Sens starting 'at zero' as new season drops Thursday

It was just over four months ago that Chris Kunitz sent a fluttering puck over the shoulder of Craig Anderson for the game-winning goal in double overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Kunitz's Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup while the Senators went home to lick their many wounds.

As the new season begins, Sens head coach Guy Boucher warns although most of his core players are returning, last year's accomplishments are worth nothing today.

"That's why when people think we are the team we were at the end of the year, we're not," Boucher said. "We're starting back at zero and we've got to build it all back up again."

After a quick start to the preseason, that harsh reality came crashing down on the Senators last week. In their final three exhibition games, all losses, they were outscored 22-to-6.

Boucher urged his players to increase their compete level at practice this week and get back to playing Senators hockey, which, under his system, is to focus on defence first.

"We have to have our identity and we don't have it right now. Our identity is being outstanding defensively and getting the rest after. We haven't done that and that's why we got our butts kicked," he said.

Changing Faces

Gone from last year's team are forwards Chris Neil and Chris Kelly and trade-deadline pickups Tommy Wingels and Viktor Stalberg, none of whom were resigned.

Also missing is defenceman Marc Methot, who the team lost in the expansion draft to Las Vegas, and forward Clarke MacArthur, who failed his latest physical.

New this year are free agents Nate Thompson, a fourth-line forward, and Johnny Oduya, a veteran defenceman who won the Stanley Cup twice with the Chicago Blackhawks.

For the time being top prospects will fill the extra spots. Logan Brown, 19, and Alex Formenton, 18, will start the season in Ottawa. Colin White, 20, could find a place as well once he returns from a wrist injury in November.

It was hoped 20-year-old defenceman Thomas Chabot would be ready to make the jump this year as well. But a tough training camp exposed the youngster's defensive failings, so he was sent to Belleville to start the year with the Senators' AHL farm team.

Erik's Ankle

All this leads to the one big question mark heading into the start of the season: the health of Erik Karlsson. The Senators' perennial all-star defenceman is still recovering from off-season ankle surgery.

He missed most of training camp but is back now and progressing. Karlsson has shown remarkable healing power in the past —think back to his return from an Achilles tendon injury in 2013 — but when he'll return to 100 per cent effectiveness is another story.

A slow start for Karlsson, or for front-line centre Derick Brassard, who also missed all of training camp after shoulder surgery, could spell trouble for the Senators.

"Are some [players] really important to a team, absolutely," said Senators defenceman Mark Borowiecki. "But there's a reason that it's a team sport. It's up to us to band together here and give that extra 10 per cent and cover for him."

Keys to success

One thing the Senators do have going for them is a favourable early-season schedule.

They will play 10 of their first 14 games at the Canadian Tire Centre, starting with Thursday night's season opener against the defending President's Trophy winners, the Washington Capitals.

Avoiding a slow start could be crucial to the Senators' attempt to make the playoffs in consecutive years for only the second time since 2008.

For that to happen, the Senators will need Karlsson to return to the lineup healthy and in his usual Norris-Trophy form, Bobby Ryan and the aforementioned Brassard to play like they did in the playoffs last year, as opposed to how they produced during the regular season, and for the goaltending duo of Craig Anderson and Mike Condon to continue to be among the best tandems in hockey.

The latter is especially important considering the Senators are offensively challenged, scoring just 2.1 goals per game last season, which ranked 22nd in the league.

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One other thing to look out for this year is the club's home attendance. Neither of the team's first two games, Thursday, and Saturday versus Detroit, are sold out.

The Senators' average of 16,744 fans a game last year was the lowest in 20 years and a far cry from the 19,408 average they had in 2012-2013. 

The team even failed to sell out some of their playoff games last spring and unlike in 2007, their long playoff run has not translated into a huge increase in season-ticket sales.

This past summer the club announced it was reducing seating capacity by 1,500 to a maximum of 17,000 by placing black tarp over some of the upper bowl seats. 

A strong start will help alleviate many of these concerns, so it seems like there's a lot resting on the surgically repaired ankle of the team's captain.