Motte Pierre Summer, Suzuki Named Habs’ Captain, and more!

At long last, the NHL season is right around the corner. We’re down to the last few weeks of signings, as teams finalize their opening night rosters, and the Ottawa Senators are no exception.

• Ottawa shored up their bottom six yesterday by signing speedy fourth liner and fan favourite Tyler Motte to a one-year deal. The fact that Rangers fans seem extremely upset about this is probably a sign that this is a good decision.
• 2021 Sens draft pick Oliver Johansson made highlight reels recently with this absolutely incredible goal:/

Oliver Johansson 🚨 #TimraIK #Sens
🎥 SportExpressen Play pic.twitter.com/8ZOkU7ZEz3

— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) September 14, 2022

• After trading away Shea Weber this offseason, the Montreal Canadiens have named Nick Suzuki the 31st captain in franchise history. At 23, Suzuki is both the youngest captain in Habs history and only the second Asian-American captain in NHL history, after Paul Kariya. I’m a Habs hater to my core, but this rocks.
• The Sens’ rookie camp starts today, and the roster is set. Unfortunately, it won’t be streamed, but hopefully we can look forward to lots of content on social media.
• There’s been a huge wave of women being appointed to NHL front offices this summer, and that continued this week. Seattle hired Alexandra Mandrycky as an assistant GM, the Flames hired team Canada player Rebecca Johnston in a player development role, and the Predators hired Ronda Engelhardt as a scout. It would nice to see a bit more diversity among the women being hired, but it’s nice to see some progress happening.
• Over at The Athletic ($), Ian Mendes dove into some advanced stats to see how much the Sens have improved this offseason, and whether or not that will be enough to make them a playoff team.
• There’s been a lot of talk lately about how good the Atlantic division is, and how much better it’s going to get, with so many of its worst teams improving so much this offseason. However, this sportsnet article suggests that a lot of the top teams are going to get worse. You love to see it!
• Finally, former Senator Marian Hossa is going to have his number retired in Chicago./