Four Ottawa Senators that Need to Step Up

After 19 games, the Ottawa Senators sit two games under .500, hovering near the bottom of the standings within their division. On the bright side, if they can get rolling soon, they can likely jump back into the playoff mix quickly since the rest of their division hasn’t exactly been playing lights out to start the year. For that to happen, they will of course need better goaltending. The Sanderson-Zub pairing needs to play a lot better, too. But today’s focus is on the forward group. Let’s dive into who simply hasn’t been good enough to start the season for the Ottawa Senators.

READ MORE: Solving the Ottawa Senators Consistency Issues

Shane Pinto

Fresh off signing a two year deal worth 3.75 million per season in the offseason, expectations were quite high for Shane Pinto this season. He scored 27 points in 41 games last season. Over a full 82 games, that pace would’ve put him over 50 points. He then went on to score nine points in eight games for Team USA at the World Championship. To be fair, with Norris back in the lineup, Pinto was going to likely play on the third line, so a big jump in production wasn’t to be expected. 20 goals and 50 points seemed like fair expectations.

To see him with just one goal and three points to this point in the season is extremely disappointing. Yes, he’s missed eight games, but that’s part of the problem. The Ottawa Senators can never get long stretches with Norris, Stützle and Pinto all in the lineup together. When he has been on the ice, he’s been relatively quiet more often than not. In the last few games, he’s been taken off the second power play unit entirely.

I think it has to be mentioned that his most common linemates at even strength last season were Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Vladimir Tarasenko. This season, he mainly plays with Perron, Amadio and Gregor. If they expect Pinto to elevate these players, that might be asking too much seeing as he has no history of being that type of centre to this point in his young career. Maybe it’s time to give him a better winger to help him out.

David Perron

Perron’s new contract this summer was slightly bigger than Pinto’s, at four million per season over two years.  He was coming off a season with the Detroit Red Wings where he scored 17 goals and 47 points in 76 games. That was lower production than his previous few seasons, so there was concern that his game was on the decline. Nonetheless, given his work ethic and hockey sense, he was expected to play an important role in the Ottawa Senators middle six.

Perron also had to miss some time this season, only suiting up for eight games. No one would’ve expected a statline of zeroes through those eight games, but that’s where we currently stand. This lack of production feels different than Pinto’s, though. Pinto has been too quiet for my liking. With Perron, it’s more a matter of not capitalizing on his chances. Don’t get me wrong, that needs to change, but he’s registered 22 shots in eight games. He’s only playing 13 minutes a game, too. He’s been robbed on a few occasions, including with a chance to tie the last game on a great save by Ilya Samsonov. There was also the great pass to Stützle that resulted in a goal, but was then taken away on the questionable penalty call.

Perron is undoubtedly at the tail end of his career. He’s noticeably one of the slower skaters on the team. He’s the only Senators skater out of the 22 that have suited up this season without a point. I think this is more a case of disappointing production versus disappointing play, but either way, he needs to start producing.

Michael Amadio

Amadio’s new contract this summer came in at three years, 2.6 million per season. I’ve noticed that the details to his game are solid- you rarely notice him making the silly mistakes that sometimes plague this team. It’s time for him to play with a little more intensity, though. It’s almost like he’s playing overly safe hockey, so as to not make the bad mistake. I remember Curtis Lazar gave me that vibe, too. At first you notice how shifts are kept short and how you can count on these guys to back check. Then you realize how little they contribute offensively.

Amadio’s played the sixth most minutes of all Senators forwards this season, yet has just four points to show for it. His 82 game pace is for around nine goals and 17 points. With Vegas, he averaged 18 goals and 32 points per 82 games over the last two seasons. The funny thing about the three guys mentioned so far is that they mainly play with each other. They’ve actually managed 36 shots for compared to 22 shots against at even strength while together. So again, it’s been solid, responsible hockey for the most part. Only one of those shots has gone in, though. It’s time to start generating more high quality looks, though.

Ridly Greig

No new contract for Greig to speak of, but coming off a rookie season that saw him score 13 goals and 26 points in 72 games, expectations were fairly high. To this point, he’s managed just two goals and five points in 16 games. Only two of his points were at even strength. That puts him on pace for a less productive season than last year, despite playing extended minutes with the likes of Tkachuk, Norris and Stützle.

The other problem with Greig’s game is the lack of physicality. He’s averaging a full hit less per 60 minutes compared to last season. It felt rare for Greig to have a quiet game last year. Even when he didn’t score, he was always getting under the skin of the opponent. It’s time to get back to the more physical, pest-style of hockey that made Greig quickly become such a favourite amongst Ottawa Senators fans last season.