# 2019–20 Ottawa Senators season

The 2019–20 Ottawa Senators season was the 28th season of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Senators attempted to return to the playoffs after missing the playoffs in the past two seasons.
The season was suspended by the league officials on March 12, 2020, after several other professional and collegiate sports organizations followed suit as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On May 26, the NHL regular season was officially declared over with the remaining games being cancelled and the Senators missed the playoffs for the third straight year.

## Team business

On October 5, 2019, the Senators announced that Chris Phillips would have his jersey number (#4) retired by the team on February 18, 2020. He is the third Senators' player to have their jersey retired by the franchise, the others being Daniel Alfredsson's #11, and original Senator Frank Finnigan's #8.
The team named a new CEO in January 2020. The team had operated without a permanent one since 2018. Owner Eugene Melnyk had temporarily filled the post. The team named Jim Little who had served as executive VP and chief marketing and culture officer with Shaw Communications. Little was given the priority to repair community relations and boost ticket attendance among other business issues. Less than two months later, the Senators dismissed Little on March 4, 2020, and promised to announce a new CEO within a few weeks's time.

## Off-season

In May 2019, the Ottawa Senators announced that D. J. Smith agreed to a three-year contract to be the team's head coach. The team filled out the coaching staff by hiring associate coach Jack Capuano, assistant coach Davis Payne, assistant coach Bob Jones and video coach Mike King. Capuano and Payne are both former head coaches in the NHL. Goaltending coach Pierre Groulx was retained from the previous staff.

## Regular season

The Senators started their season with a 5–3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 2. Scott Sabourin scored a goal in his NHL debut during the season opener.
Veteran player Bobby Ryan missed approximately three months while attending an NHL player assistance program. It was later revealed by Ryan that he had entered the program due to ongoing struggles with alcohol abuse. He would return to NHL action on February 25 in an away game versus the Nashville Predators. In his first post-rehab home game on February 27, Ryan made headlines by scoring his fifth career hat trick.
At the trade deadline in February 2020, the club continued to build for the future, trading away Dylan DeMelo, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Vladislav Namestnikov and Tyler Ennis for draft picks. All were pending unrestricted free agents. After the trades, the Senators hold a total of 13 2020 NHL Entry Draft draft picks, including three in the first round and four in the second round.
The season was suspended by the NHL on March 12, 2020, after several other professional and collegiate sports organizations followed suit as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On March 17, it was announced that an unnamed Senators player had tested positive for the virus, the first case identified among NHL players. The team announced on March 21 that a second player has also tested positive.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | p – Boston Bruins | 70 | 44 | 14 | 12 | 38 | 227 | 174 | +53 | 100 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 70 | 43 | 21 | 6 | 35 | 245 | 195 | +50 | 92 |
| 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 36 | 25 | 9 | 28 | 238 | 227 | +11 | 81 |
| 4 | Florida Panthers | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 30 | 231 | 228 | +3 | 78 |
| 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 71 | 31 | 31 | 9 | 19 | 212 | 221 | −9 | 71 |
| 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 69 | 30 | 31 | 8 | 22 | 195 | 217 | −22 | 68 |
| 7 | Ottawa Senators | 71 | 25 | 34 | 12 | 18 | 191 | 243 | −52 | 62 |
| 8 | Detroit Red Wings | 71 | 17 | 49 | 5 | 13 | 145 | 267 | −122 | 39 |

### Eastern Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | Boston Bruins | 70 | 44 | 14 | 12 | 38 | 227 | 174 | +53 | .714 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 70 | 43 | 21 | 6 | 35 | 245 | 195 | +50 | .657 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 3 | Washington Capitals | 69 | 41 | 20 | 8 | 31 | 240 | 215 | +25 | .652 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 4 | Philadelphia Flyers | 69 | 41 | 21 | 7 | 31 | 232 | 196 | +36 | .645 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 5 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 69 | 40 | 23 | 6 | 29 | 224 | 196 | +28 | .623 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 6 | Carolina Hurricanes | 68 | 38 | 25 | 5 | 27 | 222 | 193 | +29 | .596 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 7 | New York Islanders | 68 | 35 | 23 | 10 | 24 | 192 | 193 | −1 | .588 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 8 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 70 | 36 | 25 | 9 | 28 | 238 | 227 | +11 | .579 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 9 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 70 | 33 | 22 | 15 | 25 | 180 | 187 | −7 | .579 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 10 | Florida Panthers | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 30 | 231 | 228 | +3 | .565 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 11 | New York Rangers | 70 | 37 | 28 | 5 | 31 | 234 | 222 | +12 | .564 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 12 | Montreal Canadiens | 71 | 31 | 31 | 9 | 19 | 212 | 221 | −9 | .500 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 13 | Buffalo Sabres | 69 | 30 | 31 | 8 | 22 | 195 | 217 | −22 | .493 | |
| 14 | New Jersey Devils | 69 | 28 | 29 | 12 | 22 | 189 | 230 | −41 | .493 | |
| 15 | Ottawa Senators | 71 | 25 | 34 | 12 | 18 | 191 | 243 | −52 | .437 | |
| 16 | Detroit Red Wings | 71 | 17 | 49 | 5 | 13 | 145 | 267 | −122 | .275 | |

