How the Senators ended a painful playoff drought

A goal horn sounds.

Pandemonium and handshakes. It’s May 25, 2017. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

It felt bittersweet that night. “Don’t worry: next time.”

The Ottawa Senators’ playoff exit, one goal short of the Stanley Cup Final, seemed like a minor — though painful — setback in the team’s inevitable rise. Ottawa’s own top-three player in the world, Erik Karlsson, vowed to propel his team one step further after that double-overtime, Game 7 loss. Imagine telling a Senators fan what the next seven seasons would be like.

Sports fandom ages you, but for Senators fans that moment feels almost unrecognizable. Finally on Tuesday night, the Senators clinched a playoff spot to end the drought, albeit in unusual fashion with Detroit’s loss to Montreal locking things up for Ottawa. Nevertheless, Thomas Chabot summed up how fans felt post-game after clinching a playoff spot: “Frigging fired up.”

It’s been a miserable eight years between playoff appearances.

Here’s that journey:

After that late May game in 2017, the key players were sold off. The first major move was Karlsson, then Mark Stone for pennies on the dollar. Instability and chaos arose. Players were caught on film blasting their assistant coach in 2018. There was the infamous, cringeworthy Eugene Melnyk interview with Mark Boroweicki. We also had Karlsson’s partner in a dispute with Mike Hoffman’s as Ottawa came either last or second-last for three straight seasons from 2017-18 to 2019-2020.

The dark days sprung names like Brian Gibbons and Magnus Paajarvi with little to no hope of success for a fanbase that began to hate its ownership as attendance dwindled.

The rebuild was on.

Brady Tkachuk emerged out of the first season of misery in 2018. Eventually, the selloff translated into a period of high draft picks. Two more seasons of drudgery followed, along with a global pandemic. The mesmerizing German, Tim Stutzle, was drafted third overall in 2020 with a pick acquired from the Karlsson trade and then, minutes later, the powerful and smooth-skating Jake Sanderson was selected fifth overall.

However, poor decisions continued to hold the team back. From 2017 to 2022, the Senators were in the bottom five in payroll as Melnyk turned off a large portion of the fanbase. “Melnyk Out” signs became common after he mused about moving the team.

In the meantime, the core — comprised of young, exciting players like Stutzle, Tkachuk, Chabot, Drake Batherson and Josh Norris — would take one step forward, then two or three steps back. Veterans were brought in to stabilize the team, including Derek Stepan and Evgeni Dadonov. Let’s just say mistakes were made, especially between the pipes. Matt Murray, Cam Talbot and Joonas Korpisalo all didn’t work out, while the better versions within the system, like Jonas Gustavsson and Joey Daccord were traded or let go.

Slow starts to a season were common because the team was too reliant on young players.

As Tkachuk, Stutzle, Chabot, Norris and Sanderson took steps from immensely talented prospects to impactful NHLers, the bar was raised in Ottawa. After the 2022 season and Melnyk passing away, it felt like a new era had begun with less drama and whispers of a word not heard of in five years in Ottawa: competitiveness.

But more pain was still to come.

In 2022, then-general manager Pierre Dorion surrendered the seventh-overall pick for Alex DeBrincat, a player who was two years away from unrestricted free agency and had no intention of staying in Ottawa. Days later, Claude Giroux signed with his hometown team. Senators fans started to itch for excitement. But another horrid start was followed by a season-long bounce back in which Stutzle, Tkachuk excelled, Ottawa was in a position to buy and Dorion went after another star with connections to the city, Jakob Chychrun. But it wasn’t enough. The dream of playoffs withered in 2023, with Ottawa collapsing down the stretch, and within a year both DeBrincat and Chychrun were gone.

In the midst of all this, Ryan Reynolds and Snoop Dogg actually wanted to buy the Ottawa Senators. Crazy times for boring, old Ottawa. Eventually, Michael Andlauer bought the team in June 2023 and pledged to spend money and build a new arena. Talks immediately began between ownership and government officials on an arena at LeBreton Flats. Moreover, Andlauer brought in good and competent leaders to change the losing culture, including Steve Staios, Dave Poulin and, eventually, popular Ottawa media personality Ian Mendes.

Still, it wasn’t enough right away.

The Senators forfeited a first-round pick in 2025 or 2026 for a botched Dadonov trade in 2021, leading to Dorion’s firing. Days later, Shane Pinto was suspended 41 games for a gambling infraction. On the ice, it was another horrible start. Every Senator took another step backward, leading to coach DJ Smith getting fired.

That was just the first three months of the 2023-24 season.

The future seemed bleak. Ottawa had zero prospects because of the all-in moves that failed, and the Dadonov penalty. Questions surrounding Tkachuk and Stutzle gained traction, while there was uncertainty in the crease.

Then, a new voice: Travis Green was hired in May 2024 to provide a firm defensive coach to help the Senators play better in their end. Staios put on a masterclass in the off-season, acquiring former Vezina trophy winner Linus Ullmark, while dumping Korpisalo’s contract. Instead of going after flashy names in free agency like his predecessor, Staios went for the right ones. He signed David Perron, Michael Amadio, Nick Cousins and acquired Nick Jensen in exchange for Chychrun.

The Senators spent to the salary cap for the first time since 2017, a credit to Andlauer.

But after 20 games, it felt like the same old story. All the demons and ghosts crept back into players’ and fans’ minds. There was poor goaltending, along with unsubstantiated Tkachuk trade rumours.

“Even in November, when we had a tough spell,” said Green, “I thought we were still playing pretty good hockey. And I thought we learned a lot in November, and found our game.”

An impassioned speech after game No. 20 by coach Green to defend his captain began the turn, preceding a 10-2-1 run.

Ullmark returned to his Vezina-calibre play, Tkachuk couldn’t stop scoring overtime winners as Ottawa survived a treacherous nine-game road trip and slowly began shutting down teams defensively.

The commitment to defence, stressed by Green, was on display. Stutzle, Tkachuk, Batherson and Chabot were all tracking back, not cheating for offence.

There was a PR flub: melodrama over team-mascot Spartacat sporting a hybrid Sens/Nordiques jersey to promote a pre-season trip to Quebec. But in time, it passed: another sign of a new era.

On the ice, the team progressed.

With Ullmark out, youngster Leevi Merilainen led the way. Perron returned from a family scare to become an impactful player. All the pieces were coming together, but constant injuries to Norris meant the Senators would come in and out of winning and losing streaks.

And then, boom. At the deadline with Ottawa barely in a playoff spot, Staios made a blockbuster trade, acquiring Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens in exchange for the injury-riddled Norris, plus adding Fabian Zetterlund for scraps with 27 seconds left before the deadline buzzer. The next day, their captain scored twice in a comeback, including the overtime winner against the New York Rangers. After the game, Tkachuk roared “Let’s goooooo”, mimicking what every fan was feeling with his boyish enthusiasm.

Ottawa would win its next five games and never look back, riding into the playoffs. This team is young, hungry and locked in for a long time. It feels like the start of something special.

“I couldn’t be proud of all the guys,” said Stutzle after Tuesday’s game. “I don’t think there’s a team who deserves it more than us.”

Players such as Chabot and Tkachuk, who have played over 500 games without a taste of post-season hockey, finally can quench their thirst. How scary will playoff Tkachuk be? We’re about to find out.

It’s been a long, hellish journey for Senators fans. Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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