Smith eyes step forward for Senators: 'We’ve just got to find ways to win'
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Amid a six-year playoff drought, head coach D.J. Smith believes the Ottawa Senators are ready to take a step forward this season in the competitive Eastern Conference.
The Senators, who finished six points out of the playoffs last season, strengthened their goaltending in the off-season by signing free agent Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year, $20 million contract. Ottawa also moved disgruntled winger Alex DeBrincat to the Detroit Red Wings, bringing back a haul that included Dominik Kubalik, and signed veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year deal.
“Ultimately, it’s about winning,” Smith told Postmedia of the focus for the upcoming season. “We’ve just got to find ways to win. I’ve get to get Tarasenko at his best, (Claude) Giroux, (Drake) Batherson at their best and I’ve got to make sure everybody is important.
“That’s part of being on a good team and a team that we think can be very competitive. If you look at the Eastern Conference, how many teams think they should make the playoffs or think they should be close? I’d say there’s probably 14 teams. They have expectations of making the playoffs and only eight get in.
“I’m not big at talking about what we’re going to do … What we’re going to do is get our team ready and we want to be healthy. We think our young players have taken a big enough step that they’re starting to be some of the better players on a nightly basis.”
Among the Senators young core is captain Brady Tkachuk, centre Tim Stutzle, winger Josh Norris and defenceman Jake Sanderson.
Ottawa will also enjoy a full season with Jakob Chychrun after acquiring the defenceman from the Arizona Coyotes ahead of the trade deadline last season. Chychrun is part of an impressive blueline core that also includes Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub and Sanderson.
Entering his fifth season with Ottawa, the 46-year-old Smith has targeted puck possession as an area of improvement for the Senators this season as the team looks to move up the standings.
“We’ve just been going over different ideas on how to have the puck more and how to continually eliminate time in our zone,” Smith said. “We finished 17th in the NHL in time in our zone last year and we know we want that to be in the upper half of the league.
“The top 10 would be outstanding. In order to make that happen, we have to have the puck more. You can’t just defend the whole game. How can we hold onto more offensively? We think we’re going to be able to score some goals but to do that we have to have the puck more.”
The Senators will open the 2023-24 on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 11 before flying back for a five-game homestand.