12 Ottawa Senators

The Senators, a team that each spring races the ice on the Rideau Canal to see which melts first, addressed their perennial lack of grit this summer by bringing in former enforcer Don Jackson as an assistant coach under Jacques Martin. Jackson—who as a coach in the minors was suspended for 10 games for punching out an opposing mascot—can no longer scare the hell out of the other team, but maybe he can scare the hell out of his own, an efficient, disciplined club with little of the jam necessary to succeed in the playoffs.

Ottawa, the second-seeded Eastern Conference team in the playoffs in two of the past three years, has won just two of 14 postseason games while capitulating in three straight first-round losses. While the faltering Senators won't slink back into the primordial expansion ooze ( Martin's system is sound, and there is a wealth of solid if not elite players), they are no longer a Stanley Cup factor.

The first reaction in Canada's capital to the draft-day trade of stalwart center Alexei Yashin might have been "good riddance," but his 40 goals are irreplaceable. Right wing Marian Hossa, who sat out most of training camp in a contract dispute, is on the cusp of being a scoring star and must continue to produce. Radek Bonk, who performed admirably two years ago when Yashin was sitting out the season in the longest of his tiresome contract disputes, inherits the No. 1 center role, and winger Martin Havlat, who scored 19 goals as a rookie, could see time in the middle. The biggest decision will be whether to fast-track rookie center Jason Spezza, drafted with the No. 2 pick acquired from the Islanders in the Yashin swap; at times in the preseason he looked overmatched.

The Senators will win with goal-tending—Patrick Lalime proved himself a credible No. 1 last year—and a six-deep defense that includes offensive threat Sami Salo and 24-year-old Wade Redden, who the Senators hope will build on his career-high 10 goals and 47 points of last season and develop into a franchise defenseman. Make no mistake: With Redden, Havlat, Hossa and 32-goal scorer Shawn McEachern, Ottawa, which had the NHL's fourth-best record with the 23rd-highest payroll last season, is still a nice team. But that's precisely the problem.

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]