There’s a new standard in Ottawa. Thomas Chabot didn’t mince words when asked about the Ottawa Senators’ expectations this season. Making the playoffs isn’t some far-off dream or “wouldn’t it be nice” goal anymore. It’s the standard. That word matters.
The standards have stuck. These standards have become the bar the team measures itself against every single day, not just in April, when the mathematics of postseason positioning gets tighter. With head coach Travis Green leading the way, the Senators have improved a great deal over the past two seasons.
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Chabot, a player who has carried this team through too many lean years, sounds like a player who’s tired of moral victories. The Senators have dipped a toe into the playoffs once now, and it has left them hungry for more. They aren’t in the chase for participation ribbons. As he put it in the video below, “We don’t want to just take part in it — we want to go in and do some damage.”
For the Senators, the Bad Taste of Losing to the Maple Leafs Lingers
From what I’ve seen over my past eight seasons of covering NHL hockey, players carry the memory of their mistakes in their bones. That’s what you get when you listen to Chabot talk about his team. Last spring left a sting in Ottawa.
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The Senators clawed their way into the postseason, only to stumble early and find themselves down 3–1 in their first-round series. They pushed, fought, and nearly dragged it to a Game 7. That said, close doesn’t count in horseshoes or the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Chabot says the whole team went home with that “bad taste” in their mouths. That kind of taste doesn’t wash out easily. It lingers in training camp, in weight rooms, in early-morning skates. It fuels you.
For Ottawa, that fuel has become a collective mindset. They’ve already lived through the feeling of being a little too late, a little too thin, and a little too short of the mark. That’s what makes this season different: the expectation isn’t to find out what playoff hockey feels like. The goal is to win once they get there.
Still, for the Senators, It’s Work Before Words
Of course, expectations alone won’t win games. Chabot admitted as much. He knows there’s “a lot of work that goes in before that.” Just the team’s collective ambition can’t fuel Ottawa. Every skate in camp, every workout in the gym, every small tactical adjustment will matter if they want to meet their own raised bar.
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Still, in Canada’s capital city, the signs are good. Chabot says the guys showed up prepared, honest about where they fell short, and determined to seek a fix. That honesty is huge. Teams that lie to themselves about weaknesses don’t get better. Teams that face them head-on do.
How the Senators Envision Their Season
The Senators are no longer a rebuilding project. They’re a team that believes it belongs in the fight. Chabot’s words set the tone: playoffs are the standard, and once you’re there, it’s about making noise. Ottawa wants to become the kind of team that nobody circles on the calendar as an easy out.
Will they pull it off? That depends on health, depth, and whether their young core can take the next step. But make no mistake — the days of “just happy to be here” are over.
What’s Next for the Senators?
For Ottawa, the first half of the season is everything. Slow starts won’t cut it. No digging a hole and then trying to backfill. Chabot knows from experience that crawling back from 3–1 down in a series is usually too steep a climb. The same is true of an 8–12 start to the season. This group needs to set its tone in October, rather than waiting until March to get its act together.
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The Senators aren’t hiding from the challenge. They’ve lived playoff hockey once, and now they want more. If they can back up Chabot’s words with the kind of daily grind he’s calling for, this could be the season Ottawa stops being a nice story and starts being a serious threat.
