Senators vs Hurricanes: Game 1 Preview, Series X Factors & Ranking The Top 10 Forwards Overall

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On today's show, a complete preview ahead of tomorrow's game one between the Ottawa Senators

and the Carolina Hurricanes.

We'll look at X-Factors in this series and rank the top 10 forwards.

This has great control when you're listening to the Lockdown Saturday podcast.

Your Lockdown Senators, your daily podcast on the Ottawa Senators, part of the Lockdown

Podcast Network, your team every day.

Welcome!

You are locked on to the Ottawa Senators.

I'm Ross Levitt and alongside Brandon Pillar today is Friday, April 17th, and Pillsie

Good thing I introduced us because we look a little bit different.

Yeah, it's honestly quite jarring.

Like I don't know, but you Ross, but anytime I walked past a mirror or saw my reflection

yesterday, even I was like, whoa, what the heck?

So yeah, it's a different look, but these are different times Ross.

It's playoffs.

I'm hoping that I look like Gandalf by the time I do my next shave.

So this is the fresh face now.

Hopefully, it grows out a little here.

Yeah, my wife hates me.

My child didn't know who I was.

It was a tough, tough situation for a couple of minutes, but they know that it's playoffs.

This is the time of year that you move heaven and earth and we have Pillsie.

I have moved four shifts around through three different people and we will be boots on

the ground as a group for game three.

Yeah, I'm so excited and it's great that we get to go to game three Ross, the first

home game for the Ottawa Senators.

We're in the 200s.

It's going to be an absolute blast.

Oh, dude, you haven't been to play off hockey in a long time.

So this is great to have you back in the CTC.

The last time I was at a sense playoff game, the goalie on the other team was Thomas

Vokun.

That's how long it was 2013 against Pittsburgh round two.

And here we are.

My last round, one experience was game four against Montreal where Peter Boudai replaced

Kerry Price going into overtime and you get a game winner from Kyle Taurus on the half

wall.

I turned to my old man.

I said, we're winning this game, Peter Boudai's in.

So the last two goalies I've seen play against Ottawa.

Thomas Vokun, Peter Boudai, that just tells you how long it's been.

But now we're back.

It's a new era.

It's all heart all in the sense model going into the post season.

They just got off the ice for practice.

They're traveling to Carolina today.

Of course, game one goes at three o'clock tomorrow.

The big news today is that Senators' defenseman Tyler Clevin is back skating with the group.

He was in a non-contact Jersey and had the job protector on his helmet.

Travis Green was asked for an update on his injury yesterday.

He's like, well, I mean, we're calling it upper body, but I think you all saw what happened.

He took a puck to the chin.

So you have an idea of what that says.

And we also know he's in North Dakota, boy.

He's tough as nails.

If he can play, he'll play.

But undecided, hasn't been ruled out though for game one.

Yeah.

My prediction, Brandon Pillar, not a doctor, who knows.

But I think they might go with the bottom pair of Gilbert Matting Powell for game one.

And then I'm hoping Clevin's back for game two.

That's what I'm expecting.

I'm expecting that with room to be wrong and to be positively surprised.

But what are your thoughts about putting Dennis Gilbert in because the pair of Lassie Thompson

and Nicholas Matting Powell have been playing very well down the stretch?

Yeah, I'm not going to lie.

That did surprise me, especially we looked at the analytics for Lassie Thompson, Matting Powell.

But I think if you're Travis Green, you want to go with someone with more experience.

Dennis Gilbert definitely has more experience than Lassie Thompson.

Yes, yeah.

You want to go with more experience and you want to go with lefty righty,

especially if you're looking at it and you're like, it's just one game.

Like maybe if you were looking at Tyler Clevin not being available for the foreseeable future,

then you stick with the pair that's been better.

But I think for one game, get your lefty righty, get the guy with more experience

and you just shelter their minutes a little bit.

And analytically, they're pretty similar.

Both have a small sample size, of course.

Matting Powell and Thompson played 51 minutes together this year

and had a 54.9% expected goals.

And you look at the pair of Gilbert Matting Powell.

It was 60 minutes, so a little bit more actually.

And they had a 57% expected goal.

So it's not like you're putting in a guy who's going to torpedo.

And we love Dennis Gilbert.

We thought he was playing great hockey on the home home games that we went to.

He was breaking up two on one.

So he was doing like the little corkscrew play to do that.

He was being physical.

It was unfortunate the timing that he got hurt when he had a true opportunity.

And I think you nailed it with the lefty righty.

I think that is a big part of it with the way Carolina pressures all over the ice.

You want to have your guys on their strong side on the ice more often.

