OTTAWA — After fumbling the puck too many times during an October game against Boston, Tim Stützle knew it was finally time to listen to Daniel Alfredsson.

Alfredsson, the longtime Ottawa Senators captain-turned-assistant coach, has worked with the young German centre on improving many details in his game since joining the Senators coaching staff in 2023. They’ve even spoken about Stützle’s tape job, subtle stretches of white tape covering the front of his stick blade while leaving the rest bare. But after two periods of play against Boston, Stützle grabbed a roll and covered his entire stick blade.

It worked. Stützle scored 33 seconds into the third period. The first of two goals in a 7-2 onslaught victory over the Bruins. However, Stützle was very close to finishing that game with another stick that didn’t feature his brand-new tape work. Alfredsson wasn’t having it.

“You’ve got to put tape on this stick, too. You cannot go back to the old,” Alfredsson said. Stützle responded by saying he didn’t have enough tape to cover the rest of his blade.

“Well, find some tape,” Alfredsson responded. Stützle has eight goals and 12 points in his last 11 games since converting.

“Tape on his stick, Mike” 😂

Tune in this Friday for the latest Breakaway presented by @Bell debuts 📺 pic.twitter.com/3somPsOhl3

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 19, 2025

It’s a small, yet significant step in the 23-year-old’s game as he continues his journey of becoming a fully-formed, all-situations player after being challenged to do so last year by head coach Travis Green. Stützle was always the team’s de facto No. 1 centre and a fixture on its top power-play unit. But he’s grown more into his defensive responsibilities as a penalty killer and has drastically improved his faceoffs.

“I wanted that myself too,” Stützle told The Athletic in October. “I think I really understood what it takes to win, and I wanted to get better offensively. But also defensively. I think I’ve taken strides. I’ve got to take more strides this year again and be better, be more reliable.”

A superstar player who consistently puts “a lot” of pressure on himself to be better.

“Probably more than I do,” Green said. “And that’s also what you want.”

“I like playing in pressure moments, and I think that just brings the best out of me,” Stützle said. “And that’s why I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think sometimes, maybe for the wrong reasons. But I’ve just got to keep going and keep getting better.”

It comes at a time when the Senators have remained competitive 20 games into their season. Despite having the fourth-worst save percentage, the second-worst penalty kill, and playing without captain Brady Tkachuk, who for now remains sidelined after surgery on his right thumb.

Those deficiencies are slowly improving, but when they weren’t, Stützle and the Senators’ offence made up for it. The German centre is playing at a point-per-game pace as his skill set continues to create problems for other teams. Since Oct. 15, the first game after Tkachuk’s injury, Stützle has scored 10 goals and 18 points in 17 games as his team has gone 9-4-4.

“Very dynamic player,” Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Very fast, powerful, dynamic with the puck, difficult to check. Whether you put speed on him, I believe he’s strong enough that he can outmuscle a guy. Put a strong guy on him; he’s going to use his speed and beat him that way. I think he’s very difficult to check.”

“He’s great every time you play him,” Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield said. “He’s a fun player to watch. And every time he’s out there, I feel like he has the puck and he’s doing something, creating offence. And definitely somebody got to watch out for, and know who we’re up against.”

“He’s a very, very skilled young man,” Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “But he’s worked hard at all the other parts of his games. His intensity level is very high. He’s not a perimeter player. He drives every shift.

“There’s some young, skilled guys (who) come in the league, and they play on that skill. It takes them a while before they mature into how hard you have to work. I think he’s got that part nailed down.”

In the summer of 2024, Stützle met with Green and hired a personal chef to improve his eating habits and spent much of last season committing himself to both ends of the ice. It resulted in the best defensive underlying metrics of his career last year, according to Evolving-Hockey.

And speaking of maturity, Stützle took that step by showcasing his leadership skills off the ice when it came time to accommodate a new teammate in Fabian Zetterlund, sending him a block of text welcoming him to the team and asking him to move into his place until he got settled. It also meant Zetterlund got a front-row seat to Stützle’s celebrity in Ottawa.

“He’s a rock star. He’s a star in this league,” Zetterlund said. “And you can see that everywhere he goes. People are after him. Fans and stuff. And how he dresses up, too. It’s always nice. The kid’s got some style.”

Stützle entered the season hoping to build on last year’s success, especially with the franchise wanting more from its players. That included a specific challenge to the team’s best centres: improving on their faceoffs. Stützle’s faceoff percentage is currently above 60 percent. He’s never finished a season over 47 percent.

“The biggest thing with (Stützle) was for him to realize the value of a faceoff,” Senators assistant coach Ben Sexton said. “As a younger guy in this league, for the first couple of years in the league, he probably didn’t value faceoffs as a whole. And now he’s realized, he’s grown, he’s gotten stronger.

“He’s now taken onus of it to add another club to his bag and who he is as a player. And I think he realizes now it’s another way to get ice time.”

On Thursday night, in a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, Stützle was having a tough night in the circle, ending the game with a 42.9 percent rate. The lowest he’s posted since Nov. 1, when he failed to win a faceoff in three tries. And if you want a larger sample size, he won 45.5 percent of his faceoffs (5-for-11) against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 30.

When the Senators need a faceoff win, the team will sometimes trot out Claude Giroux even if he isn’t playing centre. Instead, Stützle was out for the offensive zone faceoff. Not only did he win it, but the Senators sustained their offensive zone possession until Jake Sanderson fired the puck on net. Teammate Drake Batherson redirected the puck into the net for the eventual game-winning goal.

BATHERSON SCORES LATE IN REGULATION TO GIVE THE SENS A 3-2 LEAD! pic.twitter.com/sAzC2bhj5O

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 21, 2025

A prime example of the Senators entrusting Stützle with more responsibility late in games. And it’s not just in the offensive zone with Stützle. The Senators have grown more comfortable letting him take defensive-zone faceoffs, too. And depending on who’s in the lineup, the Sens will trot out Stützle on their fourth line to maximize his playing time. Especially when they need a goal.

“It obviously helps us any time that you can have your star play the way that you want as a staff on a nightly basis,” Sexton said. “Playing on the right side of pucks, being competitive in their 50-50 battles, focusing on the little details of the game. You talk about culture. Culture is what your stars and your players make it. And Tim’s a prime example of that. He’s taken ownership of his game and how we want to play as a group, and he does it every night.”

And with that success comes praise from the league’s best, in and out of his dressing room.

“He’s a generational talent. He’s so special,” Sanderson said. “Every single time he’s on the ice, he doesn’t take a day off.”

“He’s obviously a very dangerous weapon on the ice,” Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for how dangerous he is.”

Even from coaches such as Maurice, who complimented the Senators’ core earlier this season by saying the group was “coming of age.”

“And then as they win more games, he’ll be recognized for his talent,” Maurice said.

But for Stützle, the opinions from those closest to him matter most. Especially when it comes to improving himself on the ice.

“I don’t really care what anybody says outside this room, other than my family,” Stützle said. “I know that I’m a good hockey player, and I can still be way better. I’m confident in myself. I know I’m capable of my abilities, and I know if I’m not playing good. And I don’t really need anybody else than in this room, or this organization to tell me if I’m playing bad. I know that myself.

“I think being held accountable is really important as well. (It) makes me a better player, and that’s where I want to be.”