Five Thoughts for Friday: Five Wishes for 2025

It's the holiday season, and I hope you've been able to enjoy some time with loved ones! Around this time of year, people are always reflective and hopeful for the future, thinking about how things can be better. With that in mind, I wanted to share my five wishes for the Ottawa Senators in the year 2025:

A Good Showing in the Playoffs

A successful 2024-25 season has to include a playoff berth. Not only because they've missed the playoffs for the past seven seasons but because it's December 27th and they're firmly in a wildcard spot, so it's not as if they need to be battling from behind. They're on pace for 92 points, and they simply need to stay on that pace in order to make it in. Ottawa is clearly good enough to make that happen.

And although we should be happy with any playoff games, it'd be pretty disheartening to lose instantly in an embarrassing sweep. I'm not going to say they need to win a round or two, but a close 6 or 7-game series where they are at least making things interesting would be great. Nobody would be happy with a loss of course, but I'm so starved for playoff hockey that it'd be nice to believe for a moment that they have a shot. Is 2025 finally the year?

Depth Forward & Defenseman Additions

Sure, these are kind of two wishes, but whatever. According to PuckPedia, the Senators will have a shade under $6M in deadline cap space, so that'll be plenty of space for them to make a few additions. For a team that is at the back of the pack and hanging on to a playoff spot, they could use some reinforcements before March 7th, 2025.

I look at the forwards beyond the top three who have struggled to score at times, and it'd be nice to have another winger in the top-nine who can score. They were hoping David Perron could fill that role, although he's obviously been through so much this season and who knows if he'll even be healthy later this season. Claude Giroux hasn't been as explosive, Ridly Greig hasn't produced much, Shane Pinto is hot of late (but hasn't been good enough overall), and who knows what Adam Gaudette will give them the rest of the way. So another scorer would be ideal.

Then on defense, if Artem Zub is healthy, that would hopefully bump Travis Hamonic out of the lineup, but I'm not so sure considering Travis Green preferred him over Jacob Bernard-Docker. Zub isn't infallible either, so another right-shot defenseman would make them much better prepared for the playoffs when injuries will occur. I don't need the Senators to add superstars, but two depth adds could be very important. This could be the first deadline where the Senators are actually buying since 2017 (let's call the Chychrun addition a mix of buying amd building for the future).

Claude Giroux Re-Signed on a Discount

Giroux is a UFA this summer, which is crazy because it seems like it was just yesterday when the entire fanbase was going crazy the day he signed in Ottawa. He's had an okay season with 22 points in 34 games, which puts him on pace for 53 total points. I'll take that for a 36-year-old, but he isn't worth $6.5M anymore. He had 79 points in 2022-23 and 64 points in 2023-24, so father time may be catching up to him a bit.

Having said that, he is still a valuable contributor both on and off the ice and I would love to re-sign him for a few more years. If he's only a 50-point player (or perhaps even less) though, I hope he's willing to take a hometown discount. I think a fair deal would be around $4M per season, similar to what Perron got. However, it'd sure be nice to be the beneficiary of a cheap veteran deal who wants to play in Ottawa for once—so maybe $2M-$3M? Perhaps that's unrealistic, but I hope he stays.

Carter Yakemchuk on the Second Pairing

This is a wish for later in 2025, but just imagine this:

Chabot-Jensen

Sanderson-Yakemchuk

Kleven-Zub

Yakemchuk is exactly what the defense could use: a puck-mover on the right side. Yes, he'll need to learn the defensive side more as he matures, but he clearly showed that his offense is ready, and although he won't be perfect next year, he'll be a vast improvement over what they have right now. I'd be quite surprised if he doesn't make the team next season just because of how late he was cut from Ottawa in October.

Bring Back "Danger Flutes"

This last one is a bit of a joke, but...also not. For years, the Senators had a phenomenal theme song (officially called "Trumpeter's Cry" but unofficially known as "Danger Flutes") that was featured every game and it was inextricably linked to the Senators brand because it was specifically commissioned for them. The team replaced it with ACDC's "Hell's Bells" last season, and although it's a cool song, it isn't nearly as good/unique as Danger Flutes, and that seems to be an extremely popular opinion amongst fans.

It gets the fans going and is linked to so many great memories that it feels wrong to have anything else besides it. They've listened to fans before by bringing it back in the past, and I hope they do it again. Just look at how electric it sounded during Game 3 of the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals:

Please, Michael Andlauer: we need Danger Flutes back.