Ottawa Senators Blue Line Depth Being Tested Early

When looking at the preseason forecasts for the Ottawa Senators, the most obvious weakness on the roster was the quality of depth on the blue line.

The Senators made efforts to address the handedness and balance issues that plagued the team last season. Jakob Chychrun and Erik Brannstrom were sent packing while Nick Jensen arrived from the Washington Capitals.

The third pairing and the quality of depth thereafter never seemed to receive a similar sense of urgency. In fairness, the organization may have attempted to make moves to address the team's depth, but it never manifested in additional moves.

Without those additions, the decision to rely exclusively on the combination of Travis Hamonic, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Tyler Kleven spurred concerns about what an extended absence to one of the team's top-four defencemen would do to the state of the blue line.

We may have our answer.

Six and a half minutes into the Senators' matinee tilt against the Los Angeles Kings, Artem Zub received a devastating hit by Kings forward Tanner Jeannot.

The play occurred as Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson retrieved a dump-in behind his net and was met with pressure by Kings forward Phillip Danault. Sanderson made a touch pass to get the puck to his playing partner, but the puck was played to Zub's offhand. The Russian defenceman failed to retrieve it cleanly, and the puck bounced out towards the bottom of the right circle, where Zub absorbed the full speed of Jeannot.

After speaking with the trainer on the bench, Zub left the bench for the dressing room. The Senators' communication staff acknowledged that he suffered an upper-body injury and would not return.

Injuries have plagued Zub in the past several years. He missed 29 games during the 2022-23 season and another 13 in 2023-24 - including a stretch of seven games after he took a puck to the ear and sustained a concussion during the team's October 18th game against the Washington Capitals.

Ideally, Zub's injury does not keep him out of the lineup for an extended period. Any absence will put the Senators in an untenable situation in which they will be forced to rely on Jacob Bernard-Docker or Travis Hamonic to play top-four minutes.

The third pairing has not been particularly effective this season. NaturalStatTrick's pairing tool shows that at five-on-five, the Senators have only generated 32.50 percent of the total shots (CF%), 31.25 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), and 24.04 percent of the expected goals (xGF%).

Considering how Bernard-Docker has not appeared in a game this season, Hamonic appears to have a leg up on the University of North Dakota product. Irrespective of who moves up, Zub's absence will put exponential pressure on the trio of Thomas Chabot, Nick Jensen and Jake Sanderson.

Chabot and Jensen will be expected to play significant minutes. On Monday afternoon, Chabot logged over 29 minutes of ice time (29:04) for the first time this season and the first time since the Senators' January 31, 2024 game against the Red Wings. Jensen's 23 minutes and 47 seconds of ice time also represented a season-high. (As an aside, in the last six instances in which Jensen has logged more than 23 minutes, his team has coincidentally posted a 6-1-0 record.)

Sanderson will do the real heavy lifting. He will be asked to carry whoever replaces Zub on his pairing. On Monday against the Kings, that was not a problem. For the 19th time in his career, Sanderson registered more than 26 minutes of ice time (26:45), and the Senators carried play with him on the ice -- generating 72.09 percent of the total shots (CF%), 65.38 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), and 61.20 percent of the expected goals (xGF%). He did this while playing predominantly with Hamonic following Zub's injury.

It was easily Hamonic's best game of the season.

The underlying shot and goal metrics were encouraging when Hamonic was on the ice. The Senators generated more shots (CF), shots on goal (SF) and scoring chances (SCF) Monday with Hamonic on the ice than they did in their previous two games.

• Yesterday's Game: 23 CF, 13 SF, 10 SCF

• First Two Games: 17 CF, 8 SF, 7 SCF

Hamonic was also responsible for a critical shot block during a pivotal Kings power play late in the third that preserved the tie and sent the game to overtime.

It is naive to assume the Senators will be able to carry the play as much as they did against the Kings, but hopefully, Sanderson and Hamonic can carry some of this momentum into their next few games. The Senators' remaining October schedule looks incredibly challenging on paper, so they will need inspired play from their supporting cast.

With this schedule and playoff aspirations, it is imperative for the team to bank as many points as possible during this difficult stretch of games. If they can, they will set themselves up nicely for a springboard situation when the quality of competition eases up.

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