Ottawa Senators Get Their 2026 First Round Pick Back!!!

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On today's show, the Ottawa Senators got their first round pick back!

And we'll look at some key takeaways from last night's disappointing regulation loss

to the Montreal Canadiens.

This is Brady Kitchoff and you're listening to the Lockdown Center Podcast.

You're Lockdown Senators, your daily podcast on the Ottawa Senators.

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Welcome!

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Pillsy, it was almost three years ago that the NHL came down with a punishment

stripping the team of a first-round pick because of the Afghani.innov trade saga.

Well, you know what? Screw it!

We're back 32nd overall pick.

Lock it in for this crowd.

Man, we needed this so badly, Rossin.

I was very clear, I was not that optimistic this was going to happen.

I gave a 15% chance that this would happen, but here we are and we needed this this morning.

We're going to get into last night's game a brutal way to lose in regulation

to your rivals at home, three to loss, but this certainly turns the day around for sure

because we have to be clear, so the pick is 32nd overall in the 2026 NHL draft.

No matter what, the Ottawa Senators are not entered into the lottery.

If they don't make the playoffs, hopefully we don't even need to worry about that.

They cannot trade this pick, so they are picking 32nd overall, no matter what

and the sense had to pay a $1 million fine.

I think this was fair, I think.

It would have been absolutely crazy to take away that pick from the Ottawa Senators,

especially considering that was a different owner, a different GM.

Dad knows already moved teams how many times now since then to have that still be a problem,

just it didn't make sense, so 32nd overall, let's go.

And how fun is that going to be on draft night knowing that all the cards are going to fall

or dominoes leading up to the Ottawa Senators making the final pick of the night.

Let's go.

And how great would the poetic justice be, Ross, if your Ottawa Senators win the Stanley Cup this year?

And it's like, hey, we already knew we were picking 32nd overall.

So we were properly slotted by Gary Bettman and the NHL.

Okay, it's an exciting day, Pell Z, but we don't need to dream that far.

Let's make a playoffs for a long way to go before that continuing on poetic justice.

I don't think the NHL did this on purpose, but how about making this pick come back to the Ottawa Senators

on a getting dad and a birthday like what are the chances?

Well, to put it in perspective, yeah, it's his 37th birthday today.

He was 32 years old when the trade occurred that this all started.

It's been looming over us for five years pretty much, although it didn't come to light really

until a little bit later, we knew something had happened, right?

Because dad don't went back.

But the actual punishment came down November 1st, 2023.

And that's an easy day to remember because it's the day that GM, Pierre and Aria got fired.

He got fired over this.

Yeah, and the famous Michael Ann Lauer quote, how I inherited this is beyond me.

But fair, like his he was told, and another quote, he was told that this was a non-issue.

And it ended up being a big issue, and I think if you ask any owner in the NHL,

would you pay a million dollars to get the 32nd pick in the NHL draft?

They would do that every single day of the week.

And I mean, just a good guy donating to charity, it goes to the NHL foundation charity.

And the NHL foundation charity in Canada, Michael Ann Lauer saying that he's happy

it'll go to grow the sport in our country.

We consider this matter closed and we'll have no further comments on the situation.

So this came out today.

And the reason why I brought it up earlier this week was the precedent

of the Iliacoval truck, a situation with New Jersey in 2014.

They gave them their first round pick back at the end of the first round.

Same as this after the trade deadline.

However, do you think Steve Steyos knew this was coming?

And maybe that's why he was comfortable trading Buffalo's second round pick

because if Ottawa hadn't gotten this pick back,

their first draft pick would have been in the third round.

Yeah, it would have been similar to the 2023 draft when their first pick was in the fourth round.

So I think that's a good take-cross.

I think that definitely has something to do with it,

because if you're the Ottawa Seniors, you know how important draft capital is,

especially this regime that had been stripped of so many picks from the chicken trade

and then this one as well.

So it would have been a bit of a gamble to trade your highest value draft pick.

That doesn't even belong to you to acquire a depth forward.

