Reality Check: How Big is the Gap Between the Ottawa Senators and This Year's Playoff Teams?

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Now that the Ottawa Senators have their new head coach, roster construction becomes the primary focus for GM Steve Staios and company. And what better way to assess what you need than intently watching the teams who made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Former Senator-turned-analyst Marc Methot recently stated the Senators aren’t that close.

“It’s got to be a sobering thought for Sens fans,” Methot told TSN 1200 Radio. “I’m looking at the makeup of (the Senators), and I’m looking at the product that we’re now seeing on the ice in the postseason. I still don’t think we’re that close.”

In looking at the Senators’ current roster and looking at the teams that did and did not advance out of round one, the critical questions to ask yourself are:

1) “Could you imagine the Senators’ roster at full health being competitive with any of these teams if they played to their fullest potential with Travis Green as their coach?”

2) “If they got to the playoffs, with Travis Green as their coach, how would they do once they got there?”

Let’s stick with the Eastern Conference, for argument’s sake.

For the teams that didn’t advance – the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lighting, and Washington Capitals, all but the Leafs went out without putting up much of a fight.

The Senators owned an 8-5 record against those teams in the regular season and never looked out of place when playing them. Understood, this is just the regular season, and the roster will look different come training camp. However, it’s not hard to imagine the Senators being competitive over an 82-game season if their biggest and most successful change to the roster was behind the bench rather than on it.

The primary difference between these teams and the Senators over the course of the regular season seems to be the lack of NHL-caliber coaching, structure, and accountability. With all due respect to Daniel Alfredsson and Jacques Martin, they were never considered the solution. They were both more consultants to Steve Staios than anything else.

Now let’s turn to the four teams that did advance: the Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, and Carolina Hurricanes. Three of the outcomes of their series never seemed in doubt for a moment.

The Senators’ regular season record against those four teams was 2-9-2, and the scores were often extremely lopsided.

Being completely honest, it’s hard to imagine that the Senators – like Toronto, the Islanders, Tampa Bay, and Washington – would be little more than fodder for the upper crust in the Eastern Conference, not without noticeable improvements from existing players at all positions and some shrewd roster upgrades,

The level of intensity and physical compete from Florida, Boston, the Rangers, and Carolina is on constant display. This is something the current roster sorely lacks, and no amount of head coaching will fix that situation.

In summary, are the Senators close to being competitive for the playoffs?

That much depends primarily on Travis Green’s performance as head coach. No one expected Washington to make it.

Would the Senators be competitive if they did make it? This seems highly unlikely. And that is a roster construction issue that Steve Staios needs to fix.

Assuming Green is the right guy, the term of four years (coincidentally the number of years remaining on Brady Tkachuk’s deal) seems like an appropriate amount of time for the Senators to become Cup-relevant. The Senators’ 7th overall selection this June will likely be a part of any Cup-contending team.

Though the Senators have a long way to go from a playoff relevance standpoint, they may be closer to getting in than people think – if they just chose the right head coach.