Ottawa Senators Three Stars: Week 26
Only one week left!!!!
The Sens went 1-3 last week, and there wasn’t very much to get excited about, unless tanking brings you joy. They improved their draft position, so there’s that. Thankfully, there is now only one week left in this awful season, and soon we’ll all be able to move on with our lives. Kind of.
Three Stars
- Matt Duchene. He got three first assists this week, the most of any Sens player. He also looked like the elite forward he is and provided plenty of excellent chances for Ottawa.
- Christian Wolanin. Ross mentioned the Sens rookie in last week’s Three Stars, and he’s continued to impress ever since. He is still without a point, but he’s been passing both the eye test and the analytics test through his first few games in the NHL. He’s impressed people with his puck-moving abilities so far, and CF% has been much better than what we’ve come to expect from Sens defensemen. He’s also been getting a bit more icetime than usual, as he even played about 18 mintutes against the Hurricanes on Monday.
- Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Most of Pageau’s success this week came in the one game against the Panthers, in which he scored two goals, including the overtime winner, and registered 8 shots on goal.
Trending Up
- I was tempted to give Ryan a star this week for his two goals and one assist, but he got it last week and one of those goals was a bit of a fluke so I’ll just mention him here. He’s been surprisingly good lately
- Thomas Chabot didn’t manage to pick up any more points, but he continued to play some pretty heavy minutes and looked good the entire time. It’s nice to see the young defensemen stepping up. It gives us a bit of hope for the future.
- Hoffman was much better this week than last, with 8 shots on goal against the Islanders.
- Anderson had a few surprisingly solid games in net./
Trending Down
- Ben Harpur was pretty bad in the Carolina game, and has been a healthy scratch ever since.
- I’m not sure if he’s necessarily “trending down,” but Condon had a bad game against Islanders and a decent game against the Red Wings./
Who to watch
Maybe it’s cheating to have him in this section for two weeks in a row, but this is the last week of Sens hockey and Christian Wolanin NEEDS to score his first NHL goal. Or at least his first NHL point.