A guy who don't get me wrong, I like Warren Fogel,

but a guy that's playing on your fourth line.

Like that would have been a big move to make.

And I think it's important to note the NHL probably felt

they weren't going to do this before the trade deadline,

because they don't want to give you another cookie to have as a trade piece or an asset to be moved.

So they're like, you can't trade this.

We're not even going to give you the option to have it available to trade.

Now that the trade deadline's done, you're getting this pick.

And you can't trade it on draft day either.

Important to note as well.

It cannot be traded at all.

So your Ottawa Seniors,

Garin Teed are drafting a player at 32nd overall,

which I actually like Ross,

because we've done prospect profiles,

and shout out the prospect profiles are back.

Woo-oh, risen from the dead.

Part of my rant when I pressed the panic button was,

we can't even cover anyone in the top 50

based on how this team is looking.

Now we're covering first rounders,

late second rounder or early second rounders,

rather, well, depending on where the sense pick,

where they reach.

We'll see if they reach if we like their pick.

But that's all the exciting part of it

is we get to speculate on that cover guys.

We like cover guys.

We don't like where we think guys should go.

And it's awesome knowing that they're picking no matter what,

because we've had years,

two draft years, in fact,

where we've gone up,

making profiles.

All right, the center picking here.

Who do we like in this area?

Yeah, Sank.

They trade away that pick.

So this time, we know it's happening.

So this is good news.

And Ross Nyer and Good Spear,

so we needed this because we'll get to it later.

But I want to stick on the positive vibes.

The way that Habs game ended was heartbreaking.

Yeah, it was brutal.

And we will talk about it later,

but I'm not done reveling in the fact that Ottawa

fairly gets their pick back.

Like, I don't think that we should have been on our hands

and knees begging.

The fact that they hid this during the sale process,

the Michael Ann Lauer is such a joke to me.

And it should get fine.

That's like hiding a no trade cause.

It's honestly very similar.

If not worse, because this is a billion dollar investment

that this dude made.

And that's a valuable asset that not all like,

it's affected how this team has thought

over the last three years.

This has been looming over them.

It's a dark cloud.

And now it's a sunny day as we're getting ready.

I just got my check-in notice to get on my flight tomorrow,

heading to the nation's capital.

It's a beautiful weekend.

We got the ducks and sharks coming to town.

And Ottawa might not be able to catch Montreal now.

And that was a big reason why yesterday was so important.

Hey, let's make it so that there's more possibilities

to sneak in.

But Ottawa's still six points back at Detroit

with a game in hand, with a head-to-head game.

Detroit now with injuries to both of their top two

sentiment out at least two weeks.

That's the team that I've been harping on needs to be caught.

So as struggle as it was for last night to go the way it is,

it really just kind of makes the Habs tough to catch.

And whatever.

That's one possible team.

Habs aren't even in a wildcard spot this morning.

So it's not all lost.

It was definitely a tough loss.

We can't discount the fact that you had to want to win

that game.

Tim Stutz will look completely frustrated after the game.

He had two assists.

Fourteen Gamepoint streak is that good.

Yes, he's unreal.

Although I did have many time goal scorer

and they took that second goal away from him.

And I had no idea how I had to rewatch it like six times

to find Bathurst and touching it,

going in, I digressed.

Getting that first round pick back, Pilsie.

Yeah, I want to stick on that.

That pick's not going to help you next year.

But this prospect pool needed a little jolt of a first round

or because their last first round pick, of course,

Carter Yakum Chuck.

We know that was a different situation.

That's not their last first round.

No, yeah, you're right.

It's not the last one that's in the organization right now.

Yes, but I want to touch on that because we talked about it

when the Ottawa Senators decided to make their selection

in the 2025 NHL draft that automatically put it

so that they were going to lose the 2026 NHL draft.

That was their last decision they had to make.

Do we skip it this year or do we kick it down the road?

And a lot of sense fans, myself included,

were like, this is a peculiar decision.

You finally make the playoffs first time in seven years

and you decide that you're going to pick 21st overall

in a week draft class when who knows how things go next year.

