SENS TALK Q&A: Tyler Beauchesne
Written by: Tyler Beauchesne
Hey everyone, hope you are all enjoying the season so far because I know I am. I wanted to do a blog post that engaged more with the community and what the fans wanted to hear. So I posted this on Twitter and got some interesting questions to answer on both the team and myself:
Yakemchuking Beers asked: Any early trade targets you like the idea of?
I have not fully considered the trade deadline as it is the start of the season and that is farther down the road. I will say this, I have faith that by February this year, the Senators will be conservative buyers by the deadline. What I mean by this is that they do not have major issues lineup-wise to fix, however, there is a somewhat noticeable problem that needs fixing: backup goaltending. Now the Sens may be 3-1 without Ullmark but that is because our offense had to play out of their minds to steal most of those games. Forsberg looks better than last year and he is putting up a .904 save percentage and a 2.94 goals-against average. If he does not play consistently, my ideal targets would be Seymon Varlamov in case the Islanders underperform and want to retool, Alex Nedeljkovic from the Penguins, and Scott Wedgewood from the Predators. All three of these options should be looked at as I could see any of these three teams falling off and becoming sellers at the deadline.
The Riddler (Diplomat) asked: What is Tyler Beauchesne's favourite food?
Burgers. Sometimes it depends on the day but I love burgers mostly. Anywhere that has a good burger is a good restaurant to me. My top three burger places have to be A&W, Wendy’s, and McDonald’s (They may overfill but are reliable most of the time in terms of quality).
Riley asks: Which Sens prospect doesn’t get talked about enough?
I know the Sens drafted him this year, but Javon Moore needs to get talked about more in prospect conversations. He’s the 112th pick of the 2024 NHL entry draft from Minnesota but he has the potential to be quite the steal. He is a project player who could become a great playmaker in the top six. His high school stats are phenomenal and hopefully, talks about him will be picking up in a year when he plays for the University of Minnesota in the NCAA.
Third Line Plüg asks: If the Senators were characters in Pokémon, who would be Professor Oak?
This is one of my favourite questions as I like Pokemon so I am well-informed enough to answer this. For those who do not know, Professor Oak is a middle-aged Pokemon Trainer who becomes a mentor and a father figure to Ash and his friends on their journey to be the very best that no one ever was. With that in mind, the answer to this question is obvious: Claude Giroux. Giroux was brought in to help guide Timmy Stu and the boys to playoff glory as well as showing Brady what it means to be a leader. Timmy is a lot like Ash, and Claude is guiding him in the right direction.
Alex Adams asks: Why is Ben Affleck a Sens fan?
Shoutout Alex, he is doing phenomenal work at Sportsnet with his articles and coverage. So there is a bit of a story that comes from this as on Twitter, my username is SensfleckTy and my profile picture is Ben Affleck in a Sens jersey (Shoutout @OTTandBothered for the pic, you are a beauty). So the story goes back to when I was 18 years old, working as a cashier at Loblaws. I am working a tough shift and just trying to get through as many customers as possible. Then, this elderly couple came through my cash, they looked at me and said I looked like Ben Affleck, the movie star. I swear that compliment has stuck with me to this day as I had a lot of deep insecurity issues at that time. Growing up, I was seen as the weird chubby kid and I had spent the lockdown losing weight. I lost 40 pounds by the end of lockdown and I was getting more attention because of it. I still feel that I am that same weird kid but a compliment like that changed the way I felt about myself physically. Then months later I saw this meme on a Sens meme page on Instagram. It’s a depressed Affleck smoking a cigarette and wearing a Sens jersey so I used that for my Instagram profile page. Then I got Twitter for myself and once I started to tweet more and gain followers, I changed my Twitter picture to that meme as well. Then in August, I wanted to change my name on there so the first thing I thought of was “Sensfleck” with the new profile picture and changing the username to what it is now. After what I call a “mixed” reception, I went back to using the full name but kept the picture and username. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Trent asks: Who was your first favourite Sens player?
I am an 03’ baby born and raised in this city. I love the Ottawa Senators because it is my city and Spartacat, I loved Spartacat. The player who I had the biggest attachment to as a kid was (you probably guessed it): Daniel Alfredsson. Yeah I know, very basic choice. I was very young, if you asked me why I liked the Senators the answer you would probably get was “I like Alfie and I like Sparty”. The more I learned about Alfie and watched him play, the more fascinated I was with him. How often does a fifth-round pick win a Calder, become the captain and lead one of the best offensive lines in modern NHL history, become the face of a franchise, win a gold medal, and score 1,000 points making the Hall of Fame? Let me tell you, it is a story that is pretty rare to hear about. He made me love the sport of hockey and I played the wing in house league just like him. I modeled my game around him, being a playmaker and all. I even did school projects about him, he was one of my childhood heroes. My obsession with him never faded, Melnyk forcing him out to go to the Red Wings was the first time I experienced heartbreak and it hurt. I have loved many players who played here, but not a lot have compared to that man in my eyes.
Lord daddy asks: Why doesn't Spartacat have ears?, If the sens don't make the playoffs what's the next move? , With a healthy (??) Norris and not suspended Pinto, do we realistically have a shot at the playoffs?, Even if we make the playoffs, what is the expectation? Is a first round exit a success?
Alright, I will answer this one in order:
I thought Sparty had ears before being sent this and now that I see this picture I realize he does not have ears. The only conclusion that I have come to since his hair is so long that it must cover the ears. If he also just does not have ears, that would also make sense as to why he doesn’t wave at me when I call his name in the stands.
So if the Sens do not make the playoffs, the next step is to re-evaluate the core pieces. In my eyes, underperforming is really on them so Staios should investigate and get rid of what is clearly not working. Who that is remains to be seen but I am not worried about this yet.
Absolutely we do! In my eyes, this is the best chance the Ottawa Senators have had to make the playoffs since the 2017 season. Everything you need to succeed is on this roster and you cannot convince me otherwise. The coaching staff was doing a poor job? Here comes a new bench with playoff and cup experience. The team was too young and inexperienced? Here comes all these cup-winning veterans in our depth chart. Too many left-handers in our top six? Here comes Nick Jensen to even the pairings with a right-hander. Our goaltending lost us so many games? Well say no more, here comes a Vezina winner to put in between the pipes. This is the most complete roster I have seen from this team in a very long time and if most of them stay healthy, playoffs are a very realistic possibility for this team.
So if we make the playoffs, my expectation of the team realistically is a first-round exit. If we win a round or two that would be cool. If we win a cup, I will never be sad again.
I think making the playoffs at all is a success from my point of view. As much as a first round exit would suck, look at it from this point. We have a great team, but our core is very inexperienced with the playoffs. Being a playoff team is one thing, but a cup contender is a different beast in itself. They need this experience to truly reach that point, but I think getting it regardless this year is nothing short of a win. The rebuild is over, the Senators are now on a new journey.
Wow that was a lot of fun to do! Thank you so much to all of you who commented your questions as I thoroughly enjoyed answering every one of them. I hope to do this again later in the season but I hope you enjoyed reading it. That has been my Q&A and Go Sens Go!
