Senators’ Training Camp: Defence Overview

Written by: Trent Raynard

I’ll start with the obvious: the Ottawa Senators’ top four defencemen this season are Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub, and Nick Jensen. Unlike the past few years where there were questions to start the season like, “Who should Chychrun play with? or, “Is Brannstrom ready to play further up the lineup?”, the team enters the 2024-25 season relatively set on who is going to be eating up the most minutes on the back end. Which players are going to be chosen to slot in behind these four is significantly less set in stone. Here is my take on the other defenders who are likely to either make the team out of camp or at least get a good look this season.

Possibilities for the Bottom Pair

Image: Marc DesRosiers/USA Today Sports

There are two defencemen that are essentially a lock to make the opening day roster: Tyler Kleven and Travis Hamonic. Kleven is a 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 lb, left-shooting defenceman with a booming slap shot. He has 17 games of NHL experience over the last two seasons, but he spent most of the 2023-24 season in the AHL. Despite not having much NHL experience to speak of, he is almost guaranteed a spot in the top six.  By not acquiring another left-handed defenceman in the offseason, GM Steve Staios has essentially handed Kleven a place in the starting lineup. As long as he has a decent training camp, he’s in.

Travis Hamonic, on the other hand, will not (or at the very least should not) have a starting spot, but will almost certainly be the team’s seventh defenceman, mostly due to the fact that he has a full no-movement clause. Entering his third full season with the Senators, Hamonic has consistently shown that he should not be a regular fixture on the blue line. However, he is a veteran player who is reported to be a positive influence in the locker room. Having a player with Hamonic’s experience to fill in when necessary (as well as to mentor younger players) will be valuable for this young Senators team. 

Just coming of his first full season in the NHL, the right side of the bottom pairing is Jacob Bernard-Docker’s spot to lose. As a 24-year-old, “JBD” has four goals and 16 points in 104 career NHL games. Even though his underlying numbers were not spectacular last season (47.70 Corsi For% and 45.14 Expected Goals For% at 5-on-5), he proved that he could play every day in the lineup. He also has a history of playing with Tyler Kleven both in the NCAA as well as in the NHL, where the two have spectacular underlying numbers as a pairing, though in admittedly limited minutes. The fact that he would have to go through waivers in order to be sent down to Belleville also adds to the likelihood that he will be playing with the big club this season. 

Arriving in camp on a Professional Tryout, Calen Addison also has a shot at starting the season with the Senators. A former second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Addison was a lethal scorer in the WHL, putting up 215 points in 252 games for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He put up solid numbers in the AHL as well (58 points in 77 games), but he has had trouble finding a place in the NHL. He has been able to show some of his offensive ability (50 points in 152 games for Minnesota and San Jose), but his play has left much to be desired on the defensive side of the puck. Still, at only 24 years old and with plenty of skill, if Addison can show the Senators’ coaches that he can clean up his play in his own end, he could earn himself a spot. 

First Call-Ups

Image: Freestyle Photography/Belleville Senators

Injuries are inevitable during an 82-game season, so we can expect to see players from Belleville making appearances in Ottawa as the season progresses. Through the Senators have plenty of NHL talent on the left side of the ice with Sanderson, Chabot, and Kleven, they do not have an obvious replacement should one of those three get injured. The most likely left-shot defencemen to be called up would be Jérémy Davies or Filip Roos. Both were acquired in the off-season, and both are AHL veterans who have had some NHL experience (Davies has played 23 games between Nashville and Buffalo and Roos has played 21 career games for Chicago). 

Davies, the older of the two players at 27 years old, is known for both his offensive abilities and his physical play, so he may have a bit of an advantage when it comes to who gets called up first. He has recorded 23 goals, 58 points, and 169 PIMs in 132 games over the past two seasons for the Rochester Americans. However, Roos (who is 6’4”, 190lbs) wins the size contest, which the Senators seem to be valuing these days. Which of the two gets called up first probably depends on how much chemistry Davies and Roos are able to build with Ottawa’s right-handed starters during training camp. 

On the right side, the most likely players to get called up would be Maxence Guenette and Nikolas Matinpalo. Guenette, the Senators’ seventh round pick in 2019, was an AHL all-star last season when he put up seven goals and 24 points in 58 games. The 23-year-old plays a well-rounded game and has some offensive upside. If Ottawa did not have both Hamonic and JBD basically guaranteed a job, Guenette might be fighting to be the team’s seventh defenceman. However, unless there are significant injuries on the right side this year, Guenette is not likely to play more than a handful of games.

The 2023-24 season was Nikolas Matinpalo’s first season in North America after playing five seasons of professional hockey in Finland. He had a solid season for Belleville recording four goals and 14 points in 67 games. He also led the team in +/- with +15. Matinpalo also played a lot of minutes last season paired with Tyler Kleven. The two seemed to have good chemistry together, so this could be something that is considered when deciding who should be called up. 

Might Get a Game

Image: Belleville Senators

I’ll forgive you if you have repressed these memories, but Donovan Sebrango was the other player that the Senators got back from Detroit in the Alex DeBrincat trade. A veteran of four AHL seasons, the former third-round pick is only 22 years old. The 6’1”, 194lb, left-shot defenceman doesn’t put up a lot of points (25 in 170 AHL games), but he does play a physical game, recording 125 penalty minutes (including 8 fights) in his AHL career. If Ottawa is in need of some more physicality on the back end, Sebrango could see his first taste of NHL action this season.

One of the more interesting of the Senator’s defensive prospects is 6’7” Djibril Touré. The undrafted right-shot defenceman moves incredibly well for a big man, and he seems to relish joining the rush. He has yet to play any games in the AHL, but he has 34 points and 160 PIMs in 102 games split between Sudbury and Windsor in the OHL. Depending on how his play looks in Belleville this season, Ottawa may end up giving him a look on the big team later in the season.  

The regular season does not start for the Senators until October 10th, but chances are we will know who the team’s starting defencemen will be well before that date. New head coach Travis Green will want to have his roster pretty much set by October 1st so that his forward lines and defensive pairings will have time to get comfortable with each other. Time will tell exactly what those lines and pairings will look like.