“We’ll contend when we are ready to contend”
A Song of Complacency and Frustration
I am upset with the Ottawa Senators. I think of myself as a man of hope and perseverance when it comes to this team. Through everything that has happened, I stuck by them and defended them. It is something that I will continue to do till the day I leave the planet into the great unknown. It is because I am like that I cannot help but be frustrated by what I am seeing out of this team and it’s been bugging me to no end.
I had articles I wanted to write over the holiday break about guys like Tim Stützle and Thomas Chabot. Then my laptop broke and in the time it took for me to get a new one, everything went south for this team. Normal people would go to therapy but I have never been normal and I will instead take this energy and put it into what I do best: making content.
Welcome to my therapy session, let’s get started:
We are ready to contend, you are just not ready to make the changes
“We’ll contend when we are ready to contend,” is a sentence that is slowly heading to the pantheon of Sens memes like “we’re a team” and “the rebuild is over”.
This was a statement made by General Manager Steve Staios at the halfway point press conference. The problem with this statement is that the Sens made the playoffs last season and I like to think that is a pretty good indicator that the team is ready to contend and aim higher.
SENS TALK’s own Trent Raynard compiled the advanced stats of this group from the last 50 games and as you can see, there are two major factors that are holding this team back from contention: goaltending and the penalty kill. All the other stats show that this is a team that should make the playoffs. Those two factors are an anchor at this point.
A shakeup needs to happen, why prolong it?
Now I am not one to call for people to lose their jobs because these are still human beings with families to provide for. However, we need to face reality and someone has to go. I have two candidates for this: Justin Peters and Nolan Baumgartner.
NOTE: I am laying off of Ullmark as of right now regardless of performance. I will not kick a man when he is down and I hope he is recovering well and getting the help he needs.
Peters seems like a great guy do not get me wrong, but the fact that he has not produced a .900 sv% goalie in his system is really troubling especially with a former Vezina winner in Linus Ullmark. He gets most of the blame for this unfortunately and while Ullmark has not been the best this year, I cannot fully blame him for what has happened here.
Peters has massive issues with workload management and runs our starters into the ground. Only when the starter is burnt out does he use the backup. The problem is that the backup is not able to get into a groove himself with a single game start compared to the seven or eight in a row the starter gets. Making your rookie goaltender take on the pressure of saving the team when Ullmark needed to leave was problematic. Staios should have signed or acquired a veteran backup at that point in time instead of later. Doing this eight games to one game workload split with an older goalie who’s never had more than 50 starts in a season was problematic.
Let me put it this way: If a teacher gave an exam to six students and all six of them either failed or barely passed, is that on the students or the teacher? I will let the reader be the judge of that.
I did not have much to say on the penalty kill because it is crazy to me that Stützle is playing his best defensive game on that unit, Jake Sanderson is developing into a franchise #1 D, and they switched to a box formation but then they would switch back for some reason. The penalty kill is still at 71 per cent which is 31st in the league. That needs to get better and I do not trust Baumgartner to make those changes.
Update:I did not trust him and neither did head coach Travis Green.
Giving up the first rounder meant you were supposed to go back to the playoffs
I said this after the Predators game because I had reached a breaking point. A lot of people criticized this move saying the 2026 draft class was stronger than 2025. I used to feel that way myself. I learned that it was a message of confidence that Staios had that they would go back to the playoffs and make a deeper run. This should have given the Sens a worse pick than last year. Now we are in January and the pick looks better than last year’s pick. This should not be happening, Staios made moves to better the roster in the offseason and made some solid signings but this is on him at this point. Staios needed to act with urgency to fix the situation and not be as steady as he was last year as a first year GM. Being steady was fine when you were only one point out in January and still had a first rounder to fall back on but the situation is much more dire this year.
The fans are growing impatient as they are beginning to turn on them and I cannot blame them in the slightest for it. Even the most positive of social media accounts (myself included) are getting frustrated and tired by this urgency on display:
The Sens are currently as of writing, seven points out of a playoff spot. They need to act fast as we are in the final hour before the season runs out. I cannot even root for a tank to get talent that will help this core because we do not currently have that first rounder. You see the issue Steve? If we win, we make the playoffs and get the core more experience on a competitive stage. They might even have the potential to even win a round or two. If we lose, we get nothing! If we miss the playoffs again, several questions will be asked of this team in the offseason and what is next for the organization.
My overall thoughts:
Lastly, I need to talk about where this organization is truly failing: its vision. The vision statement since the start of this new regime has been: “Best in Class”.
Best in Class meant that the Sens organization will do everything it can to make winning moves that make the team better. The goal at the end of the day is to bring the cup back to this beautiful city. They started out strong on this goal by making several moves for former cup winners and a Vezina winner in net to give a strong veteran presence with playoff experience. It meant making the moves necessary to improve the team and push them farther than before. That is exactly what best in class should mean.
“We’ll contend when we are ready to contend” is not best in class behaviour. It is a sign of waiting around when you have a team that is ready to win now. Staios needs to do everything possible to take this team back to the playoffs. We need to root for wins because we do not have much else to fall back on. Sure I understand keeping Peters and Baumgartner around because they are good people who everyone in the office likes. I am happy they are good people, which makes me even more sad that they are not good coaches.
Best in class is not complacency but the pursuit of greatness. We need our management to reflect those values in the way they handle this team and what they need to do now. They cannot wait around much longer. The stars have elevated and they have what it takes to win. I do not care what it takes to make them win, it just needs to be done as soon as possible. Steve Staios, if you somehow read this, know that I have no hate in my heart for you or anyone at the organization. This article comes from a place of love and wanting this season to not be a waste. At the end of the day, these are just suggestions. You are a GM for a reason and I am just a fan but the city needs to see its men’s hockey team be a consistent playoff team.
Please save us, we need you now more than ever Steve.