## Schedule and results
### Pre-season

The pre-season schedule was published on June 18, 2019.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 25, 2019.
2019–20 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Players
### Statistics
#### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Brady Tkachuk | 71 | 21 | 23 | 44 | −14 | 106 |
| Connor Brown | 71 | 16 | 27 | 43 | −6 | 24 |
| Jean-Gabriel Pageau$^‡$ | 60 | 24 | 16 | 40 | 10 | 32 |
| Anthony Duclair | 66 | 23 | 17 | 40 | −5 | 18 |
| Thomas Chabot | 71 | 6 | 33 | 39 | −18 | 42 |
| Chris Tierney | 71 | 11 | 26 | 37 | −6 | 20 |
| Tyler Ennis$^‡$ | 61 | 14 | 19 | 33 | −5 | 16 |
| Vladislav Namestnikov$^{†‡}$ | 54 | 13 | 12 | 25 | −5 | 35 |
| Colin White | 61 | 7 | 16 | 23 | −12 | 39 |
| Artem Anisimov | 49 | 15 | 5 | 20 | −15 | 8 |
| Nick Paul | 56 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 0 | 24 |
| Mark Borowiecki | 53 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 1 | 58 |
| Nikita Zaitsev | 58 | 1 | 11 | 12 | −8 | 22 |
| Mike Reilly$^†$ | 30 | 1 | 11 | 12 | −8 | 18 |
| Ron Hainsey | 64 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
| Drake Batherson | 23 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −12 | 13 |
| Dylan DeMelo$^‡$ | 49 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 31 |
| Bobby Ryan | 24 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 22 |
| Logan Brown | 23 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 4 |
| Jayce Hawryluk$^†$ | 11 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 8 |
| Filip Chlapik | 31 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −7 | 10 |
| Scott Sabourin | 35 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −6 | 33 |
| Mikkel Boedker | 20 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 0 |
| Erik Brannstrom | 31 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −9 | 16 |
| Rudolfs Balcers | 15 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −2 | 0 |
| Andreas Englund | 24 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −8 | 12 |
| Christian Jaros | 13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −2 | 6 |
| Cody Goloubef$^‡$ | 24 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 8 |
| Matthew Peca$^†$ | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
| Vitalii Abramov | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Jonathan Davidsson | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jean-Christophe Beaudin | 22 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −4 | 7 |
| Jordan Szwarz | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Maxime Lajoie | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Norris | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Max Veronneau$^‡$ | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Christian Wolanin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

#### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Craig Anderson | 34 | 31 | 1,845:11 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 100 | 3.25 | 1,018 | .902 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Anders Nilsson | 20 | 19 | 1,093:16 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 58 | 3.18 | 628 | .908 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Hogberg | 24 | 21 | 1,344:33 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 70 | 3.12 | 728 | .904 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Senators. Stats reflect time with the Senators only. $^‡$No longer with team. Bold denotes team leader in that category.

### Awards and honours

| Player | Award | Date |
| Anders Nilsson | NHL 1st Star of Week | November 11, 2019 |

#### Milestones

| Player | Milestone | Date |
| Scott Sabourin | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 2, 2019 |
| Connor Brown | 100th career NHL point | October 2, 2019 |
| Vitalii Abramov | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | October 10, 2019 |
| Scott Sabourin | 1st career NHL assist | October 10, 2019 |
| Ron Hainsey | 300th career NHL point | October 12, 2019 |
| Bobby Ryan | 300th career NHL assist | October 12, 2019 |
| J. C. Beaudin | 1st career NHL game | October 23, 2019 |
| Jonathan Davidsson | 1st career NHL game | November 7, 2019 |
| J. C. Beaudin | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | November 9, 2019 |
| Jonathan Davidsson | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | November 9, 2019 |
| Brady Tkachuk | 100th career NHL game | December 5, 2019 |
| Craig Anderson | 200th win as Ottawa Senator | February 18, 2020 |

