Ottawa Senators Fantasy Hockey Spotlight - Part 2 | In-Depth Analysis on Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Leevi Merilainen and More

Today in part two of this team spotlight on the Ottawa Senators, we’ll take a look at the players that will impact your roster. As with all of my team spotlight articles, this is more geared towards the more savvy fantasy manager full of nerdy stats to really break down where these players are, to give you a better understanding of their trends.

If you read my article from yesterday, then you know I think this team is just one playoff berth away from figuring it all out, and taking the next step. As promised, today we are going to break down the players on this roster that are not only going to help the Senators make that happen, but help your fantasy team, too!

Without further ado, let’s take a look into the battle of Ontario champion roster.

The “Franchise”

Brady Tkachuk is the new generation of the age-old power forward. A dying breed of player, it is a breath of fresh air to see players like the Tkachuks take the ice again. Gone are the days of Peter Forsberg and Brendan Shanahan, or ironically enough; Keith Tkachuk. I wonder where Brady and Matthew Tkachuk get those traits and playstyle from?

Tkachuk has 19 goals, 20 assists, 15 powerplay points, and 197 shots on goal. He also has a whopping 97 penalty minutes, 176 hits, and 29 blocked shots. What an absolute stud. 

I was not kidding when I said yesterday that Tkachuk is a bangers league dream. Imagine when your franchise player is out hitting most grinders and has as many penalty minutes as most enforcers. Oh wait, that’s because Tkachuk also is not afraid to throw his weight around and throw hands with anyone on his team that you mess with.

Who isn’t going to follow this captain into the trenches of battle in a deep playoff run. The fact Tkachuk has not yet seen a single playoff game in his career is criminal. As soon as they break through, he is going to be like an animal who gets the taste of blood in a hunt. 

Tkachuk was bred for the long playoff grind. Again, a direct comparison is his brother Matthew, and look how that worked out for him the last few years since joining the Florida Panthers. He has put that franchise on his back and is a Stanley Cup champion, and that has a nice “ring” to it, doesn't it? Pun intended.

This beauty is beyond an elite player, and keeper in any format. He would be the franchise on nearly every team in the league if he was on their roster. If you end up with him on your team, hang on and don’t let go.

The “Elite”

Tim Stutzle is an elite goal scoring and point machine, and is a cornerstone of the Senator’s future. Third overall pick in 2020, he has really been showing his offensive prowess this season and has been seemingly unstoppable.

Stutz has 16 goals, 33 assists, 18 powerplay points, and 191 shots on goal. He has OK at best peripherals with; 79 hits and 29 blocks.

Now Stutz is an elite talent, don’t get me wrong, but if you take a second to compare him and Tkachuk in either scoring or his physical game, it’s not even close. That doesn’t take away from Stutzle’s talent as he does still lead the team in points, but just goes to show how good Tkachuk is and what kind of hands this team’s core is in. 

Jake Sanderson has taken over the top spot on the blueline, and for good reason. He is a puck moving defenseman who is an elite playmaker and powerplay quarterback specialist.

Sanderson has two goals, 25 assists, 17 powerplay points and 107 shots on goal. Sanderson also has put up 27 hits and a team-leading 105 blocked shots.

Those blocked shots obviously come in part due to his spot on the penalty kill. Sanderson has as elite deployment as one could get in the league with a top two defensive pairing, quarterback position on the number one powerplay unit, and defensive role on the number one penalty kill unit.

He is a must roster, with his only downfall being his +/- rating which comes at an abysmal team worst -16. This both proves how he is an offence first defender, coupled with the defensive lapses this team has, in addition to how much ice time this guy eats. If you don’t count +/- you will be fine, but it is something to consider.

Drake Batherson is going to slide in on my elite list. Another young-ish forward of the future, who has an elite shot, playmaking ability, and is not afraid to throw the body. You could say that he is 26 years old and in his “prime” so we’ve already established what this player is going to be, but he has gotten better with every year and is on pace this year to beat his season high 66 points last season.

Batherson has 14 goals, 26 assists, 19 powerplay points and 107 shots. He has also put up both an impressive 75 hits, but a lackluster 19 blocked shots. He does have a solidified spot on the number one powerplay unit which also adds to his fantasy value, so it is an important note to consider.

The “Depth”

Thomas Chabot will lead our depth chart for the Senators, having lost his top defensive and powerplay quarterback spots to Sanderson. The former number one blueliner is still a hold on your roster, and blows Sanderson’s +/- rating out of the water with a miraculous +12, but unfortunately his deployment has taken a severe hit.

