Several players have significantly increased their on-ice value thanks to the system and mentality implemented by the coaching staff.
Photo by Alexander Mils / Unsplash
After two full seasons under a Travis Green system, the Ottawa Senators have forged a new identity, characterized by a forecheck-heavy offence, four lines of scoring, and top-tier defensive play that doesn’t rely on Craig Anderson-caliber goaltending to win games.
And while a team is certainly more than the sum of its parts, it’s still worthwhile to look at how individual players have evolved their own games, from a player evaluation standpoint.
Take Shane Pinto, for example. Ever since his college days, the former 2019 2nd-round pick was touted as a two-way forward, but in his first two full seasons with the Sens under former head coach D.J. Smith (2022-2024), he wasn’t even trusted with a regular role on the secondary PK unit. Today, he’s not only one of the club’s most-utilized players in killing penalties, but his defensive play at 5-on-5 has improved by leaps and bounds as well, which was recognized on this year’s Selke ballot, receiving more first-place nods than all but two other candidates while finishing sixth overall.
Pinto wasn’t the only member of this formerly-disastrous defensive team to earn Selke votes, however. Michael Amadio, who is entering the third and final year of his three-year, $2.6M/year contract, received two second-place votes while finishing 20th in voting. He’s been a strong two-way depth winger in Vegas as well, but the Senators have focused a lot more at deploying him in a shutdown role alongside Pinto – the two were deployed against opposing teams’ top lines and routinely won their minutes.
By far the biggest example of a player increasing in value after joining the Senators, is Dylan Cozens. Often maligned for his defensive play in Buffalo, the 7th-overall pick of the 2019 NHL draft was considered to be on a bad contract – hence the trade at the 2025 deadline for Ottawa’s own albatross in Josh Norris. Both players (when healthy) have benefitted from the move, as Cozens quickly learned what Green’s training camps were all about after blocking a shot:
Travis Green training camp claimed its first victim this year pic.twitter.com/GF5XMHukNv
— vic (@stargqzing) September 18, 2025
While tracked data on Cozens shows he’s still below average at supressing rush chances, his play with the puck and in his own end improved to the point where he also took advantage of the Green effect and earned two third-place Selke votes, allowing him to clock in at 30th place on the ballot.
And yes, like Pinto, he also scored a shorthanded goal against the Leafs in the playoffs:
Every offseason, the Athletic ranks all 32 NHL teams by cap efficiency ($$$) – essentially, how much projected value their roster brings to the table, relative to how much they’re paid. For example, Jake Sanderson (the NHL’s second-best contract according to their model), has a cap hit of $8.05M, but the Athletic values him at cap hit of $17.5M – making him significantly underpaid. Multiply that by the contract’s remaining length of six seasons, and you get $56.7M in positive value.
The Senators ranked 5th last season in contract efficiency – even without Brady Tkachuk, who’s underpaid by ~$3M according to the Athletic, they rose to 3rd this year, in spite of their goalie numbers tanking.
The Sanderson and Tim Stützle deals drive most of the extra value on that front, but what really stood out to me were the trio of forwards mentioned above that improved by leaps and bounds defensively, that have contributed to the Senators having one of the brightest futures in the league.
A look at how the Athletic viewed these three players over the last three seasons paints a clear picture of each of their improvement. I’ve also thrown in Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot, and Artem Zub so we can see more examples of long-term Senators being positively affected by a coaching change.
Player
2024 Value
2025 Value
2026 Value
Shane Pinto
$6.2M
$5.8M
$10.1M
Mike Amadio
$2.4M
$3.2M
$4.9M
Dylan Cozens
$6.7M
$5.6M
$9.3M
Thomas Chabot
$6.1M
$7.4M
$8.7M
Drake Batherson
$5.8M
$7.2M
$8.5M
Artem Zub
$5.0M
$6.2M
$8.2M
Tim Stützle
$10.7M
$12.7M
$12.7M
Jake Sanderson
$10.8M
$11.9M
$17.5M
When you combine quality pro scouting with an effective system, this is the result you get. Over $40M in cap space next year with your franchise defenceman and top three centres locked up for at least the next four seasons. That’s the window of contention that Green and GM Steve Staios have built, which makes these next few seasons crucial for the Senators.