{"id":864764,"date":"2026-08-20T08:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/864764\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T08:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:14:20","slug":"inside-look-at-ottawa-senators-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/864764\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside look at Ottawa Senators"},"content":{"rendered":"

There also is a sense of familiarity within the team\u2019s core. Stutzle, fellow forwards Drake Batherson<\/a>, Shane Pinto<\/a> and defenseman Thomas Chabot<\/a>\u00a0are entering their seventh season together and share the mindset of unfinished business in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

“We have a bunch of guys here that have been here for a while,” Pinto told Ottawa radio station The Team 1200. \u201cI think we’re all growing together with Timmy, Drake, and \u2018Chabs\u2019 \u2026 and I think that’s the (focus) now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s immediate focus prior to the start of the season is locking up Batherson, who is entering the final season of a six-year, $29.85 million contract ($4.975 average annual value) signed on Sept. 3, 2021, and was eligible to sign a new contract as of July 1. The 28-year-old set NHL career highs in goals (33) and points (71) last season.<\/p>\n

On the leadership front, the Senators were thrilled to welcome back 38-year-old forward Claude Giroux<\/a>\u00a0for a fifth season in Ottawa after he signed a one-year, $2 million deal on July 7<\/a>. Giroux is a former captain of the Philadelphia Flyers and is an important voice in the Senators dressing room, especially with Tkachuk gone.<\/p>\n

There could be major changes off the ice for the Senators too, specifically when it comes to plans for a new arena in downtown Ottawa. Team president Cyril Leeder told season ticket holders this month that the team hopes to update fans on the progress of the proposed project in the new year.<\/p>\n

Put it all together, and it\u2019s clear the Senators plan to step on the gas pedal and move forward in all aspects of their operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can’t look at the team right now and be like, \u2018Oh, we’re sure going to make the playoffs,’ or ‘We’re for sure going to go to the second round’ \u2018 Giroux said. “It just doesn’t work like that. Teams are going to be waiting for us now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it’s a challenge that (we’re all) looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There also is a sense of familiarity within the team\u2019s core. Stutzle, fellow forwards Drake Batherson, Shane Pinto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-864764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864764","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=864764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}