What Toughness Looks Like for the Senators Now
There has been quite a bit of discussion in Ottawa about toughness since Brady Tkachuk left town. That makes sense. Tkachuk wasn't exactly difficult to notice when things got nasty. He could score, he could hit, he could stand in front of the net, and, if necessary, he could drop the gloves. You don't just replace that guy.
But Travis Green made an interesting point this week that is probably worth paying more attention to. He said the Senators have "more than enough team toughness." That's a different idea from simply having a tough player. And maybe that's exactly what Ottawa needs to figure out.
For many seasons, Brady Tkachuk was Ottawa's toughness.
For years, Tkachuk was almost the Senators' definition of physical toughness. When a game got heated, everybody knew who was going to be in the middle of it. The problem is that you can start relying on one player to provide an awful lot of the team's personality. Now he's gone.
So the question isn't really, "Who is going to replace Brady Tkachuk?" Good luck with that. The better question is whether Ottawa can spread some of those responsibilities around the lineup.
That's what Green seems to mean by the term "team toughness." It's not necessarily about fighting. It can be winning a battle along the boards. Finishing a check. Standing up for a teammate. Going to the net when you know you're going to get hammered. Getting punched in the mouth early in a game and not disappearing afterward.
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The little bits of toughness will start to add up for the Senators.
And there's another part of this that shouldn't be overlooked. Ottawa already got a little preview of life without Tkachuk last season because he missed time and played with that hand injury. The Senators had to find ways to compete without their biggest source of physical emotion. They survived it.
Now they have to build on it. There will still be people wondering whether Kurtis MacDermid or Hayden Hodgson needs to be in the lineup for certain games. Green even had a little fun when asked whether one of them might be dressed when Tkachuk returns to Ottawa with Florida. That's probably part of the equation. But it can't be the whole equation.
The Senators don’t need another tough guy; they need lots of them.
The Senators don't need to find another guy who can fight Brady Tkachuk's fights. They need 18 skaters who make opponents think twice about taking liberties. That's a much more useful kind of toughness.
And if Ottawa really has developed that internally, as Green believes, we may find out pretty quickly that losing Tkachuk's physical presence doesn't necessarily mean losing the Senators' edge.