NHL Mailbag: Reviewing NY Rangers rebuild, New York Islanders, and more

Senators

Q: How did the Ottawa Senators become such a [darn] trainwreck? 

It has been a violent, fast, and ruthlessly ugly fall from grace for the Ottawa Senators. Not even 24 months ago, they took the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to overtime in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. Fast forward to the present day and there’s not a team with a less certain future than the Senators.

So where did they go wrong? It all started with that magical 2017 playoff run. The Senators thought it was something more than hockey being really weird and unsustainable numbers. They proved this when they traded their 2019 first-round pick (among other valuable assets) for Matt Duchene. In a vacuum, it wasn’t an awful trade. But what’s undeniable is that trade was pretty much the turning point, for the worst.

The sad part is, Duchene probably has nothing to do with it. He’s been great for Ottawa and has hopefully rebuilt his value enough to sign a nice long-term deal in the summer. The Senators have been notoriously cheap under Eugene Melnyk. But it went to the next level when they traded captain Erik Karlsson.

Fans are understandably reluctant to support the Senators. I sure wouldn’t give a penny to them at this point. The blame tends to be directed at the Holy Trinity of head coach Guy Boucher, general manager Pierre Dorion, and Melnyk. As bad as the first two have been, it’s Melnyk who shoulders the blame for the Senators’ woes.

In short, don’t confuse the unpredictability of hockey with sustainability.