The restricted free agent
agreed to terms
with Ottawa Wednesday on a one-year deal for the 2021-22 season.
"I'm looking forward to the season," Mete said. "I thought I was playing really good hockey towards the end there so hopefully I can bring that from the start this season."
Mete was picked up on waivers from Montreal on April 12. In those 14 games with Ottawa, the 23-year-old had a goal and an assist. With the Sens, he averaged three minutes more a night than he had with Montreal, playing 17:27 with the Senators compared to 14:09 with the Canadiens.
A large part of that came down to the immediate trust Sens head coach D.J. Smith put in him.
"I think it's huge if your coach has confidence in you," Mete said. "D.J. pretty much just gave me the green light to go out there and play my game and I think I was able to take advantage of that and play like I can and play mistake free and not worry that if I do make a mistake, I won't be playing the rest of the game.
The Woodbridge, Ont., native had some immediate success paired with Josh Brown before he was lost down the stretch to injury before finishing the season playing alongside Nikita Zaitsev. He's going to have some competition on the left side however when training camp starts as the Senators have added two left-sided defenceman this offseason in Michael Del Zotto and Nick Holden.
"There will be more competition in camp now but I've got to go and earn my spot on the team," Mete said.
With the Sens finishing last season 10-3-1, confidence was high at the end of the campaign. And with a tight knit group of guys, Mete, who has been skating three times a week since June and has been in the gym five days a week, is hopeful that carries over immediately into the 2021-22 season.
"We're a pretty young team and we're all pretty close so it will be a lot of fun this year to get the fans in the building and be able to enjoy a regular season now with everyone," Mete said. "We ended the season really well last year so hopefully we can bring what we were doing towards the end of the last season to the beginning of next season and hopefully get into the playoffs."
