OTTAWA — Thomas Chabot's golf swing seemingly wasn't impacted by off-season wrist surgery or the addition of a wedding ring. He's sure the operation will improve his on-ice performance when the Ottawa Senators' season begins, too.
Chabot, Claude Giroux, and Tim Stutzle were some of the Senators on hand Monday for the NHL team's annual charity golf tournament that marks the unofficial start of the hockey season. All three were excited to get back to playing, especially with some of the new additions to Ottawa's lineup.
"I took care of some stuff this summer," said Chabot. "It’s exciting. It’s going to be fun coming into the season with no bumps and bruises and feeling healthy and getting ready to play hockey."
Chabot admitted the wrist injury had affected his performance in previous seasons.
"It’s not an excuse either, but it’s not easy going out every night knowing that you’re going to be playing a certain way just because of certain injuries,” he said. “Just excited now that all that is behind me, I can just focus on training camp here and get ready to play some games and win some games."
A healthy Chabot will provide a significant advantage to the Senators and much the same can be said about Stutzle. After dealing with nagging injuries last season, Stutzle prioritized his health over the summer.
"It shouldn’t be an excuse, everybody goes through injuries and is not playing 100 per cent healthy," said Stutzle. "But for me it was just to get to 100 per cent over the summer and feel good getting into this year."
The Senators finished last season with a 37-41-4 record. They announced Travis Green as their new head coach on May 7, adding Mike Yeo and Nolan Baumgartner as assistant coaches.
Ottawa also made significant changes to its lineup, most notably adding goalie Linus Ullmark in a trade with the Boston Bruins on June 24 for Mark Kastelic, Joonas Korpisalo, and a 2024 first-round pick that became centre Dean Letourneau.
The Senators made five trades in July and signed eight players through free agency over the summer, most recently adding veteran forward Nick Cousins on Aug. 29.
Like many of his teammates, Stutzle is excited about the team's new acquisitions.
"I think we brought in some really good characters, and that’s really important, and some guys who are known around the league and have really good success over their career,” said Stutzle. “I’m really excited about the team we have and couldn’t wait to get back here and get started to work out with the guys.”
Ullmark has a 138-73-23 record over nine NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and Boston, earning a 2.51 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
"Just watching him on the ice, he's a big guy who covers a lot of the net,” said Giroux. “He’s been in the league for a while and we’re excited that he's on our side."
Giroux, entering his third season with the Senators, was also excited about the upcoming season.
"Every year at this time of the year, there's always a new buzz, there’s always new faces," Giroux said. "But with the season we had last year and how we want to start this year, we're a bit older team.
"We made some great additions to our team in both forward and defence, so a little bit everywhere and we’re just excited to get going and get the chemistry going."
Giroux, among others, made it clear to management at the end of the season that they wanted more and now it will be up to the players to take advantage.
"Our staff, (general manager Steve Staios) and everybody else, did a great job adding players that have a role on the team,” said Giroux. “I think it’s important that whatever you’re best at, I think that’s what you have to bring. That’s how you’re going to help the team.”
As the Senators prepare for training camp, the focus will be on establishing a strong identity and work ethic.
Chabot shared that Green has already emphasized the importance of hard work.
“It’s about coming to the rink every day and doing the work and not just going through it,” admitted Chabot. ‘That will be one of the main things. I think we’re going to focus on ourselves. At the end of the day, it’s us as players and we have to go out there and get it done. We’ve said the last few years, but I think now’s the time for us as a group to take a step forward.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