Obviously, you're hoping to build on making the playoffs

so you're not anticipating you're going to finish worse.

But 2027 has been touted as a deep draft.

And so at the time, or 26, yeah, sorry.

At the time, you're kind of thinking,

why are they deciding to do this this way?

And I wonder if, and a lot of people said, hey,

more time to argue and more time to lobby for getting that pick back.

Maybe that was it.

Like we've heard from a lot of people that behind the scenes,

Michael Ann Lauer has been grinding away at making sure

that they are treated fairly in this process

and that they can get their pick back in any way, shape or form.

So in hindsight, that was the right decision

doing it this way and credit to Michael Ann Lauer

for sticking to his principles and fighting for what's fair.

So what you're saying is this is validation

for procrastinators worldwide that maybe the problem

will just disappear?

Yes, and that's how I live my life, Ross is one out of,

I don't know, maybe 10 times when I procrastinate,

the problem just goes away.

And I always revel in that one time where I'm like,

lazy Brandon for the win.

Love. Yep.

Yep. And the senators get that.

They'll get the 32nd overall pick guaranteed.

And on the other side, I'll let you know,

not players yet.

We're not getting that far.

But there's a certain skill set that I want to see

Ottawa attack with that 32nd overall pick.

We'll discuss that next.

We'll get into takeaways from the Montreal game.

We'll look at tonight's out of town scoreboard

where there is a very important cheering guide to be had.

That's next.

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getting their first round pickback.

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Pilsy, they drafted a right shot defense been last year

in Logan Hanzler.

They drafted a right shot defense

when the year before in Carter, Jakob Chuck.

They did not have a first round pick the year before.

Nor did they have a second nor did they have a third.

And guess what?

They drafted a right shot defenseman in Hoyt Stanley

with their first selection in the draft back in 2022.

They didn't have a pick until the end of the second round.

They drafted a big left shot defenseman,

Philip Nordberg, who will not be signing.

I'll go so far as saying that pretty assuredly.

And in 2021, they took a right-winger,

Tyler Boucher in the first round, 10th overall.

Pilsy, they need to draft forward with this pick

at 30 second overall.

Yeah, I'm with you.

Honestly, the position doesn't worry so much.

And I've been looking at goal weeks, too, Ross.

I know maybe it's crazy, but I've been looking.

And I feel like just go clip me talking about what I want

the sense of draft for the last five years

and they never listen, unfortunately.

But they need to go for a skip.

I'm sick of being like, oh, this is a safe

guy with size that we project will play some NHL games.

No, choke up on the bat, full grip, hit a fastball,

going down the middle and go for that home run.

Like, don't just go for the punt

and try to play small ball here.

They need to try to get someone that has elite skill

in my opinion.

I don't care what position it is,

because there's been too much of just making safe picks

or reaching on a guy that they could have got later,

because they liked his size.

Like, they got to get away from that.

Yeah.

How would you get the arena more full of sense fans

for a sense-haves game?

I mean, moving the ranked downtown probably helps.

A little bit.

Win more games.

That's number one.

Because there's not a lot you can do.

It's unfortunate.

And Dark Gyle Lim's Martian was a boots on the ground report

for the postcast last night.

Much needed energy brought to the postcast

because he was fuming at how that game went,

how sense fans were at the game,

how habs fans were at the game,

the fact that your own barn,

you feel like you're the one that's out of place there.

It's a bad feeling,

but the fact that the matter is,

there's a lot of sense, season ticket holders.

You can sell your tickets to habs and lease fans

for a pretty penny.

And unless that changes,

you want to blame those people because you're like,

man, we got to have sense fans here.

You got to be there for those games,

but it's an expensive thing to invest in.

And if you can make some return on it,

I mean, in this economy,

you can't really blame them.

So I don't think there is a proper solution

other than win more,

get sense fans more engaged so they don't want to sell those tickets

so that the value of watching their team beat up on arrival

is worth it for them to keep rather than sell.

And yeah, I think a new downtown arena

might help too because it makes the game more accessible

for people and they're not like,

ah, I don't want to make the drive out in the rain,

get stuck in traffic, all those things.

