The Ottawa Senators have two teenagers on their opening-night roster in 2018 fourth-overall pick Brady Tkachuk and 2017 second-rounder Alex Formenton.

General manager Pierre Dorion said Tuesday, however, that neither player is guaranteed to spend the season with the NHL club.

“I’m not big on hypothetical questions," Dorion told the Ottawa Citizen when asked what would happen if either struggled at the pro level. "Let’s just look at how they play through the first [part of the season] and then we’ll assess the situation with them. We don’t want to put them in a situation where they won’t keep on progressing and we can’t see development from them.

“It’s all right to develop at the NHL level as long as you keep contributing. Kids shouldn’t be here if they’re not going to play. You can play to a certain degree and sometimes you might need to sit out, but having a young player here not playing for a long period of time is definitely not going to happen this year.”

Tkachuk, 18, is set to miss Thursday's season opener due to a groin strain. He had one goal and two points in four preseason games with the team.

Formenton, 19, scored 29 goals and posted 48 points in 48 games with the OHL's London Knights last season. He drew rave reviews in training camp from head coach Guy Boucher, who said he had "McDavid-type of speed."

In total, the Senators have four rookies on their 22-man roster in Tkachuk, Formenton, centre Colin White and defenceman Maxime Lajoie.

“The integration of the young players on our roster has been one of the best surprises of camp,” Dorion said. “We want to put those players in situations where they won’t fail and it will help their careers but also help the team win.

“Right now, we feel the progression of these players is good and we’re just hopeful they’re on the right path and they can continue growing with this team.”

The Senators enter this season with significantly lower expectations than they had a year ago. With 11 new players on their opening-night roster, Dorion is simply looking to use this season as a building block towards future success.

“Progression is a broad word,” Dorion said. “Progression is something we’re looking at for this team.

“After last year we’re looking to move forward from what happened and let’s progress. We want to see progression in the play of the veterans, the play of the kids and in the team unity. We want to see [it] in our special teams, how we play a team defensive game but, at the same time, play a team offensive game.”

The team's opener can be seen live in the Senators' region at 7:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. AT on TSN5.