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Ottawa Senators preview: Darkest before the dawn

By Dave Stevenson

OTTAWA, ON - MARCH 29: Ottawa Senators celebrate their win after overtime National Hockey League action between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators on March 29, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - MARCH 29: Ottawa Senators celebrate their win after overtime National Hockey League action between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators on March 29, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Ottawa Senators will easily be one of the worst teams in the NHL after trading Erik Karlsson. They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. Just how dark will this season be for them? 

Even before the Ottawa Senators traded captain Erik Karlsson, they were projected to be one of the worst teams in the NHL. Imagine telling yourself this a year ago. 365 days earlier, the Senators were coming off an Eastern Conference Final appearance. They were one goal away from making their second Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history.

It’s amazing how far the Senators have fallen since then. While Ottawa should have seen this coming because a lot of their underlying numbers were alarmingly bad during their postseason run, who would have thought the Senators would go from riches to rags so quickly?

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They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. This season is going to be really terrible for the Senators. On paper, Ottawa is going to challenge the 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche as the worst team in the salary cap era. And that’s with Mark Stone and Matt Duchene, who are both free agents after this season. Depending on if (and how quickly) the Senators move on from both of them, they could be even worse.

The worst part is, as bad as Ottawa is going to be this season, they currently do not have their own first-round pick. Electing to keep their 2018 first-round pick over their 2019 first-round pick could haunt the Senators for the foreseeable future.

Offseason Recap:

Additions: F Chris Tierney, D Dylan DeMelo, F Rudolfs Balcers, F Paul Carey, F Adam Tambellini

Tierney and DeMelo were a part of the return for Karlsson, as was Balcers. The first two are locks to make the roster. Balcers likely needs another year in the AHL, but he might get a chance in the NHL this season, given Ottawa’s lack of organizational depth.

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