So that's where I think the X factor is,

along with the fact that now that both of your power play quarterbacks

are in the lineup with Sanderson and Thomas Shabbat,

you don't need that extra offensive defenseman when Spence is already on the team too.

Yeah, I think that third pair is going to play.

I would set the over under at 12 and a half maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And even sometimes you might see them offensive zone when Carolina is likely.

Of course, the hurricanes have last changed, but likely going to put their fourth line out there.

Yeah, it's going to be limited.

I think that we're going to see you want to talk overunders.

26 and a half minutes for Jake Sanderson over under.

Yeah, I.

Yeah.

Yeah, what do you mean?

Yeah, over over.

Yeah, I was going to I was going to save 25, but not I think.

I think a nice, nice 2742 for Jake Sanderson in game one.

I think would would scratch the edge.

I'd like it to be under 28.

Yeah.

And lots of comments about our top defenseman rankings that we put out yesterday.

Some hurricanes fans are going to be introduced to Jake Sanderson in a big way.

A big way.

I'm much more confident in who we put at our number one for defenseman than forwards.

I'll say that for sure.

Like looking at it and reading up on how Jacob Slaven's played this year.

I'm with you Ross before I was a little bit more conservative.

I was like, yeah, Sanderson gets the edge, but it's not crazy.

I think tier one, first overall Sanderson.

Big line, tier two, Jacob Slaven starts that tier.

We're going to get to the lines both teams practicing today in just a moment,

but I got a couple stats here from our good friend Mike Kelly over at sport

La Sheik.

And he was all over the deep dive into this series.

Like this is an analytical person's dream matchup.

Yeah, Mike Kelly's going to love this series.

Five on five regular season rankings.

This could be what wins the series.

If Ottawa is able to pull off the upset, puck battle percentage wins.

This season ranked Ottawa 3rd in the national hockey league Carolina 22nd.

Little surprising to see them down below.

4 check goals.

So goals that come right off of a hard 4 check.

Dump and chase get the puck and it's in the back of the net.

Ottawa 2nd in the NHL, the Hurricanes are 7th and cycle goals,

which come off of that sustained pressure that Ottawa is known for their second.

And Caroline is 18th.

So offensive zone possession is going to be huge in this series because the more

Ottawa can grind down low specifically the cousins in the Pinto line.

That's going to be a key if Ottawa is going to win this one.

Cannot get into a track meet with this Hurricanes team.

All the analytics on NHL edge show that the sends are a fast team,

but the Hurricanes are the fastest up with Colorado in the national hockey league.

So don't get into a sprint with them.

You got to grind it out as ugly of hockey as you can make it.

You need to do that while also staying disciplined because Caroline,

it does have a distinct edge with their power play clicking at a elite percentage of late.

Yeah, the discipline's going to be big here because I think Caroline

knows that the five on five battle is pretty even it.

I mean, based on some of the stats you've read there,

you might even give Ottawa a slight edge five on five wise.

So they're going to be looking to really make the most of any man advantage they get.

How much do you think Caroline looked at Ottawa's game one last year?

Where are the sends gave up six power play opportunities to the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a bit of an outlier because you look at

all these guys like so many of them.

This was their first playoff game.

And you do have to take some context like the face offs were,

I know we just went over face offs typically don't lead to to wins

and don't have as much emphasis on how the game goes as I like to think they do,

but game one of last round one for the sends is a perfect example.

They lost those face offs on the penalty kill and the Leafs scored within seconds.

So I don't know if you can really take too much stock into how game one last year went for the sends.

Ottawa was also down to nothing in that game.

It was two quick goals, seven minutes into the first period.

Then that Mitch Rarner break away, 12 minutes in, really set the tone for the series.

Ottawa, the first 10 minutes is all you have to think about.

And Brady could Chuck mentioned that yesterday when he was speaking to the media

that you're just going to that first TV timeout.

That's all you can look ahead to.

Not the whole game, not the whole series.

What are you going to do in your first two or three shifts to set the tone and show

that despite being the eight seed, you're here to play and you're here for keep.

So it's going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out.

Let's look at how the Ottawa senators are expected to line up.

This is their practice lines from today.

No surprises.

Tim Stutzla centering the top line between Drake Batherson and Clodgeroo, Dylan Cousins

between Brady Kachock and Ridley Greg, Shane Pinto centering Nick Cousins

and Michael Amadio, fourth line is Lars Aller, Warren Fogel and Fabian Zetterland

on defense Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub, Thomas Shabbat with Jordan Spence

and Dennis Gilbert back with Nicholas Matt and Palo.

Linus Allmark will start in goal.

I will go ahead and confirm that myself despite maybe Travis Green playing

Coy, we also know that it's going to be Freddie Anderson starting game one for the Carolina

Hurricanes.

