Which wingers will join Tim Stutzle on the top trio? Which forwards will be fighting for the last spot in the lineup? If Carter Yakemchuk makes the team, who should be his defence partner?
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Nothing’s stopping Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios from making further improvements to his roster, but what’s on the books right now might just be what Travis Green and company have to tinker with for the beginning of the 2026-27 regular season.
Yes, Green, like many National Hockey League bench bosses, has an itchy blender finger — any combinations concocted for the first week of the season could be dramatically different by Thanksgiving — but let’s not allow that to stop us from having a little fun.
Numerous top-six-calibre forwards and strong overall depth give the coaching staff a ton of options when constructing a winning lineup.
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Linking up the two best playmakers in the forwards corps on the first line may be too tantalizing a prospect to pass up. Eklund and Stutzle’s vision together could be unstoppable, and the Swede has the motor to be able to keep up with the German.
As for Batherson: Fans and pundits alike spent the past several months pining for Staios to nab a natural scorer who can skate with Stutzle. That never came to fruition. So, perhaps the guy who scored 33 goals in 2025-26 should remain on the top trio.
Regardless of how confident the Senators are that they can revive Burakovsky’s career — he was a buyout candidate after putting up atrocious offensive numbers alongside Connor Bedard in Chicago last season — the 31-year-old will need to be surrounded by strong, two-way players.