So that's my, that's my pitch there, Ross.

Well, we'll see what happens next Saturday,

not this week, but next week, Toronto's in town,

but I feel like with the way the Leafs are playing this year,

it's not going to be as gross as it was last night with Habs fans.

Yeah, but I mean, it's easier for Habs fans to make that travel,

obviously a lot closer, but also it sucks,

but there is a lot of Leafs fans living in Ottawa.

Well, same with Montreal fans.

And not only that, like the sense got their team in 92,

anyone who's 40 years old or more when they were a kid,

they grew up probably cheering for the closest team geographically.

So yeah, but I think it's going to be a lot less Leafs fans,

like you said, the team's not doing as well.

They got to travel farther, but yeah,

there is a lot of Leafs fans living in Ottawa.

And I think, I mean, look, it sucks for sure.

It's not a problem that's just in Ottawa.

Leafs fans and Habs fans are the two most well-traveled fan bases in North America.

Yeah, Simon, close.

You go look at the Habs game in Anaheim and LA last week,

the geographically furthest place in the National Hockey League,

from Montreal, and it was like 40% Habs fans there.

They're everywhere.

Well, a perfect example, and I'd be interested to hear from fans and to see the numbers

at this. In the past, games in Tampa and Florida,

when the Leafs or Habs are playing there, but especially the Leafs,

all Leafs fans.

But now those teams are doing much better.

Florida Backback Cups, Tampa, every year contender.

I'd be interested to see if them winning more,

getting the fans more engaged, has kind of squashed that a little bit.

Yeah, I don't know. We'll have to run the numbers and check,

but I just know that winning is the play that solves as many problems as you can.

And unfortunately, Ottawa wasn't able to get it done last night.

I thought they had good stretches.

Like, there was that, oh, we're in the middle of our nightly routine,

where the Senators hold their opponent without a shot for eight or more minutes.

And then for some reason, the Habs just wanted it more in the third period.

And we can break down Linus Allmark's inability to track

Pox from tonight until tomorrow.

But Ottawa had multiple chances to put that game into a two-goal situation.

Michael Maddie, who's missing on the break away, the one that sticks out the most,

they go down the other way and they tie the game at that point.

So, look, it's brutal and it's easy to point out the goal-tending,

because it has not been good enough.

But last night, there were some errors offensively,

where you could have buried it, and it would have been a different ball again.

Yeah, and the big thing I'm looking at is analytically

your third-line checking line and your top pair of Zubin Shabbat

were not just not as good as they usually are, but they were bad.

That's who you're expecting to stop the top offensive guys,

and they're out there a lot of the time.

So, when they're underperforming or not having a good night,

it's going to be tough to get a win.

And they were close, but it's just so frustrating,

because if you can find a way to get a point in that game,

you're not feeling a lot better, but at least you have some solace knowing that

you're at least holding your spot and moving in the right direction.

But not getting a point and losing, I think that was terrible.

For me, I actually thought Omar played a decent game,

tracking rebounds.

He was good early. He made three big saves in the first 10 minutes of the game.

That win-no-club save included in that.

I thought he was good early.

And I wanted so bad to be like,

Almark finally played a really good game,

where it's not just the team's defense suppressing shots,

allowed him to look better than he actually was.

That second goal, I know it looks terrible,

optics-wise, the wrap round.

But people got to understand, when Matt Tim Palo snags,

Almark's stick there, his upper body can't move,

and he can't get across the way he would want to.

I know everyone just sees the goal and sees it under his pad sitting there.

And they're like, that's a classic goal that he allows in.

He's got to save that. It's from a guy that was put into the game,

Texas A, because of Cole Koffel being out.

You need to be able to save those.

But there's got to be some context in here.

I know we've been hard on Almark,

but you've got to at least look at the goals,

and that first goal, no chance.

No, no chance on that one.

But the third goal.

The third goal, you're not going to see me sugar cutting that.

That one is 100% on him,

and you can't have that in a tie game up against a rival like that.

No, you simply can't.