Kelsey will get to X factors for the series in the next segment.

But who are you locked on to for game one?

I'm going to be locked on to the captain Brady Kachock for game one.

You talk about set the tone Ross.

I think that needs to be the message sent by the captain here.

We need to see captain fight off the opening face off.

Jordan stall.

Let's go.

I don't know about that, but we need to see that style of hockey from Brady Kachock that

he had up against the islanders at home a little while ago.

Like you said, Ross, I want Chris Neal at the CTC for the morning skate to come down

to the bench, call Brady over and say, hey, first shift, run a guy through the boards.

Make it clear that you are not going to be pushed around physically and that as the captain

of this team, you're going to lead by example and you're going to show how the energy needs

to be set for the rest of the team, the physicality needs to be up there.

You need when you're playing a team as good as the Carolina Hurricanes, you have to try

to find every edge you can get.

So if you can be like, hey, we're going to make sure they know we're finishing or check

every time.

Maybe that leads them to hastily make a mistake with the puck.

Maybe that leads them to go for a safer pass backwards instead of trying to move the puck

forward.

Then you can have them in their zone.

It's just so important to ramp up the physicality here that I want our captain, the Brady

could chuck to, he's got to show what he, we saw it a little bit in the playoffs last

year.

I wouldn't say full tilt last year.

Now he's been there.

Done that.

Let's ramp it up.

You don't think he did last year?

I think if you look back, we were hyping up Brady like, oh, when this guy gets the playoffs,

it's going to be crazy.

It's going to be amazing.

And maybe let me put the.

Yeah, the top game one, but he came to play and that's Ross we're doing locked on players

for game one.

I'm talking game one first shift, get into that beast mode mentality.

Yeah, because he lost, they lost game one in regulation and after that, the senators

in the last five games, Brady had four goals, seven assists and one goal in four of the

five games.

He got all his cookies in one game, although he did have three points in the four, nothing

shut out win on the road facing elimination.

And the points were there for sure.

That's not what I focused on 30 hits as well in the series for Brady could chuck, but

we need more of it.

And I remember he took, he had a huge hit in game four, game three, wait, no, it was game

six.

Yeah, that was ridiculous because he got called for interference and it was not late.

He just hammered Jake McCabe into the boards, but Brady's going to have to be at his best

and we're not getting fancy with game one.

You're on the road against a wagon of a team.

Your best players have to be your best players, which is why I'm locked on to Jake Sanderson.

He's going to have the most minutes played in this game.

He's going to hold the puck the most if the sends are going to be successful.

He'll be transitioning it.

He'll be leading the power play.

He'll be leading the penalty kill and at five on five, he's going to every opportunity

the Travis Green has.

He'll throw him out there against the other team's best players.

Jake Sanderson needs to be the best player on the ice for Ottawa to win this game.

He will be my locked on player and we're obviously omitting the goal tender because that's

how you win games in the playoffs.

Linus Omar has to give this team a chance to win.

Those are locked on players for the Ottawa Senators going in to tomorrow afternoons game

one against the Carolina Hurricanes.

They have no changes to their practice from yesterday.

Sebastian Ajo between Andre Svetschnikov and Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankovan with Taylor

Hall and Jackson Blake, third line of Jordan Stahl with Nikolai Eilers and Jordan Martenut

and Mark Jankowski between William Carrier and Eric Robinson as the fourth line on defense,

Jacob Slaven with Jalen Chatfield, Kyandre Miller with Sean Walker and Shane Gossis

Bear with Alexander Nikesh and Freddie Anderson starts in goal.

Who should the sends be looking out for?

You've got to be looking out for Sebastian Ajo, I mean, this guy's playoff numbers tell

all the story.

I'll look it up here unless you have it on hand Ross, but Sebastian Ajo has a lot of

playoff experience in a quick amount of time, he's only 28 years old, obviously the Hurricanes

have made the playoffs for eight straight seasons and you've got 85 points in 89 games.

Thank you, wasn't loading for me.

That is absolutely incredible.

Yeah, 34 goals too.

Yeah, so he's going to be a problem and then to have him centering that line with Svetschnikov

and Jarvis, like this is such a dangerous player and line to deal with, so I'm going to

be looking out for Ajo the most.

I think I'm going to go with Andre Svetschnikov as my look out player for game one because

he's a guy, I think I underrated a little bit going into this series and the more you dive

into the numbers, he's a guy that can ramp up the physicality as well.

We talk about, they've got a lot of small skill on their team from Ajo to Jarvis, you could

even throw Taylor, all not a physical guy, Stan Cobin plays bigger than he is, but he's

still a five foot seven.

