Montreal Canadiens: Senators Rebuild At Crisis Point As Kent Hughes Moves Forward

In many ways, Montreal Canadiens rivals, the Ottawa Senators wrote the perfect script for an NHL rebuild, at least when compared to the Habs.

That being said, they’ve still yet to finish it, with many fans hoping this upcoming 2023-24 season will be the one to finally end their six-season, postseason drought.

To say the Senators and the Habs started on opposite ends of the spectrum when Ottawa re-entered the NHL prior to the 1992-93 season is a definite understatement. The first incarnation of the Senators were arguably the best team in the early days of organized professional hockey, and, for many, one of the greatest teams in NHL history. While names like starting goaltender Percy LeSuer and star forward “One-Eyed” Frank McGee are mostly forgotten about in the context of the modern NHL, their stories and legends will live on for eternity, something Ottawa hoped they could rekindle in parts when they joined the NHL once more, as an expansion team, in 1992.

As you can probably surmise, that didn’t exactly happen, at least not initially. The early 90s incarnation of the Sens are regarded as one of, if not the worst team in modern-day NHL history, and it almost led to Ottawa losing the team entirely with dwindling ticket sales and a complete lack of talent on the ice or behind the bench. After an opening night 5-3 win at home (against the Canadiens funnily enough) with Neil Brady scoring the teams first goal, head coach Rick Bowness and company won only nine more games the rest of the year, finishing with a 10-70-4 record, just shy of the Capitals 8-67-5 record posted in 1974-75.

The Late 1990’s

With a gameplan that was essentially “hope the opposing team has an off night” Ottawa struggled early and often, while Montreal started reeling slowly from their 24th Stanley Cup title in the Sens first season.

While players like Norm Maciver, Randy Cunneyworth and Dave McLIwain benefited from the increased ice-time, it didn’t lead to wins on the ice, not at least until Jacques Martin took over as Ottawa’s head coach during the 1995-96 season. Martin’s defense-oriented system brought the Senators back from the brink, and with Ron Tugnutt, Damian Rhodes, Patrick LaLime, Dominik Hasek and Ray Emery leading the way in net at different points, Ottawa slowly went from a basement-dweller in 1993 to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2007, where they would lose in five games to the Anaheim Ducks.

Meanwhile, Montreal fans and media alike had to deal with a panicked President in Ronald Corey completely losing any and all sensibility or logic or reason, firing head coach Jacques Demers and GM Serge Savard at the beginning of the 95-96 season in favor of Mario Tremblay and Rejean Houle, who had no experience in either position, and the rest is… well the rest.

Aside from Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price figuratively and well, literally, carrying mediocre Habs squads to the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final in 2009, 2014, and 2021 respectively, time generally hasn’t been kind to the Habs since ’93, and this is something the Senators, as we’ve shown, know all too well.

At this present moment though, Montreal and Ottawa, once again, find themselves as opposites, as much as fans and media alike would want you to believe otherwise. 2022-23 was supposed to be the year Ottawa returned to the playoffs, with a stacked offense, solid defense, and for once, solid goaltending tandem of Cam Talbot and Anton Forsberg in net.

Montreal had just come off one of the worst starts in team history in 2021-22 under former coach Dominque Ducharme and had nowhere to go but up. By season’s end however, both teams essentially found themselves in the same place, and the narrative had switched from that of “Ottawa is a playoff team” to “Both team’s are still rebuilding, give them some time, they’re still young and developing”, etc. etc.

Time For Senators To Show Rebuild Is Over

Just have a thought about this for a second. When Giroux signed in Ottawa, do you think management talked about this team as a rebuilding one who’s a few years from the playoffs let alone being a contender? Giroux left Philly because they were rebuilding.

There is absolutely no chance he signed in Ottawa for the same reason. The front office promised Giroux a competitive roster, and to say they’re on the same level as the Canadiens is, again, an insult to both parties, and a cop out for those who just can’t admit Ottawa has been grossly underperforming, especially when compared to the effort the Habs put in night after night last season with little to no help.

For most of their history, the Sens and the Habs have gone back and forth in terms of who is the better team, and from the Erik Karlsson days to the days of Dale Weise and P.K Subban running the show in Montreal, they’ve inspired fun rivalries and some great games.

At a certain point though, you have to face the music, and in this case, not only are Ottawa and Montreal polar opposites in terms of their goals for next season, but in my opinion, 2023-24 is do or die for this latest Senators rebuild.

As NHL training camps get underway and fans look forward to the start of a new season, there are still plenty of question marks left to be answered come the beginning of October, and one of many, revolves around whether this the year, for the Canadiens to move forward, and whether Ottawa, has what it takes, to exercise, their playoff demons.

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