## Transactions

The Senators have been involved in the following transactions during the 2019–20 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | To Toronto Maple LeafsCody Ceci Ben Harpur Aaron Luchuk CBJ's 3rd-round pick in 2020 | To Ottawa SenatorsConnor Brown Michael Carcone Nikita Zaitsev |
| July 16, 2019 (2019-07-16) | To Chicago BlackhawksZack Smith | To Ottawa SenatorsArtem Anisimov |
| July 30, 2019 (2019-07-30) | To Tampa Bay LightningMike Condon 6th-round pick in 2020 | To Ottawa SenatorsRyan Callahan 5th-round pick in 2020 |
| October 7, 2019 (2019-10-07) | To New York RangersNick Ebert 4th-round pick in 2021 | To Ottawa SenatorsVladislav Namestnikov |
| October 26, 2019 (2019-10-26) | To Florida PanthersJack Rodewald | To Ottawa SenatorsChris Wilkie |
| January 2, 2020 (2020-01-02) | To Montreal CanadiensAndrew Sturtz 5th-round pick in 2021 | To Ottawa SenatorsMike Reilly |
| February 18, 2020 (2020-02-18) | To Winnipeg JetsDylan DeMelo | To Ottawa Senators3rd-round pick in 2020 |
| February 19, 2020 (2020-02-19) | To Toronto Maple LeafsMax Veronneau | To Ottawa SenatorsAaron Luchuk conditional 6th-round pick in 2021 |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-02-24) | To New York IslandersJean-Gabriel Pageau | To Ottawa Senators1st-round pick in 2020 or 2021 2nd-round pick in 2020 conditional 3rd-round pick in 2021 |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-02-24) | To Colorado AvalancheVladislav Namestnikov | To Ottawa Senators4th-round pick in 2021 |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-02-24) | To Montreal CanadiensAaron Luchuk 7th-round pick in 2020 | To Ottawa SenatorsMatthew Peca |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-02-24) | To Edmonton OilersTyler Ennis | To Ottawa Senators5th-round pick in 2021 |
| October 2, 2020 (2020-10-02) | To Florida Panthers 4th-round pick (95th) in 2020 | To Ottawa SenatorsJosh Brown |

### Free agents

| Date | Player | Team | Contract term |
| June 25, 2019 (2019-06-25) | Stefan Elliott | to Dinamo Minsk (KHL) | 1-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Ron Hainsey | from Toronto Maple Leafs | 1-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Tyler Ennis | from Toronto Maple Leafs | 1-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Jordan Szwarz | from Boston Bruins | 1-year |
| July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04) | Brian Gibbons | to Carolina Hurricanes | 1-year |
| July 8, 2019 (2019-07-08) | Darren Archibald | to Toronto Marlies (AHL) | 1-year |
| July 11, 2019 (2019-07-11) | Erik Burgdoerfer | to Hershey Bears (AHL) | 1-year |
| September 27, 2019 (2019-09-27) | Scott Sabourin | from Stockton Heat (AHL) | 1-year |
| April 11, 2020 (2020-04-11) | Jonathan Aspirot | from Belleville Senators (AHL) | 3-year |
| May 1, 2020 (2020-05-01) | Artyom Zub | from SKA Saint Petersburg (KHL) | 1-year |

### Waivers

| Date | Player | Team | Ref |
| February 17, 2020 (2020-02-17) | Jayce Hawryluk | from Florida Panthers | |
| February 21, 2020 (2020-02-21) | Cody Goloubef | to Detroit Red Wings | |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Contract term |
| June 25, 2019 (2019-06-25) | Cody Goloubef | 1-year |
| June 27, 2019 (2019-06-27) | Jack Rodewald | 1-year |
| July 2, 2019 (2019-07-02) | Nick Paul | 1-year |
| July 4, 2019 (2019-07-04) | Christian Wolanin | 2-year |
| July 15, 2019 (2019-07-15) | Michael Carcone | 2-year |
| July 15, 2019 (2019-07-15) | Lassi Thomson | 3-year |
| August 21, 2019 (2019-08-21) | Colin White | 6-year |
| September 19, 2019 (2019-09-19) | Thomas Chabot | 8-year |
| April 9, 2020 (2020-04-09) | Mark Kastelic | 3-year |
| April 13, 2020 (2020-04-13) | Kevin Mandolese | 3-year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Ottawa Senators' selections at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 21 and 22, 2019, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
| Round | Overall | Player | Position | Nationality | Club team |
| 1 | 19$^1$ | Lassi Thomson | D | Finland | Kelowna Rockets (WHL) |
| 2 | 32 | Shane Pinto | C | United States | Tri-City Storm (USHL) |
| 2 | 37$^2$ | Mads Sogaard | G | Denmark | Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) |
| 4 | 94 | Viktor Lodin | C | Sweden | Örebro (SHL) |
| 5 | 125 | Mark Kastelic | C | United States | Calgary Hitmen (WHL) |
| 7 | 187 | Maxence Guenette | D | Canada | Val-d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL) |