He got Jackson Blake, small skill, Niklai Eeler, small skill, he's their power forward

in the top six.

So I think you got to contain him, don't let him get running around, don't let him create

momentum through physicality in the arena.

That's a big time barn down there, the Southern hospitality gets thrown out the window when

they put their canes jerseys on their complete lunatics down there.

So get on Svetschnikov, make it hard on him and you'll be able to win this game.

So Andre Svetschnikov, a 30 plus goal score, it's 70 points this season, that top line

is going to be a handful and without last change, you got it, you got to trust all three

of your top units to be out there against that top line.

Those are locked on players for a deeper breakdown on the Carolina Hurricanes, what they

do, what they do well.

You can look at yesterday's episode of Locked On Senators because we are your team every

day.

We've been looking at this series all week, plenty of content, including tomorrow when

we have the host of Locked On Hurricanes, Zach Martin, we're going to drop that at 9 a.m.,

so you have some time to tune in before the puck drops at three o'clock.

Who are the series X factors overall, we'll discuss that next, then we'll rank the

best forwards after you're listening to Locked On Senators, your team every day.

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Welcome back locked on Senators, your team, every day part of the locked on podcast network,

the number one sports podcast network.

We are looking ahead for the entire series now.

Those are our game one locked on players, but at the entirety of it, again, put goalies

to the side.

The better goalie, we'll have a better chance to win the series, but upfront on the

blue line.

Give me an X factor for the Ottawa Senators.

I mean, this is easy, Ross, and that's why I omitted him from my look out player because

I wanted to talk about him as an X factor.

It's Jake Sanderson, arguably the best player in this series, and they even said it on

the athletic in their playoff preview.

Quote, Sanderson's growth into one of the game's best defense in this season has been a guiding

light for the Senators, and here it is, Ross.

He's the most valuable player in this series.

And if the Senators pull off an upset, Sanderson will likely be a big reason.

The most valuable player in this series.

This is not news or a secret to Ottawa Senators fans.

As Jake Sanderson goes, typically, the Ottawa Senators go.

He's your number one guy, five on five.

He's your number one guy killing penalties.

He's your number one guy on the power play.

If the goal he's pulled for the sense, he's out there.

If the goal he's pulled for the other team, he's out there.

If it's close, either way, for either team, he's out there like he's going to be on the

ice so much of the time, who scored the game winning goal in overtime to stop the Ottawa

Senators from being eliminated, swept by their division rival in their own barn.

It was Jake Sanderson, like this guy is so important for the Ottawa Senators.

He is my ex-factor player.

You said apart from goalies, I'll say for the entire series, for the sense and the Hurricanes.

Sanderson is this series' ex-factor.

I think you're going to be surprised, which way I'm going.

Dylan Cousins is my ex-factor for this series.

I think that the stats we read off about four check goals, cycle goals and puck battle percentage wins.

The Ridley Gregg, Brady Kachok and Dylan Cousins line will be the most important to get offense,

to create offense.

And I know that they're going to consider that the sense top line.

If it's the same as when Ottawa last played in Carolina, that's who they put the stall line against.

That's who they put slaving against.

They're going to have to grind those guys down low.

And it's a two-fer because not only do I need that line to create offense,

but the way they do it, I think needs to tire out older players.

Jordan Stahls, mid-30s.

Slavins coming off an injury early this season that kept them out half the year.

This is the type of team.

They're great players.

They're unreal defensively.

But I think that if you can beat them with physicality early in the series,

you can wear them down if it does get to six or seven games.

Dylan Cousins, sneaky physical player.

Finish top 20 in the league and hits.

Finish with 28 goals, 60 points.

This guy is an X-factor for the series.

I'm expecting Shane Pinto to be a league defensively.

I'm expecting Timmy to have some pop offensively.

The biggest X-factor that could go either way is the Dylan Cousins line,

specifically at the center race position.

Because if Ottawa is going to win this series,

their depth down the middle is better than Carolina's.

I'll go out and say that for sure.

Stan Kovan was a winger.

They moved him to center.

It's still a little bit in flux.

I was listening to some hurricanes content.

They're thinking like, hey, if they lose this series,

a number one B or one A center to complement.

Aho is the number one need for this team.

Well, Ottawa has the center depth.

They need to flex that.

And Dylan Cousins is the one that I think has the.

The biggest gap between floor and ceiling in this series.

So I think he needs to be at his best for Ottawa to win the series.

Yeah, no, that's actually a fair point.

Because like Sanderson, we know what to expect.

Pinto, we know what to expect to me.

We know what to expect.

So whether Cousins can bring it.

And be able to handle being matched up against pot.