“Hotsam Batcho” has three goals, 18 assists, and four powerplay points. He’s also racked up a consistent 104 shots on goal, 35 hits, and 79 blocked shots. He is a steady Eddy if you have ever seen one, whose consistency gives him some added value.

Chabot is a mainstay on the second powerplay unit, and always sees penalty kill time, and despite losing his special teams spots to a younger more talented version of himself, his ice time deployment somehow remains untouched. He averages the second most ice time on the Senators, again behind only Sanderson.

Claude Giroux is quietly fighting father time, and winning. This former Philadelphia Flyers captain is in his 19th NHL season, and still producing at over half a point per game pace. How? No idea. Is that good? You bet it is.

In 49 games played, Giroux has 10 goals, 23 assists, and nine powerplay points. He’s also put up 94 shots on goal, 40 hits, and 26 blocked shots, all while a middle six role, a number one powerplay spot, and somehow a top penalty kill spot, too.

You’d think this 37-year-old would have protected exposure and ice time, but he's still putting in between 18-19 minutes per game on average. Further, this former captain gives this locker room a calming veteran presence which has helped with the blossoming talent on this roster that is still trying to find itself legs in the most competitive division in the league. 

Giroux, at least this year, continues to be a strong hold for a great sneaky depth option. He exploded to start the year, and a lot of people sold high, but even though his production took a dip, he is easily a serviceable hold throughout the year and into playoffs.

Josh Norris will be our final depth player that you should consider on your roster. As mentioned yesterday, technically was out, but was back in the lineup again last night. If you paid close attention to yesterday’s article, you will note I did not add him into the list of players out of the roster, and would you look at that he did end up playing. Good for us for being keen on details!

Norris has 17 goals and 10 assists with 11 of those points coming in on the powerplay. He’s also racked up 88 shots on goal, 123 hits, and 42 blocked shots.

Generally a mainstay in a top six role, sometimes moving up with injuries or line shuffling, and also always having a spot on either of the powerplay units, his value lies in his production, consistent peripherals, and excellent deployment.

Honorable Mention

Shane Pinto gets an honorable mention here. While potentially a decent streamer option, the hype for him has seemingly diminished into nothing. He served a huge half-season long suspension last year for breaking NHL gambling policy, upon his return you can bet he came into the league on a winning streak!

At the time of writing, it is perfect timing for a comparison to his half season last year coming off of suspension and where he sits at this point, as both sample sizes have 41 games played.

Last season he had nine goals, 18 assists, six powerplay points, as well as 110 shots on goal, 31 hits, and 38 blocked shots.

This season he has nine goals, nine assists, two powerplay points, as well as 81 shots on goal, 40 hits, and 33 blocked shots. It is clear his production has gone down on a better performing team. Again, he is a streamer at best at this point.

The Replacement "Starters"

Linus Ullmark I spoke to yesterday, and is still on IR. But the two tendy tag-ins have been giving the Senators a timely tandem when they could have been in turmoil. I think that tastefully sums up their situation to a tee.

Anton Forsberg is supposed to be Ullmark’s backup, but has been taking the slight majority of the replacement tandem starts, and doing well. According to ESPN, he has been player of the game in all three of his last three starts.

Forsberg has put up six wins in his 17 starts with an .894 saver percentage (although this has been steadily trending up), with a 2.81 goals against average and two shutouts.

Leevi Merilainen got the call up from the AHL and has been offering stellar support to Forsberg since breaking through to the big leagues. He only played in two NHL games last year, and this year is already up to 11, with 10 starts.

Merilainen has seven wins in those 10 starts, adding an impressive .921 save percentage, 2.19 and two shutouts. He is clearly a goalie of the future, albeit a small sample size. If you play in a dynasty league, I would be rostering him as he is definitely worth a toss of the dice.

Closing Thoughts

To reiterate what I feel is not only a broken record message from both of my articles in the last two days, but also the media coverage over the past couple seasons, the Ottawa Senators are at the pinnacle of taking a step forward and becoming a contending team.

Yes, they are in the most competitive division in the league, and yes they are in a tight race to clinch a wild card playoff spot. But again, they have all the right tools and just need to put it together, and I genuinely think they will. Plus, I do believe that once Tkachuk gets a taste for playoff blood, he will put this team on his back and win at absolutely any cost.