And look, there's blame to go around, too.

Like Zubin Shabbat on two of the three goals.

We're not good enough in terms of boxing out and getting guys going.

Matt and Palo on the second one, obviously,

bumping Almark's stick.

But I think the problem for me is just visually,

it looks so hard for him to move around in his net.

Like, he's so clunky.

That would be the word to describe clunky.

And he's not moving at all.

He's the biggest statue I've ever seen.

And this isn't a one-off where, oh, maybe he didn't read it off the stick.

It was kind of a night shot through a screen in a way,

although I thought there's a pretty clear angle of him being able to see

that initial shot from Newhuck

where before the rebound squeaked out.

But like, this guy, it's, I don't want to call it compete level,

but I want to call it like an awareness issue.

Yeah, you think you have it, but look, look around.

It's just sitting there.

Yeah, and the one thing I always say is like,

you're going to have the awareness to be like,

if you have that puck,

you have to see what other players are doing.

It's so obvious.

If you have it, guys are just slowly coming to the net.

They're skating off.

They're gliding.

They're taking it easy.

But when you don't have it, it's complete chaos.

And guys are jumping at it.

Like, you have to be able to read that situation.

Oh, maybe guys going extra hard in this instant means I don't have it.

And I have to try to adjust or find it or move or do something.

And he's just not able to do it.

And it's especially frustrating when you look across the rink

and you're up against a rookie goal tender

that hasn't played since January.

And he's battling out of his mind and saving his team

and keeping his team in it and ultimately getting them the win.

Like, Jacob Fowler at the end of that game

is the reason why the Habs win in regulation.

And then you look in your own net and a guy that's one of

as a veteran making over $8 million just doesn't have that compete level.

I think that there's something to be said about big games as well.

This is a guy that even before he came to Ottawa was not good in the playoffs.

Yeah, it's got started 55 15 playoff games.

His five wins in an 885 save percentage.

I don't know, man, I think they might have been on the wrong horse.

It's unfortunate.

He's got three years left on his deal at 8.25 million.

They got to figure it out.

I saw people tweeting out what his buyout number would be.

It's like 2.6.

But you don't want to go you want to be able to fix it.

But it's really frustrating.

And they got to stop requesting this guy from media too.

I don't need to hear 30 seconds of him just going,

sure as Gord throws him, it's not even throwable.

I placed it on a on a T ball bat and said,

here you go.

You want to just hit these answers out and he still came off pretty.

It was pretty tough.

Yeah, pretty tough.

Yeah, we don't we don't need to see Lucas Almark media.

Just stop the puck.

Just stop the puck, man.

It's all we ask.

I was going to say who starts Saturday,

but with the back to back, they're each going to play one game.

So who cares which one it is, right?

Do you have a preference of who plays which?

I think you give the first one to Linus,

give him an opportunity to try to bounce back.

I don't I don't really care.

They're about equal opponents.

I know Anaheim's higher in the standings,

but San Jose got the elite talent.

Almark does already have a win against San Jose this year,

though in the Shark Tank earlier.

I think he might have played the game in Anaheim too, actually.

But either way, Ottawa,

they need saves and they need to play a full 60.

Our number one key to victory play a full 60.

They were not the better team in the third period last night.

And it showed up with a three to loss to the Montreal Canadians.

We'll look into that a little bit more,

but more so turn our attention to what the senators are rooting for tonight,

because there's certain teams that need to be caught.

And one of them in particular is in action.

We'll discuss that next year listening to lock on senators.

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The ticket, Lady Jennifer of Coons.

Well, many thanks.

Good, sir.

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All right, Hillsie.

So turns out we need to find a florist in New York City.

Because I believe earlier this week I said we would be sending flowers

to Gary Betman if we get our pick back.

Yeah, we do need to do that.

So florists in New York City.

Hit us up.

Reach out.

I do think I have a career.

Got Wast will be boots on the ground with us this weekend.

We got our New York City crew.

So we'll see if we can get them maybe Brody

to go deliver us some flowers to Gary Betman.

But I want it and delivered to him.

