3 bold Ottawa Senators predictions for 2021

It was said of Willie Mays’ glove that it was where triples went to die.

This past year, 2020, was the one in which bold predictions died on the vine. Any forecast, in sports or elsewhere, was laid to waste in the path of a crippling, global coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s hoping that 2021 is the year that brings us back to some closer state of normalcy, where the games people play regain their rightful place because the world is in a better space.

Without further preamble, here are three bold predictions for the Ottawa Senators in 2021:

1. Tim Stuetzle plays and stays in the NHL as a 19-year-old

Stuetzle, selected third overall by the Senators in October, is Ottawa’s highest draft pick since Jason Spezza in 2001. Spezza was picked second overall and became a franchise cornerstone for 11 seasons. There is no reason to think Stuetzle will be anything less. And he could be more.

Because Stuetzle, a 6-1, 190-pound C/LW, broke his hand during a training camp drill with the Mannheim Eagles one month after the draft, there was concern about a setback. But in an interview he did with me before leaving for the World Junior Championships in Alberta, Stuetzle said he believes the injury may have been a blessing in disguise because the time away from practice enabled him to work on his strength and conditioning.

“It’s not nice to be injured, but I think it helped me a lot,” Stuetzle said. “I feel stronger than before. I had a really good rehab team. We have great facilities in Mannheim and I had treatments twice a day.”

There had to be some consideration to letting Stuetzle stay in Germany, avoiding this one-off, abbreviated NHL season and saving a year of his contract.

And yet the sense is that following the WJC and Senators training camp, Stuetzle is going to sign with Ottawa and get every opportunity to play in a top-six role. Whether head coach D.J. Smith opts to use him at centre or wing will depend in part on his progression, but unless Stuetzle is clearly out of his depth at this level — and I don’t think he will be — the future star will be kept in Ottawa for the duration, rather than be sent back to his club team in Germany.

I’m predicting a successful, productive rookie season for a young man who doesn’t get intimidated by a challenge.

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2. Brady Tkachuk will sign a long-term contract

This is a storyline fans in Ottawa will be following closely in 2021. Will Brady Tkachuk, a pending restricted free agent, be locked into a long-term deal? If he is, it will be a sign that the Senators have turned a corner on the rebuild by keeping their young core intact.

Without the pandemic and its massive impact on the NHL economy, it’s possible a Tkachuk deal would be done by now. Both sides are waiting to see how things turn out as the league returns to play. In better times, the Senators did sign their top young defenceman, Thomas Chabot, to an eight-year, $64-million contract several months before he would have achieved RFA status.

On a Zoom call in October, Senators GM Pierre Dorion admitted the Chabot talks started a lot sooner, and, of course, took place during more stable times.

“We’re going to see how it’s going in the NHL (economically) and then we will talk to him,” Dorion said of the Tkachuk situation.

There is a possibility both sides eye the uncertainty of the league, with reduced games and severely damaged gate receipts, and opt for a bridge deal to defer the issue of a long-term contract. The problem with bridges is that they usually work in two directions — the other direction in this case is getting closer to Tkachuk’s free agency. That is something that no fan in Ottawa wants to contemplate.

3. Centre Josh Norris has a 25-point rookie season

What’s a bold prediction without going out on a limb? Norris, acquired by the Senators in 2018 via the Erik Karlsson trade to San Jose, first has to make Ottawa’s roster. Then, he can set about having a productive year. And I think he will, after having a dominant season with AHL Belleville in 2019-20. Norris, 21, a first-round draft choice of the Sharks in 2017 (19th overall), was tied for third in AHL scoring with 31 goals and 61 points in 56 games.

Norris should get the opportunity. While the Senators lost Jean-Gabriel Pageau, their best overall centre, at the trade deadline, most of the veteran additions in the off-season were at wing (Evgenii Dadonov, Alex Galchenyuk, Austin Watson) not centre.

Chris Tierney and Colin White are back, and Logan Brown should get a chance to earn a spot as well. But Norris has proved he can dictate the flow of a power play, working with players like Drake Batherson, Brown and Alex Formenton, all of whom will get opportunities this season.

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