Ottawa Senators Season Highlights

2022-05-15

OTTAWA, ON

The 2021-2022 season has come and gone in the nation's capital. After 82 hard fought games, the Sens landed 38-29-15 with 91 points and the 19th best record in the league, missing the playoffs by 8 points. Despite failing to reach the ultimate goal, the team had plenty of positives to take away from GM Noddan's first season in charge. At the end of the year, the Ottawa Senators held a positive goal differential (+1) and above average special teams (21% PP and 81% PK). A quick look at PDO suggests that the Sens were unusually unlucky this season; their team shooting percentage of 9.1% and team save percentage of 90.7% are both in the bottom third of the league.

On the bright side, the Senators did have some terrific individual performances this year. Anze Kopitar finished 7th in league scoring this year with 40 goals and 96 points in 80 games. Kopitar took just 4 minor penalties, added 326 shots, 109 hits, 38 shot blocks, and won 1,240 faceoffs! The Slovene played over 20 minutes a night in all situations and should be in consideration for the Lady Byng and Selke trophies for his efforts this season.

John Carlson also had an incredible season, finishing leading the league in defenseman scoring with 16 goals, and finishing 2 points back of Cale Makar for the point scoring lead. 9 of those goals came quarterbacking the Senators powerplay, a role he'll look to reprise next season. Don't be surprised to see Carlson receive a Norris nomination this year.

The pair put on a show at the all star game in February, where Kopitar's line led the Eastern Conference to a 8-4 victory. With elite players like Kopitar and Carlson on the squad, you can't ever count the Senators out.

Other noteworthy performances include:
- Patric Hornqvist's 32 goals,
- Evgeni Malkin's 67 points,
- Josh Brown leading the team in plus minus with +19,
- Dominik Kubalik's 6 game winning goals,
- Erik Haula's 54.1% success rate in the faceoff dot,
- Tyler Myers' 26:00 TOI/GP
- Nick Foligno's 137 Hits

In the crease, Khudobin and Johansson held the fort with average performances. Khudobin started 58 games and earned 27 wins, 2.60 GAA, 0.910 SV% and 3 shutouts. More impressively, he found the offensive scoresheet 3 times with a GOALIE GOAL and two assists this season.

The best game of the year came down the stretch when then Senators blew out the Panthers 7-1 on March 29. Ottawa was chasing Florida for the final playoff spot and pull out this statement game. 7 different scorers found the back of the net, Malkin and Carlson had 4 assists, and Khudobin stopped 25 of 26 shots in the Sens's most complete performance of the year.

That's a wrap on the Senators' season. A busy offseason awaits with the expansion and entry drafts followed by what fans hope will be he another successful free agency window. Look for GM Noddan to add a handful of pieces to complement Kopitar, Carlson and Malkin.