Probably the Carolina Hurricanes shut down line.

Will swing this series.

So I like that.

Ross.

And he had a.

Okay, series against Toronto, right?

He had a huge whole short handed in game five.

But he had one goal, one assist.

And it was a real tough dash on that game to overtime winner by Max Domey.

He's got to be dialed in every single shift defensively.

And I think he's taken a lot of improvement with his skating this season specifically.

And he's going to need to flex that going into this game.

All right, Carolina Hurricanes.

The X factor for them is.

If you want a second, I got one.

Yeah, hit me.

Nick Niklai Eilers is the actor for me.

How many teams have a 70 point producer on the third line?

Yes, that's incredible.

And he just gives that line a completely different look, right?

Like Martin Nook and Saul, that's their answer to Pinto and a patio.

We've got another grinder on that line.

And I love the way Nick cousins has played there.

But the Hurricanes have offensive pop and speed.

So if they can get turnovers, Martin Nook and Saul, that is.

They can just put it into open space.

And Niklai Eilers, his nickname is fly.

He is one of the fastest players in the league.

And you need to be aware of him every single time.

So I think if Eilers get stuff like he had the first number of years in his NHL playoff.

He had four goals in his first 37 playoff games.

And then last three popped off for five goals in eight games.

And he had the assist on the Manitoba Miracle Game Time goal with three seconds left in game seven.

So he's a big game player.

He's had big game moments.

You have to make sure that you're not just saying, oh, that stall line is out there.

Okay, we just need a 50 50 shift.

You have to be aware that they have some offensive pop on that third line.

Yeah.

No, that's good one.

The Eilers for sure is someone that could swing this series.

I'll go with a defenseman Ross.

I'll go Shane got to spare.

Look, this guy is elite offensively.

We talked about it yesterday, 50 points at 55 games.

But is he going to be able to bring that offensive game to the playoffs?

Is he going to be a liability on defense?

I'm not saying that he is.

But when you're so focused on offensive, are you going to be pinching?

Are you going to be joining the Russia?

Are you going to be making risky decisions to try to produce that offense?

That's expected of him on this Carolina Hurricanes team.

Is he going to be a big factor on the power play?

We know that Carolina Hurricanes power play as of late has been absolutely incredible.

The best in the league in certain sample sizes over 30% I believe it was since the Olympic break.

We know that Carolina Hurricanes do a very good job defensively on that backhand.

Obviously, Jacob Slavin, we respect what he does defensively.

But to have a guy that has the full offensive capability of got to spare.

I think if he can turn it on and match what he was doing in the regular season,

that's going to be very bad news for the autosenters, especially if their third pair ends up any time matching up against the autosenters third pair.

That could be dangerous, especially when you look at the kitchen is his department.

So I think Gaussis Bear is a guy that could be a very big swing factor for this roster.

And if you compare it to what Ottawa faced last season in the first round,

like the Leafs just simply don't have a defenseman that has that type of jump to his game offensively.

Morgan Riley would be the closest thing, but he's not even close to the same speed or offensive skill level as Shane Gaussis Bear.

So I like, excuse me, I like that call and let's hope that Shane is a ghost.

This series would really help the Ottawa Senators on the other side.

We're ranking the top 10 forwards in this series.

You're listening to locked on senators.

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Welcome back locked on senators your team every day.

Want to let everyone know that we will have a live stream with Jack Richardson on our YouTube channel for game one.

It'll start at two fifty five unless Jack wants to get a little pregame show in the mix.

We're working out a few new fun ideas that we're going to bring into the playoff live streams.

So make sure to subscribe on YouTube and join Jack if you're watching because otherwise.

You got to listen to Gary Galli who announced yesterday that he's going to be calling the senator series.

So I almost made my ex-factor Fabian Zetterberg as Gary Galli likes to call.

Oh my god.

Look normally we don't get into this this deep but what a devastating piece of news.

I don't understand why they wouldn't just give Gary Galli the Hab series.

It's very clear that he.

There's not watch a lot of Ottawa senators games and he is.

Which is crazy because he lives in Ottawa.

Yeah, I that's so disappointing.

Can be likely John Bartlett on play by play.

I actually think he's good play by play guy.

Get Galli's two cents or worth fifty cents.

And I think he'd probably say they're worth a dollar.

Anyways, we don't need to get into that obviously.

Hey, you know what I'm hoping for?

We know it would make up for it.

The

Calbu cascus. Come on Cal.

Come back to Ottawa.

I need to see that cough on my television set on Saturday afternoon.

I also think sense fans were a bit spoiled with the TSN broadcast all year.

Gordon Miller noodles Mike Johnson, all the great play by play and color commentators that fill in over time.

