Ottawa Senators’ 2024 Training Camp Battles to Watch For – The Hockey Writers – Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators’ 2024 training camp begins in eight weeks. Now it’s time to watch the training camp battles being fought for one of the few spots on the Senators’ opening night roster that haven’t been filled by veterans.

Training camp fights are the stuff of compelling storylines that keep fans hooked. The winners of these fights often become fan favorites. After all, who doesn’t love an underdog coming out on top?

Ottawa Senators Opening Night Depth Chart Projection

On October 10th at 7:00 PM, the Senators will take on the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers at the Canadian Tire Centre. The depth chart below shows the players I believe will definitely play on opening night.

Left wing	Centre	Right wing
Brady Tkachuk	Tim Stutzle	Claude Giroux
Ridley Greig	Josh Norris	Drake Batherson
Michael Amadio	Shane Pinto	David Perron
Noah Gregor	Open	Zack MacEwan

Left defense	Right-wing defense
Jake Sanderson	Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot	Nick Jensen
Open	Open

If I’m correct, there are currently only three spots left on the selection list.

Who has a chance to fill the Senators’ 4th line?

I estimate that only five players have a chance to cruise the center of the ice on the fourth line when the season starts. They are Adam Gaudette, Jan Jenik, Matthew Highmore, Garrett Pilon and Xavier Bourgault.

Related: 5 Ottawa Senators Storylines to Watch in 2024-25

While it’s a long shot to make the roster, Pilon will be interesting to watch. Now 26 years old, this is likely one of the few chances he has left to make an NHL team. He posted his highest point total in his six American Hockey League (AHL) campaigns last season with the Belleville Senators. He had five points in seven games in the league’s Calder Cup Playoffs last season. If his team isn’t good enough to earn a spot on the opening night roster, he’ll at least want to show that he belongs on head coach Travis Green’s call-up list.

The same can be said for the recently acquired Xavier Bourgault, who Ottawa acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in July as part of a trade involving the injury-plagued Robbie Jarventie. At 21 and with just two AHL seasons under his belt, it’s unlikely he’ll find his way into the fourth-line center position.

Still, as my colleague at The Hockey Writers, Jacob Billington, recently wrote , in Bourgault, the Senators are “bringing in a player who isn’t as good as Jarventie right now. But over the next few years, his much higher ceiling could allow him to develop into the better player.” Bourgault will be looking to turn some heads at training camp and, like Pilon, carve out some space for himself on Green’s call-up list this season.

Jenik is 23 years old, has played in four AHL campaigns and has 22 NHL games with the then-Arizona Coyotes to his credit. He has the potential to put himself on Green’s radar in training camp this September. He’s a respectable goal scorer in the AHL and was a lights-out performer in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with two points per game in 2019-20 with the Hamilton Bulldogs. The team’s president and general manager (GM) that season was Senators GM Steve Staios.

Staios said of Jenik at the time: “He’s the best player in the league (OHL) in my opinion” (from ‘SCOTT RADLEY: Injury to their best player a disaster for the Bulldogs’, The Hamilton Spectator1/1/20). That’s a vote of confidence that could prove valuable as Jenik battles in training camp for a roster spot.

The sun has likely set on Matthew Highmore’s NHL career, and the upcoming training camp could be his last chance to get his hands on a Senators jersey. At 28 years old, he has 146 NHL games to his name, but most of those came with the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks from 2019-2022. He’s only played in nine games over the last three seasons, seven of those with Ottawa as a replacement for injured players. While it’s unlikely he’ll make the team, a good training camp could put Highmore high on the call-up list.

I think Adam Gaudette has the best chance of playing as a fourth-line center on opening night. It’s true that his best days in the NHL are likely behind him. His last regular appearance in the league came in 2021-22, when he played 50 games with the Senators. Since then, he’s bounced around the AHL before being picked up by Ottawa on a one-year, two-way deal that pays him $750,000 if he makes the team and $450,000 if he plays in Belleville.

Still, Gaudette has played 220 games in the NHL and reportedly brings more to the fourth line than Pilon and Highmore. As for Bourgault and Jenik, they are young and the Senators may want to see them develop further in the AHL. All of that tells me the edge goes to Gaudette.

Who could earn a spot in the Senators’ third defensive lineup?

The left guard on the third pair is Tyler Kleven’s job to lose. The team’s prospect closet is so depleted that it’s fair to say the 6-foot-3, 205-pound powerhouse is pretty much the Senators’ depth at the position. Plus, it’s not like Staios can bring in any additional top prospects for his blue line with just under $2 million in cap space.

Related: 3 Potential Senators Who Could Step Into the Floor in 2024-25

The battle for the spot on the right side of the third defensive pair will be a dogfight. The combatants are Maxence Guenette, Travis Hamonic, Jacob-Bernard Docker and Nikolas Mantinpalo.

On most nights, Hamonic will likely be a healthy scratch as the seventh defenseman, which is where he spent much of last season. That and injuries—many of which were blamed on his constant shot-blocking—limited him to just 48 games.

Bernard-Docker must be feeling the pressure to keep his job. After all, the Senators put him on waivers just before the start of last season, and Staios was rumored to be on the trade block at last season’s trade deadline. All of which is to say that he’s not untouchable.

Moreover, Mantinpalo isn’t going to let Bernard-Docker be anointed lightly. At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, the 25-year-old Finn brings the same size to the Senators’ blue line as Kleven. Whether he can bring Kleven’s gruffness is unclear. Still, with just 67 games in a single season in the AHL, Mantinpalo may need more experience in Belleville before making the jump to the big club in Ottawa. Still, fans can be sure he’ll want to show he belongs in the NHL at training camp in September.

Finally, Guenette will be in the thick of the battle for a spot on the third defensive pairing. The 23-year-old was one of the last cutbacks in last season’s training camp and hung around in Bytown until Oct. 8 before being sent down to Belleville. He saw action in seven NHL games in March of last year as the Senators battled injuries. He’s improved each year in his three AHL seasons. While he still has a slim chance of making the roster, with a good camp he could make it tough for Staios to send him back to Belleville.

Senators’ 2024 opening night roster not set in stone

While the 2024 opening night roster looks all but set, that doesn’t mean training camp won’t be an interesting one to watch. There are still a few spots up for grabs, and even low-ball prospects playing in Ottawa this season will get a chance to turn some heads.