5 Reasons for Sens Fans to be Excited for the Season

Most pundits think the Ottawa Senators will finish the 2011-2012 season near the bottom of the National Hockey League standings. Indeed, with the team in the midst of a major rebuild, it’s not difficult to imagine that this season will be a trying one for the Senators and their fans. However, there are still reasons to be excited for the season. Here are five:

5. It’s Been 20 Years

The 20th year of existence of the modern-day Senators brings with it a few perks, not the least of which is a new jersey that will obsolete the infamous SENS (or rather, SNES) jersey that fans of other teams (I’m looking at you, Toronto) love to poke fun at. Yes, the new jersey features a gigantic O on the front, but at least it’s a tribute to Ottawa’s hockey heritage instead of a team nickname written in an NHL Guardian-like font. The Senators might not win too many games this year, but at least they’ll fly around the ice in style. Additionally, although the All-Star festivities are often considered a joke, Ottawa will host some of the most talented hockey players on the planet this season – even if the Senators themselves don’t have many All-Stars at all.

4. The Three Z’s

It’s been a while since Ilya Zubov and Zdeno Chara have donned Sens jerseys, but now there are a few more Senators whose names start with the letter Z: Zack Smith, Zenon Konopka, and Mika Zibanejad. Smith, drafted in 2008, has played in parts of three seasons with the Sens, but this one figures to be his first full season in the NHL. He and Konopka, the latter of whom signed with the team in July, could make up a fourth line that’s one of the most difficult to play against in the entire NHL; they won’t be pushed around. Zibanejad, the prized sixth overall draft pick in June, is already 6’1” and 200 lbs and not a stranger to physical play either. His play through six pre-season and two regular season games is bringing back memories of Marian Hossa.

3. The Bald Guys

Through two regular season games, Craig Anderson and Alex “Bald” Auld have combined to allow eleven goals, which sounds awful. But Sens fans can take comfort in the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs started off last season by going 4-0, which proves that the first few games don’t necessarily indicate how the rest of the season will unfold. On paper, at least, Anderson and Auld form one of the best goaltending tandems the modern-day Sens have seen. (Kindly ignore the fact that Ottawa fans made the same declaration in 2007 with Ray Emery and Martin Gerber, and again in 2009 with Pascal Leclaire and Brian Elliott. We’re serious this time. Really.) If Anderson can play anything like he did last season for Ottawa, when he went 11-5-1 and managed a 0.939 save-percentage (and pulled the Sens just out of the league’s basement), he’ll give the team a chance to win many games.

2. The Power of the ‘Stache

The cold and stern Cory Clouston was replaced behind the bench this off-season by Paul MacLean, the Sens’ fifth head coach in just over three-and-a-half years. MacLean, with his otherworldly moustache, seems to be the most personable of the five, and he has eight years of experience as an assistant to Mike Babcock, one of the best head coaches in the NHL. That experience should help dispel much of the worry that this is MacLean’s first gig as a head coach in the NHL. Every coach had to have a start somewhere, right?

1. The Youth Movement

Rebuilding means a few difficult seasons for Ottawa fans (just ask the Edmonton Oilers), but it also means stocking up on energetic, talented youth (ask Edmonton about that, too). The Sens’ pool of young players hasn’t looked this good in many years. Zibanejad, Stephane Da Costa, Jared Cowen, Nikita Filatov, and David Rundblad, some of the most recent young editions to the Senators, have all been able to whet the appetites of Sens fans. There will be growing pains with all of them, but they play with passion and have shown signs of what’s to come – and what’s to come will be really, really sweet.

(Honourable mention: the last year of Filip Kuba’s contract. I don’t think this point needs an explanation; there will be a collective sigh of relief on July 1st, 2012 when the three-year, $11.1-million contract Kuba signed in 2009 expires – assuming General Manager Bryan Murray decides not to lock him up with another multi-year deal, that is. Keep your fingers crossed.)