Senators general manager Steve Staios meets the media

Travis Green has spent just shy of a year and a half behind the bench of the Ottawa Senators. The man who hired him, president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios, has liked what he’s seen. ‘Very good,” was the report card given by Staios as he met the media on Monday morning.

“We set out to change a culture and an environment,” added Staios. “He’s held to a high bar of accountability. He’s got a great ability to communicate with his players. He’s open, he’s honest, and he’s firm… he’s started to develop an identity to the team, and a chemistry to the team… I think he’s done a very good job.”

Staios touched on several other topics, including the Senators’ start to the year, the team’s continued response to the absence of their captain Brady Tkachuk, the goaltending situation, offseason trade addition Jordan Spence, contract negotiations for Shane Pinto, and the team’s AHL depth.

On offseason trade addition Jordan Spence

Staios stressed that transitions to new teams and systems take time, and that he’s been happy with how Jordan Spence has adapted to his new team as he’s split time with Nikolas Matinpalo on the backend.

He also spoke about the rationale behind acquiring Spence — who has scored once and added six assists through his first seven games — noting that fellow right-shot defenceman Nick Jensen’s offseason hip surgery and uncertain recovery timeline was a major part of it.

“We’ve always liked Jordan as a player, kept our eye on him,” said Staios. “We have depth in the position, which is a good thing to have.” Staios also noted that he and Travis Green have multiple conversations per day about lineup decisions and deployment.

“Sometimes it just takes time. It’s a good problem to have, where you have a player who wasn’t in the lineup that you know can come in and give you those minutes. You talk about depth, it’s good to have a real NHL player that can jump in and play the way he did.”

On the team’s goaltending situation

Staios gave a nod of confidence to starter Linus Ullmark, who has started the year 6-4-3 with an .866 save percentage and 3.24 goals-against average.

“I believe in Linus, the team believes in Linus,” said Staios. “I think if you look at goaltending around the league, some of the top goaltenders go through stretches where they’re not getting the results that they want.”

Ullmark is beginning the first season of a four-year, $33 million contract extension, and with that, Staios says that the Swede has made the commitment to being “in better shape than he’s ever been in.”

The general manager also said he didn’t want to offer up any excuses for a tough start, but said he thinks luck has played a factor when you look at some of the goals that have gone in, and also that Ullmark’s game is rounding into form.

The netminder has picked up points for the team in four straight starts — which have all gone to overtime — and holds an .883 save percentage and 2.82 goals-against average in those games.

“Over a long period of time, he’s our guy,” said Staios. “We have full faith in him, and we have a pretty good young goaltender in Leevi Meriläinen who continues to develop as well.”

On the team’s start

The Senators have been up-and-down a bit in 2025–26. Coming off their first playoff berth since 2017, expectations were sky-high for the group. The Senators would win their first game of the season against Tampa Bay, but after that, fail to get back over .500 until Oct. 27, when they scored seven goals for the second straight game in a win over Boston.

Staios said that he was a little surprised about the slow start, with continuity in both the roster and coaching staff from that playoff run. “Some early stumbles,” said Staios. “To be quite honest with you, I think we pissed away some points early on,” he added, noting that playoff expectations were something new to the group.

Since then, it’s been smoother sailing, and the Sens hold an 8-5-3 record and have collected points in nine of their last 10 games heading into Tuesday’s meeting with Dallas. Staios said the team is “definitely” getting back to the identity that they want to play to.

“I think you always look at different points of the season, and I think the games against Washington and Boston, we had success putting the puck in the net and it was all due to our checking,” said Staios. “I think that was sort of the revelation for our group to understand that that’s when we’re at our best."

On the absence of Brady Tkachuk

Staios gave Green credit for “not building in excuses” in the absence of the team’s captain Brady Tkachuk, who was injured in the team’s home opener against Nashville and underwent thumb surgery. Staios said he thinks the environment would have been “pointed right towards” the missing part of their lineup in the past, but that has not been the case this season.

“We wanted to make sure that we took the approach that it’s next man up, and we’re not going to use that as an excuse,” said Staios. “And Brady’s done all he can to continue to lead, even with his injury, being in and around the group. So credit to the group, we know how much of an impact that he is for us as a team, yet I think that our players took it upon themselves to step up and continue to play well.”

Staios said Tkachuk is itching to come back as soon as possible, and continues to skate, but that the timeline remains the same as originally announced (six to eight weeks from the surgery on Oct. 16). “I know he’d like to move that up, he’s put in the work,” added Staios.

On the trade market amidst parity in the Eastern Conference

“We’re always looking at opportunities to improve our team,” acknowledged Staios, but that there were no specific areas he was looking to address. “The timing is, as we’ve seen, sometimes it’s not at the trade deadline or July 1st. You continue to have discussions and see if there’s a fit. This group continues to grow, they continue to improve in certain areas.”

Staios admitted that the unique and parity-filled start to the NHL season — especially in the Eastern Conference, where just one team (Buffalo) is under .500 after the first month of the season — gives sellers a leg up in the trade market.

“It’ll be interesting to have discussions, because I think everybody is trying to do the same thing, improve their team, yet everybody is so close, it makes it challenging,” described Staios.

On the team’s development pipeline and Carter Yakemchuk

For the second straight preseason, 2024 seventh overall pick Carter Yakemchuk made a bid to make the Sens’ opening night roster. Both fell just short, but this time, the 6-foot-4 defenceman was assigned only an arm’s length away and has been making the most of his first AHL season. Yakemchuk has scored twice and has five assists in 12 games with Belleville.

“Our young guys continue to grow,” said Staios, who noted that he thinks first-year general manager Matt Turek has been a “nice step forward for the organization.” Staios emphasized that Belleville is a young team, with Stephen Halliday and Xavier Bourgault (both 23) leading the team in scoring, and Yakemchuk (20) leading the back-end in both deployment and scoring.

“We put him in a lot of situations, almost to the point where we’ve talked about Carter playing a little bit too much in the back-to-backs and three-in-threes,” said Staios. “We want to continue to put him in those situations and let him learn, but he’s been very, very good, and to the point where a number of those players can come up and give us minutes.”

On Shane Pinto contract negotiations

Shane Pinto’s two-year, $3.75 million AAV deal is expiring, making the centre a restricted free agent at the end of the season. The 24-year-old has rocketed out of the gates in his contract year with eight goals and six assists through 16 games.

Staios said there has been “continued good dialogue” between the team and player, and that the sides will meet this week. “Shane’s a good player. He’s an important player, and we’ll continue to work on it.”

On the team’s bottom six depth

Neither of the team’s usual fourth-line left wingers Olle Lycksell or Kurtis MacDermid dressed Sunday night against Utah, though Staios said there was nothing affecting them that was “significant or serious” despite the absence and ensuing call-up of Hayden Hodgson.

“Good to have players that can come up and play some minutes,” said Staios, when asked about Hodgson’s insertion into the lineup on Sunday night. Hodgson played his first game of the season for the Sens after being called up the same day from Belleville.

Originally undrafted, the power forward was acquired as a free agent in July of 2024 and was re-signed to a two-year, two-way contact this past offseason. Hodgson dealt out three hits in just under seven minutes of game time on the fourth line. “Hayden brings an element of speed and physicality, and I thought he was spot on in following the game plan last night, and effective,” said Staios.

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