And then you get to play off.

And it's like, okay, not only do you get the mat Nays on the weekend, which I actually love.

I know some people vary against it.

By the way, Sands are going to be the 730 PM game for the weekday games Tuesday and Thursday.

Sorry, Monday and Thursday is going to be a two-day gap for the travel.

And I like that 730 start. I think that's money.

A little extra time to shake hands, kiss babies, hang out in the tent,

outside, see some old friends, and everybody just rock in the red at the CTC.

That's going to be so electric on Thursday, cannot wait for that.

Also should mention that the Gleeve Central Pub Shuttle will be running for the playoffs.

Tickets are available on the website, $18 round trip.

Our plan is to be their post game on Thursday after game three.

And then I'm going to probably take the shuttle on Saturday with my family.

So I'm really looking forward to seeing every Senators fan out in the city representing.

And man, let's go on a run here because my face feels very, very naked right now.

And I would like to fix that as soon as possible.

So over the last couple of days, Wednesday, we did the top goalies in the series.

Yesterday we did the top defenseman and now we've got the top forwards.

And we are starting out at number one. Pilsy, it's an unbiased list.

And that's a thing. But we had a Goli.

Senators, best goalie, Lena Salmer, defenseman, Jake Sanderson forwards.

Tim Stutz was the best forward in the series.

I just think with how dynamic he is, the speed, the skill, the fact that

I'll do a similar speech to Jake Sanderson.

He's your top center out there five on five, typically.

Sometimes Pinto ends up getting that depending on the matchups.

He's killing penalties. He's on your top power play.

He's going to be out there when it's close at the end of the game.

And look, her games fans can say what they want.

But there's an easy rebuttal.

All you have to do is show them the Tim Stutz, the goal of coast to coast,

where he split the D of Keandre Miller and Sean Walker.

And then pulled off the Foresburg move with, I believe, his Walker draped all over him.

Like, he can pull things off like that.

It's incredible what he's able to do.

Now, I don't want this to be confused.

It was very hard to decide between him, Aho, and even Brady.

Like the top three are very close and all play.

I would say different styles of games and bring different things to the table.

So this is not Sebastian Aho disrespect.

It's more the dynamic ability that Tim Stutz has.

Anytime he touches the puck, he's liable to do something you've never seen before.

And I think what also took me a little bit into consideration was how he ramped up.

He's always a competitive player.

Tim Stutz led the Ottawa Senators in hits in the playoffs last season.

Too many hits if you ask him to be excellent.

That was the most ridiculous take of all time.

He is an absolute warrior and a guy who any team would love to have.

He's the highest drafted player on the Ottawa Senators.

Fetch Nikov was the second overall pick on the Hurricanes.

Same draft as Brady, by the way, fun little storyline there.

But I think just the, the third in between them.

He's going to be a healthy scratch in the series for Caroline.

Oh, cool.

Yes.

Yeah.

Despite making $4.8 million because that offer she'd business that began

with Aho.

When Montreal tried to get him and they said,

we're actually going to play Petty.

We're going to take Kotkenyemi and now he's in the press box.

So we'll see if he gets into this series.

But let us know.

Kane's fans, especially.

Why is Sebastian Aho better than Tim Stutz's love?

Because if you look at it,

there are numbers in the regular season.

This year, pretty comparable.

Aho played, I think, one extra game and had one last point.

Or sorry, one 79 points in 80 games.

Am I right on that?

Sorry, I had his playoff numbers pulled up here,

but not his regular season.

Regular season.

He had 80 points in 79 games.

Whereas Tim Stutz's love had 83 points.

So pretty close there.

But what gets the difference is just that game breaking ability.

Aho is very good at everything.

Stutz's love is very good at everything,

but elite as a puck carrier and puck possession offensive weapon

that can set up his teammates as well as put the puck in the net himself.

Sebastian Aho comes in at number two on our rankings.

Number three is Brady Kachak.

And I have the top tier, one, two, three.

Yeah, I don't know.

I also think you could maybe get Seth Jarvis in that top tier.

Like it's close, but that that top tier,

honestly, Kane's fans probably would be biased,

which is crazy.

Because remember, this is an unbiased list.

We got to keep reminding people that.

And we've got Timmy first,

but Kane's fans would probably be biased and put Aho first.

I wouldn't get that upset with that.

No, I think that Seth Jarvis is a stud

and he's a guy who can beat you off the rush.

He can beat you on the power play.

And for a little alert guy,

he's not afraid to get into the dirty areas.

We have nothing but respect for Seth Jarvis before.

We're up in the neck of the hood that I'm living in right now in this part of town.

So I got nothing but respect.

