Staff Grade: A-, Reader Grade: B+<\/p>\n
There is no argument that Thomas Chabot has been the fact of the growth of this team. He developed from a promising young prospect to a core player whose impact on the team may be one of the most important both in a negative and positive light.<\/p>\n
While the team went through many ups and downs this past season, Chabot’s injuries may have been one of the worst determinants for the team. Possibly even more so than Jake Sanderson’s.<\/p>\n
For many years, Chabot had carried the team on his back; he carried it well, but it might have cost him in the long run. Getting the support from Sanderson and Zub showed how much more Chabot had to give to the team when he wasn’t under an immense amount of pressure.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, for Chabot, this season was hard to get any rhythm going with an upper body injury in November that saw him miss 12 games, followed by a late-season broken arm, where he heroically returned only 17 days later. But even with both injuries and the decreased number of games played, Chabot still managed 31 points and an average ice time of 22 minutes. His production of 0.54 points per game was higher than the previous season, and his impact on the ice seemed to stabilize the entire defensive group.<\/p>\n
As with the rest of the team, the season didn’t always go as planned for Chabot. Even without the injuries, there were times when his usually sound decision-making was questionable. The most likely reason for this would be the injury Nick Jensen suffered during the tail end of the 2024-25 season, which led to a steep decline in performance for a once-capable partner.<\/p>\n
Chabot played 46 games with Jensen this season, and their CF% stood at 49.2%. Compare this to the 48 games Chabot played with Jordan Spence, where their CF% was at a respectable 64%. Chabot regained the support he had temporarily lost, and Spence benefited from learning from one of the best on the team. Spence and Chabot became the dream pairing that could improve the Sens’ overall offensive outlook while also playing a tight, effective defensive system. <\/p>\n
Off the ice, Chabot has established himself as a leader and mentor to all. He has also become an integral part of the community and an all-around fan favourite. As far as I’m concerned, he should have been the Captain a long time ago, but that’s another conversation. His presence brings maturity while also keeping things light when needed. While coming back from injury early isn’t something to be expected from any player, Chabot’s determination to come back to help lead the team into the playoffs isn’t something to be ignored. <\/p>\n
Ever since he joined the team, Chabot has been the cornerstone of the Sens even through their toughest and darkest days. Sanderson’s emergence as a Top-10 defenceman in the NHL has provided Chabot with some much-needed relief, but he remains a player the Sens need to contribute offensively and defensively consistently. Even with an injured arm, he had the top average ice time through 4 games, but nothing to show for it, which is unacceptable for a player of his caliber. Another area where he struggled this season was on the power play; the Sens needed him to do a better job getting some offense, and a total of 7 power play points was simply not good enough for our top defenseman. <\/p>\n
The biggest concern with Chabot is his health, as he’s reached the over 70 games played mark only once in his career, but if he can stay healthy and find the comfortable pairing that he needs, the team can be much more threatening both offensively and defensively. <\/p>\n
Thomas Chabot will always be underrated because what he brings to the table is more than just his ice time and point production. The entire team plays a different game when he’s present, and that says something about both his skill and leadership. <\/p>\n
He has two years left on a contract he has served well, and I cannot imagine a worse scenario for the Sens if they don’t ensure he is a part of the team going forward. At 29 years old, he still has a lot to give, and with Carter Yakemchuk coming up through the system, I cannot think of a better mentor to usher him into the big leagues on a more permanent basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Staff Grade: A-, Reader Grade: B+ There is no argument that Thomas Chabot has been the fact of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-730182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}