.

“It's very early, but you know, that's the great thing about coaching. You've got to find ways to motivate your team. We spend the summer looking at ways that we think we can get better,” said Green.

“It's only been two years with this group; it's not a long time. I'm not worried about motivating a lot of our players. I think they also have high expectations of themselves too, of our team. They have a strong desire to win. They have a strong desire to improve and get better. We were definitely a better team last year than we were the year before, and we want to be better again this year.”

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