Got to chat with him actually a couple of years ago when they were in Winnipeg

and like just such a great personality too.

You can see why he's so beloved by not only his teammates,

but you get not quite the same as the Celebrini Will Smith fan accounts,

but there's a lot of the Seth Jarvis accounts popping up.

People absolutely love this guy.

And we love the Drake,

who comes in at number five on our rankings.

And Pilsie, I think the closest part of this rankings was five, six, seven.

Drake Batherson, Nikolai Elers, Andrei Spetchnikov,

you can order those three in whichever way you'd like.

And I would not even blink.

Yeah, agreed.

I mean, the only knock on Nikolai Elers was he didn't produce in the playoffs,

but Ross, living in Winnipeg, you got to see him flip that narrative around last playoffs.

Oh, he was unbelievable in that last playoffs.

And I'm just, I'm nervous about the setup.

I think it's such a great coaching move to take him off the top six,

to give him that pop down low.

And you'll probably get more favorable matchup.

So we'll see how Nikolai Elers fares my ex-factor in this series for Carolina.

Number eight, Dylan Cousins.

Number nine, Shane Pinto.

And number 10, Jackson Blake.

Yeah, I think this is a good list.

I think right outside looking in, you would have Stan Kovan, Hall, and Drew.

But those are the three audible mentions.

I think most people would agree, order it how you want.

But I think most people would agree, these are the top 10 forwards in the series.

And just missing the cut would be Logan Stan Kovan for Carolina,

and Claude Giroux from the Ottawa Senators.

Those would be the guys just on the outside of the top 10.

Yep, great point.

Not Michael O'Matio. Can't put them in.

Oh, did you just say that?

Yeah.

Oh, man.

Okay, you know, well, I was getting us a special guest.

He was going to join us in a matter of minutes.

We're going to wrap up the show with that.

But so, me a couple.

It's worth emphasizing.

And I put Taylor Hall in that mix with those two guys too,

because he's like, oh, I should have just said that.

Obviously, not the same player that he was,

but still a guy that adds depth scoring to this team.

There's a reason that they signed him in that extension.

He fits in really nicely to the squad.

Okay, Pilsy, your final thoughts on this playoff series.

As we get set for game one tomorrow, Senators, Hurricanes,

I mentioned the livestream.

Of course, we're going to have the postcast for you immediately following the game.

Yep. Well, I'm going to join Jack for the second period of livestream.

So stoked for that.

My final thoughts, I want this to be the theme.

And we've already said it a couple times in this episode.

Set the tone.

I want these guys to be coming out flying first shift.

All of them, everyone's first shift.

I want it to be high tempo, high energy, high physicality.

You can't falter like you did last season or last playoffs in round one.

You've all been there.

You've done it now.

The lights can't be too bright for you.

You're going up against the best team in the east.

You've got to bring it right away.

We're the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs,

2026.

Get fired up.

Let's go all heart all in.

And you're looking at the Cousins line going to start the game, right?

Like you don't play around.

Cousins Brady and Ridley have started every game and

dude, we're talking about the guys that just missed top 10 forwards.

I almost went with Ridley Greg as my X factor, right?

I wanted someone from that line.

I think that line is going to be the biggest piece.

He looked bigger, stronger, faster, more confident with the puck.

He's a guy.

I don't think we've mentioned once as we previewed this series,

but like he's a sneaky dog that could really impact this series.

Yeah, and if he can get under the skin of Hurricane's players,

use that honey badger or as we called him on the post cast,

the wasp.

If he can use that agitating edge to his game,

that could be a big factor too.

So give me one key to victory here for game one, just a quick one.

I think it's going to be physicality, Ross.

Like you have to find ways to get an edge on the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Ottawa Senators have those guys that can bring that edge.

And if you start that right from puck drop,

it's going to send a message, set the tone.

I want to see this.

This is going to be an all out war.

You've got to battle and you've got to bring the physicality.

So fired up.

So join us tomorrow for the post cast after the Senators take on the Hurricanes.

We're going to take a little mix to finish up today's show.

We got a friend of the show joining us from Bellville, Ontario.

It's our good buddy Blake Montgomery.

What's up, Blake? How are you, man?

It's all boys. Good. How are we doing?

What a busy stretch for you.

Hey, you just can't sit still.

It's been acting. It's been acting.

So you went USHL jumped into the Ontario Hockey League mid season.

With a memorial cup, we asked you last summer.

Is there any thought of running it back

after all the championship glory?

You said, no, I committed to Wisconsin.

I'm going there. You have a hell of a freshman season.

You get all the way to the national championship game.

Obviously didn't go the way you would have liked in the third period.

You start a hell of a run, though.

All the boys were really impressed watching you.