We're not given it to the assistant assistants,

assistants, receptionist at NHL head office.

So Gary, please reach out.

I see your plate is completely empty

after finally figuring out the Senators

after epic situation.

So pick up the phone if you would like

a nice bouquet of roses

from the Ottawa Senators fan base.

Yeah.

Nice gesture for us.

I think, you know what?

It's the least we could do.

Because that's now like three months worth of content

right in our back pocket.

Can't wait.

I mean, not only for us selfishly,

but for the Ottawa Senators whose prospect pool

needs a jewel.

So having a first round pick and just like never having to talk

about that again as an ongoing issue with this team.

I feel like a 10 pound weights being taken off my back.

It's huge.

Yeah.

A 32 pound weight taken off my back.

Thank you.

I'm glad.

Nice.

Yeah, yeah.

May as well be 32 kilos.

And I wouldn't even notice it.

It's now it's so light.

I just feel airy and fluffy inside.

So good good news on a bad day.

We're Ottawa Falls 32 to Montreal.

I'm seeing Habs fans in like I watched the video

and it might have actually been in that play

before the breakaway when it looked like

Slavka's get the post.

Yep.

I just watched a slow down video

and I think that went in.

Yeah, it might have.

And that's probably the hockey gods

not allowing a patio to score

on that chance going the other way.

And then they score right away.

Come back down.

Hockey gods are undefeated.

Well, and it happened to the sense

when Caden Goole knocked that net off

when the SENS were buzzing in the ozone.

The SENS scores.

Great after.

Yeah.

Yeah, the hockey gods had their way with this game

but unfortunately they didn't tell Linus Allmark

that when the puck hits you and drops,

you should probably move and

deal with that.

Unfortunately, it was not the case.

Any lessons that you want to take

from this game for Ottawa?

Outside of goaltening because we covered that.

No, I mean, look, obviously it's tough

but let's keep in mind the auto centers

are 9, 2 and 2 in their last 13 games.

Like there's still a playing good hockey day

out shoot the Habs.

They pressed at the end of that game.

So I'm really trying not to let the result.

Make my belief in the process falter here

but it's just tough when it's a game like that

and you're barring up against your rival

and all things considered.

Yeah, I'm trying to find six on five stats.

If anybody could help us out with this,

I would love to know what the Ottawa Senators stats are

in with empty net perfect.

I can find it right now.

The Ottawa Senators with the net empty

have scored five goals this season.

I thought it would be less honestly.

But how many times is that?

I don't know.

I can tell you how many minutes they've been playing.

It's 49 minutes, 27 seconds.

They have five goals for and seven against

when they have the net empty.

Now, some of this, though,

has to be when there's a delayed penalty, right?

As well, that's such a nice situation.

So they're not all end of a game.

So that also means that the goals

might not be all at the end of a game

if it's a delayed penalty.

I'd love to know like end of a game

because it doesn't feel like Ottawa

really has that time late goal in them very often.

No, which is what the Montreal Canadiens

have survived off all season.

Yeah, the Montreal Canadiens have scored seven goals

in 38 minutes with the net empty.

So anyways, that's just a little problem,

but one where, sure, like they get their luck,

like Cherou off the ricochet from the back wall.

Like if he's a left shot, that might be a goal.

If it bounces that quickly,

because then he could probably get it up.

He was just so focused on putting it anywhere

in the four by six that he didn't really have time

to lift it up and Fowler was down and out,

but he got a left pat on it.

Like if, yeah, anyways,

a little bounces in the game that didn't go out of his way

and they suffer that one.

For me, it's literally just why are you trying

to protect the one goal lead by parking the bus?

That's been a common theme when the sends go up,

happen in Edmonton where they gave up the lead.

Like they are just so comfortable with playing

a not to lose game rather than a win game in the third.

And that has to be fixed.

It cannot be the way you play when you have one goal.

Like if you have three goals, sure,

but one goal, man, you need to keep pressing

and looking for that next opportunity

to make it a two, three goal lead.

Yeah, I mean, but there's, you look at Seattle,

they were able to push the pedals to the metal

and that game.

