Ottawa Senators Schedule 2026
Back-to-back playoff appearances mark real progress for a franchise that spent most of the 2010s and early 2020s outside the postseason picture. Ottawa Senators hockey players like captain Brady Tkachuk and center Tim Stützle give this roster a physical, skilled identity that held up all season before a first-round sweep at the hands of Carolina ended things quickly. The group returns largely intact and hungry to prove last spring's exit was a speed bump, not a ceiling. Find Senators tickets at Event Tickets Center.
A look at the Ottawa Senators' standings from last season shows fifth in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the East, good enough for a second straight trip to the playoffs despite battling injuries to six different defensemen. Daniel Alfredsson remains the standard for franchise legends, the longtime captain whose number hangs from the rafters. Stützle led the team in points for a second consecutive year, cementing himself as the face of the current core.
Canadian Tire Centre has been the Senators' home since 1996, sitting in the Kanata suburb west of downtown. The building hosted games three and four of the 2007 Stanley Cup Final, the only trip to the championship round for this era of the franchise. Capacity runs close to 18,000, and while the drive from downtown has long been a sticking point for fans, the organization is pursuing a new arena at LeBreton Flats closer to the city center. This arena still delivers one of the loudest atmospheres in the Atlantic Division on rivalry nights.
This season expands to 84 games, and the slate opens on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 3, continuing the Battle of Ontario tradition of starting the year against Ottawa's oldest rival. The home opener follows five days later on October 8 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Toronto returns to Ottawa twice more in January and February, giving fans two more chances to settle the provincial rivalry at home.
The only trip to the Stanley Cup Finals for the modern Senators came in 2007, a five-game loss to the Anaheim Ducks that remains the closest this era of the franchise has come to a championship. Consecutive playoff appearances the last two seasons suggest the drought since then might finally be nearing an end, even after last spring's quick exit. Tkachuk and Stützle give Ottawa a foundation that could push further with better injury luck.
Back-to-back playoff berths and a young core led by Tkachuk and Stützle give Ottawa hockey real momentum for the first time in years, and the crowd feels it every night the Leafs or Canadiens come to town. This is a team on the rise, not just a club sneaking into the playoffs. Grab Senators tickets at Event Tickets Center.