Why Senators’ Jake Sanderson deserves Norris Trophy consideration

OTTAWA — Ottawa Senators fans serenaded their team with “We Want Playoffs” chants during two shutout victories over the weekend. It’s finally happening.

The Senators’ transition from skilled but raw to a complete team worthy of being in the playoffs has been a slow burn, and no one epitomizes that more than 22-year-old Jake Sanderson.

Sanderson always had exemplary defensive play, but he’s shattered all of his offensive career bests this season and is on pace to have the most points from a Senators defenceman since Erik Karlsson. No small feat for a defenceman who, unlike Karlsson, is defined first and foremost by his defence.

That’s why Sanderson should get some Norris Trophy consideration. As the Senators head into the playoffs, they will have the best defenceman in the series, no matter which opponent they face.

“I think there’s certain players that you just kind of sit back and you watch and don’t over-coach,” said coach Travis Green about Sanderson. “You just watch them develop. His game is just slowly evolving into more. It’s great to watch and see him progress. We’re lucky to have him.”

The Norris race is certainly crowded this year with Cale Makar, Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes and Jakob Chychrun all having stellar seasons. But Sanderson has a real case for himself, too.

Here’s the evidence.

Sanderson has admitted, “I had a slow start.”  A major reason for those struggles was that he had no consistent partner. Artem Zub battled injuries, forcing Travis Hamonic onto Sanderson’s right side, which hampered his play. Sanderson had one goal in his first 28 games and is still a minus-13 on the season, although 11 of those goals against came while skating with Hamonic.

But like a true pro, Sanderson addressed his problems. In November, he hired skills coach Jonathan Sigalet to improve his game. And that is exactly when the Senators began to roll, with a 10-2-1 record from late November to mid-December.

After Zub returned in early January, Sanderson really took off. Since Jan. 17, Sanderson has the second most points of any defenceman in the NHL, trailing only Cale Makar. He has 30 points in 32 games over that span and has vaulted up to 10th in defence scoring.

It’s not about how you start but how you finish.

In two recent games, when the Senators faced elite teams in the Lightning and Panthers, Sanderson outshone Victor Hedman and Gustav Forsling while scoring in both games. Ottawa was dominated by their opponents both times, but Sanderson and Zub were not, never getting scored on and contributing two goals from Sanderson. They had by far the best analytics of any Senators pairing during those two games.

Of Ottawa’s four possible opponents in the playoffs — Florida, Toronto, Washington and Tampa Bay — the Senators will have the best defenceman in each case. Gustav Forsling of the Panthers brings elite defence but lacks offence. In Toronto, Morgan Reilly has taken a significant downturn in offensive production with just 37 points this year. Former Senators defenceman Jakob Chychrun has been thriving with the Capitals, scoring 20 goals. But if he doesn’t score, his impact is lessened as he has a 48.62 per cent expected goals share and ranks 166th in Evolving Hockey’s Wins Above Replacement stat. Sanderson ranks 80th.

And while Victor Hedman is a future Hall of Famer, Sanderson is the better player at this stage of their careers. Hedman, 34, has 60 points this season but ranks 230th in WAR.

In the playoffs, Green will be able to throw Sanderson out for 30 minutes a night, which gives Ottawa a real fighting chance against whoever they play.

Meanwhile, Sanderson’s finishing touch is a new element added this season. He recently scored a goal in three straight games for the second time this season to reach a career high of 11 goals. This trend has transformed Sanderson himself into an offensive weapon.

Earlier this season, when Sanderson was struggling to score, he said, “I don’t think my playing style will ever win a Norris. And I’m fine with that. I’m probably not going to be putting up 90 and 100 points.”

His tune has slightly changed now with his scoring run.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be one of those defencemen, like Makar. But yeah, I don’t know what my ceiling is,” he said recently. “There’s a handful of defencemen scoring 15 to 20 goals this year, and that’s kind of what I want to do is to be in those numbers.”

Sanderson is only four goals away from 15 this season, and his pace since January would have him over 20 for a full season. Plus, Sanderson quarterbacks the 13th-ranked powerplay, where he’s excelled with 28 points, ranking second in the league among defencemen.

What’s interesting is that other top high-octane offensive defencemen such as Makar, Werenski, Hughes, and Lane Huston all range from 50 to 75 per cent of the time starting shifts in the offensive zone. Meanwhile, Sanderson only starts in the offensive zone 39 per cent of the time. His offence isn’t coming from loads of opportunities because the focus is defending.

Sanderson is 30th in the NHL with 2.27 expected goals allowed per 60 minutes at five-on-five, according to Natural StatTrick (over 1,000 minutes played), which is also better than every other Norris candidate other than Hughes. Plus, Ottawa leads the league in shutouts with 10 and have two other 1-0 overtime losses. That’s 12 of 77 games where Ottawa has shut out opponents in regulation, with Sanderson playing the most of any Senators player at 24:24 of ice-time per night.

His teammates marvel.

“He’s just as good defensively as he is offensively,” Drake Batherson told Sportsnet.ca. “There are not many guys in the league like that. So anytime you have a player like that, he’s super special.”

With Sanderson’s effortless skating, size and IQ, he is trying to emulate his 4 Nations teammate Jaccob Slavin’s defensive prowess.

In his mind, Sanderson’s next step is to build strength to win more 50-50 battles, but without taking away his mobility.

That tournament was a springboard for Sanderson, scoring in the final after only making the team as an injury replacement. 

“I’ve always loved hockey,” said Sanderson. “But I feel like ever since that tournament, I just found a new love for hockey.”

A self-proclaimed fitness hobbyist, Sanderson has many “toys” at home for recovery and strength but didn’t want to share specifics with Sportsnet.ca because he doesn’t want to give the competition any help. Sanderson is known for his workouts, with former teammate Josh Norris calling him “The Hulk” after training with him in the off-season.

And the stud defenceman is still learning about his body.

“(At) the start of the season, I think I was a little too heavy, and I didn’t feel as like fast, and I felt a little lethargic, so felt like I lost little weight,” Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca “And, now I’ve kind of found that sweet spot.”

Sanderson idolizes both Tom Brady for his TB12 method and former teammate Chychrun for his fitness and diet routines. “Maybe one day (there will be) the JS85 method,” Sanderson said jokingly.

Meanwhile, Sanderson and Chychrun still text weekly about their health regimes and fitness practices.

“He was really aware of everything he was eating. He’s actually really smart, too,” said Sanderson. “I know people have been making fun of him on social media and whatnot, but he knows a lot.”

Chychrun made some waves on social media this season when it came out that he uses candles instead of lightbulbs in his house before bed.

“He’s not doing conventional stuff that everybody does,” Sanderson said. “He’s paving his own way into strength and fitness stuff. So, I look up to him a lot.”

It’s clear that the Senators have a sure-fire No. 1 defenceman who is dedicated to his craft and has barely begun to scratch his ceiling as a player. Cast aside any silverware chatter, Ottawa has turned from pretender to playoff challenger, with Sanderson leading the charge.

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