So, yeah, you're not going to be able to figure it out

every game.

It was just such a big game, man.

It was such a such a big game and to fall flat like that

and allow Habs fans to win in your barn again.

Like the Habs won both games in Ottawa this year.

I know one was in overtime, but the way it happened,

I felt like me as well have been a regulation loss

for Ottawa there.

So really frustrating the sends are done with the abs this year.

They finished with a one, one and two record against Montreal,

which sounds a lot better than when you look at it

from the Habs perspective, they're three and one against Ottawa

this season.

So I guess at least Ottawa was able to get two loser points,

but it doesn't really feel very good.

Ottawa against Montreal and Detroit,

the two teams, they had really had their way

with over the last couple seasons.

They're combined one, two and two against them this season.

If you look at the last four seasons combined,

they've got like a 750 points percentage,

but this year had not gone their way.

In 13 days, the senators play the Detroit Red Wings.

Ottawa's got to take care of a lot of business

between now and then, so does Detroit,

but that could be, that could be the next biggest game,

I think, because between now and then,

you're working up to that, but like that's where you're

trying the next humongous game,

as long as you take care of some teams between now and then.

I've got a doomsday clock,

because my final thought on today's show,

I am giving the Ottawa Senators

five more regulation losses this season.

They're gonna have to choose them wisely,

but if the senators lose five games

out of their remaining 18 in regulation,

they could probably then have one,

maybe two loser points there,

and they'd be in that 95 to 98 point range,

where if it goes from right this second,

that's a little bit below the pace,

but I've convinced that at least a team like Detroit

or Boston will slow down to a point where,

I think 97 points should give you a good chance

to make the playoffs, so five is the number now

after last night's loss.

Regulation loss is available to them

if they want a chance to make the playoffs.

I mean, if they keep going at the pace they're at,

like I said, only two regulation losses in the last 13 games,

and keep in mind, obviously,

it doesn't really change anything,

but both of those were one goal games.

Yeah.

Carolina and Montreal, so they're right there, guys,

we're right here.

Yeah, we're right there,

but we got a big weekend coming up, Pilsy,

what are you most looking forward to

about being back at the CTC?

I mean, I can't wait for the walk up from the parking lot

to see it driving in,

to see so many SENS fans there,

going into the Gleeve Central pub is gonna be great,

having brunch there, taking the bus,

getting the Ottawa tour from my tour guide, Ross Levitan,

getting Chorma Palace is gonna be great,

putting on my black Tim Stutz LaJursey.

Are you bringing one jersey or two?

Just one.

All right.

Maybe I will too.

I was gonna bring two.

Yeah, I've just been rocking the Brady forever

because they keep winning.

We're 17, two and one when we go to Game Scare.

Last time I didn't wear a Brady jersey

was the Alfie White jersey

because I wanted to rock the white when we went to Montreal.

That did not go well.

So I went back to Brady for the Winnipeg game,

or sorry, I went back to Brady for the San Jose game

in Ottawa last year, they won.

Then the Winnipeg game, they won.

So I'm bringing the black Brady,

but I was thinking about bringing the red Tim Nistoo

as well in case for Sunday.

Just to remind any San Jose sharks that are there.

Maybe we run into some management.

Maybe Doug Wilson's there.

He's an Ottawa guy, right?

I know he's not the GM anymore,

but he was when they made that trade.

I've got the Tim Nistoo to cover that.

They're not wearing reds,

and I know you're very superstitious about that.

You're right, you're right.

So okay, I'll bring my black Brady and that's it.

And a lot of talk about Brady could check

and five shots on goal,

extends his point streak now to eight games,

but only one hit.

Although it was a good hit early in the first period,

he crushed, I think it was Kaden Gouli behind the net,

but I'm just gonna go out and say,

I think he's battling something.

Yeah, because he looks like he looks engaged.

He had that great play in the second period

where he shook off Matheson like three times.

And he did that again later on in the game.

I don't know, maybe I'm in the minority here,

but I was certainly not one of the sense fans

that was furious with Brady's game.