All the sense fans.

And then two days later, I mean, all your Instagram stories.

You, Hensler, E. John.

It's like, all the guys are signing.

When did it come together that the senators in your camp

agreed that this was the right time to turn pro?

Um, kind of towards, you know, in the season and just kind of weighing the options

and seeing, you know, development wise.

And the biggest thing for me was kind of filling out my frame,

which I did a very good job of at Wisconsin this past season,

putting on some meat.

So I mean, I just kind of looked at it, you know,

playing more games, getting more opportunities.

So, you know, I just thought the time was ready.

Yeah, we're so fired up for your Blake.

So you got your action in the AHL.

Take us through your first game.

And what are the major differences you notice making that jump?

Um, for sure.

If like guys are obviously a whole lot bigger and, you know, older,

just like more smarter with the puck.

So you just kind of got to make your reads quicker and decisions faster.

But, you know, I felt pretty comfortable speed wise and just kind of getting,

you know, more used to the pace and, you know, systems and all that.

But I think I need to be able to play here.

What was the message from the organization as you make the jump, bro?

Um, just kind of, you know, keep in mind the systems, you know,

we went over positioning, but just mainly just go out there and have fun.

How different is it?

Like how different is the system from Wisconsin to what you're seeing now with the coaching staff?

Um, it's, it's, it's similar system wise, like positioning and all that.

It's just guys make the reads a whole bunch quicker.

Like there's not much, you know, making up or, you know,

not as much, you know, picking up for someone else that's kind of more on you.

Like if you mess up, that's on you.

So just kind of being more dialed throughout, you know, the whole, you know,

shift every detail matters.

Was it a little comfortable walking into that room and seeing

Hoyt Stanley, Kevin Reedler, guys who also just signed that you got to spend some

development camps with?

Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Got us all in the same hotel.

We're carpooling together.

We're calling our little group ATO Beauty.

So we're all excited to be here.

That's awesome.

Hey, no bad blood between you and Kevin with what happened this year?

No, no, he's not at all.

Not at all.

He talked about it a bit, but, you know, it's, it's hockey.

We both had fun.

That's awesome.

I see you're still wearing the Wisconsin Badgers t-shirt.

Who's going to wear more merch from their college?

You were Steven Halliday because that guy's still rocking the Ohio State everywhere.

I'm going to get, I'm going to have to go with Steve over there.

I've even taken any heat yet or you get the end of this season.

Because I swear, if you show up with that thing a camp next year,

the boys are going to let you hear it.

Yeah, I haven't gotten much yet.

Now we've got much yet.

Oh, I've got too much so.

That's awesome, man.

Well, we just wanted to come on and congratulate you for all the great success you've had.

You really made an impression in that one season at Wisconsin,

and we look forward to following your journey here going into camp next year.

You're a professional hockey player, man.

You're in the real ranks now, man.

And we can't wait to see you continue to develop.

We'll catch up with you this summer.

We'll chat more about all the ins and outs.

But we just wanted to see that.

See that smile?

Get that vibe.

We're all prepped up for the playoffs right now.

You're going to be able to catch any of these sends games?

Oh, I should be able to actually,

I like, you know, depends.

You know, you might have me black Asian and you know, I'm Belleville,

but you know, we'll see how that goes.

But absolutely.

Final question for me, is it a little strange

that auto is facing the team your brother ended up getting drafted by a few years ago?

Definitely a crazy coincidence.

But, you know, we'll be jarring at each other or whatnot.

But, you know, I got to take the sends in this one.

Okay, official prediction then.

Sends in how many games?

We'll go six.

Sends the tricks.

At home.

I like that.

Sends it home.

Game six.

Let's close it out.

Hey, great to see you, man.

Congratulations again.

And we'll chat soon.

It sounds good.

Thanks, guys.

All right.

There he goes.

Blake Montgomery.

Absolute beauty.

And now officially, a member of the Senators organization.

If there's one like vibes guy that I could have imagined,

having on right before game one, it's Blake.

What a little surprise here at the end of the show.

Congrats to break Blake.

We're so fired up for it.

And yeah, sends Cain's this rivalry runs deep.

There's there's more to it than you know.

And we will discuss more of it on the postcast tomorrow.

And I mentioned earlier, we've got the crossover between us and locked on hurricanes.

It'll drop at 9 a.m. Eastern on all platforms.

As we are so fired up.

Pilsy, from the time of this recording,

we are 28 hours away from Pock Drop in a rally North Carolina.

All right.

That does it for us today.

Thanks so much for liking, watching, listening,

and engaging with the show for Brandon Pillar.

I'm Ross Levitan.

And this has been another edition of the Locked On Senators podcast.

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