3 Things the Senators Can Learn From the Florida Panthers

But the Senators and Panthers are linked in more ways than just familial. Both teams built most of their core rosters through the draft following a long, difficult time at the bottom of the standings. They also have focused on being a tougher, in-your-face team modelled after their star players. However, the results of these strategies have differed greatly; while Ottawa just finished its seventh consecutive season without a playoff appearance, Florida tied their franchise record in wins and leads the Atlantic Division into the postseason.

The biggest difference is the person at the top. When Bill Zito became the Panthers’ general manager in 2020-21, he started working on reshaping the franchise into a winning team by using strategies he perfected as an agent. On the other hand, Pierre Dorion stuck to his guns regardless of the results, which left the Senators in disarray when he was fired earlier this season. Now, the job of reshaping this team has fallen to Steve Staios and new owner Michael Andlauer, and while there have been glimpses of hope, the pair will need to take every bit of help they can get. Given how closely the two teams are tied, here are three things the Senators can learn from the Panthers’ success.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make Big Moves

If there’s one thing that Dorion was, it was loyal to his guys. He passionately defended his acquisition of Erik Brannstrom and believed that Lassi Thomson would become a core player. Losing any member of his perceived core was seen as a failure to build a winning team, so when it came time to sign them to long-term contracts, he made sure they were paid well. Generally, these deals were seen favourably – Jake Sanderson’s and Tim Stutzle’s contracts will likely age incredibly well – but he gambled a few too many times, such as with Colin White and Josh Norris.

Zito, on the other hand, has not been afraid to make tough decisions, especially with his core players. When Jonathan Huberdeau’s contract was concluding, he saw an opportunity to flip him to the Calgary Flames for their star Tkachuk, even though he led the team with 115 points. Not only did he trade his star player, but he sent him with defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, who was the team’s second-highest-scorer on the blue line. It was an aggressive trade that many saw as a big win for the Flames, but it wasn’t that simple. Huberdeau struggled to adapt in Calgary, while Tkachuk transformed Florida overnight into a top team.

But that wasn’t Zito’s only bold trade. He moved promising goalie prospect Devon Levi and a first-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for their perennial 50-point scorer Sam Reinhart. Although Levi was a seventh-round pick, he had just finished helping Canada win a gold medal at the U20 World Juniors and was named the tournament’s top goaltender. It was a high price, but it worked out beautifully. In his first season with the Panthers, Reinhart put up a career-high 82 points, and in 2023-24, he set a new high with 57 goals and 94 points.

Not every gamble paid off, of course. Zito’s first trade saw the Panthers part with former first-round pick Mike Matheson for Patric Hornqvist, which initially looked good for Florida, but Matheson has since emerged as a top point producer, while Hornqvist struggled with injuries and age before retiring. The same goes for Claude Giroux, who looked like a great fit in Florida, but he only stayed for one season; meanwhile, Owen Tippett is becoming a core player with the Philadelphia Flyers. But they were important swings to take. Not everyone can stick around forever, which is a belief that Dorion seemed unwilling to accept, which hurt the Senators.

Go for Underrated Talent

Making a blockbuster trade isn’t always an option, so it’s incredibly important to invest in top scouts and identify languishing talent. Take Reinhart, for example. Although he was the Sabres’ top scorer and former second-overall pick, he had never crossed 25 goals and 65 points in a single season. He was floundering, and with his contract expiring at the end of the 2020-21 season, it was clear he wasn’t going to re-sign, so the Panthers jumped on the chance to score a top player who just needed a change of scenery.

Sam Bennett was another solid addition acquired for a relatively low price. He scored 18 goals and 36 points as a rookie with the Flames, but he couldn’t match that high and slowly became the odd-man out on a struggling roster. So, when he requested a trade in 2020-21, Zito offered a second-round pick and former second-rounder Emil Heineman for him. It was a comparable situation to the Vladimir Tarasenko deal; there wasn’t a lot of value in Bennett anymore, allowing teams to lowball the Flames. But in Florida, he scored 28 goals in his first full season and hasn’t fallen below 40 points in his three seasons with the team.

However, Zito’s best addition was Carter Verhaeghe. After his rookie campaign with the Tampa Lightning, Verhaeghe signed a two-year, $2 million deal with the neighbouring Panthers. It was a low-risk addition; Verhaeghe had only played 53 games the previous season, scoring nine goals and 13 points. But in Florida, he quickly became a star, scoring 36 points in 43 games in 2020-21, 55 points in 2021-22, and breaking out with 42 goals and 73 points in 2022-23.

While the Senators are desperately in need of shaking up at least some of their core, making those kinds of moves can’t be taken lightly and is often done when the opportunity presents itself, much like Florida’s Tkachuk trade. In the meantime, the Senators can target underrated players as cheap additions. It’s arguably something that Staios has already done, adding Boris Katchouk on waivers and acquiring Jamieson Rees at the American Hockey League (AHL) Trade Deadline. He’s also begun restructuring the scouting department, especially among the pro scouts, which are all great first steps.

Commit to One Strategy

This is arguably the trickiest lesson to learn and not easy to implement, but it also may be the most important. When the Panthers acquired Tkachuk in 2022-23, they quickly transformed into an in-your-face team that didn’t give an inch to anyone. To compare, in 2021-22, only one player put up more than 100 penalty minutes, and five more were over 50 penalty minutes. The following season, with Tkachuk, two players had over 100 penalty minutes with another five over 50, which is a comparable number, but the team sat second in the NHL with an average of 4.73 penalties per game. Ironically, it was the Senators who led the league, posting an average of 4.74 per game.

This season, the Panthers have embraced the role of villains, with Nick Cousins considered the NHL’s dirtiest player and Tkachuk and Bennett not far behind. Once again, they sit second in the NHL, posting an average of 5.06 penalties per game, and have two 100-penalty-minute players on their roster along with eight others who have posted at least 50 penalty minutes. But in that group is Oliver Ekman-Larsson (76), Niko Mikkola (69), Dmitri Kulikov (63), and Kevin Stenlund (62). Those are the highest or second-highest totals in each of those players’ careers. The most extreme example was Brandon Montour, who posted 107 penalty minutes last season after never recording more than 50 penalty minutes in a single season.

Interestingly, the Senators were one of the toughest teams in 2022-23, yet regressed to just 4.10 penalties per game this season. The drop reflects the misguided goals put on the franchise. Dorion continuously flip-flopped between fast and physical, creating a strange assortment of players. He paid big money to Evgenii Dadonov in Oct. 2020, then drafted Tyler Boucher and Ben Roger with two of his first three picks in 2021. Just months after acquiring Jakub Chychrun, he then decided to let Austin Watson go in favour of Zach MacEwen. He was consistently inconsistent; the ones that worked out, like Ridly Greig and Tyler Kleven, seem more like an exception than the rule.

Without a clear focus, the Senators haven’t been able to put together a coherent product on the ice. Stutzle isn’t a physical player and playing a more physical style last season wore him down to the point where he was dealing with shoulder and wrist problems all season, limiting his offensive impact. He’s not the only one; Chychrun’s and Dominik Kubalik’s defensive inconsistencies were on full display throughout the season, while Josh Norris suffered yet another season-ending shoulder injury.

The previous management group didn’t have a clear goal, and now Staios has to help find one. That will help guide every other move and lesson and help construct a team with everyone working together. If he doesn’t, this team will continue to flounder, which may plunge them into another rebuild. Thankfully, other teams are doing it better, and the Panthers are a great example of how toughness, skill, and second chances can be blended to make one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL.