Losing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the Spring can put a long Summer ahead. For the Ottawa Senators, the long Summer began when the team was eliminated in the first round of the 2025 playoffs by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With tasting playoff experience for the first time in eight years, the Senators are determined and hungry to return to the playoffs in 2026. The Senators will be eager to prove that 2025 wasn't a one-year fluke.
When a team is eliminated from the playoffs, that team can look for any kind of motivating factor as a new season draws closer.