Do I want him to drag his team into the battle

a little bit more and be more physically engaged?

Absolutely, but I still think he's playing good hockey.

So he's on an eight game point streak, Pillson.

That's what I'm saying.

Oh, I'm expecting a big weekend problem.

And I know he's been saying that for a while,

he's tripping away a point here,

a point there, two points here, two points there.

And we're gonna see game seven Brady on the weekend.

But like, you know how we said,

like if he goes the Olympics and goes turns the clock

to Four Nations Brady and down the stretch last year,

it would kind of piss us off.

They won the gold medal.

He had some moments.

He wasn't like a top 10, top 12, top 15 player on Team USA.

No, it certainly wasn't the same performance

that he had in the Four Nations face off.

Not even close.

And like we love, like I want him to do well overall.

But like, it's not like he turned it off

for a lot of what turned it on for Team USA

and then back off, I think he's struggling.

And he'd never admit it.

But I think when you break your finger on your top hand,

on your stick, it's going to affect you

for longer than four weeks, which is what he was out.

Important to note, it is not wrapped anymore.

As of when?

Just recently.

OK, it was wrapped at the Olympics.

Yeah, I know that.

Yeah, since the Olympics, he's taking the wrap off.

OK.

All right.

Detroit's a team to catch, though.

Yes, and our guy every day sends just,

but these are the schedules leading up

to the Detroit Ottawa game.

Let's go win loss, OK?

Ottawa's got Anaheim.

Win.

San Jose at Washington.

Win.

Home to New York Islanders.

We'll put a loss there.

The Islanders are good.

Serokan's hot home to the Leafs.

Win at the New York Rangers.

Win.

OK, it's a lot of wins.

Then you've got Detroit at Tampa.

Loss at Dallas.

Loss home to Calgary.

Win.

Home to Montreal.

Over time loss.

Home to Boston.

Over time loss.

And then we've got the Ottawa Sanders taking on

the Detroit Red Wings.

OK.

Yeah, so Ottawa's going to use their game in hand

before they play.

They will have the same amount of games played there.

So Ottawa could be as few, I mean, they could be ahead.

But realistically, I can be close.

I hope it's close.

Yeah, because that would be an absolute bar burner

that would be fired.

And Larkin and Cop will like more than likely

to still be out.

And when you look at that center depth,

whatever, they're number one center of Shatie Comfort.

And then Marco Casper, Michael Rasmussen,

and then Sheldon Drys.

Those are their four centers.

I still got John Gibson, though.

And he's been starting tonight.

So John Gibson, your final thoughts

are on Do The End of Townscoreboard?

Yeah, let's do it.

A lot of games that we need to be on to watch here.

We are not all sharks this weekend,

but tonight we are up against the Bruins.

Hey, homecoming of sorts from Michael Celebrini,

his college stomping ground.

So look for him to have a good night tonight.

True, true.

We are not going to be all lightning March 28th,

but we are all lightning tonight

up against the Red Wings.

Similar word, we're cheering for the Florida teams.

Panthers up against the Blue Jackets.

So that one's obvious.

And that's Golden Knights up against the Penguins too,

because I really believe the Columbus Blue Jackets

is going to find a way to get in.

So one of the Islanders and or penguins

need to fall out of a metro spot

so that the Blue Jackets don't take one

of the available wild card spots from the sets.

But the biggest ones are the two Florida teams tonight.

We need Tampa and Florida in regulation.

And then on top of that, of course,

we're looking for the San Jose sharks

against the Boston Bruins.

That's your out of town scoreboard.

Pelsi tomorrow will turn our attention to the weekend.

We'll do a double preview.

We're going to do it nice and early,

because I got a flight to catch.

He'll be picking me up at the McDonald's Cartier

International Airport.

I cannot wait to fly into Ottawa

and see all my 18,000 best friends at the CTC.

Thanks so much for liking, watching, listening,

and engaging with the show.

For Brandon Pillar, I'm Ross Levitan.

This has been another edition

of the Lockdown Senator podcast, your team, every day.