Ottawa hockey fans can start marking their calendars. The Ottawa Senators will kick off training camp at the Canadian Tire Centre on Sept. 16, and this year's edition of the team arrives with a different kind of expectation hanging over it: contender status.
For a franchise that has spent the past several seasons in rebuild mode, that's a real shift in tone. The Senators have quietly built up a young core, and management now has some real decisions to make about how everyone fits together once camp gets rolling.
What's at stake in camp
Training camp is always a jockeying period, but this year it carries extra weight. With a roster that's deeper and more competitive than in past seasons, coaches will be sorting out line combinations, defensive pairings, and who claims the final spots on the depth chart. Nothing is guaranteed just because a player wore the jersey last year.
That internal competition is exactly what a team wants heading into a season where the goal isn't just to make the playoffs, it's to be a genuine threat once they get there. "Contender" is a word Senators fans haven't heard much in recent years, and the front office seems intent on making it stick this time.
An Ottawa story on and off the ice
For the city, the Senators are more than a hockey team, they're one of Ottawa's biggest civic touchstones. The Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata fills up on game nights with fans from across the region, and a competitive Senators squad tends to ripple outward: more energy downtown on game days, more foot traffic at the sports bars along Elgin Street and in the ByWard Market, and a general lift in the city's mood through the winter months.
Ottawa has had a complicated relationship with its NHL team over the past decade, weathering ownership uncertainty and rebuilding pains. A camp that opens with genuine optimism, rather than the usual caveats, is a notable moment for a fan base that has stayed loyal through some lean years.
What to watch for
As camp opens on the 16th, keep an eye on how the coaching staff handles the top six forward group and who steps up on the back end. Roster battles for the bottom of the lineup are often where camp storylines get made, and this year those battles could determine whether the Senators are truly ready to take the next step.
Preseason games typically follow shortly after camp opens, giving Ottawa fans their first real look at how the pieces fit before the regular season begins. If the front office's confidence is warranted, this could be the year the Senators turn potential into results.
Source: